Factory Fit Fixed Towbar

[wirral tourer]

I've heard that the 13 pin plug may not come energised for caravans, i.e. it will only as a standard run the lights, not the fridge or battery - not all the pins are wired up.

 

Does anyone have experience of ordering the factory fit plug and can they confirm whether the plug was energised for caravans?

 

Also, if anyone has the fixed towbar, can they confirm if the space between the centre of the towbar and the bumper is greater than 68mm. This is the requirement of an Al-ko AKS 3004 stabiliser. I cannot get an answer from Ford.

 

Cheers

[Willie Krashitt]

The wiring diagram shows that the following wires are connected in the 13 pin socket:

1= LH indicator

2= Fog light

3= Earth

4= RH indicator

5= RH Tail Light

6= Stop Light

7= LH Tail light

8= Reverse

9 Not connected

10= Charging/Power

11= Earth

12 Not connected

13= Earth

 

From this, it would appear that providing your caravan battery / fridge is connected to Pin D10, it should charge/ stay cold. As pin 10 is described as 'Charging', I would think that this is only powered with the engine running, but this is just a guess. A voltmeter connected between pins 10 and 11 should tell you when it is powered.

Hope that this helps,

George.

[dellybeanhead]

Yes I can say a definate yes to both questions. I fitted one to my Galaxy. If you fit it yourself you will need to pay Ford to enable the module.

make sure it is teh genuine Ford kit that they fit as I found some dealers simply farm it out to a towbar company who do not have the equipment (Ford computer to enabl ethe module) to fit the Ford one so they go for a 3rd party one which has that annoying beeping when the indicators are in use.

 

With regard to towball gap. I had a detachable Bosal fitted which had plenty of room for my Alko but it was too high!

So, I tried my friends s-max which has the genuine Ford fixed (same as on the Galaxy) and it worked perfectly with my Alko. Both gap and height.

 

Another interesting point is that the 2006 Galxy is rated at 80kg nose weight

the 2007 at 85kg

and the 2008 at 90Kg

 

But nobody at Ford can tell me if this spec is a change to all years or if you have to have a model built after that year. You'd hope it is all of them as nothing has changed except for the written spec as far as I can tell.

Edited May 26, 2008 by dellybeanhead

[Peer Howard]

I wish to add a detachable tow bar and would be interested in which one you fitted, and an indication of how hard / long the job was. Was it a genuine Ford tow bar ?

 

What module do you need to pay Ford to enable ?

 

Many Thanks