OK Guys. This will be a post to show all the details for making and wiring up the hitch as I made it. There are probably some better ways to do things, but this is the way I did it.
In the link below, you will find a lot of pictures and drawings. The drawing for making the hitch is called CTX HITCH DRAWINGS. It is a series of 8-1/2 x 11 drawings that can be printed and used as templates for cutting out the pieces. I made mine from 3/16" sheet steel. I have provided a layout that will let you cut all the parts out of a piece 18"x24". There are a couple of critical details showing how to weld the side pieces to the bolt plates. These are important that you weld while joined as shown. You can use the existing brackets from the bike to attain the 110 degree angle that you need. Clamping them onto the two pieces to be welded is the easy way to establish the proper angle as well as to hold them in place while welding.
This was designed for a stock 50 series size tire. If you have or are planning to use a 55 series tire, you should move the UPRIGHT BRACE back about 1/4" as well as shorten the BALL PLATE by the same amount. I show a dimension of 3.21 on the BALL PLATE drawing. You would need to change that to 3.0.
You also need to match the hole size for your ball to suit. Some are larger than others. Also, I ultimately used a pin hitch on mine, which required a different size altogether. That is another post.
When completed, the hitch will go on the bike in the same holes as the saddle bag brackets. You may need to buy some bolts that are about 1/4" longer than the stock ones. Make sure to get the hardened grade, which I think is marked with a 10.9. You will need to put the bolts thru the hitch first and then thru the brackets into the frame. It is a little difficult to do alone, but I usually hang it with a tiedown strap slung over the seat so that it carries the weight of the hitch and then monkey with getting the bolts thru the hitch then the bracket into the frame. Snug all the bolts up loosely until you have all of them started into the frame threads and then bring them up to tight. I use thread locker on each one.
As for the trailer wiring, I bought two pieces that you can get from Kuryakyn (as much as I hate their chrome stuff, the electronics are pretty good). Since all the lighting on the CTX is 5v LEDs and most trailer lighting is 12v, you cannot directly wire a trailer harness into the bike wiring as you will blow something up right away. Besides, you need to isolate the trailer wiring from the bike wiring by using relays to trigger the various lights and turn signals. Another problem is that the CTX and most late Hondas with LEDs use a 5-wire system for the lights one wire each for Ground, R-turn, L-turn, Tail light and Brake light. The trailer that I have has 4-wire lighting wiring and connector. So, I found a 5-wire to 4-wire converter from Kury that does the trick. It is part number 7675 FIVE TO FOUR WIRE CONVERTER WITH 4-PIN FLAT CONNECTOR.
The 5 to 4-wire converter comes with a bunch of wire taps for you to tap into the existing bike wiring, but I chose to make a pigtail that I could use to do the same thing without cutting or tapping into any wires and will be able to put it back to stock in the event that I would sell the trailer and remove the hitch. I bought male and female connectors and pins to match the stock ones from
Eastern Beaver Company. They make all kinds of connectors and pins to match about anything there is out there. There is a pdf in the folder that shows all the part numbers I ordered. You will not need everything I ordered, but will need the 6-pin and 4-position connectors and HX040 male and female Terminals (these are the pins that you populate the connector shells with). It is easy to confuse which pins go into which connectors and if you put female pins in a male terminal or vice-versa, it is a royal pain. You need to study them to understand which way they go into the shell and make sure you understand how to release them if you need to. There is information on the Eastern Beaver website and I found some other better details about connector pin orientation by searching google. I am not sure what that site was, so I can't refer you to it.
Use the Pigtail Wiring Diagram to build up the Pigtail with new wire and the connectors described above.
Once you have the pigtail built, you can locate the lighting connector under the seat. It has 5 wires on each side that correspond in color to my chart. Release the locking tab and pull them apart and connect the new Pigtail into each connector. There will be a 4-pin male connector coming off the new Pigtail. You will connect a 4-pin female connector from the 5 to 4-wire converter to the 4-pin male plug on the Pigtail.
The rest is pretty simple. You have to install a 4-pin male connector onto the 4 wires on the Trailer Isloation Harness that are intended to be tapped into the bike wiring. This will plug directly into the 4-pin female connector on the 5 to 4 Wire Converter. Then route the trailer wiring back to the rear of the bike and connect the flat 4-pin trailer connector onto the Isolation Harness and tie wrap all the parts and wiring into place.
There are a couple of ground and 12v connections to make, but it is pretty well explained in the documentation that comes with the Kury parts.
I bought the Kury parts at my local Honda dealer. They were $58 for the Trailer Relay Harness and $31 for the 5 to 4-wire Converter. You can probably find them cheaper on Amazon or something like that.
There is a PDF of the connectors and pins I ordered from Beaver in the folder I have shared at the bottom of this article.
Hopefully, you will be able to understand all my pics and schematics, etc. If you have any questions, just ask and I will try to help.
Kook
Link to pics and details
