Wiring Marlon deck 23 Ram 2500

StuckDownHill

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I have a Marlon deck wired up to a 23 Ram 2500 and ordered the Putco adapter when I bought the deck because dealer said I needed it. I don't have the Putco adapter yet but I connected a 7-4 pin adapter from my deck to the 7-pin inside my bed. I did not hook up the white wire yet as I understand that this is for the reverse light, and the whole reason for the Putco adapter. Everything works except the reverse light. No trailer or wiring alarms inside the truck and all deck lights work properly, including the under deck and rack lights off the switch.

After reading some info online and looking at the Putco adapter, it appears that it goes behind your bumper and you need to run your deck wiring between your bumper and tailgate. I don't like this option because I have a 7-pin inside the box and would rather sacrifice the backup light and leave it as is.

Does anyone know if the Putco adapter simply connects the white wire of the deck to the center pin on the 7-pin of your truck, which is reverse light power? Wondering if I can just cut the plugs on my deck and wire the appropriate right, left, running, and ground to a 7-pin plug and connect the 5th, reverse wire to the center pin of that 7-pin plug. That way I can use the plug inside my box, I don't need the Putco adapter, and I have backup lights.

Thanks
 

bobsledder

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I have a Marlon deck wired up to a 23 Ram 2500 and ordered the Putco adapter when I bought the deck because dealer said I needed it. I don't have the Putco adapter yet but I connected a 7-4 pin adapter from my deck to the 7-pin inside my bed. I did not hook up the white wire yet as I understand that this is for the reverse light, and the whole reason for the Putco adapter. Everything works except the reverse light. No trailer or wiring alarms inside the truck and all deck lights work properly, including the under deck and rack lights off the switch.

After reading some info online and looking at the Putco adapter, it appears that it goes behind your bumper and you need to run your deck wiring between your bumper and tailgate. I don't like this option because I have a 7-pin inside the box and would rather sacrifice the backup light and leave it as is.

Does anyone know if the Putco adapter simply connects the white wire of the deck to the center pin on the 7-pin of your truck, which is reverse light power? Wondering if I can just cut the plugs on my deck and wire the appropriate right, left, running, and ground to a 7-pin plug and connect the 5th, reverse wire to the center pin of that 7-pin plug. That way I can use the plug inside my box, I don't need the Putco adapter, and I have backup lights.

Thanks
That is what I did on my Ram 3500. Wired it to a 7 pin and used center for the white wire and plug it in the 7 pin inside the box.
 

Zrock

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your deck has backup lights? but ya i would just wire it to a 7 pin and be done with it.. Your salesman was just trying to get a extra $ out of you by selling you something you did not need. Are you sure that white wire is reverse, as with trailer wiring white is ground and i find it strange that they would change the colors on the deck so they did not reflect standard wiring that is just asking for issues.
 

StuckDownHill

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I actually just wired it up yesterday. Works perfect. White is reverse light yup, the 4-pin connector had green, yellow, brown and black which was the ground. The white wire coming off the deck was independent of the 4-pin and on its own connector, which made me question it in the first place. As you said, non conventional. Thanks for your response.
 

JMCX

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No trailer warning? My 22 Ford would interpret anything plugged into the trailer connectors as a trailer and turn off the backup sensors and other stuff.
 

TylerG

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No trailer warning? My 22 Ford would interpret anything plugged into the trailer connectors as a trailer and turn off the backup sensors and other stuff.
even on the 4 pin connector?
 

JMCX

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The wiring instructions l got with the deck were poorly modified from the Putco Blade installation instructions. It said to remove the tailgate etc. There was no reason for that.
 

StuckDownHill

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Yeah, apparently with a Ford there is no way around it. You need the Putco adapter but with GMC you can just select bed accessory in the trailer app to avoid any issues and I can confirm with RAM there are no issues. Just wire up a 7-pin and good to go.
 

Caper11

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Yeah, apparently with a Ford there is no way around it. You need the Putco adapter but with GMC you can just select bed accessory in the trailer app to avoid any issues and I can confirm with RAM there are no issues. Just wire up a 7-pin and good to go.

You cannot do that on a GM, I had to use the Plutco adapter harness to bypass the trailer app.


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OnlyPolaris

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On a ford if you really wanted to you could just not have the stop and signal lights wired in. Extra load on the break circuit is why they think a trailer is attached. Kinda defeats the purpose of the blade light. But you could still wire it up as a marker light.
 

JMCX

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The Blade signal and brake is a little obnoxious when mounted up so high. The backup is helpful though.
 
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