What To Do With 7 Pin Trailer Light Assembly

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TheForger

TheForger

10 Year
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In order to tow bigger trailers I have to have a 7 pin adapter along with my 5 pin. I mounted it slightly to the left of the hitch receiver but it hangs down quite a bit and limits my ground clearance. Every time I'm trying to clear an obstacle, the body of the vehicle makes it but the trailer light assembly doesn't and it ends up getting bent and ripped to pieces. This is the 7th one I've gone through and, although only about $30, it's annoying to constantly replace these. Are there any ways to fix this such as mounting it in a different location or something? Any alternatives you could suggest? The photos below pretty well show what happens to it...
photo 1 (1).webp

photo 2 (1).webp
 
I stuck mine about 18 inches off center in the bumper. It took a2 1/2 whole to do it

My camper has plenty of umbilical cable so for me this was an easy choice
 
ArvadaLC100 said:
I stuck mine about 18 inches off center in the bumper. It took a2 1/2 whole to do it

My camper has plenty of umbilical cable so for me this was an easy choice
Click to expand...

So you cut a hole in the actual bumper to mount it?
 
Yes, I cut a hole in the bumper. I made it as close to center as the hitch would allow.

I did this without the wife watching!!

I used the mounting bracket on the back for support
 
BUMP! Any other suggestions for this? I have a BIOR rear bumper, renting a TD trailer in a few weeks to confirm we want to buy/build one, and if all goes well will be making that happen in the coming months.

I need a 7 pin connector harness. I'd like to mount it flush on the face of the bumper but that would involve another hole in the cross member. Any other thoughts or ideas appreciated!

Also any recommendations on connectors to use, looks like a bit wider price variance than I would've expected: https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Wi...tors-pt-Vehicle_End_Connector-pc-7_Blade.aspx

TIA!
 
@fireball I'm not sure who exactly said this but I read somewhere in a thread that they use a piece of velcro on their 7-pin. Whenever they don't use it the velcro strap can be used to hold the adapter behind the bumper and out of sight, but when they want to use it they just pull the adapter down and secure the velcro in a way that holds it within reach of the trailer light harness (plus a few inches of slack for turning). Get creative, an engineering degree might help:)
 
@hoser are you sure? I have never seen a hole big enough to a 7-pin adapter/plug but maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. Where exactly would it be?
 
Pic credit to Chris Sandstorm...

The large holes are a bit far from the center but there they are. For my Slee bumper, there is some space between the bumper and crossmember. I used the smaller hole to route the wiring but as I understand it, the BIOR bumper is flat up against the crossmember.

IMG0878-L.jpg
 
@hoser - that's the ticket! The bigger hole to the left of your picture can be used to snake the wiring through. The BIOR bumper does sit flush against the cross member, so I'll obviously need to drill a hole in the bumper, but will come through the existing hole in the cross member. Thanks for the photo!
 
@hoser I don't know if that will work in my case. As you can see in my photos above, the hitch receiver is blocking that cross member and it recommends that I don't drill into it as it will weaken the receiver.
 
@TheForger I'm not sure what you mean by that, your receiver is below the crossmember. The crossmember is behind the bumper cover. Try searching or PM'ing Rusty_TLC, I think he mounted his 7-pin connector through his stock bumper cover as well.
 
I've been thinking about this recently, too. I tow infrequently so I think I may just unbolt the 7 pin bracket and zip tie it up under the frame. Not super convenient but I tow less than 5x per year.
 
I needed to install a hitch to tow a trailer with a brake controller on a 2004 LX470.
Problems:
  • What hitch? (Integrated bumper ('03-'05) or bolt on?). Same price and same tow capacity, heard factory location didn't work well with bike racks (hits spare tire) many mudders preferred under mount bolt on as well, so that is what I did. Etrailer.com, draw tight ~$180
  • Where to relocate the 7-pin connector my LX came with? The hitch requires the existing location of 7-pin to change. I removed the mount. There wasn't any slack in the cable, so I couldn't go far. There was a gap between the hitch and frame and I was able to squeeze the old mount just about an inch towards the rear from where it was before. The pins on the old mount touch the plastic bumper cover. Ni used two self tapping metal screws -done. It is on top of the new hitch, so pretty well protected from scrap-age.
  • What controller and mounted where? Many mudders liked the Tekonsha Prodigy P3. Order it with the correct cable and it is plug and play ($160) - fairly easy to find controller plug in under dash just to the passenger side of the steering column behind a black, flexible airway. The controller mounted in the ash tray seemed ideal (except if you had to manually engage the trailer brake). Wife didn't like that idea and it would have been a lot more work comparatively so we will mount about knee level left of center console.
  • I will post here again if we have any "trailer feedback" which would drain the trailer battery or any other problems we experience. But for now, I got what I wanted after searching all over the forms and I'm ready to tow.
    image.webp
    image.webp
 
This mounts on the face of the hitch from etrailer.

18157_11_1000.webp
 
Keowee said:
This mounts on the face of the hitch from etrailer.

View attachment 1211434
Click to expand...

I did not have enough wire to reach the face that this mount would require. Additionally, I think the slightly relocated original mount looks better. And no separate order to pay and wait for. An option to consider for those that want to know what's possible. If someone had more wire, the mount you shared would get you closer to the actual hitch, which would be ideal... Thanks!
 
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