How to Add a Heavy Duty Towing Package
A towing package and a towing hitch are not the same. Anything you tow that weighs 10,000 pounds and greater requires a heavy duty towing package. You can ask the manufacturer to install this type of towing package before you buy the vehicle, but it will cost more. Some people think they can save money by renting a vehicle for heavy duty towing, but car rental dealers do not allow towing unless the vehicle has a tow package and most rental vehicles do not.
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Things You'll Need
- Calculator (optional)
- Trailer hitch
- Wiring harness with a 7-pin wire connector
- Screwdriver set
Instructions
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1
Determine the weight of the trailer so that you can establish a ratio of weight to horsepower (hp). A good ratio is 1 hp for every 35 pounds of trailer weight. To calculate the ratio, multiply the horsepower of the engine by 35. Then subtract the total weight of passengers, luggage and vehicle weight from that number. The remaining number tells you how much weight you can safely tow.
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2
Select a vehicle that can pull 10,000 pounds or more. In most cases, this will be a full-size vehicle that has a heavy duty transmission and a large V-8 gas or diesel engine. Some model choices include the Ford F-350 Super Duty, the GMC Sierra 3500, the Chevrolet Silverado 3500, the Ford F-250 Super Duty and the Dodge Ram 3500.
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3
Calculate the weight that the hitch will have to bear. The hitch needs to be able to support roughly ten percent of the gross weight of the trailer. Never use an unsupported hitch or a clamp-on bumper hitch for heavy duty towing.
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4
Attach the trailer female housing onto the towing vehicle's male hitch. The tongue of the bumper hitch must be able to hold 10 percent of the trailer's gross weight. An example is a 1000 pound trailer requires a hitch tongue weight of 100 pounds.
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5
Locate the trailer wiring harness and make sure it has the correct number of pins to match the trailer wire connector. Heavy duty wiring harnesses use a seven-pin wire connector.
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6
Match the colored wires with the appropriate terminals numbered "1" through "7". The white wire is a common ground wire and goes to terminal "1". The blue wire is the electric brake and goes to terminal "2". Terminal "3" is green and is the trailer marker lights. Terminal "4" is black and attaches to the battery charger. The left turn stop signal is the red wire, and the right turn stop signal is the brown wire. The yellow wire is for the auxiliary terminal or the backup lights.
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Tips & Warnings
Installing a heavy duty flasher unit on the vehicle will help reduce the stress on original turn signal lights.
The center terminal in a seven-pin plug is not a ground terminal. It is an auxiliary circuit which can hold a wire for the backup lights.
References
Resources
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