UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

[Rangemaster37]

Bought new Tracker Jon boat this year. The trailer has seven wires running into a four pin plug. The pins on the plug were loose when bought and the plug already needs replaced. I can't find no four pin plug with seven wires running to it anywhere. I bought just a regular four wire/four pin plug, but can't figure out how to hook the seven wires up to it. What the hell was tracker thinking? Me and my wife has spent all evening trying differenct combinations, and got nowhere. We were supposed to take the kids catfishing tonight, and had to cancel because of this. It just seems rediculous that I have already spent six hours trying to do something that should of taken five minutes. Any help would greatly be appreacited.
Thanks,
Andy

 

[Rangemaster37]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Still up cause to upset to sleep. Will add that 2012 or 2013 trailer that has been in water only three times and stored in garage. No grounding issues. 4 brown wires, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 white. Only other problem I have found in the archives was a guy with another Tracker with six wires going to a four pin plug....he never figured it out and rewired. Doesn't seem like I should do that with a brand new boat, although with all the time I spent on it I could of rewired a few times by now and be fishing. The dealer is a couple hours away, and have no faith in them anyway.

 

[matt167]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

I think it was pre wired for electric brakes ( 3 extra wires ) tho 4 browns does not make sense, it does in a way because you should have 2 clearance lights and 2 tail lights so 4 connections to the brown ( tail/ running ) wire, but I have never seen all 4 separate connections run to the plug. One for each side, sure. I will need a pic to go any further other than white needs to go to a good ground.

 

[indybleck]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Sounds like you need to put the same colors together then the ground you only have four colors.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

tracker can sell you a new wiring harness for the trailer.... or personally if you bought it new I think it should be a warranty item tho you might have voided it by cutting the plug off

normally brown is tail/marker, white is ground, green is right turn/stop and yellow is left turn/stop

 

[matt167]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

tracker can sell you a new wiring harness for the trailer.... or personally if you bought it new I think it should be a warranty item tho you might have voided it by cutting the plug off

Possibly not. Unless I'm mistaken. Technically trailers fall under the category of an automotive vehicle, so an auto manufacture cannot void a warranty due to the use of an aftermarket part. It's something normally wouldn't be thought of but might be a loophole in this case... Possibly, but I'd be the person expecting to drop $20 on a new harness at this point

 

[Josh P]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

can you post a picture of the wires? sometimes trailer harness have 2 tail light wires and 2 turn signal wires. so 2 tail 1 rh turn 1 lh turn 1 ground.,.. they also could be using the connector as a junction point

 

[Josh P]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Still up cause to upset to sleep. Will add that 2012 or 2013 trailer that has been in water only three times and stored in garage. No grounding issues. 4 brown wires, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 white.

just read this must have skipped over it..sounds like they used the connector as a junction..

do u have side marker lights?

make sure your ground is real good on the truck.. i never rely on the coupler for grounding... I can plug in any of my trailers with out hooking them up and they will light up and the brakes will hum when activated with the controller..

 

[colbyt]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

normally brown is tail/marker, white is ground, green is right turn/stop and yellow is left turn/stop

OP. This is your answer. To prove it do this.

Connect the negative terminal of a 12v battery to the white wire and the trailer frame then connect one wire at a time to the positive terminal. I think when you are done you will determine that wires of the same color get tied together and to the same wire color on the new plug.

 

[jayhanig]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

OP. This is your answer. To prove it do this.

Connect the negative terminal of a 12v battery to the white wire and the trailer frame then connect one wire at a time to the positive terminal. I think when you are done you will determine that wires of the same color get tied together and to the same wire color on the new plug.

I vote this way. It's the only thing that makes sense to me. Brown=running lights/white=ground/green=right turn signal/yellow=left turn signal is pretty much a trailer standard.

 

[moosehead]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

^Above comments spot on. It may take a bit of effort, but you should be able to get a 4 pin converted vs, an entire new harness.

More tips here along with good FAQ sections: Trailer Wiring Diagrams | etrailer.com

 

[Thalasso]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.



This is all you need unless you have disc brakes and then all you have to do is power the backup
Splice them (color match) together somewhere.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

my thoughts on voiding the warranty wasn't that the warranty on the whole trailer would be void but just that he had destroyed the very part he would need replaced... the manufacturer might say (right or wrong) that the reason it doesn't work is because he cut it.

O/P.. ALSO test the voltage AND amperage coming from your truck... LOTS of folks have ripped the wiring out of their trailer for a problem that turned out to be a rusty connection on a ground screw or other simple fix.

 

[Rangemaster37]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Thanks for all the replys. I think I have finally got it figured out. White and two browns to ground. Two browns to brown. Yellow to yellow. Green to green. Sounds simple, and was one of first combos I tried. Problem was that I was blowing fusing trying the different combinations and not realizing it. I figured I would see a spark or hear a pop if I blew a fuse. Even after I realized I was blowing fuses, I still blew a few more trying to find the combination. Thanks for all the help, and hopefully this thread will help somebody else down the road.

 

[colbyt]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Two browns to ground is weird and certainly not normal. Sound like someone made a mistake the last time around.

 

[lncoop]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

Two browns to ground is weird and certainly not normal. Sound like someone made a mistake the last time around.

Was thinking the same thing. I'd expect to simply see all colors matched and get after it. No brakes on a john boat trailer of course.

 

[matt167]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

The only thing I can think of is, Tracker uses the same wiring harness for all their trailers, so they may have extra wires ( brakes or otherwise ) connected in odd ways as acting grounds and such. Some companies don't play by the rules, and as long as the taillights and running lights work, and the blinkers blink it can go out the door I guess..

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

I'd say then that your marker lights on the side have brown running to pos and neg....

I actually was coming back to tell you to unscrew and pull out the lights so you can look at the wire colors going into them

 

[RollinEarly99]

Re: UGGH!! I can't scream no more. Please help me connect boat harness to truck.

I guess I know what trailer NOT to buy in the future. If they cut corners on something simply like wiring, what else?