I looked under my trailer, which I should do more often!, and saw wires near the wheels hanging loose.
I assume they are trailer brake wires?
Can I simply reattach and secure with electrical tape or is it more complicated than that?
Have someone look at it to make sure you aren’t missing anything important. The wiring on my trailer and truck was horrific and was a no brakes on a downhill grade accident waiting to happen.
They are usually held in place with push on clips like this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00030D25W/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687622&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000FBYKM8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0VR09GCRAS359GQCG11J
Electrical tape will just fall off. You could order a pack and put it back up yourself if it’s not damaged yet, but you need the right size for the frame edges you are trying to clip to, so it might be easier to drop it somewhere that already has a bunch of sizes on hand and can do it quickly.
By wires hanging loose do you mean there are “loops” hanging down, or there are exposed ends hanging?
I would take it to a place that puts on hitches, get them to check wiring. They may need to replace wiring in the brakes, not just tie the wires together. Then they check if brakes actually work for you. Any other things not right? Lights out, not working properly? Get it fixed there at the same time.
We have had to fix stuff on trailers this year, dying from old age, lights were among them. It is NICE to just hitch and turn lights on, everything’s works perfectly. Very UGLY to turn lights on and nothing happens, brake controller shows error! Means no lights AND no brakes to head home!! Is your truck and hitch big enough to stop your loaded trailer if brakes fail in rain or bad wiring comes apart?
Worth paying the professional to observe things on my trailers, tell me what he sees. Last year doing maintenance on bearings, he found worn anchors for the springs. Had to replace all of those on old trailer. Good thing he saw it before planned trip to Virginia to get our new weanling. Special order parts, would have been no fixing THAT on the side of the road!!
The wires should be color coded if they are broken. Just splice the correct color to color. You can use crimp splice connectors or just strip off the jacket and twist together then wrap with electrical tape.
Check the condition of the wires going to the plug. Check to see if the entire length is in good condition the covering/jacket has been rubbed off or if broken somewhere. If so cut out the bad part and splice back together. There are not a lot of wires very straight forward and usually very easy to trouble shoot. There are separate wires for the electric breaks usually different colors or at least one wire is. Some, a lot of trailers use a common ground wire for lights and breaks. Usually black or brown.
To secure the wires to the trailer body is simple especially trailers with wood floors. I use wire clips that can be nailed to the wood floor. Something like these;
http://www.homedepot.com/p/ClosetMaid-Preloaded-Back-Wall-Clips-48-Pack-1770/100115727
Or these that can be screwed to the wood floor and or drill a small hole in the steel framing and use self-taping metal screws.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/3-8-in-1-Hole-Plastic-Cable-Clamps-15-Pack-PPC-1538/100167050
If you have a lot of excess wire just pull the wire tight loop and tape the excess to the “running wires”.
This is a 12 volt system even if you cross wire something and cause a short it will only blow a cheap fuse. Its good to know where and what fuse is used on the trailer wiring. Good to mark the fuse with some tape or something of the like on the fuse block in case it blows while traveling for a quick fix.
This is very simple to do and there are plenty of well written webpages what will explain things and detail and walk you through the process. IMO kind of silly to pay someone $100+ to do the work. Plus the hassle and time of taking it to a shop.
The answer is “depends” It is common for the trailer builders to leave a small loop of unprotected wire from the back of the brake plate to the frame. Some elite trailer builders place the wires in flex conduit. In any case the loop is required since the brake moves with the wheel suspension. You don’t give enough info to determine what wire is “hanging” Suffice to say one doesn’t want the wires loose enough to get caught and torn off …anytime.
Perhaps you can post a photo of the loose wires for a better answer.
Thank you everyone. I took a closer look and the wiring was a mess. At two of the wheels, the wiring was completely disconnected. I had a tire disintegrate and go flat a week or so ago, and maybe flying rubber messed things up with the electric brake wiring.
In any event, I took it to a shop to get fixed, rather than trying to do myself. I appreciate the education above…I now understand electric brakes better and knowledge is safety in my book!
You left an important bit of information out, lol.
Yup, when one of the trailer tires goes flat the driver generally doesn’t notice right away because the other tire can carry the load. But if not noticed in time the tire will “disintegrate” breaking up and the “flaps” will whip around and get under the carriage possible taking out the break wires.
Got that T-shirt and taught me a lesson to adjust the rear view mirrors so as to see the tires clearly get in the habit of checking them from time to time.
