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Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

February 12, 2015, 04:36:05 pm

We had a thread going awhile back regarding toad lights. This post is for future searches on that subject.  We got rid of our Jeep and picked up a nice little 08 Outback for a toad. I just finished rigging it with a Roadmaster baseplate and wiring it for lights.

I did our last toad with some wiring I had around and some diodes from a local electronics store. It worked fine but was kind of a pain to do. This time I went looking for the quick and easy TowDaddy system I read about here. Turns out TowDaddy was bought out by Hopkins and there is no Hopkins or other plug & play solution for an 08 Outback. Anyhow, I ended up buying eTrailer's kit number 38955 (Tail Light Isolating Diode System with Wiring Harness). Essentially, you are buying four nicely sealed diodes with spade connections along with a long run of four wire harness. It's about $33.

If someone is starting out from scratch it can be a bit confusing. There are two types of tail light systems - separate and combined. A separate system has dedicated turn signal lights while a combined system uses the brake lights as turn signals. In my case, both the Foretravel and the toad have separate systems. However, the usual Foretravel toad connection changes it from a separate to a combined system. This means, if you use the factory plug, you are attaching your toad to a combined system.

There are several wiring choices in the case of a separate toad system:
* You can wire directly to the Foretravel's system and do separate to separate. The advantage of doing it this way is you get your factory dedicated turn signal lights on your toad.
* You can wire to the factory provided plug and do separate to separate but to do so, you need a converter box.
* You can do as I did and use the factory plug and wire your toad as if it is a combined system. You end up with the Foretravel lights operating as they normally do but the toad lights operating as a combined system.

The connections themselves are not difficult. The hardest part of the project probably is getting the wiring from the front to the back of your toad and accessing the toad's wiring for your connections. Essentially, you are running a wire to the right brake light for brake & turn signal, same on the left, and a wire to right and left running lights and, of course, the all important ground.

Good luck.
jor

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Re: Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

Reply #1 – February 12, 2015, 04:55:50 pm

Congrats on the Outback Jon. We loved ours and hoped JD was tiring of it so we could buy it back but alas he a Marilyn are in love with it. I do like our 2005 Chrysler Town and Country but there are times I miss the all wheel drive of the Subaru.

If some of you aren't familiar, the Subaru's must be manual transmission. The Chrysler requires a transmission pump. Both are great toweds and certainly have their place depending upon ones need. The Subaru Outback weight about 3400 lbs and the Chrysler weighs about 4400 lbs but I really can't tell a whole lot of difference in the performance of the coach between them.  Quite a surprise.

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Re: Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

Reply #2 – February 12, 2015, 06:07:18 pm

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so we could buy it back

Must be something about those Subys! I also tried to buy back the last one we sold (Forrester).
jor

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Re: Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

Reply #3 – February 12, 2015, 06:47:14 pm

When we bought our 2013 Suby Outback- part of the deal was to have the baseplate installed and wired for towing behind our coach.  The dealership used to be a Saturn business, the salesman had worked at Saturn for years and he used the same trailer company I used back in '99 for our Toyota Corolla toad.  The difference was this time they had to eat the $$$$ to get the deal.

In fact, I was in the drivers seat in the van ready to pull away but Karen had to use the restroom.  While she was busy, the salesman and manager came running out wondering what happened? " I thought we had a deal " the manager said.  I think we are pretty far apart was my response.  "You mean that towing thing is all that is keeping us from doing the deal.?  That is not much"

Maybe $1000 is not much for you , but it is for me.  He offered me his hand and said they will take care of it if I buy the car.
They did, I did, the rest is history.

Go Suby Go

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Re: Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

Reply #4 – February 12, 2015, 08:12:50 pm

Kent offered to sell us the Subaru about three times in two years. He finally bought the van and tricked it out as a "love grotto" with LED mood lighting. After that, he made Marilyn and me a trade offer for our used (up) Jeep that couldn't be refused.

We've towed the Subaru well over 20K miles and been pleased. We are not inclined to sell it back. We've driven on super slabs and in snowy/icy conditions. It has served us well.

I treated it to new tires, new headlights, and a tow lighting upgrade. I used relays rather than diodes for the towed vehicle lighting. The relays work well and enable brighter light (less voltage drop) than diodes. I also diod away with the brake/turn combiner on the coach. The Subaru now shows red lights for brake lights and amber lights for turn signals, just as the coach does.

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Re: Rigging Toad Lights for Towing

Reply #5 – February 14, 2015, 07:25:50 pm

We tow a 2002 Subaru WRX wagon.  Fun car, goes like stink, handles great, good highway gas mileage.
We think we'll eventually get a newer Subaru - probably a Forester - but the WRX is so low maintenance that it's hard to justify.  Only reason we would replace it is for more off-road ground clearance, and maybe a little more rear storage capacity.

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