Chevy Truck Trailer Wiring

  • red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    September 24, 2013 at 3:50 pm #1283652

    I bought a 1997 chevy K1500 “Silverado” last year that has a hitch, but no visible wiring harness.

    Underneath in front of the hitch there is a few connectors/plug ins and on the end of them there was a cap that I pulled off and there is a 4 prong plug. Tried buying an extension from fleet farm and hooking up to my dads boat trailer, but the lights dont work correctly at all. All the lights flash when I turn the blinkers on, stuff like that.

    According to the original window stickers the truck is supposed to have a 7 lead trailering harness, does that mean there might be some trailer wiring tucked up in there somewhere?

    onestout
    Hudson, WI
    Posts: 2698
    September 24, 2013 at 4:14 pm #1196542

    There should be a factory harness but it have broken/coroded off or who knows what may have happened. Best thing to do would be buy an aftermarket harness that goes in line with your current harness, like a T fitting. It will have all factory ends so no splicing. You may want to remove what is left from factory if it isn’t usable.

    mark-bruzek
    Two Harbors, MN
    Posts: 3921
    September 24, 2013 at 4:59 pm #1196561

    Time to visit the mans mall.
    Fleet Farm has plug in harness’ for vehicles by make/model.
    They plug into the tail light connections.

    red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    September 24, 2013 at 5:05 pm #1196564

    Quote:

    Time to visit the mans mall.
    Fleet Farm has plug in harness’ for vehicles by make/model.
    They plug into the tail light connections.

    I bought an extension from fleet farm and the trailer lights do not work correctly like I said in the original post. I just bought a generic 4 wire extension, didn’t see anything for specific makes/models.

    poomunk
    Galesville, Wisconsin
    Posts: 1517
    September 24, 2013 at 5:05 pm #1196565

    Not to be captain obvious, but your sure the trailer lights work as they should when hooked up to a harness that you know is wired correctly? I had a bad ground on my little trailer and it did the same, all lights blinked with turn signal and all went dead on brake. Fixed the ground and all was good again.

    red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    September 24, 2013 at 5:13 pm #1196569

    Quote:

    Not to be captain obvious, but your sure the trailer lights work as they should when hooked up to a harness that you know is wired correctly? I had a bad ground on my little trailer and it did the same, all lights blinked with turn signal and all went dead on brake. Fixed the ground and all was good again.

    Trailer lights work fine with my dads truck, I should have mentioned that.

    jon_wbl
    Posts: 289
    September 24, 2013 at 7:00 pm #1196590

    On my 96 Chev the 7 wire trailer wiring was just a bundle of wires taped into the harness. I had to undo the tape then splice in a 7 wire connector.

    cougareye
    Hudson, WI
    Posts: 4143
    September 25, 2013 at 4:12 am #1196650

    Check your truck fuses too. I had trailer light issues earlier this year (no running lights but lit up for braking, turn signal).

    One fuse made all the difference. No issues since.

    ET

    red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    September 25, 2013 at 4:15 am #1196651

    Quote:

    One like this

    http://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/Chevrolet/Tahoe/1997/118319.html?vehicleid=1997305700

    I didn’t buy one like that, I just bought an extension because there is already an open 4 prong plug on the end of the existing wiring/connection.

    http://www.got-chrome.com/p-17524-hopkins-48145-4-wire-flat-connector-vehicle-to-trailer-wiring-connector.aspx?catargetid=1440165951&cadevice=c&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CNGM4dbe5bkCFQ9BQgod42QACg

    I would think that would work just the same. Maybe I need to buy one that comes with the extra ground to screw to the truck frame… maybe thats the issue.

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