Guys,


Newbie here to trailers...

I need someone to kindly help me with the installation of a 7 pin blade plug on a 1997 F150 with the OEM 4 pin plug. I know that the easiest way is to match up the colors.. but I have three wires left over that I have no clue where they should go.

I have searched online and almost all the DIY writeups just tell me that "this orange wire is AUX and this other one is 12v hot and this other one is for the brakes..:

I know this.. I need to know WHERE to connect the AUX, 12VHOT and BRAKES to.. Is there a wire or fuse I need to run these to?

Thank you for your pacience on the newbie question and for your overall help in advance!!!

 

I went to Northern Tool. They had a connector with a bumper mount bracket that had both a 7 pin and 4 pin connector on it. On the back it had a place to plug the existing 4 pin plug and it had the 3 additional wires hanging off of it so you can add a brake controller. This kept me from having to cut any wires or figure out which wire went where. It also gives me a 4 pin connector so I don't need an adapater for my boat trailer.

 

I just got that plug..

Can you tell me where you connected those three wires to?

Thanks!

 

those wires go to connections you have to make. for the 12 volt hot, run a wire from the battery to a maxi fuse or circuit breaker, then to the back of the truck.
for the brake wire, you will need to run a wire from the brake controller.
and the aux power is usually tapped into a switched power source, then run to the back . you will need to add and run these wires down the frame.

 

Have you thought about going to a salvage yard and get a 7 pin pig tail that plugs into your p/up wiring. I think there are 2 plugs under the bed just behind the back bumper (at least there is on '97 F-250 and F-350's) that your 4 pin plugs into. I think you can unplug the 4 pin and plug in the 7 pin. You might check with your Ford dealer, or the RV dealer that sold you the trailer. They should have the correct pig tails and it seems to me that I have seen them at a NAPA store. All these folks should be able to give you some advise on what you need to do.

 

E Trailers .com has all the wiring connectors you need. Like stated above the wires are there but you need the correct connectors to make it work.Most trucks have all the wires run to the rear but you need an adapter to make the 7 pin work. The 3 you have are
1- 12 volt power
2- Back-up lights
3-Trailer brakes
The other 4 are
4- Left turn
5-Right turn
6-Tail lights
7-Ground

 

To save a little time and money....I got a 7/4 pin combo plug from my Ford dealer for $46 that plugged right into the existing wiring. I had just the 4 pin previously on my 03, and it was as simple as swapping them out.

JJ

 

The wiring is already there; all you have to do is find it. DO NOT run a wire all the way to the cab, that's not needed. The wiring will be in the left wheel-well. Find the major harness coming from the engine compartment, then find the plug where that harness connects to the rear light harnesses. You will see three wires that have no matching out wires on the rear-harness side. Those are the three you need to tap to

 

The wiring goes this way:
pin #1 is the White wire = ground or common.
pin #2 is the Blue wire = brake control
pin #3 is the green wire = tail lights,marker lights & license plate light
pin #4 is the Black wire = battery charge to trailer
pin #5 is the red wire = stop/left turn signal
pin #6 is the brown wire = stop/right turn signal
pin #7 is the yellow wire = extra aux circuit power
Plug connectors normally have the pin number and the wire color molded in to them next to each connectrion point but can be fun to read.

 

Hi all,
Stormyrider's wiring code for a 7 pin trailer connector (listed above) does not work for a 1999 F250 Heavy Half Tonne 4x4. Perhaps his code is based on wiring for a super duty or Ford changed the trailer wire colours in year 2000. I have a 1999 F250 (HEAVY HALF TONNE) and followed Stormyrider's last email to connect my 7 pin connector. I should've verified the code with a test light as I was doing this, but like a dummy, did not (my test light ground had rusted out and I didn't have time to get a new one or the material to clean the old one). At any rate, I quickly discovered the code stamped on the connector and described in Stormyrider's last post to be way off for my truck. Again, this code might work for Stormyrider's truck, which might be a superduty (or Ford changed the wire colours to match the 7 pin connector in year 2000), but does not work on my truck, which is the 1999 F250 heavy half tonne. I'm ASSUMING that the trailer wiring for the 1999 F150 is the same as that for the 1999 F250 heavy half, but I am unsure. To save yourself some time, make sure you verify this with a test light before you fasten the connector. At any rate, here is the correct trailer wiring colour code for my 1999 F250 heavy half tonne, using the stamped numbers and colour codes on the 7 pin plug, referenced to the colour of the wire from the truck that should attach to the respective pin:

Pin 1/White attaches to the white wire = ground
Pin 2/Blue attaches to the blue wire = brake control
Pin 3/Green attaches to the brown wire with white stripe = running lights
Pin 4/Black attaches to the orange wire = battery charge to trailer
Pin 5/Red attaches to the yellow wire = left turn signal/brakes
Pin 6/Brown attaches to the green wire = right turn signal/brakes
Pin 7 (centre of plug) attaches to the black wire with the green stripe = backup lights

Hope this helps someone!

Cheers,
T.R.

 

I have a 7 pin connection question also. I bought a 4 flat, 7 round connector and installed it tongiht, but I was unable to find the existing wire to hook my reverse cable into. The purple wire on the connection is listed as the reverse cable. At some point in the past a previous owner had a brake controller and either 6 or 7 pin connection installed, but the only thing left was the wires, I used most of what was there, but apparently the reverse and auxillary hookups went somewhere else. There is an after market switch on my dash board that controls nothing, the wires are run into the engine and hooked to the battery, but really don't do anything else. I have a '95 F-150 so there is not an easy 'plug and play' connection in the rear, I have to work for it I guess! Any help would be great.

 

to solve this: I bought a wiring harness from eTrailers.com to fit my F150. it plugged in-line... (behind the left wheel, in the frame rail). and the 7 pin connector simply attached to the bottom of the bumper with the bracket. took all of 5 minutes. the kit also came with the necessary relays and fuses.

no matching of wires, cutting, soldering, butt connectors - truly a plug and play.

oh, and I kept the original flat 4 connector.


why make it hard?? it ain't rocket science!

 

I wish I had it easy too, but alas, it ain't so. So today I took off my driver's side rear light assembly, found the reverse light wires and used a quick splice to hook into it, then completed the 12 volt auxillary line that was installed by someone else in the past, but half removed after that. Fun, fun, but tonight on my way home I stopped by my friend's house and checked out my newly reinstalled RV hook ups. I'm happy to report that everything worked just the way it should, so I guess I did alright for my first trailer connection install.

 

Not trying to resurrect this old thread but found some extremely helpful info and a video specifically answering the "how-to" in this situation.

The video shows the location of the wiring harness plug, the in-cab plug for the brake adapter and where the fuse(s) go in the fuse box.

Ford Replacement OEM Tow Package Wiring Harness, 7-Way Tow Ready Custom Fit Vehicle Wiring 118242

Hope someone finds it helpful.

 

TBuddy,
It appears that your wiring diagram as noted is just the same as Stormyriders except # 7 pin being aux vs rear back up (which could probably be considered the same) and have no bearing on driving. What happened when you plugged it in before testing as you indicated? You don't indicate what the result was?
Based on both of these diagrams, you should have been able to just drive off.
What am I missing?
Thanks.