Building a Harness

How-To and Pics of Mods to your MINI/Mini
Post Reply
User avatar
Minidave
MINIAC
MINIAC
Posts: 3765
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:24 am
Location: Overland Park
Contact:

Building a Harness

Post by Minidave »

Today I built two trailer harness adapters to use when I tow my little trailer with the ZTR between my house and my country property, or to tow the Mini Classic on the tow bar.

Our 2004 Audi uses the "Euro" style connector on the car end - as was the practice in 2004 it uses 13 pins which has to connect to the 4 pin US style harness on the trailer, they've since gone to a 12 pin - you can buy those all over but they won't work with my Audi.....of course! The last adapter I bought a few years ago seemed like it was the only one still in captivity anywhere in the world......and it was priced accordingly at over $100! But you can't tow without it so I bit the bullet and bought it. Last fall the damn ground pin broke off inside the trailer end of the connector and I could not figure out a way to fix it as that end is molded, you can't take it apart and you can't buy just the end.......or so I thought.

Also, Euro cars have a separate turn signal lamp - US cars use one lamp for running lights and the other for brakes and turn signals. You need one of these nifty little electronic adaptors to get the two different styles to work with each other.

So.......

After a little sleuthing I found that the electronic gizmo on the trailer end can be sourced here in the US from Hopkins, so I ordered one up. The next day while waiting for it to come in I found a slightly different version at the local Autozone - also made by Hopkins - so I bought another - believe me there's a method to my madness.

I still had the Audi end of the original as the only thing that goes wrong with these things is the electronic bit dies. So, I now have one made up just like the original, and a second one (that originally came with the car) that I can use when hauling Buzz behind the Audi.

I had to disassemble the 13 pin end and remove all the old wires to wire up the universal version, the OEM style I just cut and spliced the wires. I just tested both and they work!

Total out of pocket, about $30 and few hour's work!

I call that a win! :thumbsup:
Attachments
IMG_3529R.jpg
IMG_3529R.jpg (65.85 KiB) Viewed 2351 times
IMG_3530R.jpg
IMG_3530R.jpg (64.43 KiB) Viewed 2351 times
IMG_3531R.jpg
IMG_3531R.jpg (73.83 KiB) Viewed 2351 times
IMG_3533R.jpg
IMG_3533R.jpg (83.15 KiB) Viewed 2351 times
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
Post Reply