Community Forums

JSW · 07-15-2008, 08:55 AM

I am a newbie to this site.
I've recently sold my fifth wheel and purchased a 2004 Holiday Rambler Ambassador. I am having base plates installed so I can tow my 2009 Pontiac vibe. I will need to wire the toad for lights. What is the best procedure? Both my coach and the toad have yellow turn signal lights. Any help or advise would be appreciated.

John Wayne · 07-15-2008, 05:29 PM

I doubt the connector on the rear of your MH is wired for yellow turn signals it is probably a 4 or 5 plug. It may have a adapter to change it to make the brake and directional the same bulb like on a trailer.
Check the tail light bulb area on your car and see if you have room to install another bulb and socket behind the lens. Then you just need to run your wires from the front of the car to the bulbs.
If you don't have the room you will have to cut into the tail light wiring and install diodes(sp). Still running the wiring from the front of the toad to the lights in the back.
Blue Ox and the other tow bar manufacturs have kits already made up to handle this.

JSW · 07-16-2008, 05:50 AM

Thanks for your reply. I will try to find the wiring kit online. I am also checking with my local RV dealers.

My hold up is the difficulty of finding the brackets for a 2009 model. Two suppliers have promised to supply them but so far, no luck. Hurry up and wait!

sjsmith3 · 11-21-2009, 09:47 AM

JSW, I was wondering if you drilled that hole in the tail light? If you did, was there enough room for the light or did you use diodes? I don't want to use the diodes as it voids the factory warranty. Thanks. wish i could find pics on the internet but so far no luck.

FLYING BUTCH · 11-22-2009, 06:09 AM

I am in mthe process of having mine done as we speal. My RV has a single bulb taillingt and turn signal combined-the toad is a Hoinda Accord which has a seperate light for each. You can goi to Napa or most auto parts places and get a tail light conversion which will say going from a single tail light to dual bulb taillights. To make it even more difficult I want my Honda wired (going now from a dual tail light to a single-to pull my motorcycle trailer with the Honda once in awhile) so had to get the conversion from dual to single. Darn glad I have a good inexpensive mechanic to do the wireing. I called a local Blue Ox hitch installation shop and they wanted $700 to install my plates and wire just the toad!!(that is with me providing the wireing kit and the plates!!) My mechanic had the plates on in no time and said the wireing wouldn't take long now that I have the conversion kits. I fould the tow bars on E-bay at half new price and a great member on this board sold me his old plates off his Honda. I think I have saved close to $1000 so far getting the toad ready to pull. My (long) two cents

sjsmith3 · 11-23-2009, 08:00 AM

We called a friend that also has a motorhome and he said basically the same thing. We wired it ourself yesterday. Also put on the base plate ourself. The baseplate was a piece of cake. The wiring another matter. As we had to practically tear the whole car apart inside to run the wires. But... all said and done, it works great and it looks great. Can hardly tell. The only thing you can see are the pin areas on the baseplate but since they are black like my grill it blends pretty well. Oh yeah, our friend told us not to keep the pins in place as they will rust, and they are easy enough to get on and off. Also, his wife found those vinyl or plastic covers that go over the ball on a hitch and put those on the ends of where the pins go. Keeps the water out and makes it look like caps on the end that blend even more with the grill. Great idea.

sjsmith3 · 11-23-2009, 08:01 AM

Thank you Flying Butch for your reply. It confirmed what we were wondering about.

paz · 11-23-2009, 02:37 PM

The best info I have found on toad wiring is on the Roadmaster web site. Click HERE and scroll down near the bottom of the page. There is info for different combinations of separate and/or combined turn signals and brake lights. Whether you buy kits, diodes, sockets, etc. from Roadmaster or someone else, the wiring diagrams are helpful to let you know what you need.

mitch2347 · 11-23-2009, 03:44 PM

..am pulling a 2009 fit behind a 2003 dsdp and I opted to change the wires on the coach plug so that I would have the amber signal lights working on the car. (both vehicles have separate signal and tail lights like your car and coach have.
You'll have to splice into and run a separate wire from each signal light on the back of the coach to the coach plug.
The only other wires at the coach plug you will use are (1) tail lights (2) brake lights and (3) ground. (Disconnect and insulate the wires that aren't required.)
You're now left with a "five wire" plug assembly.
Buy the appropriate wire harness and adaptors ... in my case it was from 7 plug ( only using 5 plugs) on the coach to 5 plug on the car. Wire from coach to car .. and then ... make sure you match the plug connections correctly .. run the wires through the car and splice into the appropriate wires in the trunk.
You'll only have one wire for brake lights in this harness when you get to the trunk so you will have run another wire from your connection point on the first brake light across to the second brake light.
Didn't use diodes and everything works fine.
Ron

jupoa · 11-24-2009, 03:26 PM

If you check out installation instructions for the Blue OX tail light wiring kit for a 2009 Vibe, they use the cut in an extra socket and bulb method. That’s what I ordered for my 2009 Vibe GT but I haven’t installed it yet. I’m going to use a round 6 pin connector so I can also wire my US Gear auxiliary brake in with it. I’m installing the US Gear controller and matching 6 pin connector with lighting hookups into my MH now.

I didn’t use the Blue OX baseplate on my Vibe because the attachments are placed so low, down in the grill. The low vehicle attachment points would cause me to have to use a drop receiver on the MH in order to keep the tow bar close to level. I drag my tail leaving my driveway already, without a drop receiver. Instead, I built by own tow bar attachments that stick out the front of the Vibe about 5” above where the stock Blue OX would be. They don’t have removable extensions like the standard Blue OX but they only stick out a couple of inches and don’t look half bad.

Good luck with your Vibe. Let us know how it works out.

mrboyer · 11-24-2009, 05:58 PM

Check the Roadmaster web site. They have complete downloadable wiring diagrams for all types of light configurations. I have a 2009 Vibe I installed the base plate and wiring. Base plate took about 2 hours, wiring about 6. I used the double diodes to isolate the coach form the car. The directions from Roadmaster are great. Truly a do it yourself project.

jupoa · 01-31-2010, 08:33 PM

I've completed connecting my 09 Vibe GT toad to my 97 Ford 53 chassis. I used a US Gear tow brake kit, a Roadmaster Sterling tow bar with Blue Ox connection adapters, a 6 wire connector cable and a Blue Ox toad wiring kit that uses bulbs and sockets that got drilled into the existing Vibe taillight housings. I built my own tow bar baseplate for the Vibe and machined Blue Ox compatible tow bar connectors. It was a bear to install but it turned out well.

My first trip was uneventful but educational. The toad tail/brake lights which I had wired to the F53 trailer towing circuits worked no problem. The toad brake setup which I had also wired to the F53 trailer towing circuits worked as well but with interesting peculiarities. The toad brake adjustment is scaled from 0 to 10. To make the toad seem invisible brake wise, I had to adjust it down to about 1.5. I had no idea that a little 3000 lb Vibe could slow down an 18000 lb MH so quickly.

Also, the US Gear brake system feels progressive and proportional as advertised when applying the brakes. When releasing the brakes, however, as when easing up to a full stop, the toad brakes do not release gradually. They seem to stay at the maximum applied setting until the MH brakes are fully released. This makes it difficult to achieve really smooth stops when towing. It is nit picking, though, ...the system as a whole performs splendidly.

Dr4Film · 02-01-2010, 05:06 PM

I wired my Saturn using a 6 wire enclosed cable purchased from etrailer.com. I only used 5 of the wires for the lights. I installed a 6 way receptacle on the front of the Blue Ox base-plate. I used 6 Roadmaster Hy Power diodes as the additional bulb idea for my application would not work. Not enough room and the bulb would be off center from the lens which is critical. I am not worried about warranties, what can they say, besides if there were a problem in the light fixtures, I know more about them than some of those mechanics that are simply parts re-placer, but that discussion is for another thread. I also used the Roadmaster "Separate" wiring diagram as mentioned in an earlier post for the coach and the car as both had separate directional's and brake lights. I have included a wiring diagram from Roadmaster that will help wiring the receptacles correctly, for both the coach and the car. The pin labeled Open S was used for the Stop/Brake lights. Then you will need to either purchase a pre-made cable with plugs on both ends or make one yourself. I ran the cable outside of the car underneath securing it tightly with clamps. That way it eliminated tearing the inside of the car apart. Then at the road side rear wheel well I was able to partially disassemble the wheel well cover to fish the wire into the left light assembly. Then you will need to fish some of the wires over to the right light assembly. Three diodes in the left and three diodes in the right and I was done.

Good Luck!

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

chasfm11 · 02-01-2010, 06:14 PM

I did the same thing as Richard. I got a harness from e-trailer because I also put a hitch on the Vue at the same time that I was mounting the baseplate. I did a custom wiring run from the front connector on our Vue back to the e-trailer harness, fastening it along the frame with ties. I uniquely wired both ends of the 6 pin connector to carry the turn signals separately and to care the feedback light from the Brakemaster package that I installed. Now, I only have one electrical connector to hookup, along with the air line.

I thing it is a good thing to have the MH activate different bulbs for the brakes and the turn signals on the toad. It wasn't that way on our previous Saturn (which the dealer wired).