Factory tow package question

[2ndhandyotaman]

For those of you with the factory installed/ port installed tow package, where does the electrical connection for the pigtail plug into? My rig doesn't have a factory hitch/harness. The aftermarket ones all seem to "T" into the harness behind one of the taillights. That seems a bit hoakie to me, I'd rather use a factory plug if there's already one in place somewhere on the body.

I'm also interested in hearing about which aftermarket hitches fit the best. There's no way I'm taking one from a junkyard around here in the great rust belt, not worth the risk.

 

[HiluxSurf SSR-G]

there's a trailer converter behind the left plastic panel. that's where the trailer harness connects to

 

[RS Dude]

If you wanna go the UHaul route, they will install hitch and wiring for you.

 

[96RedRunner]

My 96 has a pigtail running to left corner behind plastic, Port install.

My 01 has a pigtail running to left side between bumper and body near air vent where Toyota put a connector, Factory install.

 

[4Runner4Leon]

I just liberated an OEM harness from an '02 today, because my harness was missing the mounting bracket. As stated above, it snakes along the rear bumper, attached with some zip ties to holes in the bumper, then behind the left rear corner bumper, then through a yellow vent/hole in the left rear quarter panel to the inside, and then up along the inside of the quarter panel into the main harness. I could not find a convenient connector to disconnect, so I just cut it off as high up as I could. See below, if that helps.

 

[phattyduck]

For those of you with the factory installed/ port installed tow package, where does the electrical connection for the pigtail plug into? My rig doesn't have a factory hitch/harness. The aftermarket ones all seem to "T" into the harness behind one of the taillights. That seems a bit hoakie to me, I'd rather use a factory plug if there's already one in place somewhere on the body.

I'm also interested in hearing about which aftermarket hitches fit the best. There's no way I'm taking one from a junkyard around here in the great rust belt, not worth the risk.

The location and type of harness depends on the year of the truck. '01/'02 have it all built-in to the factory harness and it comes out the rear vent panel. My '99 was behind the left panel, my '97 parts truck had it behind the right panel and the harness drops down out of the square body plugs below the cargo area floor. Those were both port installed using plugs that go between the tail light harnesses. They are similar to the plug-n-play harnesses you can get from etrailer.com and similar retailers.

-Charlie

 

[2ndhandyotaman]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was able to get a spotless OEM hitch so now I'll figure out which light kit to use. I'm "persnickety" about using OEM parts whenever possible. I'll look around for a factory harness. If it comes down to needing something ASAP then I'll give the aftermarket unit a try.

 

[phattyduck]

FWIW, the 'factory' harnesses for the earlier trucks (port installed) are built by the same aftermarket manufacturers that are still available today (they were different by year and port, I think). Both the original one from my '99 and the one I pulled from the '97 have problems and I'll have to buy a new converter before doing any real towing...

-Charlie

 

[Pikeman]

I had the factory one on my 98 crap out and replaced it with the Hopkins one that uses the adapter to plug into factory harness. Not hokie at all. I ordered a Curt harness that does the same thing by plugging into the factory connectors and have the converter boxes as part of the harness. What is hokie is getting the ones without the plug and play and having to splice the factory harness and possibly buy an additional converter box to splice in as well.