 
Although my new 2008 Tundra has the factory towing package with the tow mode and receiver hitch I still needed
add an aftermarket trailer brake controller. I did a little research online and found that most people were
running the Prodigy controller. I found several sites that had the controller and Toyota wiring kit. That was
the easy part now I had to find a place to mount it. Having the bench seat model I had fewer available slots,
but decided to mount it in place of the ashtray.
I first had to remove the ashtray housing. To do this first remove the driver's side kick panel, there is one
nut just to the left of the brake petal and the rest just pops up with a little persuasion. Then remove the
switch panel dash piece below the steering wheel. There are two 10mm bolts on either side and 4 plastic clips
that just pop out. Once these are removed you can work on the ashtray.
First remove the ashtray itself, then the two screws that hold the ashtray slider to the ashtray housing. Then
the mounting screws, one in the center of the housing and one on the left side below the switch panel bolt. You
then have to pop out the plastic clips (like the other dash pieces). Then carefully disconnect the two wiring
clips to the cigarette lighters. 
Once I had the ashtray mount out I first notched the back in order to allow for clearance for the wiring clip
so I could mount the controller as far back as possible. 
Then I drilled several small holes and grabbed some random sheet metal screws I had lying around. Because this
dash piece is not flat I used a washer to keep the controller mount level. After this it's just plug in the
wiring clip in both the controller and the factory clip in the driver's kick panel and hook up the ground wire. Put
the dash back together and ta da! Clean, solid, easy to see and use while still out of the way. Back to Tech |