Wiring a 2009 Scion xB to Tow an Aspen Trailer with 6-Way Connector and Separate Turn/Brake Lights  

Question:

Expert Reply:

First, you will need to add a 4-Way trailer wiring harness on the 2009 Scion xB. You can use # 118468, that you have referenced. The rest of the installation will require a little hardwiring since trailers towed by passenger vehicles normally have combined stop and turn signals.

What you will need to do is cut off the 4-Way plug after installing the wiring harness on the vehicle. This will leave you with a white wire, a brown wire, a green wire, and a yellow wire. You will need to use an additional converter, # 118158, to separate out the turn signals and brake light signals.

The reason you are using 2 converters is because if you ever wanted to tow a trailer that required a regular 4-Way, you could with only slight modification to the set up.

Attach yellow to yellow, green to green, and white to white. The brown wire will bypass this second converter. You will then need to attach the wires to a 6-Way, # HM48420. You will need to install the wires to match how your trailer 6-Way is wired. The red wire is for brake lights, the green wire is for right turn signal, the yellow is for left turn signal. You will need to add some 10 gauge wire to the ground location in the back of the 6-Way and attach the other end to the vehicle frame.

In the event that a motorcycle trailer does not physically fit in a traditional 6-Way round, you could always get a motorcycle end 6-Way (like you have on your bike) and hardwire it as explained here.

To install the brake controller, you will need to attach a length of # 10-1-1 wire (about 25 feet) to the appropriate location on the 6-Way, route the other end under the vehicle, avoiding areas that may pinch or burn the wire, then route it into the engine compartment and through the firewall into the cab of the vehicle.

This wire will attach to the output wire on your brake controller. The brake controller should also have a ground wire which will need to attach to the negative battery terminal, a power wire that will attach to the positive battery terminal via a 20-amp circuit breaker, # PK54520, and an input wire that will attach to the cold side of the brake switch. use leftover 10-1-1 wire for the ground and power wire connections.

On the brake switch, use a circuit tester like # PTW2993 to find the wire that only shows a signal when the brake pedal is pressed.

This custom installation should be all that you need to make everything work together.

expert reply by: Michael H

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