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NEED A LITTLE HELP ON TRAILER GROUND ISSUE

5K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  lph008 
#1 ·
Trying to fix my buddies trailer lightning issue. Aluminum loadrite clamshell. Trailer lights all work if I latch the tilt mechanism. If I unlatch the trailer tilt then I cant get the lights to work at all.

When the tilt is latched the lights only work when I sit on the trailer right above the tongue, if I get off the trailer the lights go out. The latch is steel and the trailer is aluminum. I cleaned/dielectric greased the ground on the tongue but nothing changed. I tried shaking all the wires individually and that also didn't get the lights to flicker.

I just can't understand why they work fine if you push down where the tilt deck attaches to the tongue. Any help would be appreciated
 
#2 ·
Trying to fix my buddies trailer lightning issue. Aluminum loadrite clamshell. Trailer lights all work if I latch the tilt mechanism. If I unlatch the trailer tilt then I cant get the lights to work at all.

When the tilt is latched the lights only work when I sit on the trailer right above the tongue, if I get off the trailer the lights go out. The latch is steel and the trailer is aluminum. I cleaned/dielectric greased the ground on the tongue but nothing changed. I tried shaking all the wires individually and that also didn't get the lights to flicker.

I just can't understand why they work fine if you push down where the tilt deck attaches to the tongue. Any help would be appreciated
i run ground wires to each light. not using the trailer itself as a ground
 
#5 ·
I also think you got a ground wire issue
if you really wanted to rule things out, they sell complete ALL new wire kits and there rather cheap
you can start from a new, do a better job than most factory deals, by soldering and water proofing/shrink wrapping connections, and again adding dielectric grease and then you will know everything is good for a few yrs!
add some wire loom to things and , as I said, you will be good for a few yrs or more!, but aluminum is a shitty metal for things, corrosion builds on thing no matter what you do over time and they need to be checked and cleaned as needed!
 
#6 ·
If I read this correctly the tongue is the only place where the ground wire is attached, so you sitting on the deck is the only way the deck makes a good connection to the tongue ground. It probably used to rely on the bolt the holds the tongue to the deck for a better connection and that is likely rusted by now.
Either way this is a poor way to ground a trailer, especially one that gets used in salt often. As others have said the best way to fix it is to run a ground to every light individually with a weathertight connection, but at a minimum you need to run a ground wire through the tongue and directly to the deck.
Also change out the bolt at the tongue and deck pivot, if its rusty its going to chew away at the aluminum.
Be careful with the dielectric too as its non-conductive, too much of it can prevent a connection between surfaces.
 
#7 ·
great answers for you. having somewhat same type of issue as well. brake and signal lights work but markers don't. i have single wire marker lights on either side of the trailer and they aren't working. They are self grounding. Cleaned off the self tapping screws that hold them onto the frame and viola, they work.

First thing i thought when you posted was a grounding issue.
 
#8 ·
Sounds like its no longer grounding through the pivot points of the trailer. Try running a wire from the trailer bed to the tongue and see if the lights light up.

I had to replace the ground wire on my trailer. The salt coroded inside the wire. It was black. The lights were very dim and would flicker. That wire had over 10,000 ohms. Now the ground circit is 3 ohms. Very bright now again.

To splice I solder, lather in dielectric grease, and shrink wrap the splice. To bolt it to the trailer I use a bare eye, solder, dielectric grease and shrink wrap and cover the eye and screw with more grease.

I really like the idea of running individual ground wires.
 
#10 ·
Change the wire completely, like MuscleD said his corroded the wire itself.

I really like the idea of running individual ground wires.
One area the trailer manufactures skimp on unfortunately and one of the reasons I bought my Triton, they have used individually grounded fixtures for years. One friend of mine had one over 20 years old, the only wiring problem he ever had was the tongue wiring finally wore through the insulation from rubbing right before he sold it.
 
#11 ·
Also, The cover needs to be grounded to the deck. This wire is usually up front in a corner where a ski or something else hit’s it. Mot a bsd idea to add another as back up.

I clean my trucks’s trailer vonnections each year also. If using an sfspter sometimes those need a cleaning, sometimes you just need to replace them. Every few years mine seem ti need to be replaced. Cheap chinese schit I guess.
 
#14 ·
May be a combination of small problems whose total added resistance is causing the failure.
Many great suggestions.
I would add to check the integrity of the ground on the tow vehicle.
I have scratched my head in the past on what I thought was a trailer issue, only to discover it was the truck side of the equation.
 
#16 ·
Take a pair of jumper cables hook one cable to the trailer tongue and one to the tilt bed while tilted, if that fixes your issue you have a bad ground somewhere. You can look for the bad ground or make a jumper wire up and attach one end to the tongue and the other end to the tilt bed.
 
#18 ·
I had the exact same thing happen to my trailer. The ground wire that is in the main harness had a break in it. This forced the ground to try and go through the frame which is sketchy at best. For best results you should always use the ground in the harness that goes back through the plug on the truck. I ran a new ground wire all the way up to the plug and spliced it in. It has worked good ever since.
 
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