Bad ground between truck and trailer

[SolarAndWood]

The trailer usually gets parked before the salt starts to fly but has been working all this winter through the slop. Anyone have a miracle spray for dealing with pin, receiver, ball and tongue that now make a sporadic/weak ground? Or, do I give up and run a ground?

 

[webie]

Honestly you should have a ground wire .

 

[JustWood]

Take the hithch out and clean it up on a wire wheel. Then coat it up with heavy grease and try it. Depending on how bad it's rusted this may make it loose and the ground problem worse.Grease the ball too. You may have to resort to an alligator clip for ground.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I cleaned the pin, receiver, ball and coupler up this weekend. Sprayed it with contact cleaner, then greased. Helped a little but nothing compared to running the jumper cable from inside the truck to inside the hydraulic box on the trailer. I had a trooper pull me over in a snow storm at 7pm on a Saturday night this winter. After he realized he wasn't getting a DWI and after putting us all in harms way in whiteout for 20 minutes on the side of the road, he told me one of my tail lights was dimmer than the other. I ponied up for leds, but almost makes me think I should run grounds all the way around.

 

[Jags]

Run a ground and fuggitaboutit. That is the only way you are going to have a really good ground. Every bump, turn or pot hole is gonna jiggle your connection to the ball hitch. Its just the way it is. All trailer plugs (from 4 flat up) has a ground wire on it. I believe it is the white one.

 

[webie]

Realistically you should be able to plug your trailer lights in and they should all work fine even without it being attached to your tow vehicle .

 

[Jags]

Realistically you should be able to plug your trailer lights in and they should all work fine even without it being attached to your tow vehicle .

WHOOPS - Webie - sorry about that - I read your post wrong. (post edited)

You are absolutely correct. That is the best way to make it happen.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Ah hah, light bulb goes off. My 7 round RV connector was inadvertently trashed this winter. When I bought the LEDs, I used its harness which was just 3 wires and then ran through a flat 4 to 7 adapter. I'll pick up another 7 and get it wired properly as I see the white wire from the original harness goes to a chassis lug in the hydraulic box. Thanks all.

 

[Jags]

Now your cookin' ;-)

 

[SolarAndWood]

Arguably a little overcooked.

 

[Archer39]

yea what they said and don't put grease on the ball unless you know you will never get dirt on it. The dirt will act like sandpaper and destroy the ball and hitch. Use a liquid lub. such as wd-40 or pb-blaster.

 

[SolarAndWood]

The dirt will act like sandpaper and destroy the ball and hitch.

I think the real culprit is the salt. I bought the '01 truck from a dealer in Doylestown two and a half years ago. It looked brand new everywhere. I looked at it up on the lift when it was inspected two weeks ago and it looked like hell. The salt is rough here. When I sanded the ball this past weekend, there was no chrome.

 

[Deere10]

FWIW I would rewire complete trailer.Solder and heat shrink all connections(there are connectors out there that are solder and heat shrink as one kinda pricey like a buck apiece).Run all the lites with a ground wire. I get a weather tite junction box and run all wires out of the box to each lite. Run your trailer plug into the junction box and do all connections in the box. Kind of time consuming but if done properly to Police should never have a reason to stop you due to a lighting issue. Again just my two cents I have and tow alot of trailers,nothing worse that guessing if the lites are working or not..

 

[kevin j]

+1 deere post.
do it right, once, and good for many years.
Also, the J box at front of trailer makes it easier to replace the damaged front part of cable or connectors.
I have switched to all LED lights, but in the old ones I soldered a ground to the brass sockets. Not rely on any part of the chassis ground as that is just one big unreliable PITA, especially when trailers are unused a lot then don't work when I go to need it.

 

[PJF1313]

+1 deere post.
do it right, once, and good for many years.
Also, the J box at front of trailer makes it easier to replace the damaged front part of cable or connectors.
I have switched to all LED lights, but in the old ones I soldered a ground to the brass sockets. Not rely on any part of the chassis ground as that is just one big unreliable PITA, especially when trailers are unused a lot then don't work when I go to need it.

+2...

J-box make life alot easier WHEN you have to replace the connector.

If you are thinking about replacing the "tow vehicle" end, I would suggest on getting an isolated control box - it separates the vehicles' electrical system and the trailers. You will have to run a "hot" from the battery/fuse box to the control, but if there is a problem with the trailer - crushed wire, shorted socket. etc., you'll still have the tow vehicles system intact, and only replace the fuse to the controller. The one I have, sounds like 2 relays inside of a box "clicking", you can hear it with the signals or 4-way running...

PJ