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Thanks for all the help in this thread. Installed a Westfalia hitch shipped to the US by PF Jones for around $575, arrived in 4 days. Install was very smooth, took me around 2 hours on my own.
I also purchased a Landrover trailer adapter from eTrailer that works well with the Westfalia electronics if programmed to NA mode. There was a slight modification needed, opening the 7 pin and connecting pin 5 and 7 with a jumper. These are the brake lights (left and right). Linking them together make sure the Westfalia electronics see both sets of lights. The downfall is you do lose bulb out warnings for brake lights.
So far I have towed two snowmobiles about 450 miles round trip for servicing and averaged 19 MPG on Minnesota highways. Pretty excited for how the Allroad is meeting ever need I had for my SUVs and then some.
That's good news. Can you provide the specific part number of the etrailer kit you used as well as any details beyond the 5-7 jumper? I'm in hopes that the logic would also apply to my fully loaded '14. My problem was that the Westfalia black box had no code that would tell the car that it needed to synch up. The ones floating around the net did not work. If I understand you correctly you have tied the etrailer into the westfalia unit which in turn talks to the car. I'm curious how you got the westy to work at all.
Actually, I just used the Westy harness and it worked flawlessly after an hour arguing with coding. One of the big coding issues I hit was the ABS system, which I couldn't code at first. None of the security access codes worked from any of the web instructions I found. I found a random 5 digit security code for a '14 and it worked after many many attempts.
I simply hooked the two brake light together inside the 7 pin housing of this adapter and set the Westfalia box to NAR mode using VCDS.
Since the initial install, I also added switched on the "trailer" bit in the lane warning system and the MMI menu, which automatically kills the reverse camera and the lane departure warning when trailering.
Thanks for sharing all this info. What's the consensus these days? Is there a solution that works for the B8.5 allroad, preferably hidden when not in use?
Thanks for sharing all this info. What's the consensus these days? Is there a solution that works for the B8.5 allroad, preferably hidden when not in use?
I would say that the best hidden option is the Westfalia hitch I installed. There will be the opening in the bottom of the metal lower valence panel, but it is barely noticeable.
My issue still remains the electrical tie in which is unresolved.
I agree, the Westfalia just did a full duty winter of hauling snowmobiles around Minnesota chasing snow and it is still immaculate. No rust, no mechanical failures, and it's barely perceptible with the hitch removed. The cutout isn't bad at all, much less annoying than any other solution I have seen.
D- I'll hunt that code down today. I didn't see your reply intitially so hopefully it will be your fix!
If you don't mind - what was that code number that finally worked?
Thanks!
I believe 61378 was the code that let me hit the trailer options in the brake controller. This made the system finally start talking fully. Can't say it will work for ACC, but it worked on my Allroad.
Not that any of us should expect this, but my Westy hitch (and Allroad) were rear ended today.
The nest week or so will be a good experiment in seeing if my insurer and body shop will be willing to replace the hitch. Luckily I kept my factory crash bar and absorbers, so if they won't, I'll negotiate money back from the repair with that piece.
10-26-2016, 03:44 AM
