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Evening all,
I picked up a second hand Thule bike rack that has 13 Pin connection on it. My vehicle has 7 pin socket on it.
I got an adaptor but this causes the connection to be too long and fouls on the tow bar bracketry.
Can I just change the bike rack to 7 pin?
Cheers in advance and merry Christmas to all
Yes. My Thule is 7pin, I stupidly put 13 pin on the car. Works fine with an adaptor but almost chopped the plug and put 14 pin on the Thule. Straightforward if you can wire a plug.
I’ve got the opposite with mine. Just bought a car with a 13 pin towbar but my Thule carrier is 7 pin. I need to see if I can get an adaptor. <br />Failing that, where about are you as a swap may work?
crossed - Buxton derbyshire.
Ah, that’s a bit too far then!
It sounds like you both need something like this 13 to 7 pin adaptor
They are available both ways and much less hassle than trying to rewire the plug.
I've got a 13 pin Euro socket on my Mitsubishi and use one of these on an old 7 pin number board occasionally and it works perfectly.
I got an adaptor but it makes it too long and then fouls with bracketry on the towbar.
You can change either male or female socket on car or rack as you need to.
Just put a 7 pin socket on the rack cable. You will lose the reverse lights if fitted but they are not required.
I got an adaptor but it makes it too long and then fouls with bracketry on the towbar.
I assume that's because you have a fixed towbar and the overall length of the adaptor makes the gap too short?
You might well find (if you don't have a reverse light on the Thule rack) that it uses 7pin cable and that would make a plug swap even easier on the rack.
If there's no reverse light then only wires 1-7 are in use. It would be strange to use more expensive cable in that case.
That would be my start point.
It doesn't take long to wire on a new plug, I replaced the one on my Caravan a couple of years ago. The entire 13 pin job took under half an hour.
Only issue I can see with going from 13 to 7 is making sure you get the right cables to the right pins.
Ignore that, deleted as I didn't read it properly.
As Mert said. All you need is a small flat blade screwdriver and you can download wiring diagrams.
It should be possible to dismantle the existing plug.
Cheers all for the advice. I've decided to move the socket to the other side rather than rewire.
What people do when they go off for a ride? Leave it on the towbar? As it does actually lock onto the towbar.
Yes, leave it on locked.
Leave it locked on there.
Screwfix do good replacement plugs if required.
Changed mine on the truck to work better with the trailers. 13pin is much nicer to use than 7 pin imho. My dyslexic head got pickled with the wiring diagram as it didn’t say how you were viewing it (in front or from the rear) Got it sorted eventually ;0)
Yep 13 pin is superior so when my last towing loom had a 13 pin option I changed the trailer and rack to match. Much easier to use and the pins don't need spreading open every few months.
Just remember to twist off the plug completely rather than half twist and tug, which causes the pins to get misaligned and you'll only find out next time you go to plug in!