Electric Brakes?

So I'm in the middle of wiring a 6-pin trailer plug for my new hitch I just installed (Colibert, loved the ease of install) and I came across this blue unused wire taped to the tail-light harness, obviously OEM. Does anyone know what option this would have been for? I'm thinking it has to be some kind of factory trailering option since it is taped to the tail-light harness. Blue would normally be for electric brakes in most wiring schemes, did the XJ ever come with factory brake controllers? Or could it be 12v to charge a battery on a tent trailer or something? I can e-mail pics if it would help, I dont have permission to post attachments. Thanks for any insight anyone may have...

You've got it.... the other end of that wire is tucked up behind the driver's kick panel up front, not connected to anything.

Awesome, thanks for the quick response.

How heavy is the wire, brakes take heavy wire like #10 or #12 between the brakes and the controller.

Not heavy at all, I'd say maybe 16AWG?

Empirical evidence suggests that brakes don't take as big a wire as I thought. The brakes on Dad's 28' gooseneck (I've had it loaded down to almost 30,000 lbs.) are 14 gauge, certainly no larger than 12.

Having said that, I ran my own. With the plug-in tap kit for the usual 4 wire plug, I added 12/3 SO cord down the inside of the uniframe rail for ground, 12v+ and brakes.

The instruction with my Reese controller calls for #12, the brakes will work with smaller wire but the wire and connectors will get hot.
Also different breaking systems take more current than others, while your doing it do it so all brake systems will work correctly, you never know what the future will bring.

is blue the wire behind one of the tail lights? which side is it on? also i'm wondering if a 98 xj would have a simple plug in for a trailer light system and if so, what brands to look for. And where's the plug located if it's there. i'm gonna be doing electric brake controller and trailer lights on my buddy's xj soon. thanks

The blue wire I'm referring to is taped to the harness that you'll tap into for the trailer lights. It's located on the drivers side behind the panel where your spare tire mounts. There are all kinds of plug-in wiring kits for the basic functions, you'll have to integrate your brake controller yourself though. Here's a link to one of the many options for the basic plug-in kit: http://performance.thepartsbin.com/...odelid=149&year=1995&partid=1595&brandid=1879

All the wires were there on my 01 to connect to a 7-way plug. In looking at the wiring diagram I was able to splice in the 12V power, backup lights, brake line then used the 4-way Hoppy adapter to get all 7 wires. I got a 7-way / 4-way combination socket from e-trailer and it works great.