7 wire cable length ?

[LI Pets]

I have about 4 extra feet of this big cable doing nothing.

I want to cut it down how much extra slack do I need keeping in mind that when I turn to the right it needs some extra anyway.

[Tin Diesel]

How much slack you need will depend on your unit, but mine has a bit less slack than the chains (so it won't come close to dragging) and it does fine. It only sags about half as far as the chains. I have a looped bungy cord permantly in place (where the chains connect to the A-frame) to keep the wire from sagging too much.

Rather than cut it, you might be able to take up some of the slack under the belly of your A/S by loosening the clips, pulling it back, widening any turns, and maybe adding one more retaining clip.

When we got ours, it still had an old style plug. I switched to the new style, but lost a few inches. When we switched to the Hensley Arrow hitch, I needed those few inches plus a few more. Fortunately, I was able to pull out some excess that was looped under the frame.

[pmclemore]

I'm with Tin on this - it is much easier to tuck away some excess than it is to splice in more later.

Pat

[rickandsandi]

Oh yea! Tucking is always better than cutting! You can either pull it back into the trailer and secure it from the inside or do what we do and that is give it a wrap or two around the tongue jack.

[ScottW]

I agree with the tucking. Splices are electrical problems waiting to happen, IMHO.

[thecatsandi]

Don't cut that cable! Form a service loop under the frame. Get some big ty-wraps. Mine has one turn around the Power Jack. This takes the strain off the entry point to the frame.
This was poinent when I had the accident. It pulled the plug out of the truck with out damaging the trailer.

[SilverCabin]

I found an item in my local autoparts store called a Mag Strap. It's made by the Hoppy people who make a lot of trailer electrical parts. The Mag Strap is just a big magnet with a strap and buckle attached. It works great for keeping the 7-wire cable and the breakaway cable off the road, but because it's magnetic, will pull away in any disaster scenario.