Show what you tow!

[Mozambiquer]

just scotchlock it into the wires, kit even comes with enough to do the job
they're interior to the car so it isn't like scotchlocks are going to fail like they do when used in the wet

you and the guy pulling the spare tire out before it hits the crusher are the only people that'll ever know you did such a "terrible hack job"

No no no! Scotch locks are from the devil!
I've seen SOO many problems caused by hack jobs using scotch locks. Yes, they are easy, but they cause more problems than they solve. A stitch in time saves nine.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

No no no! Scotch locks are from the devil!
I've seen SOO many problems caused by hack jobs using scotch locks. Yes, they are easy, but they cause more problems than they solve. A stitch in time saves nine.

so you recommend doing?...

 

[J.P.]

Here's what I've towed. This is a Brenderup horse trailer and probably weighed 3,500lbs loaded for this trip. I bought it with a rotted out floor and rebuilt it. The Brenderup is a euro design, brought to the states for a while, but no longer. It has radial tires, shock absorbers on all 4 wheels, hydraulic surge brakes, and a very cool hand brake like the e-brakes in our cars. Pull the hand brake on the tongue, unhook from the tow vehicle, and you are set! The floor is 1" thick baltic birch and part of the "unibody" design of the trailer. I'm told the ride in this trailer is much smoother and nicer for the horse than the US-style trailers.

In the horse world here, these are either adored or despised. Adored by those who like that they can tow their horse with their Honda Pilot (or B5.5 wagon!) or similar. Despised by those who believe that for safety your tow rig and horse trailer should outweigh most everything else on the road. We get some interesting looks when we show up at an event.

My wife went to a seminar on towing horses, and the presenter was adamant about big heavy tow vehicles. Not willing to take that as a final answer I researched what people do in Europe. This style is the industry standard over there. Go figure......

 

[oilhammer]

And I take it horses weigh the same in Europe as they do here. Or do they have Metric horses?

 

[SilverGhost]

so you recommend doing?...

Most of the MkIV cars have extra plugs in the back of the tail lamp assembly you can simply plug wires into. No need to cut into already problematic factory wiring

Later cars actually have similar wiring available at Etrailer to what you can get for most pick ups and domestic SUVs. Co-worker had a 18 Passat this way and currently drives 17 GTI. Both just unplug tail lamp connectors and plug in the adapators.

Jason

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Most of the MkIV cars have extra plugs in the back of the tail lamp assembly you can simply plug wires into. No need to cut into already problematic factory wiring

Later cars actually have similar wiring available at Etrailer to what you can get for most pick ups and domestic SUVs. Co-worker had a 18 Passat this way and currently drives 17 GTI. Both just unplug tail lamp connectors and plug in the adapators.

Jason

ok, i haven't heard of that yet. I know my last one didn't. ill take a look today, Thank you!

 

[jmodge]

ok, to make sure i understand correctly the one in the golf plugs into the taillight wires and the cigarette lighter?
that sounds nice.
The two I am looking at are this one or this one, but a cigarette lighter one sounds nice (if my understanding was correct).

I've got one of those two in my Jetta. I can look Friday. I don't recall, but I think there was a 12v supply back there already and the light signals all came off the pinouts on the back of the lamp socket cluster. No need to splice anything as far as the lights themselves go. Roughly 3 years with no problems

 

[Mozambiquer]

so you recommend doing?...

@SilverGhost already said the best way, second best would be, if you have to splice wires, use solder and heat shrink or heat shrink connectors.

 

[[486]]

No no no! Scotch locks are from the devil!
I've seen SOO many problems caused by hack jobs using scotch locks. Yes, they are easy, but they cause more problems than they solve. A stitch in time saves nine.

Oh noes, my trailer lights have stopped working, better reach in there and yank the wires until one makes them work or comes apart
oh god no the humanity
End of the world, five minutes of manipulation in decades of service, unacceptable.

fairly oftentimes, one or both of the lights are smashed off the trailer anyways

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Oh noes, my trailer lights have stopped working, better reach in there and yank the wires until one makes them work or comes apart
oh god no the humanity
End of the world, five minutes of manipulation in decades of service, unacceptable.

fairly oftentimes, one or both of the lights are smashed off the trailer anyways

. What trailer lights? I don't even have any of those...just got a new kit so that i can have them though. I've driven my trailer without lights for 2yrs now (lights busted). The live stock trailers been going on 6 years with no lights (just don't drive at night lol).

@SilverGhost already said the best way, second best would be, if you have to splice wires, use solder and heat shrink or heat shrink connectors.

ok, ya I'll probably do what SilverGhost said that but if the kit comes with a sketchier method I might do that for ease. If the sketchy method gets messed up I can always solder in the wire. Ill look for the connecter that might already be back by the lights.

Thank you all!!

 

[Mozambiquer]

Oh noes, my trailer lights have stopped working, better reach in there and yank the wires until one makes them work or comes apart
oh god no the humanity
End of the world, five minutes of manipulation in decades of service, unacceptable.

fairly oftentimes, one or both of the lights are smashed off the trailer anyways

Worst case scenario, it only starts your car on fire... I've seen too many that wires are burnt or corroded, and I've dealt with too many electrical issues that were directly caused by scotch locks. Yes, they're easy, but they are very risky and not worth it in the long run, in my opinion.

 

[3L3M3NT]

so you recommend doing?...

This link should help explain things a little bit better. MKIV Trailer Wiring
Here are all of the repair wires and connectors you should need.
Repair Wire 000 979 133 E
Repair Wire 000 979 131 A
3-Pin Connector
1 Pin Connector

Then this is the converter I used. https://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit...gen/Golf/2004/C59236.html?vehicleid=200438634
You might be able to find a cheaper option out there, since I don't remember paying that much for my converter.

 

[J.P.]

And I take it horses weigh the same in Europe as they do here. Or do they have Metric horses?

Good one! I'm sure they are metric over there This trailer is for tall horses as my daughter's horse is big. I'm not sure how I would feel about towing 2 big horses in there behind the b5.5. What would your max be for towing with a b5.5 equipped with a 6 spd?

 

[J.P.]

Worst case scenario, it only starts your car on fire... I've seen too many that wires are burnt or corroded, and I've dealt with too many electrical issues that were directly caused by scotch locks. Yes, they're easy, but they are very risky and not worth it in the long run, in my opinion.

I will 2nd the problems with scotch locks. My b5.5 has them and my left turn blinker will blink 5x speed half the time (which probably means the trailer is not lighting up.). Sometimes it changes from regular to fast and back while I'm sitting waiting to make a left turn. Unnerving.....

 

[oilhammer]

I think the hitch itself would be my limiting factor.

 

[J.P.]

I think the hitch itself would be my limiting factor.

OK. I think I have that covered well. I designed a hitch out of square tube and angle iron that uses all the stock mounting points for the rear bumper shocks (3 big bolts with 2 contact points each on both sides). Matt Whitbread did the welding, and milled the bumper shocks to allow them to remain and support the bumper with the angle iron bolted in. The hitch has a 2" square receiver cut through the bottom of the rear bumper valence so I can use a bike carrier or a tow ball.

 

[burpod]

this past year so i've been getting TONS and TONS of free compost, and mulch, from the town dump for some big landscaping projects. after pushing my dinky 2000lb hardware well past it's limits, i upgraded the axle and springs to 3500lb and real 5lug 22" radials. so much better. just about 3000lb payload each time (they have a scale and was able to weigh myself once).

5x8 bed about 20" tall. fits quite a bit! over 2 cubic yards

 

[GlowBugTDI]

i looked and the back of my taillights don't have plug ins for a trailer kit . Now I have to figure out my wires and make something up to wire in to the system. looks like I'll have to cut in a few places, or find a way to strip back some of the rubber coating in a couple areas to add in the light system.

 

[jmodge]

i looked and the back of my taillights don't have plug ins for a trailer kit . Now I have to figure out my wires and make something up to wire in to the system. looks like I'll have to cut in a few places, or find a way to strip back some of the rubber coating in a couple areas to add in the light system.

You’re Beetle doesn’t have that cross shaped bulb fixture with the spade terminals to tie into like the Jetta?

 

[oilhammer]

New Beetles have a completely different arrangement than the G/J. I guess Volkswagen never really thought anyone would tow with one.

I cannot look up all the trailer stuff in ETKA anymore, as the last update I got (which is itself now quite old) they moved all the trailer stuff out and just have a note saying to look it up in the 'VOTEX' accessories catalog, whatever that means.

Which is frustrating, because whenever people who spouted off some nonsense about I "couldn't tow anything with that little car" I could simply reference the catalog that Volkswagen themselves put out showing all the hitch and wiring and point out the connectors for electrics and the holes in the body are already there, so CLEARLY the folks that designed and built my "little car" think I can.

 

[Stealth TDI]

Hello,

Co-worker had a 18 Passat this way and currently drives 17 GTI. Both just unplug tail lamp connectors and plug in the adapters.

I would have loved to use a plug-in adapter like that on my 17 GTI! ETrailer.com still does not show that adapter to be compatible with my car. Can you link the model that he used in case I saw the wrong part? Regardless...

Looks like I'll have to cut in a few places, or find a way to strip back some of the rubber coating in a couple areas to add in the light system.

I didn't want to splice or cut into my factory wiring. Instead, I use this adapter, which uses inductive sensors to trigger the lights. It's expensive, but it works. Check it out.

 

[jmodge]

I've wired pigtails off harnesses by cutting the wire and using a butt connector. One end the supply goes into and the other end has two wires, the harness wire and the pigtail that you want to connect to. Solder them into the pigtail and use two different sizes of shrink tube to seal them. The smallest diameter that will go over the wires slide up the pair on one end and from the supply side a piece long enough and large enough in diameter to cover the splice. Just have to remember to put the shrink tubes over the proper wires before soldering. Real bummer to forget that, especially if you don't have extra wire in the harness. The pigtail can be soldered to you controller wires or you can install a connector.

 

[SilverGhost]

Hello,

I would have loved to use a plug-in adapter like that on my 17 GTI! ETrailer.com still does not show that adapter to be compatible with my car. Can you link the model that he used in case I saw the wrong part? Regardless...

Well, I think he raided the kit for the Passat until he found the kit for the GTI. Hardest part is finding the connector housings and correct wire terminals if you build it your self. In the end you just end up with a plug and play version of the basic tail lamp converter. It figures today he rides the Africa Twin so I can't look at the GTI to get pics

Jason

 

[kjclow]

If memory serves me correctly, at least in the early days for the new jetta sedan, the lights were set up for plug and play with the correct adpater. The Jetta Wagen never got that. It might have been corrected with the change over in 2015 to the Golf wagen. I never tried to set up the trailer wiring when we still had my wife's 2011 Golf. For my 2010 JSW, I had to splice into both taillights and a power line.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

You’re Beetle doesn’t have that cross shaped bulb fixture with the spade terminals to tie into like the Jetta?
nope. doesn't have them

I've wired pigtails off harnesses by cutting the wire and using a butt connector. One end the supply goes into and the other end has two wires, the harness wire and the pigtail that you want to connect to. Solder them into the pigtail and use two different sizes of shrink tube to seal them. The smallest diameter that will go over the wires slide up the pair on one end and from the supply side a piece long enough and large enough in diameter to cover the splice. Just have to remember to put the shrink tubes over the proper wires before soldering. Real bummer to forget that, especially if you don't have extra wire in the harness. The pigtail can be soldered to you controller wires or you can install a connector.

Might look into this. Ii gotta do a lil more research and find out a bit better how this trailer light thing works

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Hello,



I would have loved to use a plug-in adapter like that on my 17 GTI! ETrailer.com still does not show that adapter to be compatible with my car. Can you link the model that he used in case I saw the wrong part? Regardless...



I didn't want to splice or cut into my factory wiring. Instead, I use this adapter, which uses inductive sensors to trigger the lights. It's expensive, but it works. Check it out.

thanks for the link! I'd love to just do that, but that's more then i wanna pay.

 

[nokivasara]

I've noticed that you guys in NA seem to have electric brakes on the trailers? How does that work?

The most common over here is a mechanical over-run braking system that uses the weight of the trailer pushing towards the car during braking to apply the brakes on the trailer. When the trailer no longer pushes on the car the brakes are pulled back and the trailer is free wheeling again.

Understanding over-run brake systems

Over-Run brake systems are fitted to all caravans in the UK and all trailers that are rated above 750Kg weight capacity. So what are over-run brakes? When you apply the brakes in your towing vehicl…

caravanchronicles.com

 

[jmodge]

We have those also, usually on rental trailers. One thing I don’t like about those is sometimes they engage when you’re backing up. Electric brakes have a cab mounted controller and has fused power and a ground to it. and then also a wire attached to the vehicle brake light switch wire which is used to single the controller that the brakes have been applied. The controller then signals the electric brakes, which have a magnet that works as a cam to apply the shoes to the drums on the trailer

 

[jmodge]

The magnet grabs the vertical surface of the drum and the rotational force of the drum is what applies the shoes. Generally controllers will have adjustable reostats the control both the aggressiveness and force that the brakes are applied. Also a manual override

 

[jmodge]

Basically it’s a relay