Trailer Wiring

[pawnguy]

Hello Just bought a 1975 31 Foor Rear Bath and when I went to pick it up the guy had lost the trailer wiring plug to hook it up to my 2007 chevy suburban. We tried to figure out where all 7 wires went but couldnt get them all figured out. Think we got the turn signals and brake lights working but not the trailer brakes or back up lights. I had a trailer brake controll added by a professional installer so I know its correct. When I hooked it up to tow it home my brake indicator inside said OL ( i would assume Over Load) Does anyone have any pointers on getting it hokked up correctly. I know the basics but wouldnt even consider myself an ammature about wiring. Thanks for the help. New to this forum but Love it. Been here several times. Have a blessed night/day.

[Wingeezer]

I'v never had to mess with the trailer plug wiring on our AS, so I don't know if they adhere to the standard colour coding, but for what it is worth, this website will show you the standard. Our last trailer (non-AS) was wired in accordance with standard wire olour codes.

How to Wire a 7-Pin Trailer Plug | eHow.com


Hope it helps.

Others may comment as to whether AS follows this standard.

Brian.

[wkerfoot]

Airstream did not follow that standard in the 1970's, they marched to their own drummer. Somewhere on this site and the Airstream site is a diagram of the various wiring schemes used in the past.

Bill

[genearnold]

Couldn't say about your 1975, but my 1969 was not the same configuration as the standard seven wire systems of today. I went through some challenging hours figuring out what went where. It has been a lot of years ago so my memory is fuzzy about the details, but I do remember my first try at pulling after getting a new controller. Hitch guy wired the plug to standard specs, but when hooked to the trailer the brakes went fully on every time the pedal was pushed (they were either full off or full on with no in between). I used a test light and ever so slowly worked my way through the process until the trailer was finally up to the current standard seven wire configuration.

If you are handy at all I think you can do it, depending on time available and your patience level!

Gene

[pawnguy]

So the best thing is the get the standard & pin scramatics from the 2007 Burb and then just try to go one wire at a time. I did this somewhat but it seems like the black wire was always HOT. So I think I got it all but didnt know where the Yellow of Black went. But thanks for the help. I was lucky enough to get the Original Owners Manual. Ill list a photo of what my manual has but its rather confusing.

[wkerfoot]

The owners manual should show the wiring diagram of the plug. With that you should be able to connect the wires to the new standard.

Bill

Originally Posted by pawnguy

So the best thing is the get the standard & pin scramatics from the 2007 Burb and then just try to go one wire at a time. I did this somewhat but it seems like the black wire was always HOT. So I think I got it all but didnt know where the Yellow of Black went. But thanks for the help. I was lucky enough to get the Original Owners Manual. Ill list a photo of what my manual has but its rather confusing.

[68 TWind]

I rewired my 68 so that the plug on the trailer would match the new standard. I figured it would be a big time saver in the future in case I ever needed to tow with another truck. The 68 had an access panel in the belly pan. All the connections were there, I just had to "rearrange" a couple of wires.

[Splitrock]

I just re-wired the 7-way plug in my 1976 31' Sovereign. If you look up some of my older posts you'll see the diagram and pictures of my system. Buy a 7-way tester. Wire your tow vehicle to agree with the tester so you can tow other trailers. It'll make life a lot easier.

My Airstream wire colors don't agree with a standard 7-way plug. I used the 7-way tester to wire the trailer and the wiring diagram to wire the fuses and break away switch.

Gary

[GetOutDoors]

OL means "Open Line". Something is not connected. There are diagrams that can be found out on the internet that shows how to hook up the wires. Just remember that the diagrams (usually shown from the receiver side) is reversed from the way you have to wire the trailer side.

[pawnguy]

When you say rewire. Is that something thats easy to do? Tried to find you old post about the rewire but Im new about getting around on here. But thank you all for being patient with me. New to RVing and new to AS. Also Splitrock. I looked at your AS photos. They look Awesome. I was wondering how hard it was to remove windows. The rubber around mine seem dried out. How hard was it to do that. I also need to remove some old cheap tint that someone added years ago that has bubbled really bad. I was thinking when I took the windows off I may attempt to add new rubber and new tint. Its all new to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wasagachris]

Pawnguy to rewire you open up the tow vehicle end of the umbilical 7 pin harness and change the wires around to match the configuration of your vehicle. That way lights go to lights brakes go to brakes etc.
To remove the windows unbolt the lift up handles from the window and then from outside lift the window up high and it will drop out of the J hinge. The trailer has the same J shaped hinge and they just marry together. On some trialers the inner and outer windows are just screwed together. look around the inner edge for the screws. If yours has them it is very easy to split them apart. The old cheap tint is factory installed. It will be on the inside of the outer pane. The rubber seal is available from any A/S dealer. the old glue is very hard to remove but will come off with a solvent. Some people use a wire brush and a drill but I didn't want to scratch my frames so I did it with solvent and a rag. It was painstaking slow but the finished product looks great.

[Ag'71]

I had to completely rewire the wire. I used the diagram from my 2007 Suburban owners manual and the diagram from the AS owners manual (I've got a '71 Overlander). I also had to replace the trailer plug.What I did was use the TRAILER wires and set up the plug on the trailer and THEN made sure they corresponded to the correct pin on the Suburban. Works perfectly! Good luck.

[TG Twinkie]

The first thing I would do is get a battery charger and use it for a power source. Connect the Black wire (-) lead to the frame of the trailer. Make sure it has a good clean connection. Then take one wire at a time of the seven and try to identify them by what light(s) come on, by connecting the red lead (+) of the charger to them one at a time. If the tail lights come on and the marker lights don't, it's probably a problem with the marker light fixture(s), ie bad bulbs, corroded bulb sockets or bad ground connection. If you have a house battery, the heavy wire of the 7 will probably go to that. Go thru the seven wires initially with a quick touch of the charger red lead, listen for or have a helper listen for the brakes to clunk. Don't leave that brake wire connected to the charger for long, you could damage the brake coils. One of the 7 wire should be the ground wire for the trailer and will probably spark significanty when you touch it. Once you identify the ground and brake wires, mark them, then you can connect the charger to the other wires one at a time to identify them. There should only be 4 wires left to identify since you know what the other three are for. You should have a right turn signal wire, a left turn signal wire and tail/marker lights. The seventh wire might be used for auxillary, not connected at all, or it could be backup lights. If you don't hear the brakes clunk, you can run a further test on them by disconnecting the wires behind each brake drum, then hook up the charger to one of the leads coming from the brake drum and touch the other charger lead to the remaining wire, you should hear a clunk. Do one wheel brake at a time to see which ones work. Good Luck

[Splitrock]

Re-wire is easy. It's inside work:-)

Here are some posts about 7-way. The diagram is in the first post.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f439...tml#post895454

another:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f37/...tml#post892840

another:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f447...tml#post889073

more pictures of 7-way on my blog.

Fan-Tastic, 7-Way, and Brakes - Airstream Forums

The windows come out easy. Until a skill is developed and a helper is found some may go back in hard. I didn't have any problems with any. I got the gaskets from Inland RV.

Gary

[Splitrock]

pawnguy, as you go forward I'll help in any way I can. If there's something I can do, just go to my profile and post a private message to me. I'll see that. I may not see a post on the forum.

I have my floor repaired and my wall panels back on. Today I removed the cooking stove, sink, cabinet, countertop, and Suburban furnace for cleaning and bench testing. Next I'll remove the water heater and the delaminated interior wall panels. I plan to add new plumbing after the crossover.

Gary