RV Towing wiring Harness

[TopPinArcher]

I'm really thinking that JL owners will like the design of our harness - with unparalleled circuit isolation (absolutely no chance of backfeeding, etc), and a solution that, by design, is 100% compatible with if not supportive of auxiliary braking devices! Sorry for the tease, but we are super-excited with this solution!!

If you would be so kind please PM me when it’s available and I will promptly order

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[CoolTech]

If you would be so kind please PM me when it’s available and I will promptly order

Absolutely. As soon as we have the first kits ready I will ping you and also ask for your feedback. We're putting our 10+ years of experience of working with JK harnesses toward a second-to none design for the JL!

 

[RC3]

Absolutely. As soon as we have the first kits ready I will ping you and also ask for your feedback. We're putting our 10+ years of experience of working with JK harnesses toward a second-to none design for the JL!

I am very interested in this also. I have been flat towing my Jeeps for years and am now about ready to set up the JL for towing as well. For my JK, I wired from a plug on the front bumper directly to the tail lights, adding diodes to prevent feedback into the CANBUS. But now it seems the JL may be a little trickier to do this to - so I'm anxious to see what you have to offer.

 

[txbonds]

I'm really thinking that JL owners will like the design of our harness - with unparalleled circuit isolation (absolutely no chance of backfeeding, etc), and a solution that, by design, is 100% compatible with if not supportive of auxiliary braking devices! Sorry for the tease, but we are super-excited with this solution!!

Awesome. Will be watching for the order link. I haven’t installed my stay-in-play duo yet. Will the harness help prevent tapping into any system wires or maybe provide simpler places to do that, or totally unrelated?

Thanks.

 

[CoolTech]

Awesome. Will be watching for the order link. I haven’t installed my stay-in-play duo yet. Will the harness help prevent tapping into any system wires or maybe provide simpler places to do that, or totally unrelated?

There's an anomaly that has existed for years with many aux braking devices used in conjunction with Jeep Wranglers which are a little bit unique by modern car standards insofar that they use the same bulb/filament for both braking and turn signals. (In fact, in this regard, the Wrangler is more similar to a "common" horse/boat/car/travel/utility trailer.) When you are driving your Wrangler and you turn on the left turn signal for example, the lft light "blinks" while the right light remains off. But, while approaching your left turn, you apply the brake pedal, now the left light will continue to blink while the right light is bright red. The Jeep Body Control Module (BCM) is managing this situation. The same is true of virtually every modern tow vehicle - from your pick-up trucks to your RV's. The trailer output wire (most commonly now a 7-pin round connector), knows how to manage having a single bulb/filament for both stop and turn. As I mentioned, virtually EVERY type of trailer is wired this way. When BOTH the brake light and the turn signal is on, it "knows" to blink one side and keep the other side with a constant 12v. All good so far. The problem on a Wrangler arises when it is being towed AND it is equipped with an on-board braking device such as the Stay-in-Play Duo. When the towing vehicle commands one rear light to blink and the other light to have a constant 12v (continuous) signal, all is good..... up until the aux braking devices engages the Jeep's brake pedal and the Jeep activates BOTH rear brake lights. The Jeep has no clue the tow vehicle's turn signal is on and it is rather a moot point because the entire Jeep BCM is off. What happens in our scenario is that the Left right is receiving a intermittent (blinking) 12v signal from the towing vehicle while simultaneously receiving a continuous 12v signal from the Jeep. As a result, the tail light only "sees" a continuous 12v signal. (The additive brake wires are in parallel so there is NO voltage increase or other ill-effects from the blinking 12v signal.) So, the only consequence is that the blinking light stops blinking.

Those unfamiliar with electrical design may rush in and say that you should have diodes to address/solve this problem. Sadly, diodes will NOT help to address this problem. The function of a diode is to enforce that current can only flow in one direction and not the other. In the scenario above, both the Jeep and the Tow vehicle need to have the ability to flow current to the brake/turn light so you can't stick a diode in there because it is an issue of timing and NOT current direction flow.

As probably the leading supplier of Tow Harness solutions for the JK, we get this question a lot... and our solution to the above problem is fairly straightforward. While towing, simply remove the Jeep's brake light fuse - thereby preventing the Jeep to speak to the rear tail lights and not messing up what the tow vehicle is trying to do.

Ok, fine, right? Well, not really. Some of the aftermarket aux braking devices (including the Duo model) like to tap into the Jeep's brake light circuit so that they can provide a confirmation that the aux device has really activated the Jeeps brake pedal.

Our intent with the new, JL-specific harness is to;

1. Give you a fully functional tow harness for your running lights, turn signals and brake lights (kit will include a 6-pin connector to be mounted at the front of the Jeep and a sheathed harness with enough length to route there.)
2. Give you 100% isolation from all of the Jeep's electronics so that back-feeding is an impossibility
3. Make it as easy to install as possible so owners can save money by self-installing
4. Provides a provision for continuous charging of the Jeep's battery by the tow vehicle (so that aux braking devices don't deplete the battery charge
5. Provides for a signal wire to be connected to your aux braking device to know when the Jeep brake pedal is activated
6. Eliminates the brake light wash-out problem as described in detail above

 

[kculp]

I partly understood that explanation and I am sure there is a market for towing the Wrangler, I get confused sometimes as to what these threads are about. Maybe I am following the wrong one.

The vast majority of us are not towing the vehicle... we just want a simple solution to tie into the rear tail light to do a 4-pin hookup to a utility trailer. IT SEEMS like MOPAR has made this exceedingly difficult to install and further complicated things with the LED light package. I do hope a vendor just produces the SIMPLE application first. I so regret not having this done at the factory to begin with.

 

[FatBoy01]

snipe:

I partly understood that explanation and I am sure there is a market for towing the Wrangler, I get confused sometimes as to what these threads are about. Maybe I am following the wrong one.

@kculp

Pretty obvious, this thread is entitled "RV Towing Harness".

Many people "Flat Tow", Jeep Wrangler's and they have done so for years.

I'd venture to say that Wrangler's get flat towed more miles overall each year, then Wrangler's themselves doing the towing of trailers.

Wrangler's are flat towed thousands and thousands of miles each and every day across the USA.

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[CoolTech]

kculp - Yes, I know it can get confusing but the subject of THIS thread is about towing the JL behind an RV (or other tow vehicle) and having the running, turn, and stop lamps working as commanded by the tow vehicle.

To your point, however, Jeep sells a harness kit for the JL that largely accomplishes what you are looking for. It is part number: 68354156AA This harness plugs into a factory connector underneath the Jeep - approximately under the passenger rear tail light and has all of the wires you want (+ more). You would just need to add a flat-4 connector to it and you're done.

 

[sandl]

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your recent inquiry to Mopar.com.

Congratulations on your new Jeep Rubicon that is being built!

The part number for that flat tow harness is #68321424AB and your parts
department at your authorized dealership will have the information to
put that on your vehicle once it is built.

Thanks again for contacting Mopar.

Sincerely,

Jody

Customer Service Representative
Mopar Customer Assistance

 

[redracer]

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your recent inquiry to Mopar.com.

Congratulations on your new Jeep Rubicon that is being built!

The part number for that flat tow harness is #68321424AB and your parts
department at your authorized dealership will have the information to
put that on your vehicle once it is built.

Thanks again for contacting Mopar.

Sincerely,

Jody

Customer Service Representative
Mopar Customer Assistance

I think that this number is wrong. After googling it, it appears to be a flat tow harness associated for the Cherokee. Which, might be a TSB fix for a flat towing issue. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Below is the site that talks about the cherokee issues... which sounds horrible.
http://community.fmca.com/topic/8903-important-towing-information-2014-2016-jeep-cherokee/

 

[kculp]

kculp - Jeep sells a harness kit for the JL that largely accomplishes what you are looking for. It is part number: 68354156AA This harness plugs into a factory connector underneath the Jeep - approximately under the passenger rear tail light and has all of the wires you want (+ more). You would just need to add a flat-4 connector to it and you're done.

Thanks looking into this!!!! I am not aware of a factory connector underneath for a vehicle without the towing package. Went to the part number and Mopar didn't have a pic so difficult to check out... But, I won't hijack the thread if this is about towing behind an RV. I am broke after paying cash for the JL and can't imagine owning a RV on top of that purchase.

 

[Kenc]

Absolutely. As soon as we have the first kits ready I will ping you and also ask for your feedback. We're putting our 10+ years of experience of working with JK harnesses toward a second-to none design for the JL!

Same here. Please PM me and I will place an order as well.
Thanks!

 

[JLU jax]

CoolTech what is your ETA for the JLU harness and will it be close to the same price as the JK one. I bought the Roadmaster bulb set and was going to install it to prevent wiring into my JL harness but your solution seems better and I don’t have to drill my taillights.

 

[FatBoy01]

CoolTech what is your ETA for the JLU harness and will it be close to the same price as the JK one. I bought the Roadmaster bulb set and was going to install it to prevent wiring into my JL harness but your solution seems better and I don’t have to drill my taillights.

I'm, sure Cool Tech will reply to you but I believe they said toward the end of April the harness would be available.

I encourage you to hold out / wait for the Cool Tech Harness. Their harness offering is very good. Quality stuff. EASY to install.

Cool Tech has exceptional customer service also.

I'd expect the Deluxe offering to run about $160.00.

By the way, I have drilled and installed bulbs in Wrangler tail lights in the past. A pain at best. With today's JL, I would avoid fooling with the tail lights. The wiring / tail lights of today are undoubtedly not as forgiving as the on the older Wranglers.

If you want an easy, no hassle, reliable, state of the art offering, wait for the Cool Tech offering.


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[smoore11]

Hello guys. We are in the final stages of completing our Tow Harness Kit for the new Wrangler JL. We expect to have the harnesses announced later this week and with availability within the next ~15-days. We want to have a kit that is very easy for the end-user to install, is robust from a reliability perspective, and takes advantage of all the knowledge that we've gained from selling tow harnesses for the last 10+ years for TJ's and JK's. I'll post another update here before the end of the week.

Could you please PM me as soon as this can be ordered. I have a trip coming up soon, have the Roadmaster baseplate and Brake Buddy Stealth ready to install, just need this harness. I would prefer not to use the Roadmaster Universal harness.

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