Sox-Fan

I know that more than a few guys have pulled a tire trailer behind a C5. Many even used the Harbor Freight Tools trailer that I'm looking at. What did you use for light wiring? Is there a plug and play harness for the C5 available somewhere? I'm hoping to not have to cut into the wiring on my car to get the trailer lights working.

What all have you guys used?

bdanyluk

Go to etrailer.com

RaleighSS

I towed with my C5 and had an adapter on it ... did not have to cut into the harness but did have to use the "alligator clips" to tap into the lights ... adapter came with a powered unit that kept from frying the internal system from my understanding. Do not think there is a system that just plugs in .....

Sox-Fan

thanks guys

c4cruiser

When I towed a HF trailer behind my C4, I just used the Scotch-Lok connectors for the tail and brake/turn wires. On my '87, removing the tail lamp housings was a PITA but the C5 will be real easy to access the wiring. I ran the ground wire directly to a frame ground.

For trailer lights, I would suggest getting LED trailer lamp assemblies. The LED's won't have much of a current draw so you shouldn't have any problems with the OEM flasher not working properly because of the extra resistance of a incandescent bulb.

oharal

Do you expect the trailer with load to block following drivers' view of the tail lights? Unless I'm mistaken you only need trailer lights if your tails aren't visible due to the trailer.

Sox-Fan

Thanks. I was planning to use the lights that came with it. I'll look into LED though as they are brighter. I was afraid they would give me fast flash issues but I'll look into it. I'm not so enthused about the Scotch-Locks though. Eventually they corrode as does the wiring that they are piercing. I'll probably end up pulling out the soldering iron, heat shrink, and old school paint on plasti-dip.

Luke, the trailer is only 40 inches wide, so it'll be narrower than the tail lights, but it will have two rows of 4 tires standing on it and they'll block visibility to some extent if you're not dead centered on the back of the car. I've been rear ended twice and neither time did it feel good. I don't want to repeat that. The more I can do to minimize the chance of someone hitting me in the rear end at night the better. As you know I'm often leaving the house at 4:00am or 4:30am to get to a venue and start setup. That's not exactly a time when other drivers are wide awake.

YYZ06

I just used a generic trailer wire kit and the clip on wire taps. I loosened the foam bumper absorber and ran the wire between it and the bumper beam so I could control how much slack was in the line.

oharal

Ahh yes of course that's understandable. As mentioned by others, making some wiring up for it would be quite simple using some scotchlocks or similar clip on wire splice to hook the trailer lights parallel to your tail lights.

c4cruiser

An extra incandescent bulb will cause the flasher to operate much slower (or not flash at all) because of the extra resistance from the bulb filament. LED's have very little electrical resistance so the flasher won't really "see" that load.

One thing about the C5 is that the area behind the tail lamp housings stays very dry. And compared to the C4 lights, the C5 housings are very simple to remove and there is enough length to the lamp holders to be able to cut and solder the connections. With my C4, there are open areas around the tail lamp housings where moisture can get in. But the Scotchlock connectors I used are still working. I tested the trailer connector ends last week and they are still working after 11 years!

This was my HF trailer setup