Willie B
Senior Member
I'm the guy who preaches endlessly that a job done right the first time won't have to be done again as soon. My pet gripe is half a$$ed wiring on trucks, and trailers.
The forty year old mid sized Chevy C65 got a new floor in the 14 foot flat dump last spring. I needed the truck, so I resisted #1 son's pressure to do a complete rewire of the truck. I told him he could take that project on as soon as he had time. I believe in using solid wire, and solder joints on any wiring on the road. Too often, stranded wire finds its way into even my vehicles. New stranded is fine, Old stranded is almost impossible to solder.
Yesterday I used the trailer, and the lights worked when I left home. On the return trip, trailer running lights were out. I reasoned that driving down the highway with flashers was going to attract unwanted attention. I watched for approaching vehicles behind me, and turned them on. Oncoming traffic was unaware I had a problem. ..........except for the trooper. He checked his mirror for my tail lights. Damn!!!!!
He went through the usual, did I have weapons? Am I carrying 100000lbs of cocaine. Eventually when his computer check confirmed that I am the most boring human in America, he gave me a written warning.
The failure proved to be what always fails: A bad connection in stranded wire.
stranded wire has lots of surface exposed to air to oxidize. If connections are soldered when new, all is well. Take a shortcut, and use virtually any mechanical splice, it will fail. Maybe this doesn't apply to those of you not exposed to road salt, but those of us driving in winter conditions know what I mean.
Replace truck, and trailer lighting , and wiring before it fails, and solder the connections.
Willie
The forty year old mid sized Chevy C65 got a new floor in the 14 foot flat dump last spring. I needed the truck, so I resisted #1 son's pressure to do a complete rewire of the truck. I told him he could take that project on as soon as he had time. I believe in using solid wire, and solder joints on any wiring on the road. Too often, stranded wire finds its way into even my vehicles. New stranded is fine, Old stranded is almost impossible to solder.
Yesterday I used the trailer, and the lights worked when I left home. On the return trip, trailer running lights were out. I reasoned that driving down the highway with flashers was going to attract unwanted attention. I watched for approaching vehicles behind me, and turned them on. Oncoming traffic was unaware I had a problem. ..........except for the trooper. He checked his mirror for my tail lights. Damn!!!!!
He went through the usual, did I have weapons? Am I carrying 100000lbs of cocaine. Eventually when his computer check confirmed that I am the most boring human in America, he gave me a written warning.
The failure proved to be what always fails: A bad connection in stranded wire.
stranded wire has lots of surface exposed to air to oxidize. If connections are soldered when new, all is well. Take a shortcut, and use virtually any mechanical splice, it will fail. Maybe this doesn't apply to those of you not exposed to road salt, but those of us driving in winter conditions know what I mean.
Replace truck, and trailer lighting , and wiring before it fails, and solder the connections.
Willie