Installing trailer lights in a Ford F-150 is a straightforward project.
The Ford F-150 pickup truck is sold with a preinstalled trailer brake control and both four- and seven-pin hitches. For the control of trailer lights alone only the flat four-pin hitch is used, while the round seven-pin hitch is used for controlling trailer lights, brakes and the 12-volt hot supply to the trailer. In circumstances where the four-pin trailer light control must be reinstalled because of damage to the hitch or harness, an industry standard arrangement of wiring must be followed to ensure the proper operation of the trailer lights. The job is straightforward and simple.
Instructions
1. Locate the harness which supplies power to the four-pin hitch. It typically runs from under the driver's door, where it is attached to the outside of the frame rail, under the driver's side of the pickup bed and across the rear section to a central location near the tow-ball.
2. Extend the wire sufficient to reach the location of the tow-ball if it has been damaged. Purchase a four-conductor wire from an auto supply store and use a box cutter to trim away two inches of the outer sleeve from both ends, being careful not to damage the color-coded insulation around each individual wire within. Use your wire strippers to strip away half an inch of color-coded insulation from all four internal wires, then twist them individually into four separate, rope-like braids. Repeat the process with the end of the preinstalled wire if necessary.
3. Match the color-coded wires together, brown to brown, white to white, yellow to yellow and green to green. Solder the joins and insulate each join separately with a shrink-wrap insulation kit according to the manufacturer's instructions.
4. Fit the four-pin hitch to the preinstalled or extended wire so that it extends four inches from the bracket holding the tow-ball. The four-pin hitch will have been provided in two parts, a male and a female half. Ensure you fit to the F-150 that half which will mate with the connector on your RV trailer; typically the female half should be fitted to the truck, but always check. Both halves will have been provided with a length of four-conductor color-coded wire pre-attached.
5. Trim, strip, solder and insulate the flat four-pin hitch to the end of the preinstalled or extended wire.
6. Use plastic zip ties to secure the new trailer light control wiring and hitch to the underside of the F-150 so that it does not contact hot or moving surfaces.
Tags: four-pin hitch, trailer lights, been provided, color-coded insulation, extended wire, F-150 that, female half