Trailer wiring--need guidance

[Porkchunker]

I have one trailer light that is deader than dead and the screw to the lens is so rusted I can't get it out. The nuts holding the unit on are rusted so bad a box-end wrench won't budge them...the nuts keep crumbling off pieces. May have to use the dremel tool and cut them off.

I purchased a set of LED lights today from Tri-State. Should I replace all the wiring at the same time I replace the tail lights and amber side marker lights? The easy way out would be to cut the old lights off and splice in the new ones with heat-shrink style butt connectors. The trailer is a 2002 model and I've not touched the wiring at all in 7 years.

Thoughts?

Dave

aka

 

[TopShot25]

Dave,

Most likely the wiring has some water penetration in that amount of time. Mine was trashed and it’s a 2005. When you cut the wire you will easily be able to tell. Most likely it will be black, a sure sign that it’s going bad. If the wire looks perfect go ahead and splice it in. If you splice into corroded wire it will ruin the new stuff shortly.

I just rewired my whole trailer. It's not very hard, just a little time consuming if you want to do it right. If you don't want to take the time, don't do it at all. You can get the wire fairly cheap from www.genuinedealz.com

http://shop.genuinedealz.com/Marine%20G ... re%20100'/

Their prices are a little more then www.bestboatwire.com but they don’t charge for shipping and BBW charges a lot. If you choose to rewire, wire a separate ground wire for the whole trailer. It’s way better in the long run, especially for LED’s. Bad ground wires kill LED’s. And of course solder and heat shrink everything, using adhesive lined heat shrink. I even used liquid electrical tape also.

I just got back from a trip with the boat. When I walked up to get the trailer in the parking lot I noticed the license plate hanging crooked. When I touched it, it fell off in my hand. I have a rule with my stuff. When anything breaks, I fix it right and be done with it. At least the license plate holder will be easy!

 

[Foggylink]

I had to do the same thing to my 2 week old LOAD RITE TRAILER :evil: right after I bought my boat. I had a short driving up the road from the dealer when I picked it up :evil: They got it going that day, but I had continuous issues. I replaced all the lights with LED's, and used a new orange extension cord for the wiring. The outer jacked provides chafe protection. All connections are soldered, soaked with liquid electrical tape, and double heat shrunk. No problems since I did it . LOAD RIGHT WAS NO HELP AND WOULD NOT EVEN SEND ME A REPLACEMENT WIRING SET UP :twisted: I eventually found the short, and many other areas that were on their way ...

 

[Ranger Tim]

I hate my trailer!