Equipment trailer, 16' vs 18' dilemma

[George2615]

Looks like that's what I'll have to do, checked the center pin on the socket with truck in reverse and key on and had no power.

I'll have to figure out how to get a connection to the center pin, is there a blade to slide a connector on to?

JB.

Some trucks have a wire hooked to the center pin but is unhooked somewhere in the harness and must be attached to the backup light circuit. I don't use a backup light on my trailers so never needed to wire this. Generally the center pin has no wire connected The center pins on plugs I've seen have either a hollow brass tube with a brass screw that you can insert a stripped copper wire into then tighten the screw or a brass screw and flat brass strip to put a wired crimp connector under and tighten down. Just have to run a wire either from the transmission backup switch or truck backup lights down to the plug. If yours is prewired you might check the under hood fuse box to see if there is a trailer backup circuit fuse listed that may need to be installed.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Looks like that's what I'll have to do, checked the center pin on the socket with truck in reverse and key on and had no power.

I'll have to figure out how to get a connection to the center pin, is there a blade to slide a connector on to?

JB.

That really is a nice trailer and i think its worth more than you paid for it, when you add the boxes and other things you got with it.

I was looking at the picture that shows the hitch and hope you don't get mad me asking you this.(only concerned about it)

But you might want to watch were you park it, without a lock on the latch, even if its on your truck.

I keep a lock on mine when i tow and put a coupler lock on when i park it unhooked.

Around here there has been a lot of trailers stolen, and at a lake about 20 miles from me there was 3 boat trailers stolen in one day at the boat ramp.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Looks like that's what I'll have to do, checked the center pin on the socket with truck in reverse and key on and had no power.

I'll have to figure out how to get a connection to the center pin, is there a blade to slide a connector on to?

JB.

Yea, not sure about Dodges but my 3 Fords all have the center pin-pre wired to the reverse lights. I only use the reverse signal on 2 of my trailers for reverse cut-out solenoids on the surge brakes.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

You might check some of the other recent posts. I recollect a couple of them talking about a fuse that had to be installed to get a hot lead connected.

Again not sure about Dodges, all I see around these parts at my dealership is Ford, a few GM's, and more and more Toyota's and Nissian's. Only ever wired one Dodge and its was one of my first customers back in 1999. The Fords take a Relay that comes with the truck to get the 12V charge circuit working and the GM's take a large fuse you must buy. Cheapest at the dealership believe it or not. The imports take fuses also that are pre-installed.

I think you said you had power to this pin on the trucks plug already so you are probably not going to have to mess with this one. The trick is to find out if you have power to that center reverse light pin of the trucks plug.

Chris

 

[shvl73]

Well all this talk of trailers made me get serious about getting one. I seriously considered heading west and picking up a small stack at a manufacturer and spoke to Diamondpilot about it a couple of times. In the end, I found one in Massachusetts that seemed nice and bought it yesterday. Its an 18' deckover, 7.5K. Lights, brakes work, though the wiring needs to be converted from the older, smaller round plug to the modern version on my truck. I bought an adapter at Pep Boys and it got the lights working, but the brakes were on so I ended up cutting the brake wire and headed home. Definitely got to figure that one out.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Glad you got a trailer. Hope the deal was good for both you and the seller. Your problem is in the adapter with the brakes. Many times its the 12V positive coming from the truck and the brake wire are crossed. That is why your brakes are locked up, getting 12V all the time. Good thing is you know the brakes work.

Like you said, just cut off the old 6 pin end and get a modern 7 pin RV style plug and re wire it. Follow the directions that come with the plug and it should be a 20 minute swap and cost about $10. Also get under the trailer and check all the wiring at the time you do the swap and inspect and repair any bad or worn wires.

Chris

 

[shvl73]

Thanks Chris, it's in suprisingly good shape. Alot of the stuff I looked at was abused and worked hard. Lots of damage, bent ramps, car tires, amateur wiring, etc...
This one has some surface rust underneath that I'll need to get after, still solid though, as I scraped and tapped the rusted areas. I just need to wire brush and paint some spots. Good matching trailer tires, one piece spoke rims, lights work (some cracked lenses - easy fix). Hubs never got hot, though I'll most likely re-pack the bearings anyway. The wood deck is old original though seems solid. Ramps are real straight, no bends. It has an additional ramp stored underneath. I didn't pull it out, though I'm wondering what it's for. Maybe a tricycle gear tractor? The a-frame doesn't go all the way to the axles , but it seemed solid enough constuction for the weight rating. I was curious about the weight rating, the rims are 5 spoke yet the dataplate says 7.5K, I thought those axles would be 3500/ea?
I've attached a couple of pictures, as you can see, we got some snow this morning.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The extra 500# is because they are giving you credit for the weight on the ball. You can allow for up to 10% of the total weight.

Chris

 

[JB4310]

Schvl73,
Glad to hear you got off the fence and bought a trailer. Kinda like me, after starting this thread I figured I shamed myself into action.

It looks like a modern trailer from what can be seen with all the snow, I see it has a beaver tail to facilitate loading, must be plenty wide. As far as the axles go, they could be like mine where the tag says GVW of 9,000# but the same tag says axles 4,000#, cause they are figuring some of the load on the tongue which is legit as long as you don't exceed the axle rating or tire rating.

Good luck, JB.

Some trucks have a wire hooked to the center pin but is unhooked somewhere in the harness and must be attached to the backup light circuit. I don't use a backup light on my trailers so never needed to wire this. Generally the center pin has no wire connected The center pins on plugs I've seen have either a hollow brass tube with a brass screw that you can insert a stripped copper wire into then tighten the screw or a brass screw and flat brass strip to put a wired crimp connector under and tighten down. Just have to run a wire either from the transmission backup switch or truck backup lights down to the plug. If yours is prewired you might check the under hood fuse box to see if there is a trailer backup circuit fuse listed that may need to be installed.

Yea, not sure about Dodges but my 3 Fords all have the center pin-pre wired to the reverse lights. I only use the reverse signal on 2 of my trailers for reverse cut-out solenoids on the surge brakes.

Chris

George and Chris,
I wouldn't even worry about the reverse circuit except this trailer has 2 utility lights mounted on the back fenders, the guy said he put on for reverse lights, my use will be occasional and probably not much at night, so maybe rather than fool around with the socket, just plug the light wire into the hot connector that's already on the harness for the winch, I would just have to jump out and manually connect it if needed.

Come to think of it, might be better like that anyway since these are large work lights and would not be good if on the road and needed to use reverse, as they would look like head lights and might not even be legal. was also thinking about mounting them in such a way that they can be swiveled to illuminate the deck to make night time loading/unloading easier.

JB.

 

[wkpoor]

shvl73, I would like to see some pics of that without the snow. Thats an interesting trailer as its deck over but appears to be built more like a drop deck. Am I seeing it right?