Trailer Wiring

(clayton191) · (clayton191) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 06-01-2006, 6:47 AM

Returning home to Kansas City the other night, I clipped a piece of rubber from a busted semi trailer tire.

The wire that connects to my seven piece harness (not the big adapter plug in part, but the wire with the three or four "toes") is now missing. I cant find a connector anywhere on the trailer, nor can I find a place that looks like the wire was ripped or anything. Its like my the wiring is all in place on the trailer! I dont know what I should do - I found a "taped" spot on the trailer that looks I could try to wire to a "toe" adapter for the harness. If it weren't continiously pissing and pouring here - I'd snap some pics.

I guess I am asking for any advice or help on this, because my trailer is pretty useless now and I cant back-up to get into a storage unit because of the power brakes. :\

I have a boatmate trailer (2004) BTW.

(acurtis_ttu) · (acurtis_ttu) **Join Date: May 2004** 06-01-2006, 6:49 AM

I have an 04 boatmate trailer (04 SSV), w/ a 5 pin connector. there should be a manual overide for the brakes.

(clayton191) · (clayton191) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 06-01-2006, 6:53 AM

oh snap. I'll look into that. That way I can at least keep her dry until I get this thing figured out.

(yosquire) · (yosquire) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 06-01-2006, 7:03 AM

I read your post a couple of times and couldn't make sense of it. Is the pictured connector what you're talking about?

(clayton191) · (clayton191) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 06-01-2006, 7:19 AM

Yup. Sorry for the confusion. I am missing the _that_ piece, though I have the big circular looking adapter which has one of those connectors on it.

like adam though, I think it might be a five pin vs. four pin.

(kenteck) · (kenteck) **Join Date: Jan 2005** 06-01-2006, 7:23 AM

If you need the parts to fix it check this site out:
www.ase-supply.com

Thats where I got my stuff at.

(acurtis_ttu) · (acurtis_ttu) **Join Date: May 2004** 06-01-2006, 7:28 AM

you could always just call boatmate trialers if you need a part.

(yosquire) · (yosquire) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 06-01-2006, 9:24 AM

Yes, it's a 5 pin (like what is pictured, just with an extra pin.) the 5th pin (the one furthest away from the rubber coated pin) is the break by-pass wire. If you charge 12v to that wire, you'll be able to back up your trailer.

Those adapters are readily available at auto parts stores.

(clayton191) · (clayton191) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 06-01-2006, 9:36 AM

That's hot to know...
Now the real question - WHERE was the wiring harness on the trailers. Thanks to adam's advice, I went ahead and emailed boatmate and asked for diagram of the wire layout on that trailer as well as a parts list.

if I decide to splice - what do i need to think about as far as water protection?

I appreciate all of your help...

(rodmcinnis) · (rodmcinnis) **Join Date: Sep 2002** 06-01-2006, 12:16 PM

Clayton:

Like Craig, I am a little confused about your post, not sure exactly what is missing.

If I read your post correctly, this is the situation:

Your tow vehicle has a 7 pin round connector for the trailer. That connector is still okay.

Into that 7 pin round connector you have an adapter that converts the 7 pin round to the 5 pin flat. (the adapter has the equivalent of the 5 pin version of the left hand picture that Craig posted). You still have that adapter and it is okay.

What is missing is the lenght of wire that goes from the trailer to the tow vehicle.

Is that correct?

It sounds like the chunck of truck tire caught the wire as it hung down (good reason to not let the wires hang down) and ripped it off. It simply unplugged from the tow vehicle, but it snapped the wires off the trailer.

What I am not sure of is if there are any wires danging around the tongue of your trailer at all. You mentioned a "taped" spot. If this is a lenght of multi-colored wires that ends in a wapping of black tape then that is where you need to splice a new connector into. Unwrap the tape and you will probably find a bunch of butt splices that have been ripped out. Cut the old butt splices off, get yourself a new trailer side wire harness (available at most auto parts stores) and just reconnect. If you are lucky the wires will match in color, just hook color for color and you should be fine.

If there are no wires dangling around the tongue of the trailer at all then it is likely that the wires snapped off inside the metal tubing of the trailer frame. This will make life a bit more interesting.

There are too many possibilities on exactly how the wires could have been run for me to give you reasonable directions on how to fix. Some pictures would really help out at this point.

(clayton191) · (clayton191) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 06-01-2006, 2:30 PM

Rod - You were correct in understanding what I was saying.

I'm going to get my first real look at this afternoon (as it has rained non-stop since the incident occurred).

Thank you for all of the advice and sorry I didn't know exactly what each of the parts were called. :-)