Relocating the trailer light plug (bumper)

Greetings! Like a lot of people with 4wd, I like to drive on dirt, and rocks, and mud, and whole host of other things. Sometimes things break. Sometimes things break because an item was added as an after thought and they get in the way. Like the plug for the trailer light.



I have seen a lot of relocation ideas, most of which consist of moving the mounting plate so it is tucked up under the truck, or (the more creative solution) I found was actually hinged. It could be put away when not in use, and folded back down when it was. I decided to take a different route, through the bumper.

I started with some painters tape and using a pencil traced an outline of the face of the plug. I then marked the middle of chosen place.



This would mark would be for my first pilot hole.



Once I had the first pilot hole, I could use this:



2 1/8" hole saw. The saw & the pilot bit cost me a total $15 at Home Depot. It is designed to cut holes in stainless sinks for faucets, so I figured it work well here. Now if you try this at home, do not take 2 1/8" hole saw size as an absolute. Measure for the plug you will be using in your project.

It did not disappoint.





As you can see in the above image, there is a piece of steel in the way. This is the edge of the mount for the tow hitch.

The hole saw worked great in trimming the edge down.

Next I test fitted the mount again and marked the four mounting screw holes.





It should be noted that when I drilled the two holes on left (the side with the trailer hitch mount), I also drilled two holes through the mount itself. This allowed me plenty of space for the self tapping screws I would be using.

This is the plug wire connection. The lower of the two connectors is for the trailer lights.



It uses a weird connecter. First you pinch and pull a small bit of plastic, then the white part rotates out of the way, then it unplugs. Didn't take long to figure it out, but it was very different than anything I had seen. Here is a picture of it unplugged:



The cable is also connected to the chassis by this zip tie:



Just cut it and replace it with a fresh zip tie.

Once I had the old plug & wiring harness free I could move on to the next step, replacing the plug. The replacement plug I purchased ($9.00 at pep boys) was marked for color codes on the inside and was notched so it could only be placed back in the mount one way. As it turns out the wire colors Toyota uses matches this universal plug. I am so glad they didn't use some non-standard color scheme.



Here is a shot of the bumper just before I fed the new plug and harness back into place.



Here is the completed harness and plug.



Everything in its place.







Now I can use the plug, and never worry about dragging it in on the ground. Well, not unless I rip the bumper off too

 

Looks great. Was there room to put it by the plate?

 

Great write up man! I may do a variation of this.

 

Nice Job.
I had considered doing this also but living and working on the beach it would be mere seconds before the rust devoured my entire truck. Its a toyota thing

 

Great write up OP. Ive been thinking about doing this ever since I ripped mine off last month in Moab.

 

Unfortunately the plug was around 1/4 to wide to go next to the plate. The current location has worked out exceedingly well. It keeps trailer wires clear of binding with the hitch in anyway.

 

An alternative.
You can pop out one of the plate lights in about 5 seconds. No drilling.

 

Didn't even consider that. Awesome idea!