Trailer rewire

[harvey lee]

I have a broken wire in one of the channels in my boat trailer.How can I reroute a new set of wires on one side?I cant tie another on and pull through as the one now is broken.

[Gissert]

If you can get your hands on an electricians fish tape, that should work. Most home improvement centers should have one.

[BarryG]

Get the fish tape and buy a whole NEW harness and do it Right! A new harness only costs about $10, put it in and be done with it for a few years .

[kslipsinker]

I agree, pull a new harness. It is pretty easy to do with mininal tools. I did my boat trailer and changed the lights to LED. Best thing I have ever done for the trailer.

[TSCTSC]

How does the harness look like>?

[harvey lee]

Iam not sure what you are asking.The harness is a 4 prong,with a ground and a couple wires running down each side to the lights.There are side markers to wire also.

[john.wells]

A nifty trick that I learned from an electrician friend of mine is to take a plastic sandwich bag and tie some 10 pound test fishing line to it. Set it in one end of the channel and have a guy to feed it while you go on the other end of the channel with a shopvac and suck the whole thing through . You then can tie your wire to the fishing line and guide it through that way.

[Surface Tension]

john.wells, thats a great idea.

[BarryG]

All you do is pull all your old wires OUT. Then take the fishtape and run it from the back on one side to the front, then you take the side that you need and attach it to the fishtape and Pull. Do the same for the other side, then when you are ready to connect the wires leave plenty of extra and wire your lights, go to your side markers and just peel the insulation off the wire you need and attach...wrap good with tape though. Repeat for other side and your done. It only took me about an hour and I'm NOT real good with tools!

[JohnMickish]

Quote:

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A nifty trick that I learned from an electrician friend of mine is to take a plastic sandwich bag and tie some 10 pound test fishing line to it. Set it in one end of the channel and have a guy to feed it while you go on the other end of the channel with a shopvac and suck the whole thing through

. You then can tie your wire to the fishing line and guide it through that way.

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It's called a "mouse". If you have a good seal you can send it thru several hundred feet of pipe in just seconds. In this case I am not so sure it would work, especially if there are any bolts or screws sticking into the frame. If it's clean inside then I would either use that or a fishtape.

[efgh]

I would also soder all the conections, then coat the splices with liquid insulation , then wrap with electrical tape.

[JohnMickish]

Packard-Bell makes these butt splice connectors that are approved for airbag wires. They look like a regular butt splice but they have teeth inside to grab the wire better, and the outer shell is a heat shrink material. They are kind of spendy but a fast and permanent way to patch things up.

A new harness is by far the easiest and best way to repair a boat trailer.