More electrical help for the electric idiot

I have not go around to buying and replacing the relays yet. I did hook up the trailer to take it in to have the bearings checked and repacked. I know that is something I should do myself, but with the ways things have been going lately I did not want to risk another issue. My plug in test light was correct. Still no turn signals and nothing on the left side. That was the side the welding was done and where the wiring harness most likely damaged from the heat of the welding. Once I get the truck side issue al taken care of I’m going to need to tackle the trailer wiring most likely. I’m going to check and possible fuses and relays and once I get the truck figured out may just plug in the trailer to see what is and is not working. I’m a little worried to even do that and rish blowing more things on the truck side. I may be just better off pulling a whole new wire harness. If it was not for the side marker lights, it would probably not be all that difficult. I may simply skip the side marker lights if I have to pull a whole new harness. I’m just not sure what is involved in tying those into the whole harness wiring.

Easy to check for melted or grounded wire in the trailer, test from ground on the trailer to the Brown, Yellow and green wires. If any of those 3 have any resistance to ground there is your problem.

bigcrappie wrote:

Easy to check for melted or grounded wire in the trailer, test from ground on the trailer to the Brown, Yellow and green wires. If any of those 3 have any resistance to ground there is your problem.

OK, Tell me more. Need more detail of how to do this. Due to past issues I now own a Multi meter but have rather limited knowledge of how to Use it to test what you described. I believe I can unscrew the back of each of the rear lights and have access to each of the colored wire you said. How do I test each??? The problem I think I’m going to have is each of these wires are not individual. The are together as part of the wire harness. Even if I can identify what wire is the short issue, I cant simply pull that wire and replace it. I will need to pull the full harness. I di ask the place doing the bearings if they could check the trailer lights and see what is and is not working on the trailer side. With knowing there is a problem on the truck side I cant figure out what is not working on the trailer side till I can get the truck side working correctly. I hate to use someone else’s trail plugin as a test, because I’d hate for the short issue to cause damage to their fuses or relays.

Well, Got a little good news for once. While it was in having the bearings look at, It turns out that the bearings were fine. They just replaced the rear seals and repacked the bearings. They were easily able to located the burnt wire on the left side and are replacing it now. That should solve the Trailer side issue. Now just need to finish solving the truck side. I’m going to go through all the fuses that relate to the Trailer towing plug in and replace any blown ones. Also going to replace two relays and hope that solves the Truck side issue.

Hopefully this is the final update on this Issue. Place where I had my Bearings done took a look at the trailer wiring for me. They found one wire that was really burned bad. They replaced it and a bulb and said all were working correctly. Got home and tackled the truck side issue. No place I called had the correct relays. There was another of the same relay in a different position so I used it to check the 2 relays I thought may be my problem. Turned out the good relay didn’t fix the problem. I rechecked all possible fuses again and found 2 blown ones. One I had replaced the days prior, but was blown again when I hooked the trailer lights to the truck to take it to get my Bearings looked at. The other one was a blown fuse that I missed the first time I checked them. Ran to the auto parts store to get 2 20 amp fuses. Replaced both right in the store parking lot. Plugged in the test light and everything showed to be working correctly. When I got home I plugged in the trailer and checked, Yep everything working correctly. So all together to get the boat shipshape for the Canada trip in a few weeks, Here is all the things I ended up needing to do:
3 New batteries. 2 Deepcycle and a cranking.
New Terrova Trolling motor
Welded broken trailer
Bearings packed and resealed
Burnt trailer wire replaced
Yep this fishing and boating often gets expensive !!!

Good that you may have it shipshape FT! It sucks how expensive this stuff is and those of us that provide the boat and transportation dont seem to get any payback for that additional wear and tear on OUR equipment. I am still waiting to get paid for my gas bills from our June trip. The money doesnt break me, but come on. I couldnt live with myself if I owed someone money at least someone I called a friend.
I am going to propose that the one guy who doesnt buy food or anything pitch in $200 in advance to a “fund” for the trip expenditures next year.

fishthumper wrote:

3 New batteries. 2 Deepcycle and a cranking.
New Terrova Trolling motor
Welded broken trailer
Bearings packed and resealed
Burnt trailer wire replaced
Yep this fishing and boating often gets expensive !!!

After following this whole saga I have decided to sell my boat! OK maybe not but it does give me a little anxiety every time I hook up the trailer now.

Really though good on you for getting this all taken care of before your trip! So many don’t and have to deal with quick fixes and bands aids plaguing their vacation time.

tswoboda wrote:

Really though good on you for getting this all taken care of before your trip! So many don’t and have to deal with quick fixes and bands aids plaguing their vacation time.

NO DOUBT on this! I pulled my buddy’s trailer up to LOW with his snowmobile and otter lodge on it. He just replaced or repacked the bearings before we went. Made it from Longville to 5 miles South of Bena and the trailer tire passed us. Dipstick tightened the lug nuts with it in the air. I felt a vibration before that, but I never towed his trailer before that so thought it may be normal because my Floe vibrated like crazy unless it was really loaded down. Thankfully our other buddies came to our rescue and we loaded everything on their trailer and abandoned his.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Good that you may have it shipshape FT! It sucks how expensive this stuff is and those of us that provide the boat and transportation dont seem to get any payback for that additional wear and tear on OUR equipment. I am still waiting to get paid for my gas bills from our June trip. The money doesnt break me, but come on. I couldnt live with myself if I owed someone money at least someone I called a friend.
I am going to propose that the one guy who doesnt buy food or anything pitch in $200 in advance to a “fund” for the trip expenditures next year.

I know what you are talking about. Been in your position before. I really don’t expect help from other when it comes to fixing things on my boat, But when it comes to Gas on a big vacation trip, that’s a different issue. I got stiffed from what I thought were friends on trips in the past as well. I guess that’s one way to find out who true friends are. Like you I could not and would not do something like that to someone.

tswoboda wrote:

After following this whole saga I have decided to sell my boat! OK maybe not but it does give me a little anxiety every time I hook up the trailer now.

Yep. That was about how I felt a few times during all of this. Then I just told myself, that is just the price I have to pay to play and have fun.

tswoboda wrote:

Really though good on you for getting this all taken care of before your trip! So many don’t and have to deal with quick fixes and bands aids plaguing their vacation time

Ya. I knew I would need to spend a little more to get it ready for this trip. The batteries and the bearings where fully expected. The rest not so much so. Oh well that’s life I guess Just need to do a little more of this

Yeah, good for you FT for being prepared! The maintenance doesnt really bother me because that is the cost of ownership and I dont expect anyone else to pay for “their fare share” as Walz would say. The cost of gas, etc gets irritating though. Like I said Im not desperate or need the money, but the thought of owing someone money irks me but apparently not others. He did this to me last year too. Good thing pulltabs have been good to me lately I guess LOL

Glad it’s all worked out Thumper. Now go get them fish up in Canada eh!

CaptainMusky wrote:

He did this to me last year too

I’m not sure if this happened to me twice if that person would be getting a invite from me again in the future.

fishthumper wrote:

I’m not sure if this happened to me twice if that person would be getting a invite from me again in the future.

I know, hes an older guy and retired now. It doesnt bother me that much but more irritating knowing I couldnt. He’s going through some health issues now so I am giving him a pass until that gets figured out. I threatened after last years fiasco that I wasnt going again because I was tired of getting beat up camping with the storms. We went to a resort this year which was overall great but stupid expensive for what we got. Its only $200 and he will pay me, but come on.

When I’m heading on a trip I only expect folks to pay their share of any reservation/ lodging/ etc. If it’s my family’s place all are welcome, I bring food enough for my family and 1-2 extra people. You can use my gear, fish in my boat, etc but if you don’t offer to split gas don’t expect me to do the same for you. Fortunately my group of hunting and fishing buddies all has the same mentality and we’ve never once had a disagreement about finding a trip it all just happens seamlessly. We’re all fortunate in that regard that we keep good company

I’ve gone on several trips over the years and never got stiffed on $$$.
I’ve also found that when you make reservations somewhere to get a sizable deposit from everyone. Learned this lesson the hard way one time. I organized a trip for 8 guys and 2 weeks before we leave 2 guys backed out. So now you scramble to fill the group with 2 new people. The 2 that backed out just decided they didn’t want to go. Not a valid reason in my opinion. Just like Canada no refunds on deposits from me on future trips.

Good to hear all is fixed. On another note we have adopted a policy if someone takes there boat and vehicle the owner does not pay fuel it is split by the others. Sort of pays for wear and tear and also the cleaning. Works for us.

When I go with another guy or multiple we split costs evenly, it’s never been a issue or even a concern. The few guys I go out of town with are all tradesman and understand the concept which is awesome. Groceries, gas, and other costs are always split.