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Seems as though the cover or flap on the 7-pin wire harness connector is under-engineered and they break more easily than they should. I found this out when trying to unplug the connector “plug” after towing our wakeboat. Cover snapped right off when I pulled it back a little to unplug the connector (most covers have a retention “spot” on the inside of the cover that helps the plug stay connected (helpful especially since the Defender is angled down). Anyway, I researched a bit here and learned you could indeed replace the cover with an aftermarket one (I bought one from Curt, on Amazon; $10), by removing the hinge pin, running it through the new cover’s hinge points and you are good to go. My caveats are that our spring is just a bit too long for the Curt one I used, which puts a little extra tension on the pin, making it a little difficult to get the pin to pass through the second/right side hole. I tried to remove some material with a drill bit, in the bottom of the area in the cover where the spring bottoms out, and needed to lube the pin with some lithium grease (a little carried away :-) ), but, with patience/perseverance, got it through, and the cover works great. Here are some pics (tried to post a short video of how well the cover snaps back, but I don’t think it loaded):
Last edited by Steedracer; Sep 14, 2024 at 10:18 AM.
You've made my day, mine broke too.
I was thinking of buying used LR connector and taking cover from it. Very flimsy design.
Yep. Just pull the hinge pin out from the left side side. Put our spring into the new cover, thread the pin through everything and you are good! Not sure if you can see my video in the attachments, but the new cover snaps back really good. 😊