proper wiring harness&converter for trailer hitch on an L300

[surferboy]

Oh Hi, haven't posted on here probably since back in 09' ! glad to see that this forum is still going strong, I recognized some names from back in the days of the first wave of Delica imports !
I recently purchased a boat and trailer, and have done some research on here to see where I can get a custom hitch built in Victoria area.
Turns out that apparently, Roy Haslam at Alpine's fab shop in langford is the go to guy for a decently priced unit.
He quoted me 410$ installed and spray painted....E&H in Vancouver is same price and they are apparently the pros at it.
In order to save a buck or two as I am the cheapest bastard around I want to do the wiring harness with a friend to save an extra hour of labor at a 100$ that Alpine quoted me for them to do it.

I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer as of to what kind of wiring harness (part number?) and converter box do I need to wire this myself.
A friend of mine has done this sort of work for a living and said he could instal the harness no problem.
Glenn, at CC autos told me that the existing harness on my Delica is easy to access via the tail lights and that it should be a 20 minute job.

So I heard from Rick at E&H that what I want is a 4 to 3 converter were's Roy's guys at Alpine to me to buy a "Japanese to American trailer plug kit harness" which is a 5 to 4 converter...
Anyone here can told me exactly what I need to buy, and where would be the cheapest place to get it?

thanks for any input and if someone has a hitch already built that they want to part with for cheaper than getting a new one made, let me know!
Cheers and thanks all!
My Delica is an L300 1993 high roof, no skylights...

[marinemech]

I will let you know tomorrow, I just bought a universal Reese brand one from Cambodian tire. I will wire that in and see how it works. I can't see you needing a special adapter for a 4 pin trailer plug. All you are doing is stealing a signal from the running lights, brake lights, and each turn signal, and feeding it into the little reese control box.

Then again... it's easy, watch this... famous last words... More to follow tomorrow.

I am also looking for a trailer hitch for my delica, I'll go talk to the alpine tomorrow :)



S

1996 L300 low roof, no glass up top... also no leaks :)

[naterade]

I just did this job on the weekend - pretty easy when you have all the right parts. I went to an RV store in Calgary and told them what I was doing and they gave me all the parts I needed.

I will try to explain it as simply as I can

I assume you are wanting to end up with a 4-way plug for the boat? If not, you can convert to 7-way just as easy. I converted to a 7-way plug because that's what was on my Boler, but I did not wire brakes or charge line into it.

You will need

Length of 4-way wire
4-way plug (may include a decent length of wire)
Converter box (European to 'Domestic') which is 5 wires in, 4 wires out
Another length of single wire, to go from one side of the van to the other (left to right) (green makes it easy)
Butt connectors and splice connectors

Here's what the converter box looks like, this particular one even has the 4-way plug included




So get the taillights out and identify all the wires you need to splice into. I simply tied each wire around the wire i needed on the lights to make it easy and make sure everything was correct.

The signal lights are easy to identify, but for stop and taillights there are two green wires - solid green wire is for Stop lights, green with stripe is for taillights.

There is a ground screw/wire on the passenger (left) side of the van behind the tail lights you can use, so that's where I put the box.

You need to run the single wire over to the right side of the van for the right hand signal. You can hide the wire under the metal strip that runs the width of the van (it holds the carpet down).

Make sure you run everything behind/over/under/through the places you need, so you don't finish and realize that you've looped a wire overtop something and have to cut and re-run it.

Once you've got your wires identified and run, you can start splicing into everything. It is a pretty easy job with the right tools and the right info. The whole job took me less than an hour (and that's going to a 7-way plug, so extra steps), and it worked perfectly first try. I gave myself a pat on the back


If you have any other questions let me know

[marinemech]

Used the Reese 3 to 2 wire converter box. the right side turn signal wire was too short though, had to solder a small extension on it. Other than that, it all went well. $23 from Canadian tire.

[Big-Bird]

I did the same thing on a forum member's L400 yesterday with the same module. And the right signal wire(green) in the kit was also too short. Mounted the module inside the left panel wall and tucked the plug inside since he only tows a couple times a year. Calgary winters are hard on trailer wires...best to keep them inside the vehicle when not in use.

Now I get to do mine!