How to Wire a 6-Way Trailer Connector to a Chevy Astro Van  

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Expert Reply:

I really need to know the year of your Chevy Astro to determine the best way to install the trailer connector to the van's wiring. The Astro was produced from 1985 to 2005 so that is a big range.

I can tell you that the likely functions of the wires are red or black for 12 volt power, white for ground, brown for running lights, yellow for left turn signal/brake lights, and green for right turn signal/brake lights, and red or black (whichever is not 12 volt power) for trailer brakes. But I cannot be sure of that either.

I have included a link that has diagrams of various vehicle and trailer side connectors that might also help. To find the correct wires on the vehicle you can use a circuit tester such as # PTW2993. You would have someone sit in the van and go through each light function while you test the wires at the back to determine the functions.

The problem I think you are going to run into is that all years of the Chevy Astro had combined wiring. This means that the brake lights and turn signals are on the same wire on each side. If you need to have separate signals (if the trailer has separate amber turn signals from the red brake lights) then you would need to first attach converter # 118158.

On the input side of the converter the white wire is ground, the yellow wire goes to the combined left turn/brake light wire and the green goes to the combined right turn/brake light wire. On the output side the red wire is brake lights only, yellow is left turn only, and green is right turn only.

To get the 12 volt circuit to work you would have to manually run a wire, # 12-1-1, from the back of the vehicle to the front and attach it first to a 40 amp circuit breaker, # PK54540, and then from the breaker to the positive battery terminal. The wire is sold in 1 foot lengths so if you needed 20 feet you would put 20 in the quantity box.

expert reply by: Michael H

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