Availability of 5-Pole Trailer Wiring Harness for 2006 Ford Escape  

Question:

Expert Reply:

I'm assuming your trailer has surge, not electric brakes. When the tow vehicle brakes, the coupler compresses, which actuates the hydraulic brakes on the trailer. Some of these surge couplers have an electric lock-out, which releases the brakes when the vehicle backs up. Otherwise, if you were backing up an incline the trailer brakes would apply as you were trying to back up because the weight of the trailer would be compressing the surge coupler.

There are two different ways of providing a 5-pole connector.

1) You can install the 4 pole connector, part # 118426 and then use an adapter like # 20036. The extra blue wire would tap into the reverse lamp circuit on the vehicle.

2) You can use a hardwired harness like # 119177KIT. Rather than a more or less plug and play install, like the 118426, this harness needs to be spliced into the existing taillight circuits. You'd use the circuit tester included in the kit to identify the right turn circuit, which the green wire would tap into, the left turn circuit, which the yellow wire would tap into, the running lamp circuit which the brown wire would tap into and the reverse light circuit, which the blue wire would tap into. The red and white wires would ground to the vehicle frame. The back wire would be extended and ran under the vehicle to connect to the positive battery terminal.

Although it might be a bit more work initially, I'd personally use option # 2. I don't like using adapters because they add an additional link to the chain, so I'd rather do it right the first time and hardwire in the # 119177KIT.

expert reply by: Mike L

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