Wiring car to trailer

[SwissCheeseHead]

Looking to get a Curt Trailer hitch. Wondering what kind of wiring I'll need to do/tap into to get lights to the trailer. Anyone know how to do this?

[Ilya]

I was also looking into this at one point (there is a thread on here that I started) but I never got around to it. Would be good if anyone who knows would share.

[InfinitiAce]

I can't answer the wiring question, however, I do have a trailer hitch. I had a local trailer hitch company install a custom hitch. I paid about $300. The hitch is almost entirely tucked under the car and works out well. I use it to carry mountain bikes only so I do not have wiring.

[SwissCheeseHead]

I just ordered a CURT from Autoanyting. Sale price for $131. I figured I could do some more research on the wiring part, but please! If anyone knows how to tap into the taillights, I would love to do it while everything is apart!

[Ilya]

My plan was to, assuming it all worked out, use a universal harness and use the FSM to find out which wires in the back I needed...

[SwissCheeseHead]

I installed the trailer hitch yesterday. Wasn't too bad doing it by myself. Lots of plastic push pins, or whatever they're called, to disconnect. Pulling out the tail lights was a bit scary, but the rear bumper came off with generally no issues. The hitch looks great underneath. The end of the tube sits centered and generally blends in with the rear of the car. Now I just gotta get that harness wired up. Hoping the instructions are somewhat helpful. I ended up ordering CURT 59236 vehicle to trailer connector.

[Ilya]

Do a HowTo! lol

[SwissCheeseHead]

The instructions that came with the CURT hitch did a pretty good job actually. You have to remove the rear bottom tray, and trim it, remove the inner panel on the inside of the trunk where the latch goes, pull up the rear wheel well liner to access on hex nut to remove, remove a plastic trim on the insides of the taillights, undo some hex screws and push pins, pull out the tail lights, unclip the sides of the rear bumper, and then pull back. Then unbolt the rear bumper bar, and screw in the hitch with the rear bumper bar and reinstall everything

It took me about 3 hours total to get everything back together, but it would probably take me half as much time if I had to do it again, you know how that is

[Ilya]

I meant the wiring . There is actually a video on how to install the hitch somewhere on the internet.

[SwissCheeseHead]

I haven't had the energy to tackle the wiring yet. From what I've seen, you have to take out the taillight, disconnect the harness, then with a test light, test each wire for blinkers, stop, and tail. Once you find out which wire is which, you can tap that wire into the new harness. Seems pretty easy. I can try to snap pics when I have the energy to do it haha

The installed hitch looks really good though. Seems almost factory.