6pin on truck / 7pin on airstream

[Al Falcon]

Greetings all,

I have a F-250 with the six pin hook up and a '73 Sovereign with a seven pin hook up. I called the dealer and was told the best solution was to have a seven pin hook up installed in my truck. ($150.00 to $200.00 installed) and that he knew of no adapters that "go that way" I wonder if anyone here has a less expensive solution to this dilemma. I can't be the first or only one to have this situation arise. Thanks and as always...

May the force be with you!

The Aluminum Falcon

(but you can call me Al)

[Jim & Susan]

It depends on the truck, but you might be able to find one in a junk yard. Get the part number from Ford (if possible) and call around. My Fords are plug and play--no modifications needed to main wire harness if you need a different type of connector.

Jim

[Radman]

I wired my Ford to the 72 Overlander cause I had nearly the same issues. You'll need to trace all p/u wires and identify then, the same to the t/t. Some kind of pig-tail set up should work and not cost an arm and a leg. Make notes on what wire is what and take your time. Find a local r.v. vendor and run it by them. I trust they run across this sort of thing all the time. Remember this is not rocket science as my Dad used to say "any trained monkey can do it". And I did. Good luck.

[7xp]

Al Falcon
Here is a site showing the different pinouts for different connectors Trailer Wiring If I recall right, Airstream has used different pinouts for different years for the 7 pin connector as posted on this forum (tried to do a search, but couldn't find it). You can pick up a cheap circiut tester at any automotive store. If you buy a 7 pin connector, make sure it matches the one on the trailer, some are round pin and some are blade type. Just run the 7th wire of the proper gauge and your good to go. I hope someone will post the pinouts for the different year Airstreams. Good luck. "Mac"

[Lumatic]

I believe there is a factory plug in the rear under the truck bed. There was in mine. You can get a 7 pin with the male plug from an auto parts store. If worse come to worse just cut the plugs off and wire direct. The wire colors are universal on the 7 pin. The Ford wiring is a little different. Still a quick 1 hour job. The guy who quoted you $150 has his wires crossed, and you should cross him off too!

[KeithC]

If I read everything correctly, you did not say what year your tow vehicle was.

I had a similar problem with my 2006 Ford F-250 Superduty diesel tow vehicle package and my 1968 Airstream Tradewind wiring harness.

The F-250 has a "by function" 7 pin diagram printed on the protective lid of the hitch plug-in cover.

Do not try to match Fords color wiring harness to an airstream colored wiring harness, they most likely will not match.

Instead, match the functions by pin placement, recognizing that there is a mirror difference between the tow vehicle and the trailer.

I.E. if you look at the tow vehicle recepticale, pin 3 will mate with pin 7 on the trailer plug.

[KeithC]

correction..pin 6

[funchucky1]

I had the same problem with my first tow vehicle. I just changed the plug on the trailer to the six-pin that plugged into my truck.
The plug was about 8 bucks at Walmart.

Sure, the six-pin plug doesn't have back-up lights.

-Chuck

[CanoeStream]

A '73 Sovereign probably has backup lights if it's anything like my Argosy. Consider that no Airstreams have them any more. Big loss? Probably not.

Nice link 7xp. Airstream FAQs have a variety of diagrams covering the years: Airstream :: Customer Services. Realize of course that the current plug "to 2002" runs right up to the present day -- shows how Jackson Center is concentrating on building Airstreams. Be cautious for mirror imaging and get the truck and trailer ends lined up right. Yep Radman, I've made a pretty good trained monkey too!

[Jim & Susan]

You can probably find the correct wiring diagram for your camper here (from the Airstream site): Airstream :: Customer Services

My camper didn't have an umbilical cord with it, so I bought one from NAPA that had one end "pig-tailed" so it could be wired in any order. Just another possibility.

Jim