G2 trailer wiring harness for flat four connector?

I looked into this when I traded my '06 RT for a '13 RTL, very disappointed to find that Honda had discontinued the dual 7-Way and 4-way wiring harness from the earlier models.

My local trailer shop at Receiver hitches, Trailer Hitches, 1-877-HITCH-IT (448-2448) had this kit for $35, part number 20119. Can't remember if it plugged in or required splicing, but either way it was an easy job. I find it very strange to consider adding an upgrade can lower your resale value, really ? In eight years your $40k truck will be worth a third of that for trade-in, what are they going to do ... knock off an extra five bucks because you changed some sacred Honda engineering that was flawed to begin with.

The adapters are ok but stick way out and should not be left in when not in use, or they will draw moisture. A second 4-way connector is also a must if you are going to run a tailgate LED bar which is very popular and a great add on for the Ridge. We just spliced in a pigtail 4 way flat to the OEM trailer harness for our Anzo light bars, wiring is simple but not intuitive, definitely get a wiring diagram or if someone needs it I will post one.

Just my humble opinion. Danny K.

Photo didn't upload in original reply to post. Here it is.

Here's a pic of the wiring adapter on my truck.

All I wanted was to unplug the grey connector and replace the 7-pin with a four or five pin. Any talk of hacking, devaluing the truck, etc is silly. I could put this in a bag right next to the brake controller adapter that I'll never use. I'd rather pay Honda $60 for that wiring part and have OEM quality, than to pay Walmart $20 for a Chinese adapter that also has additional connections. So it appears that the pigtail I'd like doesn't exist.

I like the approach of finding the Honda unit and splicing, maybe in a bit of time when some make it to junkyards.

The percentage of Ridgelines that will end up pulling something with electric-over-hydraulic brakes is very small, so Honda has forced most people into using adapters and not offered their own solution. I tow three of my own trailers, plus some others, so converting the trailers to false 7 pin won't work.

For the record, the RL towed great. I've had the car 5 days and put 2000 miles on it, mostly up to buy a boat and drag it back home. I got ~22-23 mpg at 80mph on cruise on the way up (with a few traffic jams), and 12-13 at 55-65, mixed country roads and I95 with the boat on the way back. The rig is a little under 4000lb and has fairly high windage.

Matt,

In your initial post it sounded like you wanted to get rid of the 7-pin system completely. I better understand what you had in mind now, with the photo of the harness/plug. However, I still think keeping the 7-pin in place and using an adapter is the better approach.

You mentioned that most owners towing with their RLs won't have e/h brakes. This is probably true of boat owners. But many owners towing utility and camper trailers will install the optional trailer brake controller and get the benefits of e/h brakes.

But even boat owners will want at least a 5-pin system for hydraulic surge brakes. Most states have very low weight thresholds for requiring trailer brakes, and Honda requires brakes on trailers weighing over 1K lbs when towing with the Ridgeline.

And even with surge brakes, a 7-pin system offers the advantage of an additional power supply to the trailer, which can be used for a variety of purposes like charging batteries or powering a rearview camera, etc.

MattGent said:

... The rig is a little under 4000lb and has fairly high windage.

Click to expand...

By the way, that is a very sharp looking boat -- congrats! I would love to hear more about the make/model, where you found it, etc.

I will agree, though, that the rig sure looks to be well over 4K lbs. And I assume when you said your trailers don't have brakes that you were not referring to this rig?:grin:

I have a 2017 Ridgeline 2WD RTL-T. I love it! But, I'm greatly disappointed that it didn't come with a wiring harness; either 7-pin or flat 4-pin would have been OK. Honda saw fit to include the 7-pin harness with the AWD, but apparently was too cheep to do so with the 2WD. The specs say the 2WD is pre-wired but what does that mean. I have a connector (which I had purchased previously for my 2013 Pilot, but never installed) and the connector plugged into what appeared to be a pre-wired connector located under and near bumper on the driver side of my Ridgeline. I plugged in the Pilot harness which has a 4-pin connector on the other end, but it doesn't work. I talked to Honda customer service yesterday, and I'm not satisfied with the answer I got. I was told i needed to buy the wiring kit (part no. 08L91-T6Z-100) for $225 -- an outrageous cost for the wiring needed to run from the son called "pre-wired" connector to my trailer. So, can anyone out there help me, cause Honda can't. What do I need and where can I find it at something less than $225.