50mm Ball and Getting Lights to Work on Altera Strada DL3 Bike Rack on 2016 Chrysler Town & Country

Question:

I have brought to the US my beloved Atera Strada DL3 bike rack and need a Euro-style ball mount 50mm - 1 7/8 to fit a 2 trailer hitch receiver. I am not sure though what lift I will need. Please advise. ALSO - if you can suggest the best means to adapt the bike racks electrical to the US system - that would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks and best regards.

asked by: Mark H

Expert Reply:

We do have 50mm hitch ball # EH53C-C so all you will need now is a ball mount that fits the 2 inch receiver on your 2016 Chrysler Town & Country. Since the trailer hitches are close to the ground on vans I recommend a ball mount with some rise in it such as Draw-Tite ball mount # 40346.

The electrical is a little more complicated but the good news is that you don't have to have lights on a bike rack in the US. But if you want them to function then an adapter will need to be made since there isn't one already made and ready to go.

Across the pond trailer wiring harnesses on vehicles use a 13-Pin connector to achieve the same functions as the US 7-Way. What you will need is one trailer side 4-Way, # 18004, one converter, # 118158, and at least one other connector. The other connector(s) will depend on how you want the adapter to plug in.

If you want to keep the electrical connector that is on the bike rack now then you will need to source a vehicle side European 13-Pin connector that mates with the one on the rack. We do not have those. This would be the easiest and if you go this route I can explain what else you will need to make it work.

Or you can replace the connector on bike rack with something different. For that I recommend # 37995 because it comes with both a vehicle side and trailer side and you will need both.

On the converter # 118158 you would connect the trailer side 4-Way, # 18004, to the input wires on the converter color for color (the brown wire bypasses the converter). On the output side you will have a green wire for right turn only, yellow for left turn only, and red for brake lights. The brown wire is running lights. These wires will need to connect to the 6-Way vehicle end from # 37995. You can basically wire them to any wires on the 6-Way just so long as the connector that will be attached to the rack matches.

On European connectors there is more than one running light circuit so for however many running light wires the bike rack has you will need to splice in the same amount to the brown wire that bypassed the converter.

On the bike rack side you would cut off its connector and splice in the other 6-Way. Just make sure you know the functions of the bike rack wires so you can attach them to the 6-Way to match the vehicle side 6-Way. It gets a little more complicated if you want the reverse lights on that bike rack to work.