Trailer light wiring woes ...

[woody]

So I purchased my XLP used last week.  When I picked it up the trailer taillights didn't work.  I didn't think much about it since no matter what trailer I pull, I end up with light problems some where along the way!  I traced everything down today and by the end of the afternoon I had the whole rear frame rail opened up on the rear storage rack and had revealed a mess!  The wires at each taillight and a few other places are stripped down to the copper with the insulation missing entirely in some places.  I don't know how even the brake/turn lights were working!  The previous owner said he'd had no problems - must have been pure luck. 

I have 3 theories on what happened:  1) when built the wiring was pulled carelessly through the rough edged aluminum holes and stripped.  2) the wiring moved around enough in 2 years of use to strip them, but as bad as they look I can't imagine.  My 3rd idea is that a mouse got in there at some point and had havoc, but I'm not sure a mouse could somehow get in the frame rails?  Anyone else seen anything similar??  The wiring is fine until the rear of the trailer when it goes into the frame rail and runs along the inside of the frame rails on the rear rack.  Going to be a pain to rewire with 2 taillights and 7 marker lights all in that rear area. 

Sorry for the long rant -- just weird! 

[admin]

I think theory 1 and 2 are the most likely but also easily checked based on the wear pattern. I've seen some real rough wiring jobs and its usually very clear if the wire insulation was worn away due to vibration. The wear should be localized to a point where the wire makes contact with an edge of some sort. If you are seeing long stretches of wire stripped away I'd put my money on it happening as the wire was pulled through.
I almost always discount the previous owners statements when buying something new. If the wire was as bad as you described from the beginning I find it very hard to believe the previous owner never had issues with the lights. Maybe he just never checked them or maybe he didn't want to lose a sale by admitting the trailer is going to need new wiring. Seems like a lot of room for speculation to say the least.

As I'm writing this the third theory also seems like a possibility if there are any openings at all into that space. I think I recall a story from a traditional pop up camper saying they ended up losing all their canvas due to mice finding their way into the trailer while it was closed and locked down. Little creatures are amazing in their ability to squeeze into tiny places.

I know this wasnt much help but at least you now know why the lights arent working and it sounds like you are very capable of repairing it yourself rather than spending an arm and a leg to have a dealer do it.

-Sean

[woody]

Thanks for the reply.  Just a rant on my part and maybe something to look for if others have light problems.  I'm still not sure which theory to go with -- if #1 is true I'm glad that things to go wrong on these is minimal if that's the attention given at the factory.  I did find a circular cutout still rolling around in the rail from when one of the center marker lights was installed.  Makes me think maybe it was bad work at the factory!  Regardless I'm going to start where the wiring hits the frame rail and complete re-wire all of the rear lights.  

[admin]

Good luck with the project. If you have the ability you should take some pictures and share the process on here for others that might need to do it later.

-Sean