I’m trying to add a trailer hitch to my 2008 Jeep Liberty. I have the actual hitch part, but I can’t seem to find the part that lets me hook up a 4 pin connector to the wiring. Does anyone have any suggestions?
It is likely a harness that goes from the tail lights. That’s the way my 07 Wrangler is.
They sell at parts stores, Walmart, Harbor Freight, etc. Pretty generic part.
There may be an OEM one that plugs into a single connector on the car side to simplify installation, not sure on a Jeep.
All I can find there is stuff that converts from 7 pin to 4 pin, or vice versa. Nothing that lets me install a brand new port to plug in
I bought one a few months ago at O’Rielly’s It was desinged to be bumper mounted on a bracket, but I cut a hole and mounted it in the bumper proper. It has both 4 pin and 7 pin connectors and connected directly to the OEM harness in my truck. They had a selection, as does Amazon and other auto parts places.
Yeah it looks like it. Just looked. I want to say that’s who I bought my Jetta hitch from. Fixing to buy a hitch and factory connector compatible light controller from them for our new car.
They are great. I’ve bought misc for my car trailer and more.
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Can’t argue with $1k less than a factory hitch. The one thing I want have is a transmission fluid cooler but I guess I could add that myself too.
Do you flat tow your car behind an motor home?
No. A motor home is the last thing I need! I just remember when we added a factory tow package to our last Pilot it included a transmission fluid cooler. I assumed (perhaps naively) that it was a good idea.
Yes! Most ‘trailer towing’ options on vehicles include a heat exchanger for the transmission fluid, among other ‘upgrades’ depending on the vehicle being ordered. A stacked plate cooler with A/N fittings is the better non leaking way to go for a cooler.
Ordering a vehicle built to tow is much different than adding brake controller and 7 pin receptacle.
Your question seems incomplete unless I missed something. If you have the trailer side (male) connector, but not the car side (female) of the connector then that means you would have to splice into the pos, neg, signal, and stop wires of your tail lights with the wires of the female side connector . So look on Amazon and purchase a 4 pin trailer connector that matches what you have. The flat 4 way connector is very common, I wonder what you’re working with that you cant find its mate.
Kinda seems like U-Haul hit this one better than e-Trailer…
How to install this little gem
Curt 56334
Which etrailer sells
https://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/CURT/C59236.html
but doesn’t seem to pull up when using their interface to search for Jeep Liberty 2008 in any order or by inputting same into filters.
That only returns this
https://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/CURT/C59236.html
(interesting. I fouled up and put the same URL…now, etrailer serves up that Curt part every time I search it…
)
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I ended up getting this from AutoZone. My brief research show that this should do the same thing. But because my car is so small and has such a low towing capacity, I’ll only need the four pin, not all the other connectors. Anyone care to correct me on that if I’m wrong? (Editor’s note: this is not sarcastic. Zach knows relatively little about cars, and is always welcome to be corrected so he can learn more)
Correct. You are not only limited by that but also the frontal area of what you are towing.
Take for instance my Jeep as a towing cap of 3500lb but a towing face area capacity of like like 40 sq ft(Not sure if that’s the right number but not too far off)
I’m not sure what you mean by “all the other connectors”.
That kit is a diode pack feeding a 4 pin. This allows vehicles with separate turn signals to drive trailers (which use single bulb turn/stop lamps) without backfeed issues. If I understand the wiring on the 2008 Jeep Liberty, it uses seperate stop and turn signals, so the diode pack is definitely something you’ll want.
Suggestion:
do NOT use those scotchlocks.
They work fine at first, and they’re easy, but they WILL fail, and likely take your vehicle wiring out with it. You don’t want your stop lamps to quit on you (or any of those lights in the back; they’re important). Something like this is a better plan…
You dont need a round 7 blade/pin connector unless you’re wiring in electric brake controls. What you bought is a kit with light controller that will will plug into your trailer but is needing a connector that will plug into your car.
The questions I wonder are:
Is your trailer already wired to accept this connector?
Is your car already wired ready to accept a connector?
If yes, then it looks like you need to now purchase a flat 4 pin trailer / vehicle harness.
Google 4 pin flat trailer harness connector so you can look and see what would fit best for your application (this is depending on if or what type of connector is already in the car).
If your car is not wired for towing, then you would need the male and female 4 way harness. One side will be connected to your controller wires, the other side would get spliced into your vehicles tail lights. The ground wire from the controller needs to go to the trailer frame.
I have rewired my tow dolly and installed electric brakes so I use the 7 blade round connector as well as the 4 pin flat connectors to connect to the lights of my RV. If you have any questions with your set up let me know. The only complication I see for you is identifying the signal wires at your vehicle tail lights. You can see if Sam can get you a wiring diagram for your car.
Hey, I thought I wired everything up correctly, but apparently I did not. Who is this Sam and you know where I can find the wiring diagram / how I can identify the correct wires?
Can you come by makerspace tonight?
I should be there around 9 and can help you out.
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