i hate working on trailer lights

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deerhunter

New member
wel..... i have been tearing my hair out on this trailer. its a triton 2 place trailer and when i hit the brakes all trailer lights go out.when i hit the left turn signal the right signal blinks on the trailer and vise bersa for the right turn signal. also all of a sudden the yellow side marker lights start blinking when turning the signals on. i put a new end on it and checked my truck( ive pulled this trailer severalk times with the samne truck). i took it across town to power wash it quick to clean it too work on. on the way home everything worked fine out of no were. backed it in and it startted doing it all over agian. i know its a ground problem but everything is enclosed. pulling it apart looks like a pain in the as$. better off buying a new harness???? also noticed that there is no ground to trailer itself. my car trailer has just reguler 4 wires. this has 6 for a 4 pronge connector

TIPS PLEASE
 
J

junior2006

Member
Do you have a GM truck with the factory plug? I had the same sort of problem. I had to replace the truck female plug. Thats what fixed mine. Good Luck.
 
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k_smith

New member
might want to check and make sure you are getting a good ground. all my experiences with other lights flashing led to a bad ground.
 
uncle_ed

uncle_ed

Active member
Electrical is the worst! If the trailer lights started working right for a bit then I would look right at the front main connection. The rest of the trailer connections are probably fine. Is the flat connector spliced at the front or is it a continuous unspliced harness? If spliced I would unwrap and inspect that point for corrosion or like said earlier inspect at the plug that goes into the back of the truck factory connector for corrosion.
 
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ezra

Well-known member
new trailer every 4 or 5 yrs I think is the way to go after 5 yrs you usually need wire work tires are shot bearings are in need of replacement. Axel is fully rusted .so it cost you about 75bucks a yr to own a new open trailer every 5 yrs about 110 for a clam and no BS working on wireing bearings and stuff. let the next guy think he is saving money buying used.and you are on your way to the dealer to buy a new non current for 400 more than he gave you for you trailer that will be needing work stated above
 
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jmvette427

Active member
trailer pivot ground

is this a tilt trailer , you may have to run a ground from the bed of trailer to the center tube, think about the pivot bolt pin being your connection to the bed , 2 self tapping bolts and a section of wire joining the two parts may be all you need , jim
 
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deerhunter

New member
electical suxs

its a drive on drive off. i checked all the wires agian tonight and found no bad spots in the wire. only thing i can think of is when i put a new end on i relized that the copper wire wasnt the bronze color that is usally is. it was a darker brown. i actually just thought of that now. im going to check my truck agian as well. trailer has been great to meand i have nver had a problem with it. but i guess i cant complain its a 96 anhd i bought it new and all ive done is put new wheel bearings in it. also i saw on tritons trailers website that they have life time warrenttee on there wood decks. mine is gettin really weak now and was wondering if it would be covered. anything electrical sucks
 
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G

Guest
Before you rewire the whole thing try shining up all the easy-to -get-at connections with some emory cloth or some similar abrasive. Then put some dielectric grease on your connectors. Maybe that will do it - this time. If the wood is shot after 14 years I doubt if you will be able to get warranty. Might be time for a new trailer. Or else just tow during the day. You could also just leave it on the shoulder of a busy road for some cretin to steal. Problem solved.
 
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obob

Member
Ditto, what jmvette427 said.
I did this a few years back and have alot less problems. look at the surface where the bed sits on the tounge, if it,s all black and pitty looking it's trying to get ground but it's not able to constantly. Add the wire like jmvette427 said. Make sure it's long enough so the trailor can tilt all the way.
Also another common area for trouble is if you have ever spliced in a new plug. Any where you have a splice taped up, No matter how good your tape job was. This was the last place I would look and it was always where the trouble was !
I,ve also had the wire corrode off right at the back of the trailor plug but just inside a little so you don't see it. They don't make the plugs like they used to!
Good luck.
 
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maxwell

New member
It has six wires since it is an aluminum trailer and they are brining the ground from the lights back to the vehicle ground.

If it is a tilt trailer, look at the wiring where the trailer tilts. that is usually a wear spot and the wiring will intemittently short out, or wear through the wiring and do funny things.
 
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doo_dr

New member
Trailer lights are the worst because they are the most simple. Just remember these basics:
1-white wire-ground
2- Brown wire- clearance lights
3-yellow wire- left turn
4-green wire -right turn
The trailer plug (4 prong) should lay out in this order with the white wire being the odd style connector.
If you have three wires going down each side of the trailer (w/b/y &w/b/g) your trailer is relying on the white wire to ground all of your lights. If it is just two, the white wire should be attached to the tongue someplace and the trailer metal becomes the ground loop.
If turning on lights makes other lights go off or dim you have a "chasing ground". That means that the ground path is bad and the power is trying to ground back through other lights to get to the battery/frame ground.

If you have amber tail lights on your vehicle (different brake and turn signal light bulbs) your vehicle must have a conversion pack. Most new vehicles that came with a tow pkg already have it installed at the factory.

Allways hook the trailer up to the vehicle when testing. Even with a wired ground (white wire on the trailer and vehicle) you can have stray voltage that can play with you. I like to take a pair of jumper cables and use them as additional grounds between the vehicle and the trailer. clamp it on the frame of the car/truck and start touching the tongue, trailer bed, and the white ground wire where it is attached to the trailer.

Weak lights are defintely signs of bad connections. This could be at the socket, any splice point, at the pig tail connector, in the vehicle wiring connector, etc.... I like to use a contact cleaner and then WD40 to look for bad/corroded connections but remember that when you find the bad connection use a cleaner, then sand paper, and then dielectic grease to make final repairs.

I hate to say this because it is a common thing and is pain to fix but mice and chippy's love the long tube apartment we call a trailer tongue. It also gives them a long buffet line we call the wiring harness. Get some twine and connect it to your trailer plug. Then crawl under the trailer and pull the harness out of the tongue and inspect for little bite marks. If it looks alright you can pull it back through with the twine.
 
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deerhunter

New member
it has LED lights that is a sealed plastic housing when then sits in a rubber grommet that keeps it in the hole of the trailer. the ground goes back to my truck. i checked everything and even my truck. this is no trhrow away trailer. ive stored it inside all its life. yea it may be a 96 but the design has not changed one bit compared to todays new triton drive off-on trailers. matter of fact i found out its has the same harness used on new ones today( same as bearings, wheels and lights). things will last you as long as you want it too. its all about taking care of stuff. but i cant complain to much anymore about the light issue. 14 years trouble free
 
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doo_dr

New member
If all lights are LED (sealed) you have just eliminated one set of variables. Try this one out. Turn you plugs 90 degrees to one another and plug in one set of pins at a time. Green to green, or 2nd pin to 2nd plug. This will force you to make a jumper wire for your ground wire at the plug. A small piece of wire with aligator clips on each end work great. Connect the ground and test each circuit seperately. If they work well independantly but problems occurs when you plug them together correctly, you have a pinched or chaffed wire from your truck wiring harness plug to your trailer tail lights.
 
snowfish

snowfish

Member
Deerhunter, try the jumper cable trick. Works great. Couple your trailer onto the hitch. Plug it in. Clamp the jumper cables on your trailers tongue and tow vehicles frame. If all is good, re do both grounds, vehicle and trailer. Well, I'd do the trailer first. You may not have to mess with the vehicle. If you can't find the trailer ground, find the best place to tickle the white wire out and jumper it to the main frame. Having a double redundant ground is not a bad thing. You'll be up and running tonight! Happy New Year!
 
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deerhunter

New member
the ground for the lights dont ground to the trailer. thats what ive been trying to say. thewre is no ground wire that bolts to the trailer. i pulled the harness out all grounds back to the truck and which the truck is good. said **** with it. im gettin a new harness at dealer tommorrow. thanks guys for all the help. figured i could get more info here than a dealer over the phone

mike
 
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