4 wire trailer plug and play kit (1 Viewer)

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Dazed

Blue's Driver
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Sep 30, 2009
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I have no idea if anyone else has posted this or found this before, but I wanted to share.

The Hopkins 43315 ($25 from amazon, $40 from autozone) wiring kit for 1984-95 Toyota pickups and 1995-2004 Tacomas can be modified ever so slightly to work with a 60-series land cruiser. The plugs fit the LC, but the wires are in the wrong locations. Taking out the wires from the plugs isn't too hard and requires about 15 minutes of time. I used a long straight pick to lift the catches to removed the blades and receivers from the connectors. Then you need to replug in the wires into the correct locations. I did not record LC location list. However, wire colors are below. Anyway, once all of this is done, the kit is a "plug-in simple" (Hopkin's saying) for the LC and adding a four wire trailer connector requires no splicing or anything else into the factory wiring harness.

Hopkins wire///Toyota Wire///Function
Green///Green-Yellow///Right turn signal
Red///Green-White///Brakes
Yellow///Green-Black///Left Turn signal
Brown///Green///Tail lights
White///Brown///Ground
 
Awesome, thanks!
I'll be doing this when I finish my rear bumper.
 
I have no idea if anyone else has posted this or found this before, but I wanted to share.

The Hopkins 43315 ($25 from amazon, $40 from autozone) wiring kit for 1984-95 Toyota pickups and 1995-2004 Tacomas can be modified ever so slightly to work with a 60-series land cruiser. The plugs fit the LC, but the wires are in the wrong locations. Taking out the wires from the plugs isn't too hard and requires about 15 minutes of time. I used a long straight pick to lift the catches to removed the blades and receivers from the connectors. Then you need to replug in the wires into the correct locations. I did not record LC location list. However, wire colors are below. Anyway, once all of this is done, the kit is a "plug-in simple" (Hopkin's saying) for the LC and adding a four wire trailer connector requires no splicing or anything else into the factory wiring harness.

Hopkins wire///Toyota Wire///Function
Green///Green-Yellow///Right turn signal
Red///Green-White///Brakes
Yellow///Green-Black///Left Turn signal
Brown///Green///Tail lights
White///Brown///Ground

This is good information. So if I understand this, I'll unplug the wires from the plug and reinstall them to match the wires in the FJ60 plug based on the color chart you included in the post. Is this correct?
 
Never having a 60 series I can't compare the plugs on 62 series to those for the tail lights of 60 series. Do these use the same plugs? Used one of the Hopkins kit to replace the bad OEM converter in 3rd generation 4Runner.I rewired it so the converter was on the driver's side like the OEM converter. On which side does the converter go on the Tacoma kit?
 
Looking to use this "plug and play" kit but have a very basic question. Once I make the mod noted above, where do I plug it into the truck. I looked under the rear bumper area and see part of a wiring harness but not an obvious place to plug into it. Planning to rent a uhaul trailer in a few weeks to move some stuff for the first time.
 
Both plugs that come with the kit plug between your original wire harness and the rear light. So you will end up with your original wire harness plug 1 of the kit and plug 2 of the kit plugs into the rear. light fixture. You will do this for the left and the right side of the vehicle.
 
Well its been a while since I have been on MUD....

Yes, the kit plugs into the drivers side rear tail light for the primary wires (the plug with more wires) and then on the passenger side with the connector with fewer wires.

I think the 60 and 62 taillights are the same, but I am not sure.
 
I recall my 60 had one set of connecting wires on drivers side only? Could be wrong. Been a while since my dog chewed it up many moons ago. I still have the tangled mess to try and replace. This may be the answer.
Thanks Daze.
 
So I got the kit and removed the driver side tail light so far. Which connectors did you modify, the toyota ones or the Hopkins ones? The toyota wires are different colors on each side of the stock connector so it's a bit more confusing than I imagined. Did you remove just the wire from the connector or each connector from the plastic housing?
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1435374123.800380.jpg
 
I changed both of the Hopkins connectors to match the Toyota connectors.

60 Driver’s side harness plug
5/3/1
6/4/2

This view is looking at the “connector” side. You’ll need to remove the connectors from both of the Hopkins plugs to match this pattern.

1 = tail light; 2 = brake light; 3 = Left turn signal; 4 = Ground; 5 = Back up light; 6 = not used

60 Passenger’s side harness plug
5/3/1
6/4/2

This view is looking at the “connector” side. You’ll need to remove the connectors from both of the Hopkins plugs to match this pattern.

1 = tail light; 2 = brake light; 3 = Right turn signal; 4 = Ground; 5 = Back up light; 6 = not used

You’ll only need to remove 2 connectors on the passenger side connector.
The Hopkins plug has the green wire at position 1. You’ll need to change/swap the right turn signal connector from position 1 to position 3 and the black wire that is in position 3 to position 1. All of the other wires are black and none of them will need to be changed.

On a traditional 4 flat wire harness, the brown wire is for brake and tail light. The Hopkins harness uses the brown wire for the tail lights and the green and brown wires for the brake lights.

Good Luck.
 
You take apart the hopkins connectors. The LC stays totally stock.

Also, I got the connector apart using a long, fine pick.
 
Huge thanks to @Dazed and @JamesR I was able to get this all installed and all my lights still work so I guess I can assume the trailer lights will now work when I plug it in. Don't know what I would do without MUD! :beer:

Just a quick note for anyone else who tries this mod, it was important to remove the yellow inserts in the connectors before I was able to use tweezers to unclip the individual wire terminals. The yellow connectors easily go back in after reorganizing the wires.
 
It's this better than soldering directly into the harness using "Tee" type solder connections then heat shrinking?

I need to redo mine where they used stupid little wire taps. The plug and play appears to add an extra layer of failure points no?
 
Thanks, and good info, OP! A PO has already made a mess of my cruisier's trailer wiring, but I'm going to set it right with one of these.
 
What a job this turned out to be! Helps to be an EE. :smokin:

First: Hopkins quality is crap. I found 3 loose or nearly cut-through wires at the crimped lugs that I had to fix. I soldered them all to make sure they last. I used a dental pick and/or an exacto knife to remove the yellow inserts and the wire terminals.

I had to remove the previous trailer wiring, and it was a bleeping mess. The brake and tail circuits were shorted together on one side (I had wondered why my brake/tail lights didn't seem very bright, and now they are blazing. This short in the previous wiring was the culprit). The spider monkey that did the old wiring had cut and twisted pigtails to the stock taillight wiring on both sides that I had to fix, solder, and heat shrink. I had to cut thru a mile of nasty old black tape. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his balls.

It is pretty easy to run all the wires under the truck (I dropped the spare) in the factory wire tabs, and zip-tie them to the existing wires. I zip tied the black box to a gas tank strap, and there is a stock 10mm ground screw right under the center of the rear bumper that is handy for the ground. I also shortened this wire by half, and soldered a quality ring lug on there to go under the ground screw. I did clean the frame, screw, and existing ground ring well, then smeared it up good with dielectric grease after snugging it down.

Also, to properly run the wires thru the grommets where they enter the body underneath, you'll have to cut the Hopkins wires (just the yellow, brown, green, and red that go to the converter device) a few inches from the connectors so you can run them thru the grommet on each side like they should be. I also shortened them by about 2-3 feet on each end (they are way too long), then spliced, soldered, and used heat-shrink tubing to properly reconnect the connectors.

Finally I was able to sort out the plugs and move the wires to the correct places in the connector. I was unable to do this with the info above (sorry, it isn't clear) so I looked up the colors in the FSM, pulled out the good ol' Fluke, and quickly had the wires in the right place. You only need 5 wires on each side so I discarded 2 of the black wires.

Tested it out, put the lights back in, and cleaned up. Works well! Took a couple hours but I'm glad I did it RIGHT. :cheers:
 
Anyway for FJ 60 a few pics of what it looks like AFTER you move the wires in the connectors (driver's side shown):
P1000962_zpsy9ckz0fx.jpg


P1000963_zpstvnzoicq.jpg


P1000961_zpsdhiy0zea.jpg


P1000960_zps6mpvkdaz.jpg


Driver's side connector picks up tail, brake, and left turn. So it has 3 pigtails to the black box. This pic is before I cut the 3 wires just after the wrap so I could route thru the grommet and trim the excess length. If you don't do this the grommet won't seal. I suppose you could slot the grommet, but I'd rather not. YMMV. If you have good solder equipment and shrink tube its very easy if a bit time consuming. I do not use crimp connectors if I can help it.

PS. Pass side only picks up right turn signal , so one wire. It goes to the tab side center slot of the connectors. The other 4 wires feed straight thru.
Note: On either R or L side connector, the center slot on tab (latch) side is the turn signal for that side.
 
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