Hopkins Towing Solutions 47185 Multi-Tow 4 Flat to 7 Blade and 4 Flat Adapter

Ironically, the 4-pin plug on this which is made to go into the vehicles 4-pin plug had rubber shielding around the metal terminals to create a seal. I installed this on an 03 F150 which also had said shielding. The two wont work together, only one end is to have this shielding or boot. But fear not as the fix is easy: I just took a utility knife and cut the rubber off the plug on this Hopkins unit. It then plugged into the truck fine. Otherwise, these are not of the most robust construction. Hopkins also sells a more heavy duty adapter under the Endurance line which is of better construction. Ive used both and will opt for the Endurance in the future. The Endurance is gray in color and has a raised X on the 7-pin cover.

My Explorer came with the standard 4 flat wire attachment. However, all wires necessary to complete the 7 pin connector are pulled right under the right rear tail light. I was able to tap into 2 of the additional 3 wires needed at this location. NOTE: I also put on a 2 receiver which required the removal of the rear bumper. This greatly simplified access to these wires, which terminate into a junction/connector. Even though Ford provides all the connections, the blue wire for the trailer controller appeared to be only 14-16AWG (unmarked) although it is fused for 30A. Since multiple internet sources recommended 12AWG minimum, I chose not to use the blue wire provided but to run a separate 12AWG line up to the battery and fuse it for 40A (circuit breaker actually). I actually ran a duplex (2wire) cable just in case. The two that I deemed useable were the orange (B+, aux power) which I soldered to the Black wire from the 7 pin; it(along with RT and LT) are fused at 40A which should be sufficient. I also used the Black w/green stripe (Reverse, BU) which I soldered to the Purple wire from the 7 pin. It is fused for 20A so shouldnt be any problems there either. I really like the way the manufacturer sealed this item, and maintaining the option of using either 4 or 7 pins is really nice.

I havent hooked it up yet because a tester I bought shows the tail light is not working from the current adapter. I will be using this soon and believe I may have found a work around, otherwise it will fit just fine to the new trailer that I bought this for, I think the capped wires may be used for trailer braking which I dont plan on using at this time but nice to know its available.

Its all good, but I do have to hold onto the back of this plug when plugging in a trailer, or Ill bend the bracket back. The plug itself seems to work fine.

I was happy with the results. The bracket was okay but not perfect. The production engineers need to study the bracket install position. it was not low enough for ideal placement. I had to fabricate an extension for the wiring setup to work in front of the hitch receiver. Overall it was okay.

Don’t loan this out you’ll never see it again

Mounting this to my 2016 Chevy Express van was a piece of cake. Didnt need instructions. Mounted to bottom of bumper left of the hitch. Looks and functions as factory installed. Nice and secure, clean, now maintenance free. Coupled with the Curt 55540 and the and Curt 14090, I have a total of 180 bucks and less than 45 minutes work into this with all 3 items. Was quoted $850-$1,000 from installers/dealers. Ridiculous. Did this myself for over 80% less!

I have these on several vehicles- great quality. ALWAYS use the combination adapters like this so if you need to tow a trailer with either connector, you can. I learned that the hard way when I had an axle failure on my car trailer away from home- I had to get a rental trailer to get my race car home while I left the other trailer at a friends house while I had to order a new axle for it. Being able to slap a rental trailer on without buying an adapter is awesome. You never know when you may want to tow something for a friend or whatever. Its also no more wiring involved to have this combo unit.

Good construction. The bracket is just okay. Reason for 4 stars. I have had to bend it back a time or two however it was mounted on a farm truck that is predominantly off road.

We planned to use this on our 2013 Ford Escape (Titanium) with factory towing, but ended up using it on a 1997 Ford Explorer XLT instead (not due to the item itself, but due to the towing capacity of the Escape). The wires are completely sealed with some sort of epoxy where they go into the adapter itself. My only issue here is that the bolts provided for mounting the bracket to the vehicle may not be long enough for several applications. In our case, they were barely long enough to go through the bumper we drilled through on the 97 Explorer. The adapter performed as expected however, and survived a 2500 mile trip without any issues, and we expect it to last a long time to come.