Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

They WERE pretty darn loose when I removed them. Didn't take any effort on the wrench.

 

[rbh]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Don't call me sir, I work for a living!!!!! :facepalm:

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

rbh, Admiral is Sir. LOL!

So, the castle nut will be that loose?
Don't know why I'm so worried about this. Just seems loose, but i've heard it's better to be a tad loose than to have the bearings too tight.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

the brakes will actually be on two axles.
Missing on one axle.

I didn't realize you had a triple axle trailer.:redface: Most boats the size of yours have only duals.

Regardless, the chart to which I linked earlier states brakes are required at all wheels in Georgia.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Thank you for that link Bob. I was unaware of that, so thank you for the info.
I actually have all the brake assemblies working, but one.
I disconnected the one axle and will replace both complete assemblies as a pair.
I figured this would be better than one brand new set up and the other side old and worn.
I will repair this very very soon. Roughly 100bucks or so for the pair of brake assemblies, so not too harsh on the wallet.

Any advice on the castle nut? lol
I dunno why, but it has me worried. All of the nuts are basically finger tight by the time I back off 1/4 or 1/8 turn. It has me uneasy that those cotter pins are the only thing holding the wheels on!
Everything I read says not to over-tighten....I'm still paranoid I guess..lol

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

lemme help you..... STOP IT! put the caps back on and go boating.... the cotter pins are there for a reason.... because they are needed..... without them the bearings on one side will tighten up and burn up and the other side will fall off..... just a fact of design and being tighter would make no difference.... as long as the wheels can't wobble the bearings aren't too loose

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Thank you. That's what I needed.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Ok, back to the wiring...
The existing has all the brakes daisy chained together with two wires running up to the front....
I've seen most are grounded near each brake assembly and only one wire runs to the wire connector.
I'm thinking I will just ground one wire onto the trailer somewhere and run the other to the connector.
Anyone see problems with this?
Also, appears to be 12awg wire linking everything together. However, the brake magnets themselves are wired with like 18awg or so.....
I eventually plan to replace the wiring, can I go with 14 or 16awg for the brakes? 12 seems overkill to me.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

I would run 12 just because you are carrying the amperage for all 3 axles.... You could step down smaller and smaller from one brake to the next but I wouldn't bother .... One ground would be OK but grounding each would make it less likely for all of them to fail at once and would be less clutter to deal with. That's gonna be a judgement call on your part.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Alright guys.....I have the worst freakin luck!

Running new wires for trailer lights...
Trailer is wired up 100% correctly.

My truck however isn't cooperating. The yellow wire for driver side stop and turn signal has zero voltage at the harness.

2004 dodge ram. Anyone know if I can splice into the truck left rear light?

I checked voltage at the trucks engine bay fuse panel with a DVM....13.98vdc....
The wire must be damaged somewhere along the way.
Instead of running a new wire, can I splice into the rear light?
Which wires?
Is there a seperate solenoid for the trailer brake/turn lights perhaps thats blown?

Passenger side lights work fine on the trailer....the running lights on both sides work fine. ALL truck lights are working properly.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

any help guys?
Still messing with this darn wiring.
I spliced behing the connector and still no voltage on yellow wire when brake depressed or turn signal on...So its not the connector.

Also, I replaced both fuses (left and right trailer) just to be safe. The old ones were fine tho.

 

[rbh]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Sorry, don't know dodge wire colors, get someone to step on the brake and get the probe out and start probe'n.


(is the plug coming from a different wireing harness than the lights to the tail lights?????)

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

Is it ok to tap into the tail light circuit?
The trailer harness wires appear to run all the up to fuse box. I found a harness and got no voltage there either. I wonder if there's a relay somewhere I'm missing. The yellow wire from the harness in front wheel well and to the trailer connector has continuity. Odd.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

oem's don't generally use the same color code as trailers. I suggest you do some google work to find out the color code of the wires on the truck... Generally tho you can just buy a plug in trailer harness for vehicles from about the late 80's and up with the only other connections for ground, brakes, and 12v constant if needed...

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: Questionable Trailer Brake and Light Wiring

I have the dodge service manual wiring diagrams. Yellow is the correct wire. The factory trailer wiring matches standard trailer wiring color codes.

The problem is finding and simply tracing the stupid wire harness