Trailering frustrations

Capt. Hoss · **Posted:** Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:59 pm

So when I hooked my trailer to the truck EVERYTHING checked out. (lights, bearings) About 100 miles in on my trip (300 miles) i noticed that I didn't have any marker light on the trailer. So we stop and check everything out, NOTHING!!! no lights anywhere. So I bough a test light and strted trouble shooting. I started at the truck and made my way to the back, At the plug (4 way) Ihad nothing there. Next steps was too cut the plug off and slice te new plug in. By the way all of this was done in the light from a light pole in Walmart's parking lot. After about 30 minutes and lots of "bad words" we wee back on the road again. So as of right now I have a brandnew in the package wishbone wiring harness to get installed. It is going to be a fun day after work tomorrow! (wish me luck)

LouC · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:01 am

The best thing you can do is make sure you have a really good clean ground wire connection (the white one in the harness). The problem with boat trailers is that the frame is the return path for all the lights. You get a rusty bolt where the light is bolted to the frame and presto no ground. Really there should be a separate ground wire going down each leg of the frame from the tongue, but if you remove the lights that give trouble and clean where it mount to the frame and then put grease over the bolt or nut, that can keep them working. Works for me and I am in salt water.

ric · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:23 am

Find all these:

Remove and correctly solder all wires and cover with heat shrink that has the glue in it.

LouC · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:51 am

Or use proper Ancor Marine crimp on connectors and cover the ends with liquid electrical tape. That's what I did and every few years I re-cover em with the liquid electrical tape and my lights have worked fine even in salt water.

neutron · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:07 am

Ric is right "scotch lock " connectors are the worst for permanent connections, I can't stand them, might as well strip the wires and twist them together and tape em....
I bought a great pair of wire crimpers from my Snap-on tool dealer that is the best crimper I have ever used..... I use only soderless connectors with the shrink tubing already on them. I have never had a connector come apart or fail

Capt. Hoss · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:19 am

Those are the same POS connectors that came in the package that I used to slice the plug in. I will be running all new wires and making EVERYTHING water tight. Should be an easy job since the boat is still on the lake and not the trailer. If done right and nothing goes wrong It should take me about 3-4 hours of fishing the wires thru the trailer and making my connections.

ric · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:23 am

Capt. Hoss wrote:

Those are the same POS connectors that came in the package that I used to slice the plug in. I will be running all new wires and making EVERYTHING water tight. Should be an easy job since the boat is still on the lake and not the trailer. If done right and nothing goes wrong It should take me about 3-4 hours of fishing the wires thru the trailer and making my connections.

Use the old wires to fish the new ones. This is my favorite stuff. They sell it by the foot locally at an electronics outlet a few miles away.
http://www.buyheatshrink.com/heatshrink ... hesive.htm

taz42169 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:11 pm

Sorry to ask, but did you make sure you didn't blow a fuse in the truck? Walked over to help out my neighbor who was having a problem with his boat trailer lights (19 Boston Whaler boat). Dude was all kinds of swearing. Asked what was wrong, he told me his trailer lights didn't work. I walked home, grabbed my meter and nothing being supplied from the truck. Started simple, checked the fuse and we found it to be blown. Replaced the fuse, power at the plug, put the trailer lights back together and they've been working ever since.

Just a suggestion.

Capt. Hoss · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:18 pm

Yes that is the first thing I checked, then went to the back of the truck and checked my7-way to 4-pin converter and had power there. After that I took the tail light lens off and tested it there, so I narrowed it down to somewhere on the trailer. I took the sharp end of the tester and pushed it thru the wires, I had to do all of them as I was not sure as to which one was the one I was looking for. Right behind the connecter I had nothing. After I spliced the new one in everything worked except my side marker lights. I will see if I can get the admiral to take some pictures tonight as i make progress on it and see if I can't get a write-up on it. I LOVE this site, ALL of you folks have helped me in more ways than I care to count.

Paul I. · **Posted:** Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:22 pm

LouC wrote:

Or use proper Ancor Marine crimp on connectors and cover the ends with liquid electrical tape. That's what I did and every few years I re-cover em with the liquid electrical tape and my lights have worked fine even in salt water.

Yep!!

In a pinch, you can use wire nuts and fill the with a good sealant. I have done it and it will last for years. Lou's point is, that the connection is sealed from water.

Just an FYI; I was poping fuses too, I changed over to sealed LEDs. Never had the problem again.

www.iFourWinns.com

Trailering frustrations

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