So my trailer light hookup doesnt work. the mechanic told me the converter box is fried and it was no longer available from toyota. they said there were aftermarket ones available, but it would take weeks to get. does anyone know where to find these things? and how is the install? is the converter the box at teh back? is there some sort of writeup? thanks all!

 

You should be able to get a trailer convertor at any RV shop, U-Haul or most parts stores. You can find specific ones for Toyotas or a generic one. It's located at the back, behind the large plastic panel on the driver side. Installation instructions should come with it, but basically you connect the input of the convertor to your brake, tail and left and right turn signal wires. The output will have the 4 trailer wires.

 

i thought mine was no good either wasn't getting any power to it turns out the plug was bad

 

amazon.com-

about $34.75 use Hopkins brand-consider LED indicating 4pin unit so at a glance at your rear bumper area you can see what is functional and what is not- About $8 also a Hopkins product.

I have a thread about this in General electrical-the box on a 99 Runner is in the drivers side rear corner.

Requires removal of a lot of trim-be careful with that huge cargo area piece so you don't break the clip holders.

picture of the unit contained within my Facebook link below.

 

Don't worry about a Toyota OEM replacement, get the $30 aftermarket version. I've read on YT that the Toyota converter boxes are easy to fry when they get shorted out (as mine did, and so did yours probably ).

You can find the Hopkins brand boxes at Walmart, Autozone, or just about any auto parts place for ~$30. I tow an old beat up trailer and have shorted out the lights numerous times and haven't ruined the box yet

The worst part of the install getting to the old box. The box is under the plastic molding in the rear cargo area on the drivers side. Yeah like Ron said, use some care when removing the molding. I cut out the old box then I soldered all the wires in place and re-ran the trailer wire harness through the body. It took about 90 minutes. Some vehicles have "plug and play" harnesses that can be pluged into your factory harness without any spicing and soldering. My 2000 4Runner was not plug and play.