Review Reese 7-pin harness for 5th Wheel

[Tankerhank]

I was already to take the more exotic route with wiring a 7-pin plug inside the bed of the truck for my 5th wheel when I tripped over a harness from Reese that is total plug n play, you unplug the bumper plugs from the truck harness and plug it into the Reese harness then plug the Reese harness into the truck harness... all done except for doing some zip-ties. Of course there is still the thrill of drilling a 2" hole in the side of the box of the truck. Really nice thing is there are no cut or spliced wires to be a future problem.

[cwit]

I have never had a problem with my harness going over the tailgate.

[Tankerhank]

Originally Posted by cwit

I have never had a problem with my harness going over the tailgate.

Hey Charlie,

I tried that when I finally got the hitch moved over from my old Tundra, but my anal Norwegian self needed it cleaned up. I found a 7-pin extension cord setup that had the mount for inside the bed on one end which ya snaked under the truck and plugged into the existing plug, thought about using it until I found this setup. Now all the plugs work and there is no cord dangling outside the truck.

Here is a pic of what I used, they are not cheap at almost $70. As you can see there are 4 connectors, two going to the truck harness and the other two plug into the factory 4/7 pin harness. No wires dangling in the breeze very sweet and neat.

http://www.hitchesonline.com/5wheel_wiring.htm

Here is the extension cord type, which are not real cheap either and accomplish almost the same thing, it has to come out from under the truck and plug into the factory plug, leans towards the tacky side to me.



BTW, I ended up with 8" of clearance between the 5'er and the truck, the Hellwig helper springs work perfect, let the truck come down about 2" before everything stiffened up, yet without a load ya don't know they are there. The only thing I had to do when mounting them was have new U-bolts made up as they thickened up the spring pack enough that I wasn't happy reusing the stock ones. Arizona Spring made up four of them for $11.50 a pop, cheap for custom made.

[cwit]

When I bought my 5er they were going to do what you want to do. The problem was I had to go back for the harness install and after towing twice with it I really didn't want another hole in the box. Now that my truck is 2 years older I do wish I would of done it.

[Tankerhank]

Originally Posted by cwit

When I bought my 5er they were going to do what you want to do. The problem was I had to go back for the harness install and after towing twice with it I really didn't want another hole in the box. Now that my truck is 2 years older I do wish I would of done it.

I hooked up the top setup in under an hour, toughest part was dragging out the drill and finding my 2" hole saw, the rest was unplugging the old, connecting the new, then grabbing a handful of zip ties to secure the wires. Do you have a camping world near you? They carry the harness, then all you need is a 2" hole saw and an hour of your time.

[wpbarnar]

Hank- Thanks for clarifying how the Reese harness works. I will spend the extra bucks to save time and end up with a neater installation.

Where did you drill your hole? Is there clearance between the inner and outer fenders over the fender well, or do you need to stay in the rear corner?

Bill

[Tankerhank]

Here is a picture or two to make it easy.





And yes there is plenty of room between the walls of the box.

[cwit]

Now that I see your setup I will have to do mine. The plug and play is what sold it. No camping world around where I live but I bet I'll find the harness.

[Tankerhank]

A web search may turn up better pricing, but this is a place to start

5TH WHEEL-GOOSENECK WIRING

[cwit]

Hank thanks for the hookup put in my favorates untill I can purchase.

[Only Toyota for me]

Nice writeup Hank!!

We're getting tired of removing our tailgate's for towing, and i think we're going to order some of these. I've seen too many trucks with dent's in the tailgates from the cord's, and i've got a few blemishes in the paint from ours.

So you used a 2" hole saw?

What did you do with the unused portion of the 9' cord? I'd imagine you had about 4' or so that you didn't need.

We'll need to do 3 tundra's; so how do they work and are they of good quality?

[Tankerhank]

Coiled it up zip-tied it and then with bigger zip-ties I fastened it up on the top of the frame back by the receiver hitch, you will see space to stash it when you get under there. It would be nice if they shortened the length of the cord.

And yes a 2" hole saw works fine.

[Only Toyota for me]

Tankerhank; Your post has been very helpful, and i appreciate the tips !!!

We got all 3 tundra's done today, and it all worked great. We ended up dropping the spare's and strapping the wire up above the tire. We've got so much stuff up there with the airbags, and the wireless compressor wires. So we had to watch where we strapped that heavy cord, not to have any issues down the road.

We mounted the plug in the same location as yours, but 3" to the left. Gonna give her a try tomorrow when we take the trailers down for our elk hunt coming up.

Thanks again.

[Tankerhank]

Glad it helped. I have been out testing our setup for the last couple weeks as we travel around the country, still have a week to go before we get home. The setup has worked flawlessly for us.