Need help fast!! Trailer plug wiring

[BobcatSteve]

Sorry, I know trailer wiring isn't normally an emergency, but I've got to get it fixed by tomorrow, so I can move.
I just put a hitch on my '98. It's a Frankensplorer that I bought from a salvager. They put a driver's door and rear hatch off an earlier model on it, which resulted in NO place to mount the license plate- bumper was made to go with a hatch-mounted plate, hatch went with a bumper-mounted plate. I'm assuming the bumper is supposed to be like it is (no license plate mount), right?
So here's my problem. I need a plug for trailer lights, and the only thing I saw to plug in to was a capped plug hanging down below the left taillight. I got on Alldata and it showed a harness that should plug in to that plug, and go all the way across to the right side, but it was showing a bumper with the license plate and lights on it, hence my confusion- although Alldata is wrong about such things all the time.
I wouldn't have much trouble taking the taillight out, wiring into that harness and adding a plug, but I really don't have the time if there's an easier route. Is there another plug I'm missing somewhere? Is there a harness I can buy somewhere (besides the dealer, if possible)?
I appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks,
Steve.

 

[Lee S.]

I think you need this...at least I needed it for my 98. Plugs into the circular connector by the Drivers side taillight and converts to a 4 pin flat.

Dead Link Removed

Lee

 

[Cheesebrat]

crawl under your ex, look under the drivers side taillight and there should be a grey harness with a red dust cap in it. the cap is pointy. on mine it is about 8 inches away from the bumper. and maybe 4 from the side quarter panel, your ex came with a plug that would extend that to the bumper. the harness would then hook up to a pig-tail style trailer, if you need a 5 or 6 pin, you can buy an adapter. ford will have the pig tail if you didnt get it with the ex.
good luck

the connector in the above site is what your looking for.

 

[BobcatSteve]

Yup. That's what I was hoping to see. Guess I'll have to see if I can find one tomorrow. I was worried that since it appeared there was supposed to be an OEM harness there, I wouldn't be able to find anything without ordering it through the dealer from Zimbabwe by slow snail.
Thanks,
Steve.

 

[Lee S.]

Sometimes you can get lucky at Pepboys or Autozone although I wouldn't count on it. The ford dealer will have it but it'll probably be a lot pricier than etrailer.com. There should be a ton of them lying around at Uhaul now that they won't rent trailers to explorers anymore.

Lee

 

[BobcatSteve]

There should be a ton of them lying around at Uhaul now that they won't rent trailers to explorers anymore.

Lee

WWWHAAAAAAAAT????!!!!
Well, I guess I DON'T need a harness. I LOOKED at their website before I BOUGHT the hitch. I just looked again, and yup, I'm screwed. Guess I need to find another company in 2 days. I went through their whole process of entering the vehicle you'll be towing with, etc., just a few days ago. Now it says I can't do it. I gotta go kill somebody... Thanks for the heads up.

Steve.

 

[Lee S.]

WWWHAAAAAAAAT????!!!!
Well, I guess I DON'T need a harness. I LOOKED at their website before I BOUGHT the hitch. I just looked again, and yup, I'm screwed. Guess I need to find another company in 2 days. I went through their whole process of entering the vehicle you'll be towing with, etc., just a few days ago. Now it says I can't do it. I gotta go kill somebody... Thanks for the heads up.

Steve.

You said you have a 'frankenexplorer'....any chance you can disguise it for a mountaineer...Uhaul will rent to mounties but not explorers even though they are the same truck...go figure.

Lee

 

[Lee S.]

and by the way...this uhaul vs explorer thing has been going on for many months now...If you went thru the process just a few days ago then someones system was not up to date.

Lee

 

[BobcatSteve]

and by the way...this uhaul vs explorer thing has been going on for many months now...If you went thru the process just a few days ago then someones system was not up to date.

Lee

Yeah I figured it couldn't be that new to come up so matter-of-fact here. But I just went through their little wizard 4-5 days ago tops to be sure before I forked out $170 for a hitch. I don't know who I'm gonna kill, but it's gonna be somebody. I just went back and tried several SUV's that were all OK.
On the whole Frankensplorer thing, you'd never know except for the license plate. I mounted it on a plastic frame, centered above the "Explorer" logo on the left, and put a light above it. If it wasn't so different than the million other Exes on the road, you'd never know it wasn't supposed to be that way.

Are there ANY other companies that rent car carriers to go behind a vehicle other than their trucks?

Steve.

 

[Lee S.]

Are there ANY other companies that rent car carriers to go behind a vehicle other than their trucks?

Steve.

All I can suggest is to check your local yellow pages. Sometimes you'll be able to find some local businesses that rent out trailers.

What are you towing and how far you towing it. I personally wouldn't do business with Uhaul ever again for their anti-explorer stance...but there's always a chance you can get someone else to rent the trailer from them and just hook it up to you X when you get it back home. Don't know the legal or insurance issues involved with that tho.... Probably not good.

Hope things work out for you.

Lee

 

[BobcatSteve]

Well, I ended up getting the harness- from the dealer >: (, but it turned out to only be $25. Got everything working and I can tow the small trailer to take stuff to Goodwill, etc., so all's not lost.

All I can suggest is to check your local yellow pages. Sometimes you'll be able to find some local businesses that rent out trailers.

Nothing around here. Oh, well.

What are you towing and how far you towing it. I personally wouldn't do business with Uhaul ever again for their anti-explorer stance...but there's always a chance you can get someone else to rent the trailer from them and just hook it up to you X when you get it back home.

I was going to pull my non-running '55 CJ5 from DFW back home to Colorado. Now I'm out over $200 for my hitch, plus $750 for a car hauler. My wife would be pulling it, so I don't want to take any chances with the legal/insurance aspect. I did already consider somebody else picking up and returning it, though. We really didn't want to deal with Uhaul in the first place, because they've gotten extremely unreliable in the last few years, but as they advertise, they seem to be the only ones that will rent a car trailer to tow behind a private vehicle. The car hauler is more money than I really have to part with, but it will be less of a hassle. AND we can rent a truck from somebody other than Uhaul now.
Thanks for the help, guys.
Steve.

 

[eric©]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought maybe it would benefit someone....I just rented a car hauler from Uhaul to move my Ranger about a month ago. My truck is obviously an Explorer, with Explorer badging on it in several places. I told the monkey behind the counter that it was a Mazda Navajho, and had no problems driving off with the trailer. I suppose had I had an accident of some sort, I might have been screwed, but at the time it worked for me (and was far cheaper than calling a tow truck or renting a truck and trailer from Uhaul or Ryder).

 

[LnTxn]

Hauling

Dear Forum,
Need to move from St Louis to Ft Worth, TX. and needing to haul an enclosed trailer to move personal possessions.
Does anyone know who would rent a trailer other than U-Haul?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You !

Best of Luck with all your Explorers

 

[cainfan4u]

must have been U-HAUL.. I had the same problem. I bought a quik connector for my 92 installed that behind the rear quarter on left . Went to local uhaul with my friends p/u and towed a trailer from fla to texas with no problems

 

[LnTxn]

Cainfan4U and Lee S and everyone who has posted,
Really appreciate your time and attention to this issue. It has taken me some time to get through this. May just borrow a friends truck, pick-up the trailer and make the drive. I called the U-haul and they said I could drop the trailer after hours, just drop the key in the mail box and if the trailer was not late I could sign I next business day.
I towed the trailer behind the same Explorer a few years ago, from Albuquerque to Texas, about 700 miles and had no problems except had to drive slow as the 6-cylinder could not handle the hills.
If you do pick up the trailer on someone else's truck and get stopped by the cops is there anything they can do? That would seem to be the only issue I may have.
Thanks again to all !!

 

[LnTxn]

cainfan4u,
I see you are from Hurst. I live just up the highway from you in Saginaw, North Ft Worth.
Thanks for the information!

 

[eric©]

there is nothing that the cops can or would want to do about it. However, if you have an accident on the road involving damage to the trailer, it's entirely possible that Uhaul wouldn't cover the damage, even if you get the extra insurance.

 

[cainfan4u]

just make sure the trailer is in YOUR NAME and if you do get stopped tel them some bogus story like the other truck broke down and you left i in another town to be repaired and have to get to your destination or ELSE lol.. As for an accident you would be screwed so becareful. I drove 55 most of the time from jax fla to texas .. occasionally i did do 70 shhh lol :exp:

 

[jwrezz]

I'd think if it ever came down to it, and you did get a trailer from Uhaul for your explorer, AND you did have some kinda problem that although they don't rent to explorers, the fact that they do rent to mountaineers would screw them if a court ever got involved. You would not be the one w/ the problem. Just my opinion...

 

[LnTxn]

Follow-up to U-hauling to Texas from Missouri
Went to CarQuest for a wire harness for U-Haul trailer. Told the guy I had a purchased U-Haul trailer I was hooking up to and he said he had the right one.
Went to connect it and was not the correct one.
So took friends Ford Ranger to pick up trailer and he sold us the right harness to be hooked up to his Ranger (Both vehicles were a year model apart). After we got to his house we hooked up the trailer to my Explorer.
It connected fine however the right turn signal on the trailed did nit work so drove back to Texas anyway. Had problems towing up the hills of MO and OK due to my Explorer being a 6-banger.
Wish everyone well and appreciate your input.