choosethejuice
New member
I installed a stealth hitch and their supplied aftermarket harness. Big thanks to @tyger23 for posting schematics and connector pinouts!
Quick rant.. I'm disappointed with stealth hitch. Although I perviously loved their products, do yourself a favor and stay away.. the install turned into a giant goat rodeo. They sold me a hitch without wiring documentation, and their brackets don't fit the '23. They ignored my questions by email, promised wiring documentation that doesn't exist, and are working to "fix" the known fit issue with the '23, but who knows if I'll ever see the updated part. I would return the hitch if it wasn't for the massive pain in the neck to uninstall it. Seriously, stay away!
My long term goal is to buy an OEM Kia harness when it comes out, but for now a 4-pin meets my needs. I cut the turn signal, brake, and marker wires leading to the taillights, and soldered in the wires leading to the converter.
To get access to the wires, remove the one screw at the bottom of the quarter panel trim (see below). After that, the trim pulls away fairly easily. I ended up snapping one retainer clip, and was glad I purchased replacements ahead of time. I was able to avoid removing the 3rd row seats by pulling back the trim panel just enough to get my hands in there.
As you can see, there isn't much slack in the wires leading to the taillights.
After cutting away the harness tape, I was able to get to the 4 wires.
On the driver's side (LH, F12), I tapped into the Marker (G/B), Stop/Turn (Y/O), and Turn Lamp Telltale (Br). This was a mistake, as I later found out, since I didn't have wiring information for the converter box (thanks again, stealth hitch!). After digging around, the aftermarket converter requires only the Stop/Turn (Y/O) and Marker (G/B) from this side, which is different from the wiring instructions for the Palisade. In fact, the converter box instructions have a footnote saying to cut the wire leading to the stop lamp for this application.
Prior to wrapping the wires with friction tape, and securing them from rattle.
The passenger side (RH, F13) was much more work. With the trim pulled back, you can see there are 20 or more wires all bundled together.
It took about an hour to surgically cut away the tape and get to the four taillight wires. Here, I tapped into the gray Stop/Turn (Gr/B).
To supply power to the trailer, rather than running a wire to the battery, I opted to use the cigarette lighter in the cargo area. The socket uses a 20A fuse (I think), but my trailer has LED lights that draw little current, and I put 10A fuse inline. I routed the trailer wire harness through a grommet located under the foam insert. The harness, converter box, and all wires were bundled together and secured on top of the jack. When I need to tow, I just plug the cigarette lighter in. A little hackish, but this will all get replaced with Kia releases their official harness.
Quick rant.. I'm disappointed with stealth hitch. Although I perviously loved their products, do yourself a favor and stay away.. the install turned into a giant goat rodeo. They sold me a hitch without wiring documentation, and their brackets don't fit the '23. They ignored my questions by email, promised wiring documentation that doesn't exist, and are working to "fix" the known fit issue with the '23, but who knows if I'll ever see the updated part. I would return the hitch if it wasn't for the massive pain in the neck to uninstall it. Seriously, stay away!
My long term goal is to buy an OEM Kia harness when it comes out, but for now a 4-pin meets my needs. I cut the turn signal, brake, and marker wires leading to the taillights, and soldered in the wires leading to the converter.
To get access to the wires, remove the one screw at the bottom of the quarter panel trim (see below). After that, the trim pulls away fairly easily. I ended up snapping one retainer clip, and was glad I purchased replacements ahead of time. I was able to avoid removing the 3rd row seats by pulling back the trim panel just enough to get my hands in there.
As you can see, there isn't much slack in the wires leading to the taillights.
After cutting away the harness tape, I was able to get to the 4 wires.
On the driver's side (LH, F12), I tapped into the Marker (G/B), Stop/Turn (Y/O), and Turn Lamp Telltale (Br). This was a mistake, as I later found out, since I didn't have wiring information for the converter box (thanks again, stealth hitch!). After digging around, the aftermarket converter requires only the Stop/Turn (Y/O) and Marker (G/B) from this side, which is different from the wiring instructions for the Palisade. In fact, the converter box instructions have a footnote saying to cut the wire leading to the stop lamp for this application.
Prior to wrapping the wires with friction tape, and securing them from rattle.
The passenger side (RH, F13) was much more work. With the trim pulled back, you can see there are 20 or more wires all bundled together.
It took about an hour to surgically cut away the tape and get to the four taillight wires. Here, I tapped into the gray Stop/Turn (Gr/B).
To supply power to the trailer, rather than running a wire to the battery, I opted to use the cigarette lighter in the cargo area. The socket uses a 20A fuse (I think), but my trailer has LED lights that draw little current, and I put 10A fuse inline. I routed the trailer wire harness through a grommet located under the foam insert. The harness, converter box, and all wires were bundled together and secured on top of the jack. When I need to tow, I just plug the cigarette lighter in. A little hackish, but this will all get replaced with Kia releases their official harness.
