Removal of Blue Ox tow system

[SWAJeep]

Howdy,
I decided to get out of the sports car and into a Jeep Gladiator after the Texas Arctic blast in Jan 2021. I found a nice used 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with only 4400 miles on it. It has this Blue Ox tow plate and appears to have wiring for lights. I want to remove this as I don’t plan to ever tow it, plus I don’t want the dealer to use it as an excuse not to fix any potential transmission or other issues. I feel confident I can get the plate off.

The wiring is where I’m a little hesitant. The plug in the center has wires that run up under the battery. Haven’t been able to get up there yet, but hopefully there is a plug up there to disconnect. The device on the driver side has a wire leading to the battery negative terminal, which looks fairly easy to undo.

I looked at the Blue Ox website for installation info, but I can’t figure out which system it is.

Can anybody help me out on how to undo the wiring? Are there any other plugs or boxes I need to worry about?

Thanks for any inputs!
Scott
PS. I haven’t posted a full picture of the truck because I want to get it cleaned up first.

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[Kevin_D]

Holy crap!
That's why I didn't want to use a baseplate for towing! Talk about obvious!

You'll need to figure out what lighting system that is. It may be diodes, or it may use a switch, or it might even be additional bulbs. The easiest to remove would be the diodes. If there's a switch, typically on the outside of the right front seat, then the factory harness has been hacked. If there are diodes, they'll be inside the taillight housings.
There might also be wiring from the plug to the battery for charging.

The other box is the breakaway switch for the auxiliary braking system in the Jeep. Again, you'll need to determine which system it is (or was.) If it was a system that sat on the floor, then all you need remove is the switch & cable. Other systems will have additional devices, both mechanical and electronic, installed in various places around the Jeep. Look up at the brake pedal and see if there's a cable attached to it.

Post up some additional pictures of what you find, and I can probably steer you in the right direction, anyway.

Kevin

 

[SWAJeep]

Kevin,
Thanks for the info! I’ll dig more into it tomorrow and post some more pictures.
Cheers
Scott

 

[SWAJeep]

I did some more chasing today. The breakaway switch cable looks like it goes thru the firewall on the drivers side and is just rolled up down there. It has a plug on it that looks like a 3.5mm audio type plug. I saw no other boxes down there and I didn’t see a cable attached to brake pedal.

The center plug leads to a cable that looks like it is run along and in the frame on the passenger side. It goes up in the right rear tail light housing. There appears to be an aftermarket pair of twisted wires that run from the right tail light housing to the left tail light housing.

I didn’t see anything that looks aftermarket under passenger side front seat nor did I see a switch, but there are a lot of wires and connections there.

Thanks!
Scott


Here are the pictures
Underneath
Right rear tail light

Brake pedal area

Under front passenger seat

 

[Kevin_D]

Helpful!
The breakaway run as it is leads me to believe they had a portable braking system, which is good, as you can just pull out the switch & its cable, and be done with it. As an added plus, your accessory +12V outlet on the dashboard has probably been modified to be on all the time.

The lighting looks to be a diode system. If you pull off the taillight housings, you'll probably find the wires run up to small blocks (the diodes) that hook into the taillight wiring. You can simply disconnect the the added wires & remove them, and leave the diodes in place: they won't hurt anything. Be sure to tape off any exposed connectors, if any.
And if anything goes to the battery (it may be a wire with a circuit breaker or another small box,) you can simply remove it as well. Be CAREFUL not to ground out the positive lead, as it can cause all kinds of problems should you blow out a fuse or two!

Kevin

 

[SWAJeep]

Cool! Thanks so much. Headed out on a trip. Plan to dig into it when I get back next week.
Cheers!

 

[SWAJeep]

Hey Kevin,
Removed it all today. Glad I got under there. Whoever installed it put the belly pan backwards with only two screws! The other thing they did is install splitters into the tail light wiring. I just removed the wires that went to the tow bar plug and left the splitters in (wrapped in electrical tape). Everything appears to be working normally. Thanks so much for your help!!

 

[Kevin_D]

The, "Splitters," are the diodes.
It's fine to just leave 'em just like you did.

Kevin

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