old stlye umbilical cord

[mrbeanpa]

I am wondering if anyone knows of an adapter for my 1982 pickup? I have the old round 7 pin female plug. The trailer has the newer 7 pin flat plug. Do I really have to remove the old round female round pin? I hate to have to change what came originally on this restored pick-up. Any ideas? Thanks Tony

[85MH325]

Tony... first... Welcome to the Forums... we hope you can find just about anything you need here! then... a restored 1982 pickup? Geez... my first new car was a 1974 Dodge! Why... a 1982 truck is hardly broken in yet! And last... there wasn't anything built in 1982 that was worth restoring by ANY auto maker! What kind of truck is it? Can you post photos? We love to see photos here!

Ok... <wiseguy off>... that round pin connector was pretty much all that was available then (I had it on a '77 F250 Supercab with my '70 Safari from 1987 through 1993), and it's commonly found on big-rig trucks to connect their trailers to the tractors. You can find those connectors at any truck stop or truck supply house. I would recommend changing it over to the Bargman style seven pin flat though as that's the defacto RV standard now, and the odds of you finding an RV today with the round pin connector is pretty slim. Keeping the round pin connector on your truck will prohibit you from pulling any trailer except the one you wire up to mate to it. Further, replacing the connector ensures that all of the wiring is good and nothing's corroded to the point that it won't work.

Good luck,

Roger

[norsim]

If your truck does indeed have the commercial round contact 7 wire connector as used on tractor trailers it is much better and more reliable than the flat contact 7 wire RV type, you can tell by just looking at the 2 types side by side that the commercial type is much better quality. Show me someone that has not lost connection to lights or, more important, brakes while on road with the RV type connector and I will show you someone that has not used them for a lot of years and/or miles. The commercial type is easy to wire just push wire in hole and tighten screw.

[Zeppelinium]

Yep! My F-250 diesel came with the round commercial connector. I have modified all the TV ends of my cables to that style, leaving the other end as a standard 1970s Airstream round connector (but they are getting old and I may change them out to the commerical type). Anyway, I always carry a cable with me in case I stumble on an Airstream that is in bad need to towing to my house....

[Jim & Susan]

NAPA in my town has a large selection of adapters and umbilicals. That's where I got mine.