Conference 7.286::home_work

Northern Hydraulics 800-533-5545

CdH

    For a really funky look...how about those half-round corrugated steel 
    window well things used for basement windows?
    

    I can think of two places where I have seen these: Sears Truck/RV/Van
    'Specialog' and from NAPA auto parts stores.  NAPA doesn't stock them
    but they can be ordered pretty quickly through a catalog available in
    the stores.
    
    Al
    

    
    everyone has a JC Whitney...........
    

    I had some fenders priced from my local welder for a double axle 20'
    trailer. The price was around $150.
    fyi
    Matt
    

    
    
    Might be a good location for this.......
    
    I need to know the electrical connections for hooking a trailer
    wire harness to a car. I had the instructions once.....but found
    out I had an "amber light" so I had to by the $25.00 harness and use
    it. Now I have sold that car, my new car has regular lights (no
    amber tail lights), and I need to hook up the original wire harness,
    however I have no instructions.
    
    can anybody help me out......
    Bob

-< Need trailer harness diagram (4 cheapo tailer) >-

Bob,

    You might check the VICKI::BOATS conference.  This subject comes up
regularly

Al

    Hi. This is my problem. 
    
    I have a utility trailer that has a flat and the
    tire is completely off. I have a new tube for it
    and I can get one side of the tire on. Is there
    a way to get the remaining side over the rim or
    do I have to take it to a garage? 
    
    Secondly, it is an 8" rim and has no lug nuts. I
    tried removing the cap on the axle hub figuring
    that must be the way to remove the rim but I had
    trouble removing that. How do I remove that little cap?
    
    
    Thanks for your help,
    Paul

    If you can pry one side of the tire over the rim, you shouldn't
    have to worry about the other side - trying to get the tire
    completely off the rim is just adding to your troubles. Slide
    out the old tube and slide in the new one through the space you
    have.
    If you're saying you can't get either bead over the edge of the
    rim...you need some tire irons.  Or a garage that will work on
    tires that small.  You may have a lot of trouble finding one; I
    did.  Farquar Tire (or some such name) on Route 111 in Boxboro,
    Mass., will probably do it.  They aren't cheap, but they do
    excellent work.
    
    The dust cap in the center of the axle should should just pull
    (or pry) off, under which you should find a monsterous nut
    probably locked with a cotter pin or a bend-down tab.

    Thanks for the quick response. I have one bead on the rim but the
    other is difficult as with all tires. The wheel is still on the
    axle which makes it harder. I'll look for my adjustable pipe
    pliers to get the center cap off to remove the wheel. Thanks
    again.
    
    Paul

I find a large flat blade screw driver works to get the
grease cap off a bit, then switch to a carpenters hammer and use
the nail claw.

I found that getting small tires on or off is BS&T (Blood, Sweat
and Tears). A garage might do the hard labor for you. I found all garages
I checked with do not have any special tools. 
Several somewhat blunted very large
flat blade screw drivers work (inch by inch). Careful for the tube.

...if you don't want to or can't do it yourself. I spun the tire away from the
hub on our snowblower last winter (duhhh, geee, after 11 years of use you'd
think I'd have checked the air pressure at least once. Partially explains why it
was getting harder to push every year. Wasn't just me getting older, but also
the tire pressure slowly fading away to almost nothing.) Big snowstorm was on
the way, and a quick trip to my friendly local repair shop resulted in some bead
sealer around the rim and a pop of compressed air to fill it out. No charge and
back in time to fight the snowflakes. He also had the equipment to deal with
removing the small tire should that have become necessary.

						Trace

    I hope I get noticed here. Anyways......
    
    I bought a trailer and connected the light harness. They all work but
    the blinkers are real dim especially when the lights are on. Is there
    a solution for this? Is the wiring on the trailer too heavy? Is there
    a booster I can hookup?
    
    Thanks,
    Paul

    My guess is that you have a poor ground connection at the towing-vehicle 
    end.  Blinker filaments draw more current than running lights.  If the 
    current isn't able to flow (poor ground), then the filiment doesn't glow 
    as bright as it should.  Check the integrity of the ground wire
    connection to the body or frame.
    
    \Lou
    

    re:13
    
    	I had noticed this in my trailer as well. I'll give the heavy-duty
    flasher a try. I also observed that the 2-filament bulbs appear to have
    one filament brighter than the other. If I make the brake lights come
    on by themselves, it's brighter than just the running lights on by
    themseleves. The directionals, by themselves, are about the same intensity
    as the running lights by themselves.
    
    	I'm not sure if it's this way by design or not. If so, I think that's 
    the way you'd want it (i.e. priority to the brake lights). This would 
    leave the dimmer running light filament available for the turn signal.
    
    	Since the ground for the running light is the same ground used by the
    brake light, it's not likely to be a ground problem. Perhaps the 12v
    feed for the running/directional lights has a high resistance connection 
    somewhere, but I doubt that too, because each directional has a seperate 
    wire and ground connection. Guess it's time to pull out the multimeter 
    (again).
    
    	Ray

re .13, dim trailer lights:

what about the car side of the setup?
perhaps the trailer is in series with another load in the car
instead of in parallel as it should be?
that is unlikely in a factory hookup, but an easy
mistake if added later.

    The blinkers on the car are fine other than the fact that they
    blink faster with the trailer attached.
    

>
>    The blinkers on the car are fine other than the fact that they
>    blink faster with the trailer attached.
>

...and that's *exactly* why they're dimmer.  A heavy duty flasher will slow 
down the blink cycle and they'll work just fine.

FWIW, when you put one of those adapters in that convert from 4 wire to 3 
wire systems (separate turn signal and separate brake bulbs on the car but 
not on the trailer) you get a 0.7 volt drop across the junction so the 
brake and turn lights will be dimmer than if the trailer was hooked up to a 
3-wire towing vehicle.

In a 3-wire system, one wire feeds the tail light filament on both sides 
while the other two wires feed the brake/turn filament on either side.  The 
turn signal switch arbitrates the brake and turn routing.

In a 4 wire system the brake and turn signals are divorced so only 2 wire 
will feed the tail and brake lights and *another* two wires feed the turn 
signal bulbs

    	Thanks for the info Skip. I had to go with a 4 to 3 wire converter
    on my Aerostar, which is my tow vehicle. I don't know why, but they call
    it a 3 to 2 wire converter on the package the harness came in.
    
    	Sounds like the slight voltage drop is normal across the box.
    Probably would have drove me nuts looking for it (if my Radio Shack meter 
    even detected the difference). From what I heard, they place a diode in
    the circuit for the two lights connected together on the trailer end 
    to limit the current. Is that true ?
    
    	The only one that had an Aerostar harness was U-haul. The first one 
    shorted itself out in less than a year. I brought it back to the one on S.
    Willow St. in Manchester and the guy gave me a free replacement. He
    said that the old design I had was faulty. 
    
    	I went to the one on DW Highway in Manchester first (where I bought
    it in the first place) and they wouldn't do anything for me. Said they
    would have warrantied it for a few months if they had installed it. After 
    I told him that it lasted 3/4's of a year so the warranty wouldn't have 
    done me any good, he didn't have anything to say, 'cept sorry, can't help 
    you.
    
    	Ray

>    even detected the difference). From what I heard, they place a diode in
>    the circuit for the two lights connected together on the trailer end 
>    to limit the current. Is that true ?

They place the diode there to prevent sneak reverse paths, which would cause
the lights to act rather odd.

-Mike

and each diode drops the voltage another seven tenths of a volt.

    
    RE: 20
    I had the same experience with my converter. The U-haul on D.W.
    installed it wrong the first time then it shorted out in 5 months.  
    The guy at U-Haul on S.WIllow St. replaced it with a new one for nothing.