Trailer Nightmare......

So, I picked up my 2005 Super Air today. The seller is a good guy and tells me he had a few trailer problems recently but he thinks he fixed it. Also, he keeps the boat in a slip 90% of the time so he didn't worry much about it.

We hook up my 2008 custom Toyota Tacoma TRD and everything seems to work. However, I neglected to put the truck in reverse to see if the brakes released, etc....

Once we get to the ramp I put the truck in reverse and the trailer wants none of it. Then I notice the really fun part: air conditioning OUT, headlights OUT, signal lights OUT, shift release (allows you to put the truck in gear) OUT, Check Engine Light ON, what an f-ing nightmare!!!!! I had to muscle the truck to get it in gear and drive away.

The goods news is that the boat was great! The horrible news- the trailer and my truck are both in the shop right now. The joys of boat ownership. I don't blame the seller. He said he had previously cut the trailer wires on accident when he folded it. He had been having some problems but thought it was on his trucks end.

Congratulations, you chose a nice boat.

God I hate trailers.

I am convinced there is no such thing as a good trailer. I hate mine. I hated the one on the Ski Nautique, I hate my brother's tandem axle trailer with brakes... hate hate hate.

Fuses and relays on your truck.. easy fixes.. not sure WHY it needs to be in the shop but....

Let's see some pics.

How in the @#$% did the trailer mess up your truck if everything worked at the guys house except the brake release?

Meh - everyone is a top class mechanic on the internet. I stick to what I said - trailers suck. All of em.

I checked several fuses and they were all OK. Luckily, the local CC dealer already fixed the ground. The service dude at my dealership said he had never seen all of those systems fail at once and it was probably some kind of a module or something. I am just hoping to get my truck back tomorrow.

And Erik... I couldn't agree more!!!! I f-ing hated my Malibu's trailer and I REALLY hate this POS. I never had a single issue with my Tacome until I hooked that f-ing trailer up to it.

I'll get some pics. Stand-by.

Here is the new boat....

You have a ground wire loose in the trailer pig tail. This will cause all your fuses to blow and inturn nothing will work. I had the same problem, took the trailer to the dealer and thats all it was. I could have saved myself 2 trips to the Toyota dealer.

Rob,
Congrats on the boat, she's a beauty... Sorry to hear about the trailer.

Any chance it would've been this thing:

I guess that wouldn't cause the problems with your truck... But it did happen to a friend once before.

Blake-
Mine is actually missing that safety pin. How could that cause this problem? Thanks for the help.

That pic has nothing to do with your problem. that just keeps the coupler from popping off your hitch.

You can have a problem if there is a blown fuse in your truck. The reverse light fuse, if its blown will not disengage the brakes on the trailer. Also, the ground issue can also be a factor as mentioned above. The lockout solenoid can be bad.

Disconnect the wiring harness and use the lockout key (a nickel will sometimes work too) and stick it in the slot above the white sticker with the arrow on it to keep that pin from sliding backwards. If your trailer backs up, that will help you get started addressing your problem. I would check fuse in truck first, then use battery tester to test connection in wiring at the rear of your truck. See if your reverse lights come on (if you have them) on the trailer. If all of those are working properly, check the lockout solenoid.

Like the colors, sick a$$ boat...

Yeah blake thats the wrong pin, it may have been the braking pin, the one that if its not in it prevents you from backing up. To the right of the red circle blake drew and up a little where that thing can slide. There is supposed to be, or your supposed to have, a little key for that that you stick in when you want to back your trailer up. It could be the reason for your problems but not likely I dont know. Sick boat tho dude.

oops Envy already said it.

same happened to my tundra. easy fix. back on the road in 30min thankfully.

I wasn't that worried until I looked at both of the 7.5 AC Fuses and both were intact. It was still blowing but the compressor wasn't on. I could have missed a fuse somewhere though. It was 100 degrees and miserable when all of this was happening.

Same scenario... My buddy pulled his boat to the ramp, but when he put his truck in reverse, the brakes locked up. I went to look at the trailer... There was the uninstalled pin. I installed it, and he backed down the ramp. Guess it could have been dumb luck... I'll have to re-look at his trailer.

Same deal with me - trailers are a nightmare!

In my case, after two rounds of repairs to the brakes/coupler and two subsequent life threatening experiences on the highway, I made the decision to remove the hydraulics completely and install electric brakes (I also switched to drum brakes from disc). Haven't had a problem since (touch wood).

For me, nothing beats being able to adjust the brakes in my truck, while I'm driving.

Good luck with yours, glad you're loving the new boat.

Nice looking boat Rob. A C-clamp on the brake actuator is a quick fix for the reverse lock out until you get it wired right.

Being surrounded by Corps reservoirs, I like my trailer and the choices it offers on where to take the boat (also, storing the boat in a garage allows me to keep the upholstery and interior drier and cleaner, the hull highly polished, and do elaborate improvement projects, such as http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/586986.html
(perhaps need speaker socks).

Man Blake, there seems to me something wrong in your picture. My trailer tongue is similar, and yes I have the problem with the surge brakes locking during reverse (but only upgrade and not on launch ramps). I do as Walt does, I use a C–clamp with two 5/8-ths (?) nuts set in the outer sleeve’s slots in its left and right sidewalls, and just ahead of the sliding pin.

That’s when I noticed, Blake, that your sliding pin is slid all the way forward in its slots. For my trailer, I wouldn’t be able to reverse it (aside from ‘popping’ it real hard in reverse and disjarring the brakes).

In other words, your tongue has a (square tubular) red outer sleeve with (square tubular) galvanized/grey inner sleeve slid in it. The outer sleeve has a pair of slots in its left and right sidewalls (only the left can be seen here). The inner and outer sleeves are coupled by that sliding pin, which is capable of sliding in the outer sleeve’s slots between front and back extremes. You can tell that your pin has been sliding because of the rub marks made in the red paint. But also, your pin is slid all the way to the forward extreme. That’s not where mine should be for reverse.

JB,
I took that picture of my trailer tongue, because I didn't know how to describe what the pin was. I don't have any problems with my trailer brakes... While driving, or backing down the ramp. My buddy had a problem similar to Rob's. I inserted that pin, on my bud's trailer, and we were able to reverse without the brakes locking up.

Yea, my surge-brake problem is only occasional, and never yet when backing down a launch ramp, only when backing up a slight upgrade (I have no reason (yet) to back it up a steep upgrade).

You might check sometime, say, after you’ve towed your boat to the lake and before you start backing the trailer in reverse, if that pin hasn’t slid all the back to the rear extreme.

That's easy... I just came from the river. The slide is aft in the slot. I took that picture after I had backed the boat in our driveway.

It seems that you're fine then, but maybe my experience might apply (or might not) to your buddy's trailer.

Rob

I wouldn't be too quick to blame the trailer for your problems. Unfortunately, you didn't provide quite enough information to really figure things out.

I assume that your trailer has surge brakes (most common arrangement on a boat trailer). There are three basic arrangements you could have that would facilitate backing:
1) electrically operating lockout solenoid
2) A pin that needs to be manually inserted
3) "free backing" brake drums (not disk)

I would guess you don't have the free backing, I have never seen them fail to release. Fail to work yes, but not release for backing

If you have the type that needs a pin inserted then you need to get out and insert the pin! Pain in the but, especially when you need to back up a bit to get out of a gas station or failed to make a U-Turn.

The electrically operated lockout solenoid is the most popular with the wakeboard crowd but your electrical connection to the truck needs to support it, and many don't. Do you have the five wire plug?

If your trailer has backup lights then it is easy to see if you are getting the backup light connection to the trailer. If the trailer doesn't have backup lights then you should get a volt meter and verify that the 5th wire on the plug gets 12 volts when you shift the truck into reverse.

As for all the other electrical problems on the truck: there shouldn't have been anything that the trailer could do that would stop your AC from working. All the wires to the trailer should be fused (except the ground wire) so if the truck was properly wired the worst that would happen is all the trailer lights go out.

Even with a poor electrical installation I would expect that only the associated function on the truck would blow a fuse, worst case. IE, if the tail light circuit on the trailer shorted out it could blow the tail light circuit on the truck, but that shouldn't kill the AC!

Rod