Need help wiring trailer

[snowman610620]

My new trailer has surge disk brakes. It also has a 5 wire flat connector. my truck (98 dodge ram) has a 4 wire flat connector. What is the extra wire for? Brakes? How do I wire up a 5 wire for the truck?

 

[MIKE F]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

That should be it - brakes. You can tap in to your back up light for that extra wire. It energizes the solenoid on your trailer to prevent your brakes from engaging while backing up. Without that wire connected you shouldn't be able to back up your trailer in most situations.Probably the easiest thing to do is wire into your reverse /back up light and run that wire down to the 4 wire flat connector on your truck. On the trailer side I would cut the brake wire going into the 5 wire flat connector and join these two by quality quick dis- connect plugs. That's assuming the 4 wire will fit in to the 5 wire connector . If it doesn't you have to convert both sides to either 4 wire or 5 wire connectors. One additional(very important) thing to check before doing this is to make sure adding a wire to your tail light doesn't screw up the computer/electronics on your tow vehicle. Some cars/trucks do not take well to any additional wiring. Ask a Dodge dealer or perhaps someone here knows if this would have an adverse effect on the electronics of your truck.

 

[snowman610620]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Thanks

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Buy an adaptor, 4 pin to 5 pin.

 

[MIKE F]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Does somebody make a 4 pin to 5 pin adaptor with a pig tail wire off the the 4 pin side <br />

 

[ICEMAN]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Check with an auto parts store. There are companies that offer various adapters for the different rigs out there. They should be able to find an adapter.

 

[masterp]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Don't forget to solder your connection to make the job last!

 

[Pascal]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

And use shrink sleeve instead of electrical tape to cover the soldered joint to keep the water out and prevent corrosion in the wire under the original insulation.

 

[snowman610620]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

nobody makes a adapter like that. I bought a flat 5 and slodered it all together and used heat shrink. Thanks for the information.

 

[MIKE F]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Okay, now that you've already gone and done the job. I prefer a 4 way to 4 way connector, with a separate wire for the brakes. That way you can disconnect your trailer lights, which I always do, when putting the trailer in the water, but still leave your brake wires connected, so your surge disc brakes don't engage while in reverse.<br />

 

[snowman610620]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Dam , did not think of that! oh well, it will give me something to do while the river is still frozen. I think my brake override is not working. I checked the wire that I tapped off the backup lights and it only had 8VDC. When I backed up the boat into the garage, it was a LOT of pushing (up hill a litle). I just thought the boat was heavy, but now that I think of it maybe the 8 volts was not enough to disable the breaks. Is there any way to check this for sure?

 

[Boatist]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

Snowman<br />First check and make sure the extra wire goes to brake solenoid. Next put your hand on solenoid and listen while someone shift your truck into reverse. make sure they have foot on the brakes.<br />You should be able to feel and here solenoid. If not check solenoid ground wire or mounting. after that see if can find more voltage.

 

[TOMMYM]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

I think that you tapped into a small guage wire <br />that is only meant to power one light bulb. see if you can trace that wire back to the fuse panel<br />and attach there using a heavier guage wire. That<br />should give you the full 12 volts. TOMMY

 

[snowman610620]

Re: Need help wiring trailer

That is what I was thinking, get 12v back there. Thanks for all the help. I'll let you know how it turns out.