Old Kelsey Hayes brake controller

[Jim & Susan]

Hi folks. I recently purchased a 2002 F250 that has one of these Kelsey controllers. My plan is to remove it and replace it with my current controller from the old F150 that we've been towing with for several years. The wiring looks straight forward, but I just thought I'd run it by you all since it seems odd to me that the PO of this new-to-me TV would be towing a 12,000 lbs 5th wheel with such an old school controller.


The PO has cut away the factory installed connector on the truck side and hard wired the Kelsey to the truck wiring. Presumably this is because the ancient Kelsey controller lacked the proper connector to mate with the truck side.

The wiring exactly matches in both trucks (color for color). Here's the wiring order:

Truck side Controller side

Blue Blue
White White
Green Red
Red Black

Including a pic of the older F150 just as a point of reference.

Thanks for the advice,

Jim

[overlander64]

Greetings Jim!

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Hi folks. I recently purchased a 2002 F250 that has one of these Kelsey controllers. My plan is to remove it and replace it with my current controller from the old F150 that we've been towing with for several years. The wiring looks straight forward, but I just thought I'd run it by you all since it seems odd to me that the PO of this new-to-me TV would be towing a 12,000 lbs 5th wheel with such an old school controller.


The PO has cut away the factory installed connector on the truck side and hard wired the Kelsey to the truck wiring. Presumably this is because the ancient Kelsey controller lacked the proper connector to mate with the truck side.

The wiring exactly matches in both trucks (color for color). Here's the wiring order:

Truck side Controller side

Blue Blue
White White
Green Red
Red Black

Including a pic of the older F150 just as a point of reference.

Thanks for the advice,

Jim

There were a few different styles of Kelsey Hayes Trailer Brake Controllers. If the one installed on your 2002 F250 is the type that taps into the hydraulic brake lines of the tow vehicle, I would definitely suggest taking it out and having the truck's hydraulic brake system flushed or at least "bled" to remove possible air bubbles from the system. A well-meaning mechanic installed one of these hydraulic tapped Kelsey Hayes units on my 1983 GMC G-20 Conversion Van and it displaced enough fluid that operation of the van's brakes was compromised. I suspect that you may find the same to be the case with 2002 F250 as I understand that the later model vehicles are even more sensitive to the amount of fluid displaced by the Kesley Hayes Trailer Brake Controller than was my 1983 GMC (my experience with the GMC conversion van was 1983-1985). On the other hand, it may be an all-electric ramp type control . . . I had one in my Dodge that dated to 1980 . . . while it worked well it was far from as smooth as a modern electronic pendulum type unit. I don't know whether Kelsey Hayes ever produced any pendulum type electronic brake controllers.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

[Jim & Susan]

Thanks, Kevin. I removed the the ancient Kelsey device and wired in my controller as described above. Not sure exactly what type of Kelsey was in there, but we towed about 250 miles over the weekend with no issues noted.

Jim