I found a class III Draw-Tight for fifty bucks the other day. I've searched and read posts and haven't been able to locate the trailer pigtail. I doubt the van had any towing option. I've looked behind the map compartment driver's side and behind the left tail light. I looked under the bumper. So far no luck. Any suggestions?

 

All the wires are right behind the side panel in the rear on drivers side...Don't really know if they had an option for a pigtail..

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll pull the whole panel and take a good look at what's behind. When I searched old threads I'm pretty sure there were a few that mentioned a panel or pigtail wired into the harness for the tow package option. I only pulled the small compartment in the map holder and felt around but didn't come up with anything.

 

Just pull the back of the panel..

 

I removed the panel again. I found the wrapped harness wiring for the tail lights but wasn't able to feel a pigtail in there. Maybe my van doesn't have one. If not I'll have to look in to other options.

 

the vans either came with the trailer wiring factory or they didn't. you'd notice if you had it, the wiring would run out side under the vehicle, and you would have an accessable fuse and relay box behind the stuff pocket on the drivers side. i have removed this set up from a van i junked and it pretty much plugs into the factory harness (minus a good sized ground wire that bolts to the frame half way up the window) and has the drivers rear tail lights and trailer wiring and the fuse box all integrated into it. i can post a picture or too if needed...

if you don't have this box, you best bet is to get a pig tail and just use scotch locks to tap into the factory wiring.

 

Thanks DC. Thought I could find a plug in from the harness but apparently not that simple. I'll look into aftermarket options. Maybe Draw-Tite has a good set up. Again thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

i wired my trailer socket into the wiring behind the driver quarter panel. just takes a volt meter. left turn, right turn and tail lights
put in a heavy duty flasher, extra bulbs draw more current.
ran the wires out through the back frame, seem like Ford put holes in for the option trailer wiring kit.

firm the back suspension up to tow especially more than 100 lbs tongue weight. makes the van far safer handling especially when that crazy comes head on in your lane.
rear air bags
rear sway bar
heavy duty shocks all 4
poly bushing on front sway bar.

good brakes on van and brakes on trailer a must have.

 

That will only work for the 1997 Aerostar (if you want trailer brake lights). Why?

The '86-96 Aeros have separate turn/brake lamps.

The '97 reverted to the older, combined turn/brake lamp.

For '86-96 non-factory-towing wiring, in order to install a standard trailer connector, a converter box is needed to combine the separate turn signal wire and brake wire into a single wire to the trailer.

(or do as I did in the '70s: make my own "converter" using four diodes. The new converter boxes don't do that, due to the forward bias voltage drop of standard diodes; I think I used Schottky diodes, but I was young and might not have.)

I don't know what the factory trailer wiring relay package looks like for my '97 (it doesn't have it), but my '89 shorty had one style, my '93 had a completely different style, neither of which seem to be what the '97 would have.

Both the '89 & '93 have "buried" fuses; (1) on the '89 for everything, and (5) for the '93.

1989 factory towing relay package
Located under the jack in LR (don't mind the twisted, yellow wire: that was what the fellow I sold it to did to it, that I had to go back and fix for him):
(click on any image for larger)


1993 factory towing relay package
Located behind access panel on left side of second- or third-row seat (I forget which):



1986-1996 taillights
Separate lamps for turn (amber) and brake/tail (red), (3) lamps total.
(click on any image for larger)


1997 taillights
Combined lamp for turn & brake/tail (all red), (2) lamps total.

 

The available "plug-in" trailer adapter harnesses available for the '97 are stupid, AFAICT.

Here's a pictorial trail of getting to the logical place to connect a harness.
(click on any image for larger)


The Hopkins, Balkamp, and Tow Ready harnesses that purport to be "plug-in" trailer harness adapters, they all look like they plug in to the back of each taillight's socket. That means you have to run run wires through the body grommet on both sides, and run a wire under the rear sill to connect the harness together.

Balkamp 7551828 (appears to be the same part as Hopkins 40655) has a reasonably clear picture:



Ridiculous. All the wires needed are right at that single chassis connector.

Well, I don't know that I can solder wires at that connector -- I can take nice pics of it, but in reality it's not in a good soldering location unless the entire interior panel is removed, and if you haven't done that job (I have), you don't know what you're missing! -- but I'm sure going to give it a try. Next week.

Right now, I'm off to the largest Auto Swap Meet on the west coast, the Portland Auto Swap Meet, "Always in April".

 

I used a harness like this one on my '97, worked like a charm, easy to install and everything can be restored to stock. I dislike the scotch lock type splices, often they work great, but I have seen the sever wire, and introduce a corrosion site, which is likely at that location.

Tow Ready Custom Fit Vehicle Wiring for Ford Aerostar 1997 - 118344

It plugs into the light connectors, right up where the tail lights themselves are. The adapters plug into the lights, and the stock harness plugs into the adapters. This gives you a system thats easy to switch back to stock, does not introduce corrosion, and looks nice and clean when installed. Its easier to get to than the stock trailer connector, which is absent on most vans that did not come with a factory tow package.

On my '97, the connector you referred to behind the interior panel isn't there, its just a solid harness, maybe they changed mid year or decided that the trailer harness connector wasn't popular, who knows. I went with the one like you pictured, it works great. My trailer uses LEDs, so the added current draw is not significant. But you might find it to be ridiculous, I found the setup to be fast and easy, no messing around with supporting the hatch and pulling the panel, and still having to feed your trailer wires through a grommet somewhere.

 

The 118344, the instructions infer (they are very "fitzall") that the harness should be fed through the body grommets, one of which I pictured above. Unless it comes with the connectors unassembled -- tough, for Weatherpac connectors -- I don't see a graceful method to get a 1.125" wide Weatherpac connector through those grommets without slitting them.

Since you have direct experience with it: does the harness route through the body grommets?

 

If those adapters use the same types of connectors that Ford uses to plug into the light sockets, you can disassemble them. If you can pull the wires out of the shells, you should be able to easily thread them through any grommet. At least the part that plugs into the light socket looks like stock, and looks like you can pull out the yellow plug and release the pins from the back side. I'm not sure about the socket side of it though.

 

Yeah, if the wires can be removed from the connector, then the whole kit makes more sense.

Still, it's hard to believe that some '97s like Khans do not have the chassis connector inside near the taillight, because otherwise you'd have to thread the sockets connectors through the body from the inside, which isn't how Ford usually does things. But if Khan's didn't have the chassis connector, I guess there were variations.

 

I don't recall having difficulty with getting the connectors through the grommets, I may have cut a slot in the grommets if memory serves me right. Then I pushed the wires through the slot, and pushed the grommet back into place. I also recall that in my instance, there was a lot of dried mud up in there, and it wasn't draining properly, so when I had the grommet out, I cleaned that out. The slotted grommet should allow it to drain now, so I don't get rot issues later.