Oh no, 7-Pin trailer Connector corroded... now what??

[mmfly4fun]

Good Evening:
I own a 2005 Airstream Classic. In preparation for the long weekend I went to the storage facility where I keep her, only to find such significant corrosion occurred over the winter involving the 7 way connector to the trailer. It has left the connector useless (no lights or breaks).

Has anyone experienced this problem and how does one replace this necessary piece of equipment.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I am worried our maiden trip of the season will end up being cancelled.

Thanks,
Michael

[5T5]

There

[Melody Ranch]

If it comes down to it....change the plug out. ....its easy. There are many corrosion removers/inhibitors available. Get some...squirt it on, soak it off, whatever.
If it comes to it....hook up and take the trailer over to a service and have 'em change the connector. Relax! Go have fun.

[5T5]

I'll try again. There are spray cleaners made to use on electrical parts to clean corrosion from them and this may work if the connector is not in too bad of shape.
Kim

[overlander64]

Greetings Michael!

What you have is a common problem, and it is usually more of an inconvenience than a huge problem. I would suggest getting a spare trailer end and a spare tow vehicle end. My experience has been that my tow vehicle end is more commonly the problem rather than the trailer.

The trailer end is typcially held together using either of two methods depending upon the manufacturer. There may be a center set screw on the face of the plug -- this screw is removed and the interior should separate from the shell with a sliding motion. With some manufacturers, there are also set screws on either side of the base -- again, all that is required is to remove these screws and gently work the outside cover off of the internal terminal mass. There is an outside possibility that the end may not be servicable if it is vacu-formed (end permanently formed into the umbilical cord) -- I don't know whether Airstream ever used this type of umbilical, but I had that type on my Nomad -- this type of cord requires that the existing end be cut off, wires stripped and a new end installed.

My first suspect, however, would be on the tow vehicle end. There should be set screws holding the body of the outlet to the mounting bracked. Once removed from the mounting bracket there will be set screw(s) holding the body together and these will need to be removed -- the housing can then be separated from the terminal device.

In either case, the extent of the corossion will determine whether cleaning or replacement is the best method. When I lived in Wisconsin, my tow vehicle outlet had to be replaced about every third season. I have only had the trailer end on either of my coaches disassembeled once and that was on the Minuet after I purchased it so that I could rewire the trailer end to match the current industry standard.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

[blacksheep]

Try the spray cleaner as mentioned above. If that doesn't work then take a small flat blade screwdriver or knife blade and scrape both sides of the metal tangs in each slot on the trailer plug, scraping until you get some shiny metal. That oughta' do it!

Godspeed,
Trent