http://www.discoweb.org/trailerwire/index.htm
Trailer Wiring for Disco II
by Greg Parrish
During a recent trip to visit family, I needed a simple project to occupy some time to keep me from going crazy. My 2001 Discovery II came with a Class 3 hitch receiver, but no trailer wiring was installed. After reading the tech file for Trailer Wiring for a Discovery 1, more research was in order. Through the help of a friendly Dwebber named John Friederich, I was directed to a Walmart universal wiring kit model #46155 labeled to Convert Vehicles with Independent Bulb Turn Signals to Common Bulb Trailer Turn Signals.
I made a quick trip out to Walmart to find the kit in stock. Now my family visit took me to a small town with a very small Walmart, so I imagine most any Walmart will have this in stock. The sticker price for the kit is $19.95. The kit includes: Converter, wire with connectors, easy splice connectors, dielectric terminal grease, a grounding screw, plug cover, a wire tie, and a test light. Instructions are printed on the cardboard bubble pack. Unfortunately, in my well thought out installation plan, I didn’t think to take the most basic of pictures of the packaging. J Sorry about that.
Once you have your kit, the first step is to remove the passenger side rear, upper tail light. The trailer connector plug that is pre-wired by Land Rover, is secured behind this light. This plug is intended to connect to the Land Rover trailer wire kit, however rumor has it that this kit has been riddled with problems and is infinitely backordered.
You will find the plug covered with a rubber cover. I decided to pull the plug back into the truck and put it behind the rear passenger storage bin. There is an internal access door here, and it will keep my wiring dry. In order to get the plug back inside the truck, I had to cut the rubber grommet. I used wire ties, silicone sealant and some tape to seal the grommet back up afterwards.
Once the wiring is pulled back inside the truck, and removed from the grommet, it was time to install the trailer wire back through the grommet. After the trailer wire is inserted, you can do your sealing. It worked well, as mentioned above to close the grommet back up with wire ties, silicone RTV sealant and some tape.
Once that is done, comes the fun part. The wiring. I used 5 of the wires from the Land Rover wiring, as follows:
LAND ROVER WIRING - WALMART KIT
GREEN with WHITE Stripe RIGHT TURN GREEN
GREEN with RED Stripe LEFT TURN YELLOW
RED with ORANGE Stripe TAIL / PARK BROWN
GREEN With PURPLE Stripe BRAKE RED
BLACK WIRE GROUND WHITE
I decided to cut each of the above wires in half from the Land Rover column. Then, I stripped about ¾ inches of wire jacket from each of those halves, as well as the corresponding wire from the Walmart wire kit. Then, take all three of the stripped wires, and twist them together tightly. Next, I soldered the three wires together and then trim the soldered wires down to about ¼ inch. Now, take a small wire nut and screw on top of the connection. Apply about 4 or 5 inches of high quality scotch electrical tape on each wire cap. Be sure to wrap the tape in the direction that you screwed the wire cap on, that way it will keep it from coming loose. The tape should cover the wire cap and about 1 inch of wire.
You will notice that I did one connection at a time, to keep things less confusing. Once complete with all connections, wrap the wires neatly with electrical tape to keep the wire caps all contained and to keep them from rattling together. When all connections are made, you can test your wiring if you like using the included mini test light. There is a grounding screw just inside this access panel that can be used with your test light.
The next step is to route your wires back through the rear wall to the tail lights. Also, pull the trailer wire through the rear wall and down to underneath the truck. You will find a perfect route and if you are very conservative with your wire, the end will reach to the hitch area.
It’s hard to tell in my photo’s as it was a bright sunny day out, but the wire goes down from the grommet, and passes out below the rear bumper. The wire is then routed up through the rear bumper frame work to the hitch area.
Hopefully this has been helpful. Thanks for all that helped me.
