Fitting tow bar and wiring to a Yeti with tow prep.

[Ryeman]

Any pics of the genuine item showing ready to tow?
Quoted $995 (max tow weight) for fitted HR on site
". $1360 dealer fitted genuine.
Mine has rear sensors, can't make up my mind, suspect the HR is heavier.

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Thought I might throw in my Towbar update

I went ahead and got the Westfalia towbar from the UK
Did try and get everything, the towbar and electrics kit for towbar prep from a dealer in the UK
but in the end he couldn't get the freight worked out so I bit the bullet and got the towbar from P F Jones and went for a locally supplied electrics kit from Ironbull

The good thing with the delay since all this started was that P F Jones have now dropped £30 off the freight to Oz.
So the towbar was just over £200 and freight was £150 - with conversion charges, around AUD$550 (from memory)
All happened with no fuss and it arrived a day before they said it would
Box was very banged up but all was still inside and was OK
The towbars are built like a battleship so I doubt you could do damage if you tried
Anyway, now all done, works well and relatively easy install with the instructions that came with the towbar and Joel's post

Special thanks to Joel for the instructions for dismantling the rear of the Yeti at the beginning of this thread
A real BIG help - getting that little "Airbag" cover out without marking it proved a bit of a challenge
Used a sharp fruit knife in the end and no marks at all

The electrics kit from Jeff at Ironbull was $240
Handy as he is 5 minutes down the road from me and is very helpful
Although he seems to have completely disappeared ??
Adjoining businesses said it was "personal issues"
Anyway he is not answering the phone and his Website is down as well
Which is a bit of a bummer as mine still had to be coded

Jimmy at Alba European came to my rescue and got it working but it still throws up a "light out" error
The rear sensors disconnect so I assume the stability program get changed as well
Will get the light out problem sorted at next service

So the total cost for me was $790 and was fitted without any hassles with help from my son
A long way from the $1300 I was quoted by Skoda dealer to supply the Bestbars unit, supposedly "at cost" for me to fit
or $1600 fitted - and of course you throw away the removable panel as it will no longer fit !!
Not likely !!

I ran with a large round 7 pin socket from Jeff as this is what is on our new caravan.
Just made an adaptor to fit to the flat plugs that are on all the other trailers I use (same as everyone else !!)

New van has electric brakes, so I was up for another $93 for an electric brake controller plus I had to fit it along with the battery charge cable front to back. Also ran a 75ohm cable for a camera incase I want to fit one later, Not going to pull it all apart again !! But that's another story

Anyway some photos -



I fitted the control box at the bottom of the rear compartment so that if it ever has to come out I will only have to remove the central rear panel plus a screw and then pull the side panel out to get access. Hope it never happens though



Secured all the wires with cable ties



All finished with tow coupling fitted - height is perfect for box trailer and Jurgen caraven



Coupling removed - love that panel back in place



Swan Neck fits perfectly in the storage box

[joel0407]

Jimmy at Alba European came to my rescue and got it working but it still throws up a "light out" error
The rear sensors disconnect so I assume the stability program get changed as well
Will get the light out problem sorted at next service

Hey mate,

Firstly sorry for not getting back to you on your PM but I think you have my number so call me if you still need any info.

As for the stability program. It's stretching my memory but the stability program is adjusted by just having the tow unit installed (you don't need it coded). You know by how long it takes for the traction control light to go out on the dash. It takes longer with trailer stability program. Don't quote me on these times but Pre getting mine coded, it took something like 2 seconds for the light to go out after starting but with a trailer attached, it took 5 seconds (just an example).

Coding is just so the rear park sensors turn off and you get a cool picture of a Yeti with a trailer attached on the stereo. Oh and light circuit monitoring.

As for you light out. I'm going to have a stab in the dark here and guess you didn't consider the UK wiring has left and right tail lights. To fix it, you can either just add a resistor to create a load for the missing light or use diodes to connect the 2 together as I did.

Happy Days

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Hey mate,

Firstly sorry for not getting back to you on your PM but I think you have my number so call me if you still need any info.

No prob, thanks Joel

Coding is just so the rear park sensors turn off and you get a cool picture of a Yeti with a trailer attached on the stereo. Oh and light circuit monitoring..

Sadly not with mine - you will remember the fiasco with the Zenec GPS
(Bad experience at Bryan Byrt, Mt Gravatt )
Still not coded properly - never let Bryan Byrt mob have another go
so the Bluetooth doesn't work, which doesn't worry me that much, but nor does much else -
I contacted Zenec and they didn't even reply to the email
So there's one for customer service
Only gripe with GPS is it has trouble working out when it is day and night
gets "stuck" in day mode so some times it is very bright inside the car LOL
Have to manually set it to "night" - otherwise not a bad GPS

As for you light out. I'm going to have a stab in the dark here and guess you didn't consider the UK wiring has left and right tail lights. To fix it, you can either just add a resistor to create a load for the missing light or use diodes to connect the 2 together as I did.

I remembered seeing your post and the diodes are a great idea
Didn't have any diodes at the time so I just joined the left and right together so I guessing this is the problem
now have some diodes so will fit them and see what happens

Apart from that the Yeti tows fine - box trailer and boat are effortless
Have only done a short run with the new caravan and there were no hills, so not a real test
But acceleration from rest is as though it's not there - I was quite surprised
Tried it in sports mode but on the flat just put it back in "D" although it stays much of the time in 5th gear
Suspect in hilly country sports mode will work better - any advice would appreciated on this

[joel0407]

Yep, Sorry, I meant coding in relation to the tow bar. Coding actually does heaps of stuff and as many VAG Vehicles use the same software, there are heaps of of options that don't actually work with the Yeti but the options are availible in the software. I have needle sweep (all the needles on the dash like the speedo and tacho sweep when you turn the car on) and fog lights as coming home lights (it's easier on the Bi-Xenons). I had a couple of other things changed but I can't remember what they were now. I just got them done when I got the Tow coding.

Happy Days.

[Skooter]

Fantastic info with pics - when I did my Octavia Scout I found a few really useful pics on Octy bodywork in Briskoda. Big respec for you guys who spend the time to bring us detailed info.

I bought my entire kit from Jeff at Ironbull. There was only one drama and that was the wiring kit - it was for a non trailer prep, which should have been no prob, but Jeff's instructions were for UK wiring and I had German wiring; we sussed this after determining that his wiring colour info didn't correspond to what i had in my hands. Sorted it by talking to him while seated in the spare wheel well, looking at what i had in front of me!

i would have liked the right wiring harness, but cutting down and fitting pin connectors wasn't really a prob. The kit he sold seems to specify NOT to set it up in the CPU for trailer hitch??? It even came with a sticker so service personnel wouldn't mess with it. Which is odd, as obviously the rev sensors scream whenever we reverse. I have no idea about stability control - feels great towing and we don;t do that much of it.

Stealership quotes are over the top. Jeff actually travels interstate fitting for VAG and Merc dealerships. Hope he's back on the scene soon.

[joel0407]

There was only one drama and that was the wiring kit - it was for a non trailer prep, which should have been no prob, but Jeff's instructions were for UK wiring and I had German wiring; we sussed this after determining that his wiring colour info didn't correspond to what i had in my hands. Sorted it by talking to him while seated in the spare wheel well, looking at what i had in front of me!

i would have liked the right wiring harness, but cutting down and fitting pin connectors wasn't really a prob. The kit he sold seems to specify NOT to set it up in the CPU for trailer hitch??? It even came with a sticker so service personnel wouldn't mess with it. Which is odd, as obviously the rev sensors scream whenever we reverse. I have no idea about stability control - feels great towing and we don;t do that much of it.

Stealership quotes are over the top. Jeff actually travels interstate fitting for VAG and Merc dealerships. Hope he's back on the scene soon.

I tried to get info of Jeff early on but didn't get anywhere. Reading your story makes me glad I went the way I did.

I have never heard of different wiring for different parts of the world. There is tow prep or no tow prep. Either the plug is in the back or you need to run cabling all the way to the front.

The "NOT to set it up in the CPU for trailer hitch" worries me. Sounds to me like it doesn't interface with the canbus at all?

Happy Days.

[Skooter]

It interfaces totally (otherwise nothing would work!) - the long non-trailer prep wiring has about 8 more wires than are required. The diff b/w German and British is that Germany requires the brake lights to be wired slightly differently (I think with a failsafe if the Canbus doesn't function or L & R separately). So the issue was that the German colour coding wasn't the same. Basically I removed about 4 metres of cable and used only 5 wires to the Canbus unit that comes with all trailer hitch kits. Obviously I would have much preferred a simple plug end and correct length, but it works fine.

As for the VCDS settings stuff - I'm a little baffled - if Jeff was around i try and get an answer from him; if we used the trailer every day i would definitely look into it!

[joel0407]

It interfaces totally (otherwise nothing would work!) - the long non-trailer prep wiring has about 8 more wires than are required. The diff b/w German and British is that Germany requires the brake lights to be wired slightly differently (I think with a failsafe if the Canbus doesn't function or L & R separately). So the issue was that the German colour coding wasn't the same. Basically I removed about 4 metres of cable and used only 5 wires to the Canbus unit that comes with all trailer hitch kits. Obviously I would have much preferred a simple plug end and correct length, but it works fine.

All of Europe has separate left and right tail lights. I'm happy to be corrected if you can share a link that says they are different.
Here is the 13 pin euro plug that is standard Skoda: Tow Bracket Wiring from Adrian Tyldesley

It sounds to me like it interfaces one way. In that I mean it reads the canbus signal and turns the lights on but it doesn't talk to the car. It only listens and hides. CANBUS is a standard so it could just be a generic unit that will work with many different brands of vehicle.

if Jeff was around i try and get an answer from him

That was why I gave up on him.

Happy Days.

[Blue103TDIDSG]

Hey guys

Just Googled "Ironbull Towbars" and nothing came up
Website has "gone"

Sadly seems that is the end of Jeff
I found him most helpful albeit sometimes a bit hard to get hold of him