I have several 4 pin trailers and 2 other vehicles that tow them. I want to put a 4 pin connecter on my 2001 explorer and cost is a concern. If anyone knows why the following approach will not work please comment.

normal 4 pin wiring:
white ground
brown parking lights
yellow drivers side stop and turn
green passengers side stop and turn

The parking lights should be able to be tapped with no problem to the brown pin at the connecter.

For the ground I will tap the grounds from both of the left and right parking lights at the bulbs to the white pin on the connecter.

If I then tap into the brake light wiring on the truck with two diodes that split that signal into two wires with one leading to the yellow and one to the green on the 4 pin connecter.

Then I tap into of the vehicles drivers side turn signal wiring with a diode in line to the the yellow on the 4 pin.

Then I tap into of the vehicles passenger side turn signal wiring with a diode in line to the the green on the 4 pin.

With this wiring there can be no cross signal directed back thru the trucks electrical system.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

I've got 7 pin (blade) on 3 trucks. I carry in each truck an adapter from the 7 to 4. No extra wiring needed.
Pollak 7 Pole to 4 Way Connector Adapter Pollak Wiring PK12716

 

GLR Thanks for the reply. There are many ways to skin this cat.

The problem with that adapter is that I currently don't have a 7 pin blade connector on anything I own so I would have to install this new socket just to use this adapter.

I am going to try the following adapter to get straight to what I really need. I will post if this works for the info of others. If it doesn't work Amazon is great for dealing with returns.

 

If you don't have the factory 7 pin. I think this is the one you need

Curt Custom Fit Vehicle Wiring for Ford Explorer 2001 - C55344

 

hturner12:

Thanks for the lead. You may be right. This is all totally confusing since so many companies/products say they will work for my application and they range in price from$13.00 to $88.00. I usually try to go for the simplest and cheapest approach first and go from there. I should know by Wed. if the $13.00 one I ordered does the job or not. If it doesn't work I will send it back and try your suggestion next. Thank goodness I am not pressed for time so I can take this trial and error approach. The 6 P's. Proper planning prevents **** poor performance.

 

Etrailer is a good site for towing stuff both to buy and for reference.

 

hturner12;

Logically looking at the one you have suggested makes me skeptical that it will work. The way it hooks up I can see how it gets right and left turn signals and parking light signals but I see no way for it to get stop or 4 way signals. My stop and 4 ways operate from a different bulb/lens and use seperate wiring that can not be picked up by just 2 connectors. There would have to be at least 3 connecters and I don't know how it would prevent feed back in the truck since trailer bulbs use the same wiring to operate brake/4 way/turn filaments.

 

Go here

Trailer Wiring | etrailer.com

and select you truck when the parts list comes up, there will be notes on rt side highlughted in yellow. Scroll down till you find the exact one to use

 

hturner12:

I have been there and done that. The C55241 is the one I have on order from Amazon. None of the others will possibly work with my truck due to the wiring configuration or the plug type.

The Curt 119178KIT is not listed to fit my truck (figure that one out LOL) but will work on my truck if the C55241 doesn't. The 119178KIT is hard wired so you have to tap the existing wiring instead of plug and play. It is made to work with the exact configuration I have on my truck (if it doesn't have a tow package) and contains the diodes I was talking about in my original post to prevent feed back.

The reason I believe the C55241 will work is that I have a capped off connecter on the truck that is a mate to the one on the C55241. That connecter on the truck is (I am told) a part of the Explorers tow package and is a separate system from the lights on the truck and cannot feed back into the trucks lights. We shall see.

 

Hopefully you get the right one. Sorry could not help you anymore.

 

The one you posted in the 1st post will indeed work of that connector at the rear of your vehicle is actually getting power to those pins.

If it doesn't you will need a t connector like what the second poster mentioned that has a built in converter or just hardwire in a converter, draw tite 119130.

You can't diode it up like your first post mentioned because the brake lights will over ride your blinkers. As in, when you are turning left and then hit the brake your trailer light will no longer blink but will stay solid.

That's assuming I understood you correctly.

I've probably wired 200 Explorers and many that have that pigtail do not always have power to it. Possibly due to missing relays / fuses up front.

Joe

 

Thanks for the help. The Curt 55241 worked. I now have trailer lights and I also now know that I have the tow package on my truck.