Westfalia Hitch and Wiring on a Mk7 Golf with a trailer brake controller

Mrrogers1

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2011 Golf TDI 6MT, 2011 Jetta TDI DSG, 2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI DSG
How I feel right now


Thanks for the tips!
Why the bcm plug are not identified A B C?
From the drawing it look like A is the farthest from the driver seat.

Should i install a fuse between the tapped A57 and the brake controller?

If I don't come back, it's because I tapped the wrong wire.
I love you all.
????

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740GLE

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When you ordered your bar from amazon.de, what kind of shipping were you seeing?

Looks like around 250E for the bar and about 150E for cheapest shipping, so just under $500USD to land at my door. Sounds like you were able to ship via a relative, to bring the costs down.
 

Jedadiah

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The exchange rate was better when I ordered, but I did pay them to ship it. I needed a rear diffusor that my sister shipped me. Since then, I’ve discovered one can do better through e-Acca. I updated my thread to show that.

I’ll edit this if I’m wrong, but I got the hitch and wiring shipped for like $470. I definitley wanted the factory wiring, so it wasn’t really more expensive than say an Eco hitch plus ordering the wiring from Europe for me.

One thing to note about amazon in Europe is that the price includes a 19% vat that will be removed when you choose to ship it to the US in your cart. The kit I ordered is currently listed as €419, but is really €339 plus shipping.

PFJones used to remove the VAT as well, but I think they’ve updated their Dollar pricing and no longer change the price.
 

740GLE

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PF jones price of the units isn't bad (without wiring) and easy to swallow, its their $120 shipping for a tow bar and then another $120 or so if I want a towbar mounted bike rack.

All in all PF jones is just under 800 to land it at my door, which isn't that that bad when considering any US hitch bike rack plus curt/eco hitch would be maybe a little bit less. For the time being I'm not looking at any wiring.

I'd pull the trigger if they at least offered a 1-2 week shipping for say $100 for both.

As for wiring what specifically do you gain via OEM wiring over say one of the standard US jobbies? I'm all for keeping OEM but i draw the line at a certain price.
 
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Jedadiah

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I like the that my car knows when a trailer is connected with the oem module. It adjusts the esp program and can step in to stop a trailer from swaying out of control. I’ve posted a video of it in action somewhere on this site.

The oem wiring isn’t super easy to install, but it’s nice that you don’t have to splice into anything. You run the wires, and plug everything up where it’s supposed to go.

Not as important, but I get bulb out notifications for my trailer in my mfd, and have another idiot light on my dash that lights up when I have the trailer turn signal or emergency flashers on.
 

740GLE

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pfjones has %10 for the weekend, now I gotta work on the wife that this is a must.
 

740GLE

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ordered, now i'll be figuring out the wiring, most likely will do a bypass passive module with out OEM tapping.
 

Groundhog

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2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI SEL
I just got a the same hitch and wiring for my red ‘15 so will be looking back at this post a lot- thanks for putting it up! Can you tell me the ball height with and without a full tongue load? Need to see if I’ll have trouble with my Scamp’s stance. The trailer is level at 15.5” at the inside top of the coupler ball cavity, 14 at lower lip
 

jason_

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michigan
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2015 s wagon dsg
Oem trailer wiring kit...

Part#? Forum links? Anything? I'm getting serious if my mk7 wagon and a bosal w/wiring... Coded properly.

Thanks.

I like the that my car knows when a trailer is connected with the oem module. It adjusts the esp program and can step in to stop a trailer from swaying out of control. I’ve posted a video of it in action somewhere on this site.
The oem wiring isn’t super easy to install, but it’s nice that you don’t have to splice into anything. You run the wires, and plug everything up where it’s supposed to go.
Not as important, but I get bulb out notifications for my trailer in my mfd, and have another idiot light on my dash that lights up when I have the trailer turn signal or emergency flashers on.
 

Jedadiah

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Here’s a link to the Westfalia catalog with the part numbers.
https://www.westfalia-automotive.co...h__Default_/03_WAM_Katalog_2017_GB_OP_web.pdf
My car didn’t have preliminary set up, and I assume no US cars do. MK7 starts on page 232. Saloon = hatchback. Estate = wagon. The ones labeled KIT have the hitch and the wiring.
I ordered 305 409 900 113 for my hatchback, which was the hitch and the wiring. A wagon should be 321 784 900 113 according to the catalog.
Luckily, wagon owners don’t need to replace the diffuser.
Here’s one on amazon.de. https://www.amazon.de/Westfalia-Abn...894579&sr=1-1&keywords=Westfalia+321784900113
 

jason_

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2015 s wagon dsg
Alright. Guess I'll contact and find a way to get this kit ordered! Thanks

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jason_

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2015 s wagon dsg
If this is what I need then this is dirt cheap!

For EU spec bar and dedicated wiring...

I'll assume the 7pin is not the same as American 7pin..




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740GLE

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Wait until you factor shipping in, they ship 3 day via USP, shipping was 120 for my bar.

Also I got this one for our alltrack but i opted for etrailer piggy back wiring. As that 7 euro wiring isn't the same as the US 7 pin, but you can but stand along adapters to convert a euro 7 pin to a US flat 4 pin, etrailer sells them for Discovery owners I think.

Only crappy part of the install i wasn't prepared for (i should have if i was smarter) was pulling down the heat shields around the muffler for the mounting bolts, those little effers are a pain in the butt to pop out, I'd def buy some extras in case you mangle them, also Alltrack has dual exhaust TDI does not so maybe it won't be that big of a deal.

https://www.pfjones.co.uk/volkswagen-golf-mk7-estate-2013-onwards-westfalia-detachable-towbar.html
 

jason_

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133 quoted my address, still overall dirt cheap. . Might use my work. They ship international daily.


My only concern is if I'm buying the correct hitch! There's way different selections then US stuff!

For the mk7 wagon pulls up a bunch of options. I'd like to have the setup earlier that'll accept the tesla accessory for square Reese...

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Jedadiah

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Make sure the electrics are Westfalia!

Email PF Jones and make sure you get the Westfalia wiring as they are the oem modules. In Europe the modules don’t need to be recordable, so many other manufactures aren’t.
The Westfalia modules are because they put them in cars they sell in the US and Australia. I bought a module for my ‘10 JSW that I later pulled and replaced with a Westfalia module.

The adapter listed is a euro 13 to euro 7, and not what you’ll need. Get whoever you buy the electrics from to add a trailer end (male) plug to your order, because you’ll need it to make your adapter.

The Tesla adapter is made by Bosal, but I think Bosal is out of the hitch business. IDparts may still have the Bosal hitches, but they don’t sell the wiring. . Westfalia mechanisms look just like the Bosal ones in pictures, but I’ve never seen them side by side.
 
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740GLE

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133 quoted my address, still overall dirt cheap. . Might use my work. They ship international daily.


My only concern is if I'm buying the correct hitch! There's way different selections then US stuff!

For the mk7 wagon pulls up a bunch of options. I'd like to have the setup earlier that'll accept the tesla accessory for square Reese...

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go for the link that i showed, it's the swan neck westfaila hitch, the pictures you showed was a Witter which i'm not sure has the same attachment style as a bosal/westf. I believe it will accept the bosal adapter for the tesla.

Also I'm not sure of the availability of those adapters, I haven't reached out to a tesla dealer yet to see how much they charge for the unit, no way in heck am I spending 500 as a recent listing i saw on ebay.
 

740GLE

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Email PF Jones and make sure you get the Westfalia wiring as they are the oem modules. In Europe the modules don’t need to be recordable, so many other manufactures aren’t.
The Westfalia modules are because they put them in cars they sell in the US and Australia. I bought a module for my ‘10 JSW that I later pulled and replaced with a Westfalia module.

The adapter listed is a euro 13 to euro 7, and not what you’ll need. Get whoever you buy the electrics from to add a trailer end (male) plug to your order, because you’ll need it to make your adapter.

The Tesla adapter is made by Bosal, but I think Bosal is out of the hitch business. IDparts may still have the Bosal hitches, but they don’t sell the wiring. . Westfalia mechanisms look just like the Bosal ones in pictures, but I’ve never seen them side by side.
PF jones sell a cheap piggy back system (60?) and OEM style system (150-180), obviously the OEM style system is more expensive, and a 7 pin won't have trailer brakes but the 13 pin will.
 

740GLE

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One thing I have discovered is that the Bosal Westfaila style hitches isn't designed for trailer stabilizers or Weight Distribution systems. Not that I was going to push it with anything more than a small utilty trailer or maybe a small boat.

Theres some buffoon with a Model X trying tow a 4500lb airstream with strut style WD system, it basically puts crazy amount of stress on the hitch to "connect" the trailer to the vehicle. He's complained about slop in the bosal hitch where it moves 1/8-1/2" side to side.

Also Tesla states their hitch tongue rating is 500# which seems just crazy!
 

Jedadiah

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A 13 pin Euro set up doesn’t operate Trailer brakes. If you want trailer brakes, you have to wire up a brake controller separately. Euro trailers mostly use surge brakes as far as I know. If they do have brake controllers, they must have their own separate plug that goes to the trailer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_standards_for_trailer_connectors

This link shows what the pin outputs are, and shows why you have to buy a programmable module if you want to go this route. When recoded, the brake light signal is also sent out over pins 1 and 4.
 
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740GLE

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ahh shoot, that's for correcting.
 

jason_

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michigan
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2015 s wagon dsg
Hmm this is getting involved from the wiring perspective.

My small utility trailer, I swapped it to 6 bolt dex w/brakes.

Wired with a US 7 blade.

I need the vw to also be able to utilize the 7 blade on my mini pop up.

It has 4 deep cycle batteries and brakes. My pickup I had the 12v+ going through a relay. When I killed ignition it killed the link to my trailer batteries. (long story, kids ran all 4 dead, plus the truck, besides a more clean and comfortable solution with relay solution was to just unhook trailer)

Obviously I'll need to add relay to my vw and tie into ignition somewhere, but can I have all this with only 1 plug on the vw? Some hack and wired whack?

I'm not too butt hurt needing a 13 pin. Unless I need the extra wires with the oem westfalia module so I can get resistance feedback from trailer lights, and more importantly ABS passed through to trailer axle.

My goals are

1 abs
2 bulb feed back
3 12v hot (ign relayed or not at this point)
4 when trailer detected to bcm it makes other modules aware, I believe this is the recoding that's needed to make system(s) aware there is a trailer attached.




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Jedadiah

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The Oem 13 pin will provide everything a normal US 7 blade has, and actually can do a little more, since a 13 pin actually has two 12v outs. One is hot all the time (pin 9) the other is hot with the ignition on(pin 10). When you build your 13 pin to US adapter, you can choose which one you want. I’ve never charged a battery with my set up, but don’t think it’d work differently on the Golf than on anything else.
The oem wiring as 4 separate fuses. Two power the module and the other two are for the 12v outs. If you needed more output, it wouldn’t be hard to run a sepeate line from the back of the fuse panel. This link shows what your panel will look like when you’re done. It also shows how you could add more fuses if needed. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=485095 My brake controller is fused with an inline fuse holder connected to one of these leads. It is, however completely separate from the VW wiring. It provides good proportional braking, but no abs. ABS on a trailer is not something I have experience with. With the module installed, the car has trailer esp, which acts to counteract sway leading to loss of control, but my car has no idea that my trailer has brakes.
 
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jason_

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Guess I'm throwing the carriage in front of the horse.

I'm assuming the module and 13pin harness has everything to supply high amp (within fuse limits) to the plug outlet?

And for brakes essentially its taking the 13pin and controller and splicing together a hybrid US 7 blade setup?

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Jedadiah

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All of the pins on my 7 way plug come from the Westfalia module except for one, which runs directly from my brake controller. The 12v pins on the 13 pin have 25amp fuses which are in the fuse panel. I used pin 9 from the 13 pin to power the 12v on my 7way, but honestly have only used it to power an accessory 12v plug on my trailer to charge a cell phone, so I don’t know its limitations.

In Europe a trailer, camper, etc can have power from both pin 9 and 10.
 
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jason_

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Hmm I see. Thanks for the info and clarification.

The westfalia module, does it have the relay for ignition hot 12v? Or does the vehicle? Or is that something I need to add?

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Jedadiah

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I’m not sure about any kind of relay. I just know that the module outputs 12v on two pins. You can program those outputs to only work when a trailer is attached or just be live with VCDS, so the module is doing more than just letting the voltage pass right through it.
 

Ontario

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Sportwagen
Do you have any pics of the eye bolts you added for chains? Or maybe can explain how you mounted them?

The Westfalia hitch for my Sportwagen just arrived, so Im looking for ideas on chain loops.

Thanks!
 
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