Trailer wiring plug

C

commander bill

New member
I have an R 25 tug on order for January delivery. I also have an F250 Superduty diesel truck which I will be using to pick up boat in Florida. I have a good Class IV hitch but am unsure of electrical conection for the trailer. My truck only has simple 4 pin flat trailer wiring plug. I know trailer will have surge brakes & I have to rewire my truck trailer plug since I will need the reverse lockout feature to work with trailer brakes. I talked with a local trailer shop & it appears there are many possibilities. Does the R25 trailer (King trailer I think) come with a 6 or 7 connector plug? Also, is it a "pin type" connector or "blade type"?
 
I have a 2006 EZ-Loader trailer for my 22. It came with a five pin connector, the standard flat four plus a blue wire for the surge brake lockout. I suspect most will come that way as there is nothing on the trailer to use the additional wiring in a six or seven pin configuration. I wired my truck for a seven pin connector and purchased a seven to five pin adapter that works just fine. I don't know what year your truck is but most newer trucks are factory setup to take a plug in seven pin wiring harness. You might check with a dealer or trailer place. Wiring configurations are very easy to find on the web. Here is one such site: www.marksrv.com/wiring.htm .
 
I AGREE WITH BARRY. YOUR FORD (FROM THE FACTORY) HAS 2 CONNECTORS, 1 7PIN ROUND AND 1 4PIN FLAT. YOUR TRAILER
WILL MOST LIKELY HAVE A 5 PIN FLAT. AUTO PARTS STORES IN THIS AREA HAVE A 7 ROUND TO 5 FLAT CONVERTOR (15-20 DOLLARS)
YOUR 7 PIN ROUND HAS THE POWER FOR THE BACK UP LIGHTS ON
THE CENTER PIN, ASSUMING NOTHING HAS CHANGED FROM THE FACTORY INSTALL. THE CONVERTOR WILL PUT THAT POWER TO THE CORRECT PIN ON THE 5 PIN FLAT CONNECTOR ON THE TRAILER. THE OTHER PINS WILL ALSO MATCH YOUR OTHER LIGHTS.
 
Bill , the Tailer will have a flat 5 pin . I also know your truck has only a flat 4 pin . There are a myriad of options, but the one thing that must be done is to wire the 5 th pin to your backup lights to operate the lockout solenoid for the brakes . You can simply run the wire from a backup circuit on the tailight to the existing harness and splice on the inexpensive flat 5 connector . Going to the round 7 pin and adapter setup will give you more options for different trailers , but if you just tow flat connector trailers , option 1 will do !
Marc
 
Oh OH Once again I learn something from this site. Surge brake lockout??? could someone explain? I have a four pin plug on my ez loader for my 22 cruiser and surge brakes on the trailer is there something electrical I'm missing to for surge brakes? I thought the surge brakes were just that and no electrical connection was necessary.

Michael
 
The surge brake lockout refers to an electrical connection from the backup light power line to the surge brake solenoid that disables the solenoid when the tow vehicle is in reverse. That allows you to backup without having the brakes engage. The wire on the trailer is normally blue and you should be able to see it towards the rear of the surge brake unit on top of the trailer hitch connector area. The five pin connector looks just like a standard four pin connector with just one more socket/pin.
 
Commander Bill - Good for you bringing this up. This is critically important stuff.

We almost learned about it the hard way! We had our shakedown cruise and picked up our brand new boat and trailer and headed out on a 450 mile drive home. Granted we were excited (read that thrilled-extatic). And maybe we did or didn't hear everything the dealer said.

Fortunately our GMC diesel p/u has a lot more traction that a single axle trailer. Without that "blue wire" you can back maybe 3-4 ft then the trailer brakes lock up. Well - we had to back more that that to keep from being creamed by an 18 wheeler going like a bat out of H. But the p/u was up to it. Thank God.

So now the Honda has the flat plug with the extra wire, and the p/u has the round adapter (Walmart - $20) that the trailer flat plug goes into..
 
The basic wiring for a 7 pin connector should be at the rear of the truck. I know that many of the trucks come only with the 4 pin, since that is the most common connection for light trailers. I had to re-wire my son's Ford Expedition for the 5 pin (actually rewired for a 7 pin while I was at it)--and it only took an hour or two, since the wiring was already there, and it was easy to bolt on the 7 pin round bracket. When I am picking up a new boat I always take the gear necessary to rewire the trailer (I have both 7 pin and 5 pin on my trucks) Even if you have to tap into the reverse light circuit--that is easy to do, and you can either use a 3 way crimp, or I just strip off the insullation, and then solder the new blue wire onto that back up circuit. There are also light bulb holders available, which will plug into the back up light bulb socket, and have a new bulb socket on the top, with a single wire comming out, for the lock out circuit. So there are lots of options. If you want a temporary option for the 5 pin, you can just splice on a female round connector to the back up light circuit, and plug it into the 5tth male pin (the one opposite the only female fitting on the trialer plug). Our Tom Cat trailer came with a nice yellow tag on the blue wire in the plug, stating be sure an hook up to back up lights.

If you don't have the material or expertise to do the conversion, the dealer should have both.
 
Thanks,
I crawled under the back of my truck. It does not have 2 plugs only a 4 pin flat. I looked as several other trucks & all had larger round plug also. My truck is a lower cost "work truck". However, the wiring harness connection looks as though all I need to do is buy a different connection. I will call Advance or dealer on Monday & try that.
 
Bill: You have a very nice tow vehicle and a very nice boat on the way. While you are in the research mode, and prior to selecting your trailer, read the fine print in your F250 (and any other similar truck) owners manual. The fine print about towing over 6,000 and/or 6,500 pounds and the factory recommendation of a weight distribution hitch. It was news to me and have towed many a family and friends boat.

I now have this weight distribution hitch, along with electric over hydraulic breaks and for sure am glad I went this route for my own use and trailer. I see many advantages for this heavy of a boat once fully rigged out, wet and ready for the water with all your stuff, galley stuff, tools, coolers, and more stuff on board... It will go way past the 6,000 pound mark. I think others with the R25 have posted their down the road weights.

This will be a heavy tow. I like knowing I have done the best I can do to have and operate the safest tow possible, and have met the factory recommendations of my tow vehicle. I am glad this was pointed out to me by Roger, Terry and Les prior to taking off with my rig. And, Lord help us all if we unfortunately get into a court room as owners of these vehicles and missed the fine print....

I have yet to tow more than 25 miles and not taken advantage of the ability to dial in the amount of brakes on the trailer...even in the flat towns with the different needs between red light-to-red light stops and starts, and the interstates. Just my thoughts and many may and will disagree or have their opinions. I was very greatful this was pointed out to me so I am simply sharing here.

Byrdman
 
Opps... forgot about water travel... Some of us C-Brats are looking at the possbility of a river run from Knoxville to Nashville on the TN/OH/Cumberland Rivers this spring.... Some may be able to make the whole gig, others parts there of... Look forward to having another C-Brat in the local waters.

Byrdman
 
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