Swing away tongue not passing ground

extremez

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
83
Would it be a safe alternative to jump from the trailer to the tongue with a ground wire? Every time I lower onto the hitch the lights turn off. Even if I just lift on the tongue they flicker. I've cleaned as much rust as I can reach.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
Sounds backwards from what I would say a bad ground. It would seem if anything you would get a better ground when installed on the vehicle hitch. However, There are two way to fix this. Actually more then two, but two for the most part. You could install a grounding strap from the trailer body to the area in front of the swing point on the tongue so that ground is the same with or without the tongue in place or swung out of the way. Second, and the one I like better is, install a dedicated ground wire at each light and run them all together at the hitch . And then attach the white wire from the flat plug to those ground wires and it will work every time. That way you are not relying on the trailer for your ground. And then the swing away tongue will not effect any grounding issue. But that is just my opinion.
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Swing tongues and tilt trailers always have the same issue, no matter how you try to ground closest to the coupler

Extend the white ground from the trailer plug past the swing joint or tilt joint for a tilt trailer and connect it to the frame - Minimum. Best is grounds to each light as GM said.
 

extremez

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
83
Your first method was what I meant by jumping. That worked fine. Enough to get through my 950 mile journey.
 

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Yes, jump from the trailer to swing tongue. When I re-wired my swing tongue trailer, I bypassed the swing tongue and grounded direct to the main trailer frame.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
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Jul 23, 2011
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47,299
Dedicated ground wire to each light....problem solved ferever
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
It's no secret. Any electrical connection that can be freely moved (as is the case with a swing tongue) is not a good electrical connection. Yes -- use a braided bonding wire to bridge the swing tongue joint.
 

reelfishin

Captain
Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
3,043
I gave up on just grounding any part of the trailer frame alone. I simply run a separate ground from the trailer connector to each light, or at least to the main frame. Even bolt together galvanized trailers have this issue from time to time. I also solder and heat shrink all connections since I boat mostly in saltwater here.
 
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