HF wiring harness

[steve smoot]

Just installed the wiring harness that came with my Harbor Freight trailer. It's a flat four wire connector type, but the dang plug is a fraction smaller than my American made harness on my Subaru...it's like maybe 1/16" smaller. The dang wires are the correct color and in the correct order, just wont fit...that's enough to make me say bad words...

The HF harness came with the plug for the car, but my Subaru harness has the transformer that helps brighten up the trailer lights, so guess I'll go to Advance Auto and get some wiring stuff to fix the dang thing...

[steve smoot]

Well, I replaced the plug with one that fits, but now the dang trailer lights don't work... Guess I'll check the ground wire...not too sure about that... I have other trailers and the lights work with the Subaru connection, so I'm thinking it's got something to do with the ground wire...

[Arne]

interesting... I've had 2 h/f trailers (1800#) and no problems..

[parnold]

I have found the plugs to be a real pain to put together the first few times, usually they seem to loosen up and fit fine after a few uses.

[steve smoot]

Would I need to sand the paint down to bare metal to get a good ground connection?

[Miriam C.]

Well I was gonna say cut and splice but. If you have a ground issue you need to see where that lil white wire is going. Should be going to the TV. If not them make it go there or get a battery clip and hook it to the TV to ground.

[Arne]

it is best to sand off a bit of paint and use an electric anti-corrosion grease to keep it from rusting..

[steve smoot]

Arne, I will sand her down and see if that helps...may not get a report back here till Wednesday. It's going to rain and be rather cool here tomorrow...thanks for info...

[steve smoot]

:o Well I was gonna say cut and splice but. If you have a ground issue you need to see where that lil white wire is going. Should be going to the TV. If not them make it go there or get a battery clip and hook it to the TV to ground.

Yea, the white wire goes to the vehicle...I had installed the wiring harness on my Subaru a year ago and it has always worked fine...I'm rather sure it's the ground wire on the trailer that's not making ground...I had that happen on my old 5x10 carry on once.

Take care.

[wannabefree]

I first built up my frame with the HF wiring kit to get it licensed. Ended up running a separate ground wire to every light. Could not get a consistent ground through the frame, even sanding the connection points. You really have to sand all the frame to frame connections, too, and as suggested already use anti-corrosion compound. When I built for real the first thing I did was throw out the HF wiring and buy new lights with ground wires. The HF lights are junk. Just my opinion, of course.

[Arne]

bolted frames might have a problem because of paint and bad connections between the parts... mine was welded, so needed only a ground from the tow to the t/d... no problems...

[Miriam C.]

bolted frames might have a problem because of paint and bad connections between the parts... mine was welded, so needed only a ground from the tow to the t/d... no problems...

yeah I am thinking I remember someone else having that problem. I have an alum. bolt together canoe trailer that I had to wire all the way up to the front and join the grounds to the 4 flat....

[bobhenry]

I first built up my frame with the HF wiring kit to get it licensed. Ended up running a separate ground wire to every light. Could not get a consistent ground through the frame, even sanding the connection points. You really have to sand all the frame to frame connections, too, and as suggested already use anti-corrosion compound. When I built for real the first thing I did was throw out the HF wiring and buy new lights with ground wires. The HF lights are junk. Just my opinion, of course.

I ran a dedicated ground to every 12 volt dc item I added. They all return to a grounding lug and a larger dedicated ground is wired all the way to the Tow vehicle. When the taillight gremlins started I simply added a ground wire by trapping a stripped bare wire under a mini hose clamp wrapped around the bulb socket. I suppose a little solder would have been a good idea also.

Come to think of it I had problems with the way flat not fitting also but between my 4" grinder equipt with a sanding disc and my pocket knife it finally was carved down to fit.

[bobhenry]

bolted frames might have a problem because of paint and bad connections between the parts... mine was welded, so needed only a ground from the tow to the t/d... no problems...

yeah I am thinking I remember someone else having that problem. I have an alum. bolt together canoe trailer that I had to wire all the way up to the front and join the grounds to the 4 flat....

I remember that P.M.

[aggie79]

I too added a dedicated ground wire to each light on my HF trailer.