I have a 99' 4Runner and when connected to a trailer I only have tail lights, no blinkers or brakes. I searched and found that 3rd gen trailer lights notoriously suck. So, before tearing the car apart how confident would anybody be that the the trailer converter is my issue?

Also everybody bought cheap ones to fix it, but which one did they buy. I went to autozone and they have a cheap one for $13 that taps into the brake lights(which I would rather not do) and a Toyota 4Runner Specific one for $60 that replaces the old? Anybody fixed this before?

 

I had to replace mine 2 years ago and was forced to buy the WHOLE trailer wiring kit because I needed to hit the road ASAP.

My controller was bad and I just had to plug in a new one behind the rear drivers side panel. I've never priced just the controller, but so easy that I'd just buy the stock one and not worry about any wiring.

Erich

 

I ended up buying a Hopkins 4Runner Trailer Converter with all the wiring. It actually says Toyota on it which strikes me as odd. Part# 43415 if anybody else is looking for them.

 

I just installed a trailer wiring harness in my '07 Taco a couple weeks ago. $100. Yours would probably be cheaper. It connects to an empty plug near your left foot. Then runs underneath the kick panel and exits through a hole near the drivers seat. Runs under the carriage to the back. Then there's a short sub-harness that plugs into the harness and includes the 4-connection trailer plug (if the plug or wiring goes bad in the back, just replace the sub-harness). Add one relay and one 30 amp fuse to the fuse box. It's done and done right.

 

What did you end up paying?

I bought one recently from etrailer for 30 bucks. I just did not feel like splicing in a new converter.

Only one problem with the one from etrailer, my left and right blinkers are swtiched. Yup, put on left signal and right blinker goes on the trailer.

I think the issue is that the new converter needs to be installed on the right rear side as opposed to the left rear, where the old converter was.

So, next step is just to swap the 2 wires on the trailer for now.