Adding hitch receiver and trailer electrical harness

[DokDream]

etrailer sells a hitch reciever for the Maverick. They also push a wiring harness with "converter" to be direct wired to the battery. The claim is that the existing wiring is "delicate," and a heavier hot wire is needed to provide power to lights, etc., on a trailer. I seek verification of that claim. There are ports on both sides of the truck bed at the rear providing access to the existing wiring and (apparently) intended to allow a "tee" connection to be made for trailer tail, stop, and running lights. Also, I like the idea of installing an AC outlet in the driver's side compartment in the bed, adjacent to the mentioned wiring access port. For that, I suspect a larger cable directly to the battery would be needed, as well as figuring out where a DC/AC inverter would be located. Probably a battery "health" monitor would also be needed. Does anyone know if these questions have been addressed either by Ford, aftermarket suppliers, or folks on this forum?

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[GPSMan]

Huh?

Why not get the OEM power outlet and OEM wires for the bed. You'll know the wire gauge is correct for the inverter.

If your truck did not come with a hitch, your truck did not come with trailer wiring and you need to start from scratch.

P.S. do not "tee" off of anything existing without the specialized converter box. It is correct- you cannot pull additional amps through existing wires, only milliamps to signal the converter box.

 

[DokDream]

Huh?

Why not get the OEM power outlet and OEM wires for the bed. You'll know the wire gauge is correct for the inverter.

If your truck did not come with a hitch, your truck did not come with trailer wiring and you need to start from scratch.

P.S. do not "tee" off of anything existing without the specialized converter box. It is correct- you cannot pull additional amps through existing wires, only milliamps to signal the converter box.

Huh?

Why not get the OEM power outlet and OEM wires for the bed. You'll know the wire gauge is correct for the inverter.

If your truck did not come with a hitch, your truck did not come with trailer wiring and you need to start from scratch.

P.S. do not "tee" off of anything existing without the specialized converter box. It is correct- you cannot pull additional amps through existing wires, only milliamps to signal the converter box.

Thank you. THAT addresses my question. As to the DC/AC inverter, OEM power outlet, do you know where it is available? I did not see it as a Maverick accessory.

 

[GPSMan]

Thank you. THAT addresses my question. As to the DC/AC inverter, OEM power outlet, do you know where it is available? I did not see it as a Maverick accessory.

Like half the trucks have them factory installed. Part numbers must be elsewhere on this site.

 

[ArtLac]

Installed the Ford OEM hitch and Tekonsha 4 pin wiring harness (Amazon) on my hybrid XL. I’m 73. Went pretty smooth. There is a decent video on youtube, . Tricky part was getting the panel removed around the 12V battery under the seat to connect the power wire to the battery. Check out this U-Haul video, . Would have been nice to have an impact wrench to remove the crash bar where the hitch goes.

 

[TheWizziard]

I have installed both a receiver and a 110v inverter.

After unsuccessfully attempting a DIY receiver I decided to go with A CURT receiver. The install was pretty straight forward.

I installed a Ford wiring harness. Not because I thought it was better than the CURT but because I got it for a better price on Amazon. Both have a module. The CUTR has the advantage of having plug and play connectors. The Ford harness required tapping into the existing wiring. Both require a 12v source. The Ford instructions show that you can use the 12v bed connections or run a wire directly to the battery for the 12v source. I originally used the connector but changed it to the battery when I ran the inverter wires.

What size inverter do you want. One thing to remember is that the DC input side draws 10 timed the current of the AC output side. A 500W inverter will draw about 40A at full power but only provide about 4.5A of 110VAC. So to install an inverter in the back you would have to run 40A capable wire from the battery.

A 1000W inverter draws over 80 amps at full power requiring at least 4 gauge wires.

I installed a 1000W pure sine wave inverter behind the rear seat. The 3ft 4AWG wires that came with the inverter reached to the battery. I then installed 16 gauge wire to the rear cubby to the 110VDC outlet.

 

[TheSEARCH]

Installed the Ford OEM hitch and Tekonsha 4 pin wiring harness (Amazon) on my hybrid XL. I’m 73. Went pretty smooth. There is a decent video on youtube, . Tricky part was getting the panel removed around the 12V battery under the seat to connect the power wire to the battery. Check out this U-Haul video, . Would have been nice to have an impact wrench to remove the crash bar where the hitch goes.

Why not use the much easier U-haul hitch. The video on that is so much easier. This is a BIG job with factory hitch.

 

[ArtLac]

Looks are deceiving. The OEM hitch does not require trimming the panel next to spare, disconnecting the muffler or fishing nuts for bolts. Remove 4 bolts, slide out bumper bar, slide in hitch, replace 4 bolts. Removing the plastic bumper turned out to be simple. I was most concerned about removing the plastic bumper but once the screws and plastics snaps were removed (5 minute job) the bumper popped right off and popped on even easier. My thought is that the frame integrity may be better with the OEM hitch.

 

[dennish]

I originally used the connector but changed it to the battery when I ran the inverter wires.

What general path did you take to get to the battery? I am going to try and install a curt harness this weekend and trying to figure out the path to the 12v source.

 

[GPSMan]

There's pre made holes in the battery "box" that will reach to the underbody.

Use a coat hanger or fish tape to fish around. I found it super simple. I didn't remove anything or make any holes of my own.

 

[RichardCranium]

I am just glad that I will be getting my hitch factory installed. I have installed a lot of hitches in my day and it will be nice to not have to deal with this one.

 

[TheWizziard]

I pulled the under seat storage trim on the right side to have access to the floor beside the battery. I connected an inline fuse to the terminal stud on the positive side of the battery. I ran the wire down through a rubber boot in the floor. I then ran the wire over the heat shield and fastened it to any place I could find along the right side of the truck. Then across the trailer hitch and up into the left tail light cavity. If I had it to do over I would have put he module in the right tail light cavity. I covered the wire in tubing before installing for extra protection.

This video shows how to remove the floor trim and access the rubber boot. He says you have to wiggle the second piece around a bit. He cuts out part of the video. The second trim piece is a pain to remove but it does come out.

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