Jedadiah
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2010
- Location
- Central Kentucky
- TDI
- Former: '15 Passat TDI SE 6M, '15 Golf S 6M and '10 JSW
I recently installed a Westfalia removable hitch and OEM trailer wiring on my Golf and wanted to post a little info here to help clarify things for anyone who also decides to do this in the future. I thought about using an ECO-hitch since they look strong, but decided to go Euro because I definitely wanted the OEM trailer wiring, and the cost of buying the wiring from Europe and the Eco-hitch was about the same as buying this Westfalia kit. https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RLQ9ROG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The only problem with buying the Westfalia kit is that you also need a new diffuser (rear lower bumper trim piece) if you don’t want to see a huge hole in the rear of your car. The part number is 5G6807568E and it’s not easy to get here. I ordered one,and had it shipped to my sister, who is currently in Germany. She then shipped it to me. Kunzman would not ship to the USA. I’m not sure why.
https://www.kunzmann.de/shop/en/exterieur-genuine-volkswagen-golf-7-gtd-diffusor.htm
E-Acca.com also has the difussor. http://e-acca.com/index.php?page=oem&search_by_number=5G6807568E&oem_for=VOLKSWAGEN&num_page=0&orderBy=id_detail&status=added_to_basket
I also needed a trailer end 13pin plug to convert the 13pin to a US 7way. https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00475BJI6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1. Hitch
Installing the hitch is very straight forward. Remove the taillights, the rear bumper cover (the clips around the taillights were a pain to remove), and take off the rear bumper bar. Slide the new hitch into the rear unibody frame rails, and tighten the four bolts that hold it in place. You don’t have to undo any exhaust pieces to get to the mounting points, which made this an easier install than doing the same on my 2010 JSW. I also added two heavy duty eyebolts to the hitch to use as the mounts for my tow chains. They are not lovely, but no one can see them.
After installing the hitch, remove the rear diffuser while the bumper isn’t attached to the car and reinstall the rear bumper cover.
2. Wiring
Here are the wiring instructions http://www.pfjones.co.uk/westfalia_fitting/305408300113.pdf
Next comes the wiring. I also installed a Prodigy P2 electronic trailer brake controller on my Golf, so I had to run a wire from the controller to the rear of the car along with the Westfalia harness. You have to remove the rear seat bottom, the left side of the rear seat back, the trim on the left side of the trunk, the door sills front and rear, the hood release, the kick panel trim behind it, the left side of the dash (where the fuses where on an mk6), the fuse panel door and a black panel under the dash. The instructions also say to remove the lower dash panel, but DO NOT REMOVE THIS PANEL! It is very difficult to reinstall and the wiring can be done with it in place. You can reach the BCM plugs and the back of the fuse box without taking it out. I removed it, and reinstalling it was the worst part of the entire project!!!
Follow the instructions until you get to the part about installing the wires in the back of the fuse box. The instructions show that you can unclip the fuse panel, and somehow tilt it so that you can somehow access the rear. You can unclip the fuse panel, but it won’t move unless you remove more pieces under the dash than anyone would feel comfortable messing with. You can get to the back of the fuse panel, by lying in the floor and looking up under the dash. The only problem is that the instructions tell you to insert the leads from new 4 fuse block (it inserts in the square opening on the right side of the fuse panel) into specific places on the back of the fuse panel. There is no way to see the labels on the back of the fuse panel, so you will have to get a test light and find 2 that are hot when the ignition is OFF. Place the leads from the new wiring into these, and you’ll be good to go. This will be slightly harder with lower dash in place, but you’ll be thankful when you don’t cuss putting it back in.
The instructions also show the module being attached to the rear of the wheel arch with Velcro. In my Golf, the module would not fit there when I was putting the rear trim back in, so I found it a new and better home under the left, rear seatbelt retractor. There is more room there and it also makes the module accessible without removing the rear trunk trim again. You could just remove the piece that follows the seat back to the door sill.
3. Brake Controller
On my MK6, I was able to steal the brake signal for my brake controller from pin six of the Euro plug, so I had also run a red 16g wire along with my 12g brake controller wire and the Westfalia harness. When I recode the mk7 module to NAR, however, the new module cuts the output to pin six, so you cannot use it for your brake signal to the controller. This sucks, because on the mk6, I didn’t have to splice anything. For this car, I tapped the third brake light where it leaves the BCM at A57. The third brake light is also LED, so the car doesn't check its voltage and say the bulb is out when its tapped.
On my MK6, I was able to add fuses to the fuse panel when it was unlocked, and I added a fuse for my brake controller there. You can’t do this easily on an mk7, so I did a little looking and found that there are a couple of blade terminals that stick off of the back of the fuse panel right where the power cable from the battery enters it. They are covered with little white rubber covers. The one on the passenger side of the plug is hot with the ignition off. I wired a female spade terminal to and an inline fuse holder to power the brake controller from this lug. It isn’t as clean as the install on my mk6, but I was not willing to remove enough of the dash to add a fuse to the panel of my mk7. The fuse is accessible removing the black BCM cover under the dash.
4. Euro 13pin to US 7way adapter
Once all is wired up, and the trim is put back in, you’ll have the end of the wiring harness hanging out of the driver side rear of your car. I mounted the euro socket under the bumper using one of the bolts that held on the original metal bumper bar. The pic shows where I mounted it, and shows the red signal wire that I later removed since it didn’t work when coded to NAR.
[/IMG]
I made an adapter from the 13p euro plug to the US 7 way socket using this. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BGHV6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Wires to the Euro Socket
Euro Pin 1—Red wire LT and Brake
Euro Pin 4 – Green wire RT and Brake
Euro Pin 5– Brown wire running lights
Euro Pin 3—White wire ground
Euro Pin 8— Yellow wire reverse lights
Euro Pin 9—Black 12v power wire if you want it hot all the time
Euro Pin 10—Black 12v power wire if you want it hot with ignition on
Connect the blue wire from the US 7way directly to the wire run from the brake controller, I used posilocks https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HTADIOY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5. Finishing up
I had to make the opening in the new diffuser a little bigger, so I could access my left tow chain loop. I decided to mount the US socket vertically in the new diffuser. There was room on the right side to hide it better up in the opening, but I would have had to make some sort of bracket to mount under the bumper bar of the hitch and decided it was more trouble than it was worth.I still could in the future. The hitch has a cool little bracket that hides and swings down for the Euro socket, but the US 7way is too large to fit on it. Once you’ve figured out the cuts and plug mounting on the diffuser, it just pops into place.
The finished product.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
The only problem with buying the Westfalia kit is that you also need a new diffuser (rear lower bumper trim piece) if you don’t want to see a huge hole in the rear of your car. The part number is 5G6807568E and it’s not easy to get here. I ordered one,and had it shipped to my sister, who is currently in Germany. She then shipped it to me. Kunzman would not ship to the USA. I’m not sure why.
https://www.kunzmann.de/shop/en/exterieur-genuine-volkswagen-golf-7-gtd-diffusor.htm
E-Acca.com also has the difussor. http://e-acca.com/index.php?page=oem&search_by_number=5G6807568E&oem_for=VOLKSWAGEN&num_page=0&orderBy=id_detail&status=added_to_basket
I also needed a trailer end 13pin plug to convert the 13pin to a US 7way. https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00475BJI6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1. Hitch
Installing the hitch is very straight forward. Remove the taillights, the rear bumper cover (the clips around the taillights were a pain to remove), and take off the rear bumper bar. Slide the new hitch into the rear unibody frame rails, and tighten the four bolts that hold it in place. You don’t have to undo any exhaust pieces to get to the mounting points, which made this an easier install than doing the same on my 2010 JSW. I also added two heavy duty eyebolts to the hitch to use as the mounts for my tow chains. They are not lovely, but no one can see them.
After installing the hitch, remove the rear diffuser while the bumper isn’t attached to the car and reinstall the rear bumper cover.
2. Wiring
Here are the wiring instructions http://www.pfjones.co.uk/westfalia_fitting/305408300113.pdf
Next comes the wiring. I also installed a Prodigy P2 electronic trailer brake controller on my Golf, so I had to run a wire from the controller to the rear of the car along with the Westfalia harness. You have to remove the rear seat bottom, the left side of the rear seat back, the trim on the left side of the trunk, the door sills front and rear, the hood release, the kick panel trim behind it, the left side of the dash (where the fuses where on an mk6), the fuse panel door and a black panel under the dash. The instructions also say to remove the lower dash panel, but DO NOT REMOVE THIS PANEL! It is very difficult to reinstall and the wiring can be done with it in place. You can reach the BCM plugs and the back of the fuse box without taking it out. I removed it, and reinstalling it was the worst part of the entire project!!!
Follow the instructions until you get to the part about installing the wires in the back of the fuse box. The instructions show that you can unclip the fuse panel, and somehow tilt it so that you can somehow access the rear. You can unclip the fuse panel, but it won’t move unless you remove more pieces under the dash than anyone would feel comfortable messing with. You can get to the back of the fuse panel, by lying in the floor and looking up under the dash. The only problem is that the instructions tell you to insert the leads from new 4 fuse block (it inserts in the square opening on the right side of the fuse panel) into specific places on the back of the fuse panel. There is no way to see the labels on the back of the fuse panel, so you will have to get a test light and find 2 that are hot when the ignition is OFF. Place the leads from the new wiring into these, and you’ll be good to go. This will be slightly harder with lower dash in place, but you’ll be thankful when you don’t cuss putting it back in.
The instructions also show the module being attached to the rear of the wheel arch with Velcro. In my Golf, the module would not fit there when I was putting the rear trim back in, so I found it a new and better home under the left, rear seatbelt retractor. There is more room there and it also makes the module accessible without removing the rear trunk trim again. You could just remove the piece that follows the seat back to the door sill.
3. Brake Controller
On my MK6, I was able to steal the brake signal for my brake controller from pin six of the Euro plug, so I had also run a red 16g wire along with my 12g brake controller wire and the Westfalia harness. When I recode the mk7 module to NAR, however, the new module cuts the output to pin six, so you cannot use it for your brake signal to the controller. This sucks, because on the mk6, I didn’t have to splice anything. For this car, I tapped the third brake light where it leaves the BCM at A57. The third brake light is also LED, so the car doesn't check its voltage and say the bulb is out when its tapped.
On my MK6, I was able to add fuses to the fuse panel when it was unlocked, and I added a fuse for my brake controller there. You can’t do this easily on an mk7, so I did a little looking and found that there are a couple of blade terminals that stick off of the back of the fuse panel right where the power cable from the battery enters it. They are covered with little white rubber covers. The one on the passenger side of the plug is hot with the ignition off. I wired a female spade terminal to and an inline fuse holder to power the brake controller from this lug. It isn’t as clean as the install on my mk6, but I was not willing to remove enough of the dash to add a fuse to the panel of my mk7. The fuse is accessible removing the black BCM cover under the dash.
4. Euro 13pin to US 7way adapter
Once all is wired up, and the trim is put back in, you’ll have the end of the wiring harness hanging out of the driver side rear of your car. I mounted the euro socket under the bumper using one of the bolts that held on the original metal bumper bar. The pic shows where I mounted it, and shows the red signal wire that I later removed since it didn’t work when coded to NAR.
I made an adapter from the 13p euro plug to the US 7 way socket using this. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BGHV6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Wires to the Euro Socket
Euro Pin 1—Red wire LT and Brake
Euro Pin 4 – Green wire RT and Brake
Euro Pin 5– Brown wire running lights
Euro Pin 3—White wire ground
Euro Pin 8— Yellow wire reverse lights
Euro Pin 9—Black 12v power wire if you want it hot all the time
Euro Pin 10—Black 12v power wire if you want it hot with ignition on
Connect the blue wire from the US 7way directly to the wire run from the brake controller, I used posilocks https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HTADIOY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5. Finishing up
I had to make the opening in the new diffuser a little bigger, so I could access my left tow chain loop. I decided to mount the US socket vertically in the new diffuser. There was room on the right side to hide it better up in the opening, but I would have had to make some sort of bracket to mount under the bumper bar of the hitch and decided it was more trouble than it was worth.I still could in the future. The hitch has a cool little bracket that hides and swings down for the Euro socket, but the US 7way is too large to fit on it. Once you’ve figured out the cuts and plug mounting on the diffuser, it just pops into place.
The finished product.
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