Towbar and wiring fitment

[Pane]

G'day

I'm finally going to fit up a towbar to my 2012 d22. I got the bar off eBay 12months ago. It's a hayman Reece bar. I also got the wiring loom from Nissan.

Can someone tell me if the rear step stays or goes? And if it stays do the brackets for the bar use the same bolts as the step?

Hopefully the step can stay cause I do actually use it.

The next thing is the wiring, does the wire for the electric brakes turn up in the car somewhere or do I need to add my own. Would save alot of stuffing around if it does.

Cheers

 

[bods]

Step stays. You can probably fit the reinforcing plates with it still on the car, just do one side at a time. Unless someone was sneaky and added trailer brake wiring from the factory you won't have any such luck with that already being there, so you will have to run your own...

 

[Old.Tony]

My D40 had no trailer wiring. I don't think Nissan believe most of us tow shit around.

When you put the wiring in, err on the heavier side of the cabling. 4mm cable is WAY too light, 5mm will get warm, 6mm cable will stay cool. I also used a 40A thermal breaker to supply power to my controller (Tekonsha Prodigy P3 - there really isn't anything better on the market). The picture in my garage where you can see the brake controller is of the Tekonsha Voyager that I removed (proportional = yes, auto-adjusting = no) and in my previous car I had a Redarc (proportional = no, auto-adjusting = please don't laugh).

While you're running the cable down from front to rear, consider running a pair of 8Ga (21mm2) cable from front to rear and terminate that in an Anderson plug. Handy for some trailers that have aux power systems that can take power from the tow vehicle (eg caravans, or 2T+ trailers with breakaway braking systems).

 

[Pane]

G'day

Thanks guys

Interesting on the thickness of the wiring. I've just done a p3 in my other car that tows the boat, its only got a 15 amp fuse so current draw on 4mm wire shouldn't be that high over that small distance but advice taken and ill use some 6 in the nav.
I've also got to run some heavy twin to an Anderson plug to tow a mates camper.

I'll see how I go in the next few weeks.

Cheers

 

[Old.Tony]

I heard a story (pictures included, not sure where but I'm certain it's findable again) of a Subaru Forester that had 4mm electric brake wiring installed, and it heated up enough so that the wire had melted its way through the insulation sprayed on the upper side of the guard in the engine bay. Foresters can't tow more than about 1500kg (1800kg for the 2.0XT) so we are talking small double-axle at the most - call it 3.3A per wheel, 13.2A max.

4mm cable might be rated for 60A, but that's a short-distance capacity issue, not a long-distance enduring rate.

 

[Pane]

G'day

That's very interesting, think ill run 6mm and then I'm safe.

Cheers

 

[Pane]

G'day

Got my towbar on over the weekend. Fairly simple job really and didn't take long.

My only question is, how close should the ball be to the bumper? It seams very close to me.

Anyone got a pic of there's?

Cheers

 

[Old.Tony]

From memory my towball (without the WDH) is 150mm from the bumper, and 300mm with the WDH.

I generally don't like towing without the WDH, because it increases the stability of the whole rig.

 

[Pane]

G'day

My ball is only just behind the step. I put my trailer on last night and it seams that it will work ok and shouldn't hit the bumper.

Got the wiring to do now.

Cheers

 

[smithbro]

Show us a picture of your ball position? Mine sits about 150mm back from the rear bar. I installed mine a few months ago, bought it from Speedy Towbars. 2.8T and it was straight forward to install, they even had a plug in wiring loom too!

 

[bods]

Sounds like you got the towbar from the earlier model and fitted it to a later model, the tubs are about 100mm longer in the later models so that will be why. You can get hitches that have a longer gooseneck on them to put it further out if you are worried...

 

[Pane]

G'day

Appears that the above is the case. I measured a mates car up last night and his is 100 mm shorter than mine. Everything else is the same size.

I don't think it's going to make any difference to towing other than being harder to hook up safety chains! Ill just use some rated hooks with safety latches to make it easier.

Cheers