TSC Trailer

[RichZ]

I got my trailer, and it seems great. I'm friendly with one of the workers at TSC, and he happens to be the one who assembles the trailers and all the other equipment. So he had me bring my truck to a trailer to make sure that everything is compatable, and my Explorer (which I'll probably mostly use this little trailer with) has a 5 terminal light jack, while the trailer has a 4 terminal jack. So we go inside to see if there's an adapter to make them compatible, and there isn't. We put the jacks togehter, obviously not connecting one terminal, and the lights on one side of the trailer worked , but not the other. I bought the trailer, because I think the problem is my jack. Is there a 4 to 5 converter? Where can I get one? Nothing ever goes easy for me!!!!

Thanks for any info.

 

[gtrippleb]

One of these might work.

Tail Light Converters

5 Flat Wiring | etrailer.com

Adapter 4 Pole to 5 Pole Trailer Wiring Adapter Tow Ready Wiring 20036

 

[Diamondpilot]

Usually a 5 pin tail light plug is only used for boats. the 5th pin is for reverse lights. This activates the back up lock out solenoid.

Its usually the 5th pin, farthest from the ground pin. I have a feeling you have a bigger issue, because if it was wired properly it should have worked.

Did you wire the tow vehicle or was it wired when you got it? How old is it? How long since you used it?

I would start out by getting test light or volt meter and checking each pin. You will need a helper in the truck.

On your truck side you should have in this order on your 5 flat -
White=Ground
Brown=Tail light & markers
Yellow=Left turn
Green=Right turn
Blue=Reverse lights (could be another color but will be the wire farthest from the ground pin)

Your flat 4 on your trailer should have the same colors minus the 5th plug / wire for the revers lights.

I have a feeling you either have a bad connection on the truck side or a bad light or connection on the trailer side.

If you have another vehicle or a buddy/neighbor that can hook up the trailer you can confirm its working fine.

Don't buy a adapter just yet, you should not need it. You have bigger issues.

Chris

 

[Bird]

I guess I was lucky because my old Ford Ranger had the 4 pole connector when I bought the truck, so this trailer, and a couple of others in the past, just plugged in and the lights all worked properly.

 

[RichZ]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I lucked out today. The kid who works for me on weekends came over to my farm, driven by his father. It turns out his father is in the market for a little trailer like mine, and when I got out of the barn, the two of them were studying my trailer. When I told him my trouble, he said, "Been there done that, this is what you need," and he pulled out a 4 prong jack package out of his truck. He said that his last truck was like mine and he kept a spare, He said just take off the old jack and hook this one up, and ignore the blue wire, don't hook it to anything. He wasn't sure what it did, like Chris knew, but he knew I didn't need it. So I cut the old jack off, wired the new one on, and the trailer works perfectly. Then I bolted a piece of 3/4 ince exterior plywood to the deck, and tomorrow I'll take the title to DMV, and my little trailer will be in business!!!

At last!!!

 

[Bird]

Sounds good, Rich. When I bought my little trailer, I went straight from Lowe's to the county tax office, which is where we register vehicles, and got my license plate for the trailer. Of course, I didn't need to have the trailer with me; just the paperwork. I don't know what it costs in your state, but here it cost me $76.85 which included $31.13 for sales tax. I decided to just use quarter inch plywood since the mesh alone has been alright for a half dozen trips with the mower, but your 3/4" should make a real solid floor.

 

[RichZ]

Wow, Bird! New York is cheaper than Texas for something. Registering the trailer cost me $26 and then I had to get it inspected for $6 at a local car repair shop. I'm pretty happy with my little trailer, and I'll probably be using it this weekend.

Actually, being a farmer, I don't have to pay sales tax on equipment for use on my farm.

 

[Bird]

Wow, Bird! New York is cheaper than Texas for something. Registering the trailer cost me $26 and then I had to get it inspected for $6 at a local car repair shop. I'm pretty happy with my little trailer, and I'll probably be using it this weekend.

Rich, did you register it as a farm trailer? When I could do that, no sales tax for farm use and the license plate cost $5. But if it ain't for farm use, they get us pretty good.:laughing:

 

[RichZ]

Bird, here in New York, you can register trucks for farm use, but to my knowledge there isn't any trailer farm use category. But this little trailer was cheap to register, anyway. Maybe there is such a thing for large trailers. But for larger farm use, I just use my hay wagons, and those don't need to be registered at all, you just need to have a slow moving vehicle symbol on them. Of course the best one of my hay wagons has a top speed of 40 mph. Most of them I wouldn't go above 25 mph.

 

[Bird]

Rich, I registered a 5' x 10' single axle tilt bed trailer and a 7' x 16' tandem axle trailer as farm trailers with farm tags in the past and each one actually cost me $5.30 each year. Farm trailers didn't have to be inspected, but then no trailers have to be inspected in Texas if they weigh under 4,500 pounds.

Of course I also worked hay with a neighbor and we sometimes pulled 2 hay wagons at a time behind his pickup, but like you said we didn't go over 25 mph and those wagons weren't registered and didn't have license plates.