I have never used my trailer lights (97 T4R), first time I hooked them up they didnt work. I found the black box inside the rear passenger side panel, and the wires going from the box forward into the truck (not the ones going to the higtch) was unplugged. Every time I plug it it, it blows my brake light fuse. I was going to replace the wires from the box to the hitch (assuming there was a short) but before I did that I tried unhooking the wires from the box to the plug, and plugging just the box into the truck and that still blew my fuse. Is the box bad? How do you get it to come off of the panel (no screws in it?). Can you replace it with a generic one from the parts store or does it have to be from Toyota (cant find the P/N or find it on google)? Thanks for any help

 

I would say your box is fried. As far as part number or taking it off, I don't know. As far as does it have to be Toyota, NO. I have a ford ranger converter in my truck and it works fine. (This is going to be the closest thing to owning a ford in my life)

 

So Ive looked into it and it looks like the Hoppy kit (PN- 43415) will plug into the back of my tail lights and run to the hitch (Bypassing the "black box") and fix my problem. Does this sound right to anyone who has used the kit?