Hi all,

here is my tow bar story as it happened.

I was promised a boat for free but it was 400km away in Syd so I started calling local (PMQ) traders to get that tow bar installed asap. Ho, ho, ho Merry Christmas - first quote was $545, bit too much and over my expectations ($200-$300). I honestly taught it costs that much. Then I turned to Syd where I lived for 9 years (until2 months ago) in hope to get a better deal. I phoned Pedders near where boat is kept and bingo-$900. I was in shock, and that first quote did not seem bad anymore. However I turned to Ebay for help.

I found several new and second hand deal and purchased a excellent condition Hayman Reese towbar with manual for $110 including delivery from Victoria. Since I never done anything like it it took me 5-6 hours to install it. Getting the bumper off took most of my time, then it was easy. Car was ready for wiring loom to be installed - piece of cake, some would say. Ebay and Internet are full of those looms that are of "PLUG AND PLAY" nature but I have checked my car first and guess what- there is nowhere to plug it in. After getting some advice I went to Supercheap Auto and bought a self installing wire kit that taps into existing wiring and has a wire colour codes so anyone could do it.

Anyone? No not me and no-one who does not know colour and purpose of those wires in the boot. Colour codes included in the kit were like: Yellow-connect left indicator or stop light, but what colour is stop light wire in the boot: refer to your manual if you have one. This seems to be top secret information as 2 hours of intensive searches on the net did not help. Many other cars came up but no Magnas nor Mitsubishi. Turned to locals again.

It backfired again. $78 quote - for what: to connect five wires in the boot according to their colours. Lucky enough only second gut i asked to quote on this listened carefully and quoted $30 which I am happy to pay. I have an appointment tomorrow.

Was it worth it? Well if you take worst case scenario of $900 or even $545 and compare it to the following expences:

$110 - towbar
$ 29 - wiring harness
$ 30 installation
$ 4 bumper plugs
+ your work and nerves adds up to:

$173 + your nerves which is three times lower expense than middle quote of $545.

PS Only one guy from Gladesville quoted $325 for all. Good Luck and if anyone knows colour codes of those tail lights please post them here I do not need them but someone might. Cheers

DJ

lol i'm at the same stage with my 2003 TL i got a bar for $80 from the wreckers and the loom from supercheap now to figure out the bloody colour code in the boot. i was quoted $700 for the bar alone from carlisle mitsu in Qld. when i told the guy that i could get one for $80 from the wreckers he was at least nice enough to tell me that was a great deal and to go for it. he even gave me a full print out diagram on how to fit the bar. what i dont get is how a $5 piece of plastic from china is so bloody hard to get hold of

Moral of the story:

1. Buy from wreckers (to save money)

2. Get all the mounting bolts and the wiring harness as well.

Best yet, go to a self service wrecker, so you pull one off yourself and you can see how it is mounted and wired up.

I bought a second hand bar from a wrecker for my TJ, it was complete but I didn't get to watch it being pulled off. Turned out there were three different places the towbar harness could be connected to, so wasted time doing trial and error. (passenger side tail light if you are wondering)

To add-on to Max

3) Look at your passenger side rear tail light wiring loom.

4)Search AMC to
a) Find out where you can buy a legit 'plug in and play loom' to connect into that tail light or
3b) Make one yourself. On the passenger side tail light, there is a connector in the loom that comes apart. That is where a trailer wiring harness is meant to connect into. Pick those connectors off a wreck to make your own. Then get a trailer light harness from a autoshop and match up the wiring from the tail light connectors and the trailer harness.
Matching the wiring is quite easy, just time consuming. What you would need to do is individually test each of the 5 wires. One will be for the tail lights, anouther for the brake, 2x indicators and for reverse. So have someone sit in the car and touch the brakes, turn the light on, indicate and put the car in reverse and during which time you would be testing each wire with a multimeter to see which one gets power. Done deal. I don't believe the wiring colours for the rear looms changed over the series of 3rd gens though.
You'll need to make a return wire that goes back into the tailight. I.e. 5 wires to trailer harness and same 5 wires back to the tail light.
The whole thing will cost you less than $20 and maybe an hour of your time. If you were in Vic, I'd make one for you :)

My cost for a towbar:
- Towbar for a VR-X rear bar. $40 incl lip from local wreckers.
- New high-tensile steel bolts. $15
- Trailer plug. $10 from SCA
- $5 worth of wiring.
- $3 for electrical tape.
Total ~$60.

Haven't got circuit diagram for TE but I can report wire colours for TH/TJ which are most likely the same:

Tail lights: G-W (Green w. White stripe)
Brake lights: G (Green)
Left indicator: G-B (Green w. Black stripe)
Right indicator: G-Y (Green w. Yellow stripe)
Reverse: R-L (Red w. Blue stripe)

Can't remember what I paid a couple of years back for a standard bar (not hitch) from Ace in Ringwood (VIC) but I think it was around $300 fully fitted & wired in. Mine's a wagon, dunno if that makes a difference to the $.

i got my tow bar from a wrecker for $72 and just got a spare rear wiring set up out of a verada and got out the test light had it done in a afternoon
(i have the wiring in the boot with some flat cable that i can pull out of the boot and it hides the plug )

I got the same setup with my plug, flat cable and the plug lives in the spare wheel well (wagon). Hides the rather crappy looking plug and keeps it clean and dry.