Why are trailer brakes such a pain in the ass? Why is trailer wiring so janky? Because money. I muddle through a simple wiring problem on a tent trailer.
I spent 40 years wrenching on cars and stuff mostly in dealerships. I am now 75 years old, 10 years retired. Watched some of your videos they nearly brought tears. The way you think, talk and try to reason why the fuck. The memory of working with real men and idiots, the mechonic’s mind set, the tricks of the trade that dumbfounded the ignorant, the heavy price paid for skilled eyes, ears, and hands. The hands on knowledge of mechanical physics learned through trial and error while losing my ass on the clock. Now all that wonderful is a fading memory, my life now is around polite old men and the wife 24/7 while young men (rightly so) don’t give a shit how I did it yesterday. And sure don’t write very well either.
I'm 21 and a girl but I have a pretty romantic view of jobs like this done back before everything was so computerized. Like if I could experience a life 70 years ago as a cowboy or mechanic doing real and fulfilling work. Now I'm in mechanical engineering and it's nothing like this. Maybe it's just because its college but I never thought I'd have to buy a business suit for a mechanical engineering job. Or that I'd have to know so much about computers.
Here I am a young man still wishing I knew the right way to approach and learn from great teachers like yourself in person. When I hear him speak, I recognize something that wasn't a part of my life in the way he speaks. I've always been one to break things down to try to understand, but many times that has ended in punishment in the age of warranty stickers and bad breakdown guides. There is so much of this passing knowledge and I'm just thankful to have read your comment.
Respect bruv, today is all replacement, n computer diagnosis, u wanna learn mech skills, buy an older vehicle, maintain it yourself n deal with the many issues that'll come up.
@@marksheppard4475 this is definitely the best way in my opinion for a great ground floor of understanding. Even having a good scanner on things from 2010 sometimes isnt enough to get where you wanna go
Only thing worse than trailer wiring is electrical tape on trailer wiring... I don’t understand how it can remain so sticky, yet never stick to anything!
"It's always the last thing you fix that solves the problem." It gets much harder to judge your progress if you continue fixing a problem after it's solved.
You usually hear "fast, cheap and done right... pick 2". Pulling all the wire and starting over is the exception to this rule by ticking all three boxes in the long run.
Tyler Boespflug I bet in most cases it ends up being cheaper instead of diagnosing every bad wire. Usually ends up being the same with brakes, bearings, jacks, etc. Parts are cheap labor is expensive
Use my knippers for almost everything. They dont work too well as a hammer not enough girth but almost any rotating fastener yes, not much squeezing effort but that's not what makes them special either
When I get trailers in the shop I can almost guarantee I’m gonna start by pulling out all the wiring and running a new 7x14g wire and start fresh. Saves me at least two hours of trying to figure out what the last guy did because you know the wire is going to change color about three times before it gets to the back.
What you on about. I buy a roll of wire of one color so everything is the same color - ground, positive, and other. I know which wire is which (left, right, high, low) or I lay one wire down at a time so either the first wire is the ground or the last wire is the ground. Did not worry about fixing it as it worked when I was done. Yeah, it would be HELL if it was a repair job. I don't do repairs.
Why is trailer wiring so universally terrible? If somebody marketed a top quality waterproof wiring harness that happened to come with a trailer attached to it, they'd sell a million units.
One correction, some mis-diagnosis on your part here. The brake-away contraption was working correctly, but some context is important. First consider the kind of cliff-side mountain road that is twisted and bumpy enough to knock a whole trailer loose. First things first, the driver ain't got time to worry about whatever's happening to the trailer, he's got more important things to focus on for a little while. *Did you see that reaction time? 2.5 seconds and there's already smoke. Perfect.* Now that wiring is laced throughout the whole flammable underside of the trailer right? Those thin unjacketed wires are that way from the factory by design! In another 10 seconds the whole trailer would have been up in evenly-distributed smoke. But no fire yet, see where I'm headed? That's your critical timing right there. It's an old Indian trick, smoke signals. The purpose of the smoke is to help you locate the trailer at the bottom of the ravine it's now lying in after you got the truck back under control and your passenger is sitting upright again and looking for a tissue. Now I was talking about timing, see, you've got yourself a few minutes to find the trailer from the smoke signals and disconnect the battery. Else, feature #2 kicks in: Insurance Claim. Did you know that if an animal is alive when you hit it, it's not considered an avoidable obstacle, and your comprehensive coverage will pay out and it's not considered an at-fault claim so your premiums won't increase? Call your broker, it's true. So, your driving was fine, an animal jumped out of the bush, you knocked it back into the ravine, the trailer came loose from the swerving... presto. New trailer. Now all those years of neglect, water rot, bent jack, sun-rotted air vent.. they're all about to pay off. Why fix the cow when you can get the milk for free? What condition was the trailer in? Well, no one'll ever know, because Feature #2 makes sure there's nothing left but box tube and ashes. What you've done here is tamper with the factory settings and voiding the whole warranty system. This thing is going to crash and you're not going to get a penny for it, you're actually going to have to fix it. And who wants that?
Just don't do what Frosty did and small ball it. My buddy and I sent 2 months rebuilding, and properly repainting a tilt bed trailer for his business. His dad and Frosty borrowed it to haul something. Frosty had a 1 7/8" hitch, and the trailer had a 2" slot. Frosty swore it'd be fine. They ended up having to pry it out of the guard rail, and the trailer required a trailer.
I hope for his sake she's right. A blinking CEL usually indicates a misfire and that looks like a greasy old Ferd. If it's a 3v Triton he's in for the poorest designed spark plugs and cam phasers ever to disgrace this earth.
As a fleet mechanic, I can safely say, that is indeed the anthem to a successful repair. Also, a salute to the jeezless rat mother who decided that fire sale on red wire was appropriate for EVERY wire under a dash.
My dad and his freind rebuild RVs they make a profit cuz RV Owners ARE DUM thinking iz gotz mu house on wheels iz canz go anywarz MU pention will pay 4 it Reality is you have to spend all of your money on MAINTENANCE AND WHATS LEFT OVER FOR FOOD my ex brother has a 1992 masda he only ever put gas in the tank he killed it because it NEVER GOT A SERVICE hes the sort of idiot that thinks they are more intelligent than EVERYONE because they know betterthan you
Gotta start from a quality cargo trailer and do the thing yourself if you want anything you can ever show your friends without a bank loan and a promise of two future stress strokes.
Step one: plug trailer cable into car/truck Step two: drive off, preferably full throttle Trailer is now free of wiring Step three: install new wiring All done!
I removed the entire factory wiring on my boat trailer. Re-wired it using those crimps with the heat shrink that has the glue in it. Used a proper crimping tool and heat shrink gun set to about 900 degrees F. Can't pull the connections apart with all my strength, given that's not a whole lot anyways. She's all waterproofed now. Added several extra grounding spots throughout the whole frame because the ground is usually the thing that loses connecting first. Coated all bare metal grounds with liquid rubber. Bundled the harness throughout the whole frame and added extra sleeving at points where the wires would have been rubbing on the frame. Filled up the hollow square tubing tongue with expando foam to keep the wasp out. She should last at least 4 summers now. That is as long as nothing goes wrong with the boat. Lol
I picked up the flush cutter trick in my first week of my career as a dirty wrench bender. Although at the time I didn't know what they were. The second time I came outa the back of a Windstar engine bay with my arm looking like it was instead the maw of a great white. After the boss charging me for the use of 22 band-aids I took a pair of my normal side cutters to the bench grinder till I had made me a pair of flush cutters. I used that tool to save me many a pint of lost blood for pert near 20 years, till some kid decided they liked the old tool more than I did. It was the second time I fell a great degree of loss in my life, almost shed a tear.
@@QlueDuPlessis Nah, the definition of accident is an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause. Ok, so say don't be fuckin if you don't want a baby, but if a condom breaks and a pregnancy happens thats an accidental pregnancy. If birth control fails and a pregnancy happens it's an accident. Some people can afford accidents. Some can't. Also, if every kid got adopted there wouldn't be foster homes.
I have not laughed so hard to a video. Being a mechanic by trade your troubles are a daily event. Love the repair and listening to the process. Thank you for your videos!!!
I kept a pretty straight face until, "and... we have smoke." I thought good sweet Christ what now? The poor bastard. Great stuff as always. Thank you good sir. I'd have given you a case for that job and more likely a solid bottle.
You're absolutely right. Trailer wiring only lasts a year, maybe two. Mine had the unfortunate intermittent issue of only working when stopped. Had a few too many people not too pleased with my lack of signals. Ended up ripping everything out and rebuilding from scratch. Soldered it all up. Lathered on liquid electrical tape and heat shrink on every connection with dielectric grease on the screw terminals. Four years and still going strong!
Do you remember a CBC show that used to be on back in the 80s, called "Do It For Yourself"? The host of the show, Mary Bellows, who would have some home repair stuff to do, would bumble through it, like a trouper: There was so much carnage and wonton destruction that I thought it had to be a comedy, at first. Her skills improved vastly by the end of the series. Not drawing any parallels, or anything. Your name's not Mary, for instance.
Thanks for making this video AvE. Been watching your videos for a few years now and I finally decided to fuck off from dead end jobs and become an elec-chicken! Watching these troubleshooting videos gets my juices flowing and a few notes to put in the ol' guidebook upstairs. Taking some electronics classes at the local votech too for some low voltage fun, haven't seen the blue smoke monster yet alas.
I like how the "I've worked 7 accident free years" sticker is just as fresh as the one for 31 years. Either that tool box never gets used (would explain accident free), or....
I'm going through some rough times and every time a new AvE video comes out it makes me forget all about it for a good 20 to 30 minutes. Thanks for making these videos.
After years of working on old livestock trailers that spend 95% of their life on gravel roads, this wiring still looks great! I'm used to wires rotten through, wires twisted together with tape (no connectors) and about fifteen Scotchloks over the span of 16" of wiring. I'm a big fan of proper trailer cord protected by metal tubing and using aluminum junction boxes and solder crimp heat shrink butt connectors for any splicing. Ideally, everything should be homerun as much as possible, including the ground wire.
Scotch locks, OK for wiring inside a vehicle,if used properly on the right gauge cable ,but an absolute no, no for outside use , wouldn't last a season.
"...aaand we have smoke!" - time for a run to the Hopeless Despot to get a can of replacement wire smoke. Or call it a day and have some brews. A brew and a smoke always seem to go well together...
I used to be a cable guy who had to fix your tv or internet when it was cruddy.. Some of the best advice I ever got in the beginning was: Find out where you are good, find out where you are bad, then cut it in half. Keep doing this until you find the chopped, nicked, cut, spiced or otherwise defective part. This advice has served me well in many different debugging situations, cable or otherwise.
This is known as a Binary (or Half-Interval) Search for anyone who wants to read more about it. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_search_algorithm
I know a better song - I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves! I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get get get on your nerves ..... I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves! I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get get get on your nerves.
@@TheFakeRussian Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios. Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios. Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios. Cuya letra empieza así: Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios...
I think your project prowess is vastly underated especially considering that you do it all one handed...you even manage to make my day single handedly!!!...cheers once again.
Aaaannnnddddd that's why I HATE working on trailer "issues" I was the main electrical diag tech for years and every time a trailer issue it was always a clusterfuck!! I love your vids!
Here in Australia, the from the factory trailer wiring is of the exact same quality. There must be a secret international standard that trailer builders all adhere too, that mandates the same rats nest of wires and crappy loose connectors.
@@matejjakopic7797 Zinc coated chassis, well protected wiring, mechanical brakes and decent priced from factory - you cannot complain about European trailer marked!
Steve Jay yeah and get a load of those generic Chinese import galvanised box trailers that are all identical but sold under a hundred different brand names yeah I’m Aussie too I’ve got 2 of the geesless things
Also a tip from a mechanic, having some old rubber tubing from radiator hoses, cooler lines, and heater hoses are great for wrapping a wire and making a “grommet” for wires run through frames that can be installed without removing wiring. Works awesome for the dodge 5.9 dsl and the trans cooler lines always getting fucked by someone before you.
First time I troubleshot the brake controller on my truck, I thought it had an intermittent issue also... until i thought about it, the brake controller monitors resistance across the brake circuit. too low resistance, brake controller ignores the load. Thats why brake controllers are rated for a certain number of axles. A quick trip to oreilly's and purchase of the cheapest incandescent test light available gave me the proper tools to test the brake controller at the plug. The internal resistance on any other meter is not enough for the brake controller to activate. Just a little food for thought for everyone.
Them white collar folk dont get it . Some have even made the mistake that I am doing them a favor . I usually remind them that my toolbox is worth more than their Mercedes they pulled up in . And I take cash or check.
I've taught many radio technicians that filing the instructions in the bin is optional. Filing these bastard IDC connectors in the bin is not optional.
One of my favorite quotes: "Shortly after man invented the wheel, he invented the trailer. Ever since then, he has been trying to figure out how to hook up the lights." ~Patrick McManus
Same here...my first clue was right after I thought "must be a long job if he needs to take a camper with him." Took some time after that to realize what was really happening. Today wasn't my day.
My best friend had a baby recently, He found a baby changing station while grocery shopping. Left that baby there for over an hour and upon his return that baby... That fucking baby was Still Canadian
@@papajon6715 You mean the one he got "twiterpated" about? He also called her a "beautiful woman in a sundress" I mean canadians are odd, but not SWJ odd.....
@@whatfreedom7 but I detect a lack of soarry from him so my professional diagnosis is nope not Canadian probably chinese hence the knowledge of evil pixies or french suggest trying the invading German Army test and see four signs of surrender
The Bell System has millions and billions of miles of copper wire hanging on a telephone pole they're all low voltage circuits they put him in 50 years ago and the most popular places are running out of pears of wires all of it 18 feet off the ground with the terminal for every five houses and barking dogs at every yard
I work in the trailer and towing industry, so when I saw you try to plug the trailer in upside down I nearly shat my pants. One of our customers did that to a brand new ford escape, which torched half the wiring in the car
I just bought a trailer & the wiring was comfumbled, I have a 7 way plug with brake booster as well so ling story short took me 3 hours to figured out the rewire soldered the connections & heat strinked & done. Working great now...
Having worked on motorcycles for the past 20 years I can say that while the factory wiring is pretty good...usually, I have not seen ONE home-gamer repair that was above the level of your average two year old's repair ability.
My airplane avionics tech taught me about waxed lacing cord for tying wiring bundles. He preferred that to zip ties precisely because of the razor-sharp edge side cutters leave.
Trailer wiring... OMG, nothing but horror... I've got a trailer board which I wired myself with the witchcraft known as solder and shrink-wrap. I always keep that handy so I don't have to fix anything I borrow and hitch up! The electrical breakaway system is odd. Here in the old country it's mechanical. A metal cable loop which is placed over the tow ball. It yanks on the handbrake as its (de)parting gift. The electrical system seems prone to failures (flat battery, bad wiring, pre-escaped magic smoke). The cable system just pulls on the other end handbrake lever (forwards), the handbrake already has a locking ratchet, so if your trailer handbrake works, so does the breakaway. KISS. Oh, and your colonial trailer plugs are weird and you smell funny.
As much as I like soldering the MTBF for crimp connections is much longer than solder. Bullet connectors can last years. Soldered ones, especially the lead free shite will crack like toffee in short order.
I know what you're saying, but I've owned too many Italian cars to trust crimp connectors! 😂 Far too many HR connections in my life already, and at vehicle currents it makes things far too interesting, far too quickly! Don't worry, I only use planet killing solder for iron work 😁
Dude, I’m only a couple minutes in, but I gotta say I’m man-crushing already. Your speech pattern, colloquialisms, and humor are 110% my hometown. So familiar it’s almost déjà vu. Instant subscribe.
At 10:19 you mention zip ties and flush cutters. Yes and No. flush cutters at a minimum, but even flush cutters leave a little edge. I made a zap trimmer that I use only for that. It’s a side cutter, with bottom jaw slightly dulled, and a file cut into the back edge. The key is not rushing the cut, using the bottom jaw to cut 2mm off the back edge of the lock eye, opposite the tail of the zap. Sloppy cut breaks the lock, but a good cut is almost perfectly flush, as the bevel of the side cutter and the slightly dull edge work FOR you to smush the eye (provided you don’t break the lock). One pass from the file I cut into the back edge is enough to get rid of any leftover burr. Cuz the next guy is probably gonna be ME.
Watched this again and again, something about watching a guy going thru hell makes you feel related. Carry on Brother, we've all been there. Many times I've sung the NASA approved creed for the reparation of eleco-mechanical contrivances, sometimes to no avail. One time I was so sick of patching the factory wiring I torn it all out put in all new wire, crimped, soldered and heat shrinked all the new connections. Electrical taped the wire bundle at any frame rubbing places where the insulation could wear though and Zip-Tied the wiring to the frame. Spent at least three hours and $50 and still had a cheap used utility trailer that was probably only worth $75. Well avoiding a defective safety equipment ticket was worth it. The end of the video with the imaginary six pack is a classic!
True. Also much better for setting the pre-load on the bearing when re-assembling as you can spin the wheel and tell how much/little resistance is applied and wiggle it front and back to see if there's too much play.
AvE!!! First off I want to thank you again for sending my husband some t shirts a couple years ago for his birthday! Actually, 2 years this month. Loved seeing his smile when he opened his gift. I actually wanted to reach out and ask you if you have a po box that we could, well he could send you something he thinks you would appreciate. He tried looking around for an address because he wanted to surprise you. Thanks for taking the time!!
You mean those boxes of small steel parts that magically deplete at the rate of the only sized socket you need per job? Need a 3/8"? It's gone... Need a 5/16"? Gone like the wind... Need that weird extension / adapter / sliding bit that you never quite knew what was for but was always prominently encased in the middle of the set? Yep, that's now migrated to your friend's toolbox, and they're in Paraguay for the month. Socket sets, in my experience, are usually just a more complicated way of finding the wrong tool for the job! Having said that, I still always travel with one.
One of my first electrician jobs was working carnivals/fairs we don't want to talk about trailer wiring. I swear I spent 90% of my time just getting lights working. Also some credit to your Canadian brothers. I am down here in Bentonville, Ar land of Walmart and had an SUV run me off the road yesterday due to me being in his blind spot. He stopped and apologized to me. I knew immediately he wasn't American, due to him saying sorry like 20 times. I had a great laugh when he pulled away and I noticed his Canadian plates, I wasn't even mad I got ran off into the shoulder of the highway. It gives me a story to share over a beer this weekend.
Sparky here, turns out one of those quality 3m t wire nuts has been holding the power wires for my trailer brake controller together under my dash for going on 5 years. Let's not get started on all the thwn-2 that's strung under the truck because I caught the truck on a rock and ripped the entire harness from under the bed.
Wire nuts, used properly, are better than home gamer grade crimp cunnectors, which....really have no way of being used properly that I've yet discovered. the problem is lack of strain relief, as usual.
You'd be amazed how those proper heat shrink connectors have come down in price, thanks to the Chinese no doubt. You can get them as cheap as under 10 cents per these days on Amazon! Granted, may not be as high quality as the ones you observed, but they are copper core, heat shrink tube, adhesive lined. Crazy! Made a repair just like the one you looked at on an ABS sensor cable recently. Glad you would have thought I was something like a professional. 😅
@@poellot 38$fuse FFS I concur. I run extech ( which I have proved worthy ) and have checked ohms on mainsuntil I realized I wasn't on volts. No issue.
I had the honour to restore power to a plant by replacing one of the main 1200Amp fuses. Unfortunately the plant electrician and maintenance supervisor were in the hospital because the multimeter used to find the “open fuse” vapourized. I could tell which fuse opened by looking at the scorch marks on the ends of the fuse holder. Luckily they were okay after a few days. Cat Rating aside, measure Ohms of an energized power circuit at your peril.
Fn amateurs, ahhh as a line worker and electrician for the last 30 years you can have a meter on ohms and go across any potential as long as you don’t exceed the meter rating which is normally 600-700VAC. What you can’t do with a meter is have it on amps (current) and then go across a potential, it must be in series to measure current..... this is basic, basic DC low volt stuff. Wow..... and the scotch lock isn’t a “data connector.” Fn hack....
I remember fixing a disabled customers car at work, As it had apparently got a flat battery 8 months earlier and she’d just left it in the car park because she didn’t know what to do, So I told her where to get a battery, to buy a can of petrol and that I’d sort it on my break, a couple of weeks pass and she lets me know she’s coming in, I go on break turn up with my tools at the car and it’s in the corner of the multi storey car park, barely any light and I didn’t have a torch, not wanting to have wasted her time, I continue she opens the car, I fuel it up and get to disconnecting the battery, little did I know she’d put the key in the ignition and turned the key so I was now working live, socket set tapped the air con lines...and bang. My socket melted a nice 2mm hole in the metal line and now the gas was shooting at my face and I was wondering what the frig I’d done. Thinking I’m way over my head, and wanting to abort after the brand new battery’s 500 ish CCA’s still flowing through my system, ask her if she has break down cover, she says no... by the power of gray skull manage to find some high temperature rubber tape and managed to seal it, get in the car to start it and find that the dash lights were on, car starts, runs great, I politely ask why she turned the key, she didn’t realise she had....Total time for the battery change at this point is an hour and a half. I had expected something in return for the impending doom of returning to work an hour later then I was meant too, I had planned to turn it down, but nothing, she had brought a battery and a can of fuel. And just said “I owe you a beer some time” someone that I only know when she shops at my work and have never socialised with outside of.... and that was the last time I did anything like that for a customer, had heart palpitations for about a week. Luckily when I told my evening duty manager what happened, he just let me off, lesson learned I guess. Seeing your lack of beer reminded me of that, thinking of you from Salford in England.
Whether or not the key was on does not matter when you're replacing a battery. It was flat but had enough juice to short and burn through an ac line after eight months of being flat? When removing a battery, what you should have done is disconnect the negative terminal to the battery first, which is almost always connected to the metal frame of the car, which is where the metal ac lines are fastened to which is what you shorted out to. Then, disconnect the positive terminal with no risk of shorting. When installing a battery it's vice versa. Connect the positive first, then the negative, unless you like sparks and melty tools. Also negotiate for the beer or at least strongly hint at it prior to the job. Sorted
Harry Balsagna you raise a fair point, of course it was my bad, I should have been more careful tightening up. It was a orange Nissan primera early model converted to steering wheel controls and I think the terminal that I was tightening was the negative, left hand side of the battery , the side closest to the ac lines, as I was only using a short throw socket to tighten up, so who knows, I just remember the shock, I shouldn’t have been doing it in the dark anyway.... My story was more a issue of courtesy, the person had absolutely no idea about cars (the reason it had been sat in a multi story car park above my work for 8 or so months) , if someone does something for me, that I can’t do, then I’d sort them something out, certainly more understandable if it’s an off the cuff repair to not have anything to offer, but this was organised for battery and fuel to be there on the right day and for me to take a break at a certain time. And in the end I got it running, and when she went for her MOT the next day it had no issues. Not that I’m bitter at all, it being two to three years ago aha. Peace out
Reminds me of the times at the trailer shop having marrettes, solid core household wiring and household electrical boxes including switches, outlets, and junction boxes all underneath the trailers flapping in the salted winter road breeze. Never let a contractor near your trailer.
@@Wayoutthere when I got into the field 18 years ago, an old grey beard told me, "dont ever let anyone know you're handy" I wish I would have taken his advice.
M dad was an electrician, and when he came home at night,he took everything out of his pockets, among which were, wirenuts. Among my barrage of questions was " what's this Daddy?" His reply"just Crap". Ffwd to my job in a Mom Pop hardware store, when a customer comes up to this young clerk (myself) , and brandishes a wire nut in my face. I yell across the store to the boss" Mr Boss(not his real name), where do you keep the Craps?" True story to this day.
Авто/Мото
I spent 40 years wrenching on cars and stuff mostly in dealerships. I am now 75 years old, 10 years retired. Watched some of your videos they nearly brought tears. The way you think, talk and try to reason why the fuck. The memory of working with real men and idiots, the mechonic’s mind set, the tricks of the trade that dumbfounded the ignorant, the heavy price paid for skilled eyes, ears, and hands. The hands on knowledge of mechanical physics learned through trial and error while losing my ass on the clock. Now all that wonderful is a fading memory, my life now is around polite old men and the wife 24/7 while young men (rightly so) don’t give a shit how I did it yesterday. And sure don’t write very well either.
I am with you 100% brother,
I'm 21 and a girl but I have a pretty romantic view of jobs like this done back before everything was so computerized. Like if I could experience a life 70 years ago as a cowboy or mechanic doing real and fulfilling work. Now I'm in mechanical engineering and it's nothing like this. Maybe it's just because its college but I never thought I'd have to buy a business suit for a mechanical engineering job. Or that I'd have to know so much about computers.
Here I am a young man still wishing I knew the right way to approach and learn from great teachers like yourself in person. When I hear him speak, I recognize something that wasn't a part of my life in the way he speaks. I've always been one to break things down to try to understand, but many times that has ended in punishment in the age of warranty stickers and bad breakdown guides. There is so much of this passing knowledge and I'm just thankful to have read your comment.
Respect bruv, today is all replacement, n computer diagnosis, u wanna learn mech skills, buy an older vehicle, maintain it yourself n deal with the many issues that'll come up.
@@marksheppard4475 this is definitely the best way in my opinion for a great ground floor of understanding. Even having a good scanner on things from 2010 sometimes isnt enough to get where you wanna go
Only thing worse than trailer wiring is electrical tape on trailer wiring...
I don’t understand how it can remain so sticky, yet never stick to anything!
Oh come on! We know it'll stick to your fingers.
That ain’t sticky. That’s “gooey”
@@JRPittman yeah that's one for it. I always went for 'gacky'. I hate that shit...
Fact!
That's not fair. It does stick.
For 34 seconds before it turns to slimey goo that needs industrial solvents to remove
"It's always the last thing you fix that solves the problem."
It gets much harder to judge your progress if you continue fixing a problem after it's solved.
G'day, You would have saved a lot of time if you had of fixed that part first.
Same principal as looking for that thing you lost, If you keep looking after you find it, best to see a doctor.
If it ain't broken, fix it until it is
You haven't met a engineer. Although after solving a problem they are 'improving the design'
I never stop fixing it until that thoroughbred is broke.
This has to be the only RUclips channel that I enjoy going through the comments as much as I like watching the videos
Garand thumb as well
My buddy owns a trailer repair shop. Standard procedure is remove all wiring and start over. Especially boat trailers
You usually hear "fast, cheap and done right... pick 2". Pulling all the wire and starting over is the exception to this rule by ticking all three boxes in the long run.
Tyler Boespflug I bet in most cases it ends up being cheaper instead of diagnosing every bad wire. Usually ends up being the same with brakes, bearings, jacks, etc. Parts are cheap labor is expensive
Yup if I have to fix it, I just trash the whole wiring harness and the lights and redo it.
No, it isn't the way to reach deep. Having them come to shop every Monday after camping to fix random wires and leaks make management the happiest.
@@greeceuranusputin look, a guy who never wired a trailer giving his worthless opinion.
Knipex pliers- seldom the "right" tool for the job, but usually the highest quality "wrong" tool for the job.
1:53 even electrically insulated ;-)
They're good hammers aren't they?
@@mickleblade no no no. Those bastards are too expensive and too good to beating stuff with.
@@johnnymotorboat8824 No, they're good for hammering on a screwdriver
Use my knippers for almost everything. They dont work too well as a hammer not enough girth but almost any rotating fastener yes, not much squeezing effort but that's not what makes them special either
When I get trailers in the shop I can almost guarantee I’m gonna start by pulling out all the wiring and running a new 7x14g wire and start fresh. Saves me at least two hours of trying to figure out what the last guy did because you know the wire is going to change color about three times before it gets to the back.
i hear ya... or everything is black and red with a mixed in green or white
@@jacobelder5817 NEVER use Scotch Loks.
@@ddd228 whatever guy that keeps a lightbulb up his ass that invented scotch loks should be flogged!
What you on about. I buy a roll of wire of one color so everything is the same color - ground, positive, and other. I know which wire is which (left, right, high, low) or I lay one wire down at a time so either the first wire is the ground or the last wire is the ground. Did not worry about fixing it as it worked when I was done. Yeah, it would be HELL if it was a repair job. I don't do repairs.
Only three your lucky
Why is trailer wiring so universally terrible? If somebody marketed a top quality waterproof wiring harness that happened to come with a trailer attached to it, they'd sell a million units.
I just pipe it and pull 14 or 12 THHN.
Most of the time its just quicker to rips the sumbitches off and start with fresh wires.
Better off learning how to wire yourself. Than you can wire your own harness
They make em, but Ive only ever seen em for class 8
@@jacknickolstine3355 Yeah cause you wire more gooder with a 12 pack. Makes you more experter. You know that guy, lol.
One correction, some mis-diagnosis on your part here. The brake-away contraption was working correctly, but some context is important. First consider the kind of cliff-side mountain road that is twisted and bumpy enough to knock a whole trailer loose. First things first, the driver ain't got time to worry about whatever's happening to the trailer, he's got more important things to focus on for a little while. *Did you see that reaction time? 2.5 seconds and there's already smoke. Perfect.*
Now that wiring is laced throughout the whole flammable underside of the trailer right? Those thin unjacketed wires are that way from the factory by design! In another 10 seconds the whole trailer would have been up in evenly-distributed smoke. But no fire yet, see where I'm headed? That's your critical timing right there. It's an old Indian trick, smoke signals. The purpose of the smoke is to help you locate the trailer at the bottom of the ravine it's now lying in after you got the truck back under control and your passenger is sitting upright again and looking for a tissue. Now I was talking about timing, see, you've got yourself a few minutes to find the trailer from the smoke signals and disconnect the battery. Else, feature #2 kicks in: Insurance Claim.
Did you know that if an animal is alive when you hit it, it's not considered an avoidable obstacle, and your comprehensive coverage will pay out and it's not considered an at-fault claim so your premiums won't increase? Call your broker, it's true. So, your driving was fine, an animal jumped out of the bush, you knocked it back into the ravine, the trailer came loose from the swerving... presto. New trailer. Now all those years of neglect, water rot, bent jack, sun-rotted air vent.. they're all about to pay off. Why fix the cow when you can get the milk for free? What condition was the trailer in? Well, no one'll ever know, because Feature #2 makes sure there's nothing left but box tube and ashes.
What you've done here is tamper with the factory settings and voiding the whole warranty system. This thing is going to crash and you're not going to get a penny for it, you're actually going to have to fix it. And who wants that?
Comment of the year award nominee
@@pliz5 only on AvE channel you can find this beauties
So what you are saying is... fuck it.
BRILLIANT!! this guys going places
Just don't do what Frosty did and small ball it.
My buddy and I sent 2 months rebuilding, and properly repainting a tilt bed trailer for his business. His dad and Frosty borrowed it to haul something. Frosty had a 1 7/8" hitch, and the trailer had a 2" slot. Frosty swore it'd be fine. They ended up having to pry it out of the guard rail, and the trailer required a trailer.
"Probably just the gas cap"
Yeah, she's a keeper.
I hope for his sake she's right. A blinking CEL usually indicates a misfire and that looks like a greasy old Ferd. If it's a 3v Triton he's in for the poorest designed spark plugs and cam phasers ever to disgrace this earth.
She's catching on. I died:)
J U wdym I love having 8 evenly spaced dents in my hood
*invokes Greyskull to disconnect a battery*
This guy is amazing, love it.
As a fleet mechanic, I can safely say, that is indeed the anthem to a successful repair. Also, a salute to the jeezless rat mother who decided that fire sale on red wire was appropriate for EVERY wire under a dash.
I've been an RV tech for 25 years. If it's taught me anything it's to not own one.
My dad and his freind rebuild RVs they make a profit cuz RV Owners ARE DUM thinking iz gotz mu house on wheels iz canz go anywarz MU pention will pay 4 it
Reality is you have to spend all of your money on MAINTENANCE AND WHATS LEFT OVER FOR FOOD my ex brother has a 1992 masda he only ever put gas in the tank he killed it because it NEVER GOT A SERVICE hes the sort of idiot that thinks they are more intelligent than EVERYONE because they know betterthan you
I've seen how they're built most of my life, hence why I'm building my own trailer!
Gotta start from a quality cargo trailer and do the thing yourself if you want anything you can ever show your friends without a bank loan and a promise of two future stress strokes.
I bought a 72 Shasta. Gutted and rebuilt it the way I wanted. I spend too much time fixing the crap Thor is to cheap to do right.
I fix school buses. They are literally the most unreliable things on the road, and we put kids in them lol
Step one: plug trailer cable into car/truck
Step two: drive off, preferably full throttle
Trailer is now free of wiring
Step three: install new wiring
All done!
Love it.
did it by accident.
on to step 3
Cdog1019 that makes two of us then!
The dirtiest word in the English language is”intermittent “
I removed the entire factory wiring on my boat trailer. Re-wired it using those crimps with the heat shrink that has the glue in it. Used a proper crimping tool and heat shrink gun set to about 900 degrees F.
Can't pull the connections apart with all my strength, given that's not a whole lot anyways.
She's all waterproofed now. Added several extra grounding spots throughout the whole frame because the ground is usually the thing that loses connecting first. Coated all bare metal grounds with liquid rubber.
Bundled the harness throughout the whole frame and added extra sleeving at points where the wires would have been rubbing on the frame. Filled up the hollow square tubing tongue with expando foam to keep the wasp out.
She should last at least 4 summers now. That is as long as nothing goes wrong with the boat. Lol
fuckin noah's ark over here lmao
I picked up the flush cutter trick in my first week of my career as a dirty wrench bender. Although at the time I didn't know what they were. The second time I came outa the back of a Windstar engine bay with my arm looking like it was instead the maw of a great white. After the boss charging me for the use of 22 band-aids I took a pair of my normal side cutters to the bench grinder till I had made me a pair of flush cutters. I used that tool to save me many a pint of lost blood for pert near 20 years, till some kid decided they liked the old tool more than I did. It was the second time I fell a great degree of loss in my life, almost shed a tear.
Let us all take a moment of silence to mark the passing of a beloved tool. And to curse the fucking scumbag who knicked it.
It was me😉
@@nuunuu6943 Give it back, ya fackwit!
Sounds weird, but I use toenail clippers to cut off zip tie tails. It leaves a nice rounded edge that's not sharp.
@@chrislizon7483 You too? I keep one in my electrical kit just for this. I though I was the only one that did that.
35 years accident free wow is your first kid 35?
There are no accidental pregnancies. Just unexpected ones...
Accidental fire
@@nuunuu6943 friendly fire
@@QlueDuPlessis very shrewd assessment.
I agree.
Good day sir.
@@QlueDuPlessis Nah, the definition of accident is an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause. Ok, so say don't be fuckin if you don't want a baby, but if a condom breaks and a pregnancy happens thats an accidental pregnancy. If birth control fails and a pregnancy happens it's an accident. Some people can afford accidents. Some can't. Also, if every kid got adopted there wouldn't be foster homes.
I have not laughed so hard to a video. Being a mechanic by trade your troubles are a daily event. Love the repair and listening to the process. Thank you for your videos!!!
Still the best goddamn shop teacher on the internet. Says me.
My favorite comment of the video “ And we have smoke “. That explains all my experience with trailer wiring.
"One little tug and they come" Haha! That one even caught you off guard
loooong times ago...
I kept a pretty straight face until, "and... we have smoke." I thought good sweet Christ what now? The poor bastard. Great stuff as always. Thank you good sir. I'd have given you a case for that job and more likely a solid bottle.
You're absolutely right. Trailer wiring only lasts a year, maybe two. Mine had the unfortunate intermittent issue of only working when stopped. Had a few too many people not too pleased with my lack of signals. Ended up ripping everything out and rebuilding from scratch. Soldered it all up. Lathered on liquid electrical tape and heat shrink on every connection with dielectric grease on the screw terminals. Four years and still going strong!
Do you remember a CBC show that used to be on back in the 80s, called "Do It For Yourself"?
The host of the show, Mary Bellows, who would have some home repair stuff to do, would bumble through it, like a trouper: There was so much carnage and wonton destruction that I thought it had to be a comedy, at first. Her skills improved vastly by the end of the series.
Not drawing any parallels, or anything. Your name's not Mary, for instance.
I have never forgotten to put the oil drain plug back in before trying to refill an engine with oil. Mary gets the credit for that.
Forgot all about her until just now. Time to search the youtubes, see if memory of it matches reality...
I always thought she was pretending to be dumb .torture to watch .
I just watched on and it was painful!
Given the time period, I'd like to think she was just hella baked, haha...
@@paulmoir4452 yeah, I tried that once too
The difference between this and some of the airplanes I've opened up: The trailer is made of steel.
@@Pr3Va1L yeah, planes are 100% fibreglass...
How expensive is the roadside assistance for an airplane? Does it come with free towing when I break down?
@@Pr3Va1L but easy to short out on aluminum.
@@rhunter3406 depends if you've paid your bribes to AOPA.
The Garden of Eatin when the plane breaks you just pull off on to the nearest cloud and call Flight Service.
Spent all day fixing electrical gremlins on a led arrowboard trailer. Now it's on my favorite youtube channel. There is no escape
Thanks for making this video AvE. Been watching your videos for a few years now and I finally decided to fuck off from dead end jobs and become an elec-chicken! Watching these troubleshooting videos gets my juices flowing and a few notes to put in the ol' guidebook upstairs. Taking some electronics classes at the local votech too for some low voltage fun, haven't seen the blue smoke monster yet alas.
I like how the "I've worked 7 accident free years" sticker is just as fresh as the one for 31 years. Either that tool box never gets used (would explain accident free), or....
I'm going through some rough times and every time a new AvE video comes out it makes me forget all about it for a good 20 to 30 minutes. Thanks for making these videos.
hey buddy - I hope things are better
Did times get better for you?
work at a RV dealership and the hell of it is that all that factory wiring is up to spec and code!
It's always enjoyable to watch other people with problems....
After years of working on old livestock trailers that spend 95% of their life on gravel roads, this wiring still looks great! I'm used to wires rotten through, wires twisted together with tape (no connectors) and about fifteen Scotchloks over the span of 16" of wiring. I'm a big fan of proper trailer cord protected by metal tubing and using aluminum junction boxes and solder crimp heat shrink butt connectors for any splicing. Ideally, everything should be homerun as much as possible, including the ground wire.
Scotch locks. Lil blue misery devices.
Scotchloks, the devil's personal gift to mankind.
Indeed... Next week, car stereo installations...
Yup, yup, yup.
Stereo shops expertly use Scotch Locks to Professionally install your double din radio in your donk!
Scotch locks, OK for wiring inside a vehicle,if used properly on the right gauge cable ,but an absolute no, no for outside use , wouldn't last a season.
"...aaand we have smoke!" - time for a run to the Hopeless Despot to get a can of replacement wire smoke. Or call it a day and have some brews. A brew and a smoke always seem to go well together...
The narrative on your videos is even better than the videos. Thanks for the great info and entertainment
I used to be a cable guy who had to fix your tv or internet when it was cruddy.. Some of the best advice I ever got in the beginning was:
Find out where you are good, find out where you are bad, then cut it in half.
Keep doing this until you find the chopped, nicked, cut, spiced or otherwise defective part.
This advice has served me well in many different debugging situations, cable or otherwise.
Can confirm, this process works great for debugging programming/code as well.
@@BrianChristmas I've had to comment out code until I had a single line left which still inexplicably caused the error.
This is known as a Binary (or Half-Interval) Search for anyone who wants to read more about it.
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_search_algorithm
@@MichaelSteeves Oh man! I've been lucky so far and haven't experienced that level of coding error. I'm sure it's just a matter of time...
Instructions unclear, cut dick in half...
its the song that never ends it goes on and on my friends
Please do not get that started! I’ll be hearing that play in my head for the next week! lol
Spotify release ASAP!
I know a better song - I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves! I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get get get on your nerves ..... I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves! I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get get get on your nerves.
True, but it feels so GOOD to sing it!
@@TheFakeRussian Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios.
Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios.
Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios.
Cuya letra empieza así:
Y es que yo conozco una canción que te pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios, pone de los nervios...
I think your project prowess is vastly underated especially considering that you do it all one handed...you even manage to make my day single handedly!!!...cheers once again.
Aaaannnnddddd that's why I HATE working on trailer "issues" I was the main electrical diag tech for years and every time a trailer issue it was always a clusterfuck!! I love your vids!
Here in Australia, the from the factory trailer wiring is of the exact same quality. There must be a secret international standard that trailer builders all adhere too, that mandates the same rats nest of wires and crappy loose connectors.
That secret international trailer wiring code is called "hire the kids right outta high school, we don't have to pay them very much."
@@cr4zyj4ck you left out the part where you give them shit tools and consumables, don't adequately train them, and tell them to hurry up.
You can count central Europa in the standard.
@@matejjakopic7797 Zinc coated chassis, well protected wiring, mechanical brakes and decent priced from factory - you cannot complain about European trailer marked!
Steve Jay yeah and get a load of those generic Chinese import galvanised box trailers that are all identical but sold under a hundred different brand names yeah I’m Aussie too I’ve got 2 of the geesless things
Welcome to Charlie Foxtrot's Hitch 'N Go, home of the Roulette Splice - "When'll she go? Nobody know."
"spare roach clips in the battery compartment" the best sentence i've ever heard
Also a tip from a mechanic, having some old rubber tubing from radiator hoses, cooler lines, and heater hoses are great for wrapping a wire and making a “grommet” for wires run through frames that can be installed without removing wiring. Works awesome for the dodge 5.9 dsl and the trans cooler lines always getting fucked by someone before you.
First time I troubleshot the brake controller on my truck, I thought it had an intermittent issue also... until i thought about it, the brake controller monitors resistance across the brake circuit. too low resistance, brake controller ignores the load. Thats why brake controllers are rated for a certain number of axles. A quick trip to oreilly's and purchase of the cheapest incandescent test light available gave me the proper tools to test the brake controller at the plug. The internal resistance on any other meter is not enough for the brake controller to activate. Just a little food for thought for everyone.
Rule one of Blue Collar Dogma:
1. On successful completion of work, always provide the Blue Collar worker with a sixer of his/her favorite libation.
Or a bottle of Oregon's Honeywood mead!
@@JayFude I've never tasted that one, it sounds awesome!
Them white collar folk dont get it . Some have even made the mistake that I am doing them a favor . I usually remind them that my toolbox is worth more than their Mercedes they pulled up in . And I take cash or check.
Or copious amounts of Beer
@@BrianChristmas It's sweet, like the norse gods want you to like it!
Could be one of your finest. Has all the themes and camera angles. You have a gift
I used to work for an rc dealership, this was literally my day everybday.
Fooking scotch locks. The bane of every trade that has to deal with angry pixies.
I've taught many radio technicians that filing the instructions in the bin is optional. Filing these bastard IDC connectors in the bin is not optional.
@@JGnLAU8OAWF6 as kindling? Then it's fine, just don't stand directly down wind.
Антон Южаков as long as the wires will never be touched, jiggled, or moved, fine.
@@brianhopper3013 never jiggled in an automotive application? Pfft.
Maaaaan your tone changed so much when the wife walked in 😂😂😂😂 Love it🤣
I can relate to that on so many levels. That's what I do for a living. Fixing mangled and badly done trailer wiring. Great vid!
One of my favorite quotes:
"Shortly after man invented the wheel, he invented the trailer. Ever since then, he has been trying to figure out how to hook up the lights."
~Patrick McManus
That was a lovely song to close 'er out there at the end
i ohmed out every goddamn wire on my dads trailer after he rewired it, turns out the dingus end on his brand new GMC is faulty...
Every. Damn. Time.
Yeaaaaah. They do that
THAT'S A SUPRISE ....not....
Already been warranty repaired once too...
@@arduinoversusevil2025 can we have a boltr on that hilti impact wrench??
I don’t understand half of what you’re saying 90% of the time, but I must admit, I learned something
Really like the troubleshooting videos.
Learn a lot from these. Skookam job as always
It took me a solid 5 minutes to realize the trailer was the job and AvE hadn't gotten distracted fixing it before going to fix something else.
Holy O Phoque! Your harvest must be good! Share!
Same here...my first clue was right after I thought "must be a long job if he needs to take a camper with him." Took some time after that to realize what was really happening. Today wasn't my day.
On the plus side, imaginary hangovers are a breeze... 😊
Watching your videos really makes me wish my father stuck around.
One of the programmers at the shop I work at and myself always talk about your VJOs. Definitely helps the time go by with a chuckle or 2
Dude! That woman sounds Canadian... did you know that before you dated her?
@@papajon6715 ye know they can test for Canadian ineutero these days.
My best friend had a baby recently,
He found a baby changing station while grocery shopping. Left that baby there for over an hour and upon his return that baby...
That fucking baby was Still Canadian
@@papajon6715 You mean the one he got "twiterpated" about? He also called her a "beautiful woman in a sundress" I mean canadians are odd, but not SWJ odd.....
He’s probably Canadian too. That would explain why is so weird.
@@whatfreedom7 but I detect a lack of soarry from him so my professional diagnosis is nope not Canadian probably chinese hence the knowledge of evil pixies or french suggest trying the invading German Army test and see four signs of surrender
"The green death... In white form." 😂🤣
The Bell System has millions and billions of miles of copper wire hanging on a telephone pole they're all low voltage circuits they put him in 50 years ago and the most popular places are running out of pears of wires all of it 18 feet off the ground with the terminal for every five houses and barking dogs at every yard
I work in the trailer and towing industry, so when I saw you try to plug the trailer in upside down I nearly shat my pants. One of our customers did that to a brand new ford escape, which torched half the wiring in the car
Just recently found your channel. Content is great. Also emjoy your humor and someone not afraid to let their personality show. Keep up the good work.
Holy cow; I thought I was the only one that sang that song.
It's amazing how a piece of shit can take so many different forms.
Looks like a real piece of garage kept enjoyment
Your vidjaos always brighten my day, thank you
I just bought a trailer & the wiring was comfumbled, I have a 7 way plug with brake booster as well so ling story short took me 3 hours to figured out the rewire soldered the connections & heat strinked & done. Working great now...
Having worked on motorcycles for the past 20 years I can say that while the factory wiring is pretty good...usually, I have not seen ONE home-gamer repair that was above the level of your average two year old's repair ability.
My airplane avionics tech taught me about waxed lacing cord for tying wiring bundles. He preferred that to zip ties precisely because of the razor-sharp edge side cutters leave.
Incredible! Love watchin yur vigyas.... Definitely cover everything and explain in detail!
This dude is the absolute king work is good commentary is on point love it
Trailer wiring... OMG, nothing but horror... I've got a trailer board which I wired myself with the witchcraft known as solder and shrink-wrap. I always keep that handy so I don't have to fix anything I borrow and hitch up!
The electrical breakaway system is odd. Here in the old country it's mechanical. A metal cable loop which is placed over the tow ball. It yanks on the handbrake as its (de)parting gift. The electrical system seems prone to failures (flat battery, bad wiring, pre-escaped magic smoke). The cable system just pulls on the other end handbrake lever (forwards), the handbrake already has a locking ratchet, so if your trailer handbrake works, so does the breakaway. KISS.
Oh, and your colonial trailer plugs are weird and you smell funny.
We may smell funny, but we can tow faster than 50mph.
@@mfree80286 so can we. 60mph in UK on motorways.
As much as I like soldering the MTBF for crimp connections is much longer than solder. Bullet connectors can last years. Soldered ones, especially the lead free shite will crack like toffee in short order.
Solder's for circuit boards and pipe fitters. Don't be tinnin' wires together.
I know what you're saying, but I've owned too many Italian cars to trust crimp connectors! 😂 Far too many HR connections in my life already, and at vehicle currents it makes things far too interesting, far too quickly!
Don't worry, I only use planet killing solder for iron work 😁
Ya lost me on the yoga pants that don’t go ta yoga 😂😂😂🤠👍
Dude, I’m only a couple minutes in, but I gotta say I’m man-crushing already. Your speech pattern, colloquialisms, and humor are 110% my hometown. So familiar it’s almost déjà vu. Instant subscribe.
At 10:19 you mention zip ties and flush cutters. Yes and No. flush cutters at a minimum, but even flush cutters leave a little edge. I made a zap trimmer that I use only for that. It’s a side cutter, with bottom jaw slightly dulled, and a file cut into the back edge. The key is not rushing the cut, using the bottom jaw to cut 2mm off the back edge of the lock eye, opposite the tail of the zap. Sloppy cut breaks the lock, but a good cut is almost perfectly flush, as the bevel of the side cutter and the slightly dull edge work FOR you to smush the eye (provided you don’t break the lock). One pass from the file I cut into the back edge is enough to get rid of any leftover burr. Cuz the next guy is probably gonna be ME.
"By the power of Grey Skull". That came out of left field.Best youtube quote I've heard in days.
I spent some time in the car audio industry, those cursed T-taps are the single biggest cause of intermittent faults.
Same with alarms,and remote starters.
THANK YOU! You are cutting the cable tie the proper way! ❤️ Love / a Swedish elecchikien.
Watched this again and again, something about watching a guy going thru hell makes you feel related. Carry on Brother, we've all been there. Many times I've sung the NASA approved creed for the reparation of eleco-mechanical contrivances, sometimes to no avail.
One time I was so sick of patching the factory wiring I torn it all out put in all new wire, crimped, soldered and heat shrinked all the new connections. Electrical taped the wire bundle at any frame rubbing places where the insulation could wear though and Zip-Tied the wiring to the frame.
Spent at least three hours and $50 and still had a cheap used utility trailer that was probably only worth $75. Well avoiding a defective safety equipment ticket was worth it.
The end of the video with the imaginary six pack is a classic!
Watched it again, a Classic!
Thanks for the great videos man! I also appreciate your vast vocabulary! 😁
Scotch locks are the bane of my existence. I've seen those far too often from factory in trailers and it drives me friggen nuts.
Rookie mistake taking the wheel off, just leave it on and pull the entire hub, keeps the hub on a nice platform to work on
True. Also much better for setting the pre-load on the bearing when re-assembling as you can spin the wheel and tell how much/little resistance is applied and wiggle it front and back to see if there's too much play.
AvE!!! First off I want to thank you again for sending my husband some t shirts a couple years ago for his birthday! Actually, 2 years this month. Loved seeing his smile when he opened his gift. I actually wanted to reach out and ask you if you have a po box that we could, well he could send you something he thinks you would appreciate. He tried looking around for an address because he wanted to surprise you. Thanks for taking the time!!
Dude I love your reviews! Keep up the great work
Funny that this vijayo should drop on Windows' "Patch Tuesday" when we get our monthly helping of "green death, in software form".
Somebody buy the man a socket set. For frogs snacks.
Lol i was thinking something along those lines.
@@jamiewhitworth7183 A hammer and cold chisel?
You mean those boxes of small steel parts that magically deplete at the rate of the only sized socket you need per job? Need a 3/8"? It's gone... Need a 5/16"? Gone like the wind... Need that weird extension / adapter / sliding bit that you never quite knew what was for but was always prominently encased in the middle of the set? Yep, that's now migrated to your friend's toolbox, and they're in Paraguay for the month. Socket sets, in my experience, are usually just a more complicated way of finding the wrong tool for the job!
Having said that, I still always travel with one.
@@Intermernet they really need to sell 3/8, 10mm, 5/16 and 8 mm socket sets bro I swear.
Send him an Icon ratchet and socket set to dismantle
Tip! If you don’t have flush cutter like in video for zip ties...cut close as you can and hit it with a lighter flame to melt the sharp zip tie! 🤙
One of my first electrician jobs was working carnivals/fairs we don't want to talk about trailer wiring. I swear I spent 90% of my time just getting lights working. Also some credit to your Canadian brothers. I am down here in Bentonville, Ar land of Walmart and had an SUV run me off the road yesterday due to me being in his blind spot. He stopped and apologized to me. I knew immediately he wasn't American, due to him saying sorry like 20 times. I had a great laugh when he pulled away and I noticed his Canadian plates, I wasn't even mad I got ran off into the shoulder of the highway. It gives me a story to share over a beer this weekend.
Marrets = Wire Nuts in the USA.
Only Recommended for Sparky Sparky Pixie Wranglers.
And ONLY for house wiring. Not for anything that moves.
Yes and scotch locks are for emergencies only, and only as a last resort to get you to a safe place to properly make the repairs.
Sparky here, turns out one of those quality 3m t
wire nuts has been holding the power wires for my trailer brake controller together under my dash for going on 5 years.
Let's not get started on all the thwn-2 that's strung under the truck because I caught the truck on a rock and ripped the entire harness from under the bed.
Wire nuts, used properly, are better than home gamer grade crimp cunnectors, which....really have no way of being used properly that I've yet discovered. the problem is lack of strain relief, as usual.
You'd be amazed how those proper heat shrink connectors have come down in price, thanks to the Chinese no doubt. You can get them as cheap as under 10 cents per these days on Amazon! Granted, may not be as high quality as the ones you observed, but they are copper core, heat shrink tube, adhesive lined. Crazy! Made a repair just like the one you looked at on an ABS sensor cable recently. Glad you would have thought I was something like a professional. 😅
That's 10 cents USD friend. That works out to $4.50 Canadian--ya got robbed!
@@docferringer 😂😂😂 Dang it! Conversion rates strike again.
No idea how this popped up on my Recommended List. However, I have been laughing non-stop. 😂👌 Great video, both entertaining and informative.
Im always impressed by your vast and expansive vocabulary. It only stand close to your poetic use of the English language which is Canadian
A decent multimeter should not pop its clogs if you measure resistance of a power line, even the mains.
Ya, but the decent ones are what, like $10 more than the death traps? That's a couple of beers down the tube, friendo.
@@poellot 38$fuse FFS
I concur. I run extech ( which I have proved worthy ) and have checked ohms on mainsuntil I realized I wasn't on volts. No issue.
I had the honour to restore power to a plant by replacing one of the main 1200Amp fuses. Unfortunately the plant electrician and maintenance supervisor were in the hospital because the multimeter used to find the “open fuse” vapourized. I could tell which fuse opened by looking at the scorch marks on the ends of the fuse holder. Luckily they were okay after a few days. Cat Rating aside, measure Ohms of an energized power circuit at your peril.
colin poellot. Understood. I still remember how he looked without eyebrows.
Fn amateurs, ahhh as a line worker and electrician for the last 30 years you can have a meter on ohms and go across any potential as long as you don’t exceed the meter rating which is normally 600-700VAC. What you can’t do with a meter is have it on amps (current) and then go across a potential, it must be in series to measure current..... this is basic, basic DC low volt stuff. Wow..... and the scotch lock isn’t a “data connector.” Fn hack....
I remember fixing a disabled customers car at work, As it had apparently got a flat battery 8 months earlier and she’d just left it in the car park because she didn’t know what to do, So I told her where to get a battery, to buy a can of petrol and that I’d sort it on my break, a couple of weeks pass and she lets me know she’s coming in, I go on break turn up with my tools at the car and it’s in the corner of the multi storey car park, barely any light and I didn’t have a torch, not wanting to have wasted her time, I continue she opens the car, I fuel it up and get to disconnecting the battery, little did I know she’d put the key in the ignition and turned the key so I was now working live, socket set tapped the air con lines...and bang. My socket melted a nice 2mm hole in the metal line and now the gas was shooting at my face and I was wondering what the frig I’d done. Thinking I’m way over my head, and wanting to abort after the brand new battery’s 500 ish CCA’s still flowing through my system, ask her if she has break down cover, she says no... by the power of gray skull manage to find some high temperature rubber tape and managed to seal it, get in the car to start it and find that the dash lights were on, car starts, runs great, I politely ask why she turned the key, she didn’t realise she had....Total time for the battery change at this point is an hour and a half. I had expected something in return for the impending doom of returning to work an hour later then I was meant too, I had planned to turn it down, but nothing, she had brought a battery and a can of fuel. And just said “I owe you a beer some time” someone that I only know when she shops at my work and have never socialised with outside of.... and that was the last time I did anything like that for a customer, had heart palpitations for about a week. Luckily when I told my evening duty manager what happened, he just let me off, lesson learned I guess. Seeing your lack of beer reminded me of that, thinking of you from Salford in England.
Whether or not the key was on does not matter when you're replacing a battery. It was flat but had enough juice to short and burn through an ac line after eight months of being flat? When removing a battery, what you should have done is disconnect the negative terminal to the battery first, which is almost always connected to the metal frame of the car, which is where the metal ac lines are fastened to which is what you shorted out to. Then, disconnect the positive terminal with no risk of shorting. When installing a battery it's vice versa. Connect the positive first, then the negative, unless you like sparks and melty tools. Also negotiate for the beer or at least strongly hint at it prior to the job. Sorted
Harry Balsagna you raise a fair point, of course it was my bad, I should have been more careful tightening up.
It was a orange Nissan primera early model converted to steering wheel controls and I think the terminal that I was tightening was the negative, left hand side of the battery , the side closest to the ac lines, as I was only using a short throw socket to tighten up, so who knows, I just remember the shock, I shouldn’t have been doing it in the dark anyway....
My story was more a issue of courtesy, the person had absolutely no idea about cars (the reason it had been sat in a multi story car park above my work for 8 or so months) , if someone does something for me, that I can’t do, then I’d sort them something out, certainly more understandable if it’s an off the cuff repair to not have anything to offer, but this was organised for battery and fuel to be there on the right day and for me to take a break at a certain time.
And in the end I got it running, and when she went for her MOT the next day it had no issues.
Not that I’m bitter at all, it being two to three years ago aha.
Peace out
As a master automobile technician, I will say that was an interesting way to diagnose an intermittent short to ground.
Reminds me of the times at the trailer shop having marrettes, solid core household wiring and household electrical boxes including switches, outlets, and junction boxes all underneath the trailers flapping in the salted winter road breeze. Never let a contractor near your trailer.
"If you're good at something, never do it for free." - Joker
@@Wayoutthere when I got into the field 18 years ago, an old grey beard told me, "dont ever let anyone know you're handy" I wish I would have taken his advice.
My dad always called them wire nuts. 🤷🏾♂️
The connectors or the supposed electrician that wired it? Works both ways...lol
M dad was an electrician, and when he came home at night,he took everything out of his pockets, among which were, wirenuts. Among my barrage of questions was " what's this Daddy?" His reply"just Crap".
Ffwd to my job in a Mom Pop hardware store, when a customer comes up to this young clerk (myself) , and brandishes a wire nut in my face. I yell across the store to the boss" Mr Boss(not his real name), where do you keep the Craps?"
True story to this day.
The proper term is "electrician."
@@georgedennison3338
There are waterproof wire nuts.
@@paulsallee4889 True that.... they use them in sprinkler systems and are buried. Often wondered why solder isn't used on such applications. AvE?
How serendipitous. I need to do wiring work on my trailer this weekend...
I love your channel, Brother! You keep me laughing. I love the one worded jokes and one-liners lol