Ranger Mods

One of the drawbacks of having the ARB rear step tow bar was the 12 pin trailer socket was mounted on the crossbar under the step vertical plate. It was a sod to get to, even worst to put the trailer plug into and on the rough track out of the Pilliga Pottery back to the Newell Hwy the plug came partially out meaning we lost the trailer brakes and indicators.
My solution was to buy a short OE Ford extension cord, 12 pin plug to 12 pin socket (it has the 1 Ohm resisters built in to it) I then cut a 73 x 37 mm hole in the back plate of the ARB step bar, fed the extension cord plug through it and plugged it into the existing socket and surface mounted the extension 12 pin socket so its easy to fit the trailer plug into it.
The finishing action was to spray the entire assembly behind the bar with under body sealer to totally water-proof it and then held the assembly up tight to the cross member with several cable ties.
My only concern was the close proximity of one of the rear sensors but this doesn't seem to be an issue as its not giving off any annoying alarms.

Update, don't use the OE Ford extension with the 1 ohm resistors, it messes up the trailer control module into thinking that there is a trailer permanently connected - just extend the 12 wires. You live and learn by your mistakes which is why I'm wise to the ways of the fair sex - I've been married 3 times

Just for the record and information, as you know I do a fair bit of over-land touring and without going out of my way I driver through deep creeks.
When I redid my trailer connection I as described above I removed the original 12 pin terminal and it explained why I've had so many electrical issues recently - indicators going at double time, the trailer assist coming on when the trailer wasn't connected and when it was indicators and the electric brakes on the trailer not always working and then they were - quite odd but the explanation is in the accompanied photos.
There is a small nick in the rubber boot, possibly dome by a flying stone chip and it is the only way all that mud, dirt and moisture could have got inside. On the 5 pin side, the pink auxiliary line which is permanently active has all but eaten the connection away as its arced to earth through the moist dirt.