Trailer Wiring Harness Installation - 2010 Toyota RAV4
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How to Install a Trailer Wiring Harness on a 2010 Toyota RAV4
Today on this 2010 Toyota RAV4 we are going to install part number 118412 from Tow Ready. The first thing we need to do is get into the back of the vehicle so we can get access to our tail light harness. To begin our install we are going to have to remove some interior panels. We can fold this up out of the way. Now we want to get to this rear threshold and we want to remove that because we will be running a wire all the way across. We will use a trim panel tool to remove the rivets. Lets remove this access cover and next we need to remove this whole panel. We do not actually have to remove it but what we are going to do is pull it out so it is easier to slip the wires from back here out the other side. We need to remove this tie down point and this screw. Pop it loose. We are going to leave that alone for now and go over to the passenger side and do the same thing again. 01:14
We are going to lay out our harness. We are going to point out that the yellow and brown are going to the left side of the vehicle and the red and green will go to the right side of the vehicle. We will start with the left side. What we are going to do is take the wire harness and the module and we are going to tuck it in the access hole for now. Leave the 4-pole wire harness hanging out. We are going to make our connection to the tail light assembly with this part of the T-One Connector with the yellow and brown wires. Our connection point is back up in here into the back of the tail light itself. You want to take it apart, there is a little tab that you have to feel for and push down on it and it comes apart. You should have a matching end like that. This part here will go back into the tail light. 02:06
Next we are going to take the part with the red and green wires and we are going to push it behind the plastic and pull it out from the bottom. We are going to take our wire and run it all the way across then slip it behind the plastic again. Pull it out the opening of the access panel and one more time we will go in behind the tail light itself and pull out the plug. When we have got our connections made we will reinstall the side interior panels and pop those back into place and reattach the screw and the tie down point. Put the access panel back together too. We will reinstall the threshold and the panel. The wires are just basically going to hide back there and it will be perfectly fine. Lets push it all back down. The next part we will deal with is the actual ground. That will be the white wire with the ring terminal and there is a body assembly bolt back up in here that we can use for a good ground. If we have to we can just peel back the wire a little bit to get the room we need. We will pull the module out and find a place to secure it and on the other side of this plastic is a good spot we can adhere the module to. Tuck those out of the way and that will be just fine. One more wire we need to worry about is the red wire coming out of the module and the red wire has to have a constant 12 volt power supply. We have to connect this up to the battery itself. It is not a good idea to hook up to a 12 volt power supply back here. Basically the module could use more current than what this circuit is designed for. If you pull too much current through this outlet chances are it could damage the wire harness. 04:34
We will run the black wire that comes with the kit up to the battery. What I think we will do is pop out this grommet right back behind here, poke a hole through this rubber grommet. We are going to use a pocket knife and make a slit in it. It is kind of thick in the middle so we will take a few tries at it. Give it a quick test fit and that will work just fine. We are going to take our wire and run it through the hole and then pull it out the bottom and take up all the slack. We have got our grommet still on here so push it down and push it back into place. With the two wires we are going to connect the two together using the supplied butt connector. Just tuck that out of the way too. The next thing we will do is route our wire up to the battery. What we did is we came down from the inside of the body work and just follow the factory wiring harness. Then there is a tube of the subframe assembly for the suspension components we just push it right down the tube. It came all the way out down here and came out above the gas tank and behind the shield and then we are up to the front suspension components and we just push the rest of the wire up into the engine compartment and from there we will reach down and pull the wires out. 06:21
When we pull the wires up make sure it is not dragging against anything that will be moving like the suspension components or steering linkage. Pull it up the way we want it and then we will probably tie it off to the factory harness right here. Next we will route this wire any way we see fit and we will run over to the positive side of the battery. We will cut our wire to the length that we want. Then on to that we will add the fuse holder which is this part right here. All we have got to do is cut the wire in half and we are going to install a butt connector on one side and a ring terminal on the other. Go back to the black wire. We are going to add it to the positive terminal right here. We can use this nut right here on this post and it will work just fine. Next we will remove our negative terminal before we work on our battery that way we do not get any unwanted sparks. Add a ring terminal to the positive side and then tighten it back down. Slip the cover back into place and then we will reattach the ground terminal. Lets add the fuse to the fuse holder and then we will be done with our install. Now we have got our wire harness ready and we will show you how to use it. Since it is on the inside what you need to do is just pull it out just a little bit and we can shut our door on it. The door seal is so thick that it will not hurt the wire when you close the door on it. At that point you can still pull out what you need to reach your trailer wiring. When we are not using it we can hide the whole harness inside the access panel. It is safe and out of the way and you do not have to worry about it sitting outside and getting corroded in the elements. With that, that will finish our install of part number 118412 from Tow Ready.
Info for this part was:
Test Fit:
Joe V
Test Fit:
Rick A
Video Edited:
Zack K
Video Edited:
Andrew K
Video Edited:
Joshua S
Video Edited:
Kathleen M
Video Edited:
Mike H
Installed by:
Cole B
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Ed N.
1/30/2015
A series of stills keyed to various parts of the install would have been helpful too.