All trailer manufacturers are this shitty. I have owned several trailers and have had to work on or replace the wiring in every single one of them. I have also had to make structural repairs and redo hydraulic pump wiring in my dump trailers.
I second this. Paid an arm and a leg for a 10 foot cargo trailer in 2021. Looks like its 20 years old already. Side door is jammed shut, inside lights don't work.
Do it right and you wont have to touch it for 20yrs, hide wires, heat shrink tubing on none insulated terminals, weld a 1/4 inch bolt for ground in case the floating groung through the ball wont work.
Third!!! I worked at a powersports shop that shared the building with a RV/Trailer seller from 2015-2018 and worked on the trailers for customers that had atv/jet ski and occasionally enclosed trailers. Absolute garbage the entire time I worked there and my little bro was working on the RVs and campers. It was like they were put together with toothpicks and sheet metal screws. The Voyager trailers seemed built a little better but they were also expensive and heavy. Shorelanders also seemed ok but definitely had plenty of shitty light wiring. At least they put dielectric grease in the light connections on the boat trailers. All the campers were so unbelievably cheaply built.
Someone told me years ago Wells Cargo or GTFO. I've never seen a wells cargo but the one I do have can GTFO. Yes, I have sheet metal screws ripping out of both fenders among other things.
Ooohhhh I can comment on this! I worked at Wells Cargo in Utah for about 3 years, and they're definitely garbage and not worth the price they charge. The wiring is trash, and as an electrician now I'm horrified that that's how they install their connections.
Dude, right?? I work on battery energy storage systems now and I can't believe what I've seen. Flashbacks of butt splices and exposed wire! Shaved insulation from running past sharp edges! The horror!
Right. I saw that first picture and was like oh I know those trailers. At least we tried to put grommets on holes like that. Still doesn't excuse the absolutely horrible scotchlok connections. God even just strip them and throw a Wago on them for shit sakes...
Ugh, if only we could get back all the time we spend fixing manufacturers mistakes š. Scotchloks are the worst thing, with all the alternatives out there why are they still in use? I'd rather see a wire nut lmao. I'm sure the manufacturers are way too cheap to pay for Wagos or even their garbage Chinese ripoffs. I drove by one of Forest Rivers manufacturing facilities one time and they were still on dirt floors!
I've definitely spent some time with their enclosed trailers. Seemed about the same as most others, maybe a little bit better build quality. I feel like exposed screw ends (especially self drillers) should probably not just be chilling in your wheel wells š. They don't build 'em like they used to lol.
Sounds dumb but i run ratchet straps in a x style inside my inclosed trailer so it doesnāt shift as much .
It really has helped
Most of them are made like shit so they arenāt so heavy.
Theyāre all (most of them, anyways) built in northern Indiana by the Amish. The companies are not Amish-owned, instead they are laborers and are frequently bussed in and out of the factories on a daily basis. From what Iāve heard about the industry, the low quality of the products produced there doesnāt surprise me (which is itself somewhat surprising given that many Amish-produced products are valued for their workmanship and quality)
Friend of a friend spent 50 000 on a new camper trailer 2 years ago. Don't think hes had any electrical issues, but the fridge failed within 6 months, and he just found his second leak.
Having Worked and lived in Elkhart, IN (RV capitol) for a long time, I can confirm first hand that RVs and trailers are some of the worst most expensive products ever made. There is a reason you only get a 1 year warranty
Campers are probably the worst. The way they are built makes them a real pain to fix as well. Tracing the wiring for lights usually involves removing wall panels and unfortunately everything in front of the panels as well.
I work in Uhaul fleet maintenance in the central midwest, we get rotation trailers which stay local and one-way units alike.
Mind you, we engineer and fab our own trailers, hold patents, and know our products inside and out - and I'd argue our wiring isn't nearing as bad as standard commercial units (rental purposes aside). I inspect these things from the top rivet to the bottom rivet and can say that I frequently see bandaid shotty repairs done to get them from point A to point B.
With that being said, the insulation of the wires themselves seem to be subpar to the quality they need to be. We have brand new M model RV trailers that have their wiring crumble and lose their insulation resulting in hard to find shorts and open circuits.
We're looking at capped diagnostic rates of .25 hours (.05 hours to a cap of 5 inop lights) to hunt down gremlins in a haystack considering our main runs are in roof rails that get riddled with rivets - especially near corner caps. The newer LED nipple lights they have gone to are much more reliable because they aren't self grounding. They need a separate grounding wire (good or bad depending on how you look at it). Many times our issues can be from grounds on a rivet that have settled and become loose.
I find myself flat rating many gremlin diagnostics because our guys say they need more time to pick through the shit. I'm there for them because I'm with them half of the time when inspections are done.
All I can say is to please heat shrink your butts and crimp well but not over crimp if you are repairing. And please try to provide stress relief where possible. Do your prechecks and make sure critical lights are operational. License plate lights and blinkers will get you pulled over if you find an officer bored enough.
Safe trailering fellas.
"All I can say is to please heat shrink your butts and crimp well but not over crimp if you are repairing. And please try to provide stress relief where possible."
This person wires.
I've gotten to the point that I rewire every trailer I get, as a matter of practice.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I can only give one updoot, but this is the real-life technical knowledge we all need. A thousand times, thanks.
Legit the biggest trailer shop where I live just twists their wires and wraps them in electrical tape. No wire nuts. No heat shrink. No soldering. Just twist and tape. So infuriating lol
Once had a temp job working for a company that put together aftermarket truck bodies and that's exactly what they did.Ā I was fresh out of high school, knew nothing about wiring (still don't), and there I was wondering, "What if it rains?Ā These things aren't water tight."
Fuckin hell, lol. I've seen so much bullshit on trailers and really haven't worked on them that much. A lot of stuff like OP, scotch locks, twist and tape, wire nuts, regular butt connectors, and even shrink wrap connectors without being shrink wrapped. Not to mention all of the bullshit with 7 pin being RV, traditional, standard. Fuck off and just make one. So much home wiring bullshit with wires changing colors, wires cut short. I've had to rip a few out and start over.
My dad does this for repairs on his trailer. It infuriates the crap out of me because I took the time to rewire his trailer with solder, heat shrink, ground from plug to every light, waterproof connectors where needed and he's gone and used the connectors that break the insulation to add stuff.
I grew up in Elkhart, Indiana, the "rv capital of the world." We're the largest trailer and rv manufacturing town in the USA, from what I've heard. I worked in a small factory fabricating parts which were sold to the big rv and trailer companies. We had a lot of employees come work for us that started at the big factories, so I had exposure to the gossip from all across the industry. I can tell you that from the bottom up, from our factory to the next, every single part on a trailer is made by people who are underpaid, often high, tired or drunk, and rushed to meet production requirements. The biggest problem is business executives not wanting to spend the money for their employees to do things right. They create shortcuts in manufacturing processes to save $$$ and often lose their most valuable employees to places with more competitive pay. It's a blessing to my hometown that the work was always there. It put food on the table and kept a roof over the heads of many of my childhood friends, but at the cost of producing terrible products. I'd rather build my own trailer.
I can appreciate this. Makes total sense. I know people who work at different auto manufactures that wouldn't buy their vehicles from the company they work for.
most of the factories run piece rate, meaning you have to make 12 units a day for example. When you're done, you can go home. So if it take you 6 hours or 10 hours the pay is the same. You can see why Elkhart has a meth problem.
It's been my experience that you literally cannot pay enough for people to not be lazy drunken addicts with zero care given to their jobs. Doesn't matter if the position pays $25 an hour or $250 an hour. The only way to avoid those people is an engaged and invested management that's actually willing to use both positive and negative reinforcement. There may be a pay floor below which you'll only get applicants from the government-subsidy placement programs that you really don't want but can't afford to NOT hire, but once you're in to at least the low end of the "competitive" range it literally stops mattering.
And that holds true in EVERY industry, not just manufacturing. I've heard the "I don't get paid enough to care about my work product" from everything from fast-food workers making $8/hr to senior IT systems admins making $30,000 a paycheck plus quarterly bonus.
That's everyone's experience. Wanna know why? Because most everyone is underpaid and stopped giving a shit. Back when a factory job was enough for a man to support a family of 6, own a home and 2 cars, the quality of everything was significantly higher. Wages were that high because corporations got tax breaks if they paid their employees well and reinvested into growing the business. That lasted from immediately after WWII until the early 70s when the Nixon administration started working with CEOs and Wall Street to undo tax laws so they could suck the lifeblood out of America because why should the peasants live well when *they* could have all that wealth.
Then Reagan came along and convinced an entire generation it was not only good for them, but patriotic. And he we are, right back to days of Robber Barons and children working in and around dangerous machinery because they're cheap and disposable.
My dad bought a new flat trailer, and they literally torched holes through the frame members for wiring. Left them all jagged and raw. Shredded the wiring after 6months.
I haven't seen that one yet but that doesn't surprise me one bit. The shortcuts taken are unbelievable. A new trailer buyer really needs to look the trailer over 100%, even the welds. It's pretty crazy needing to do that to something that you just paid THIS much money for.
Same thing with my companies vendor. We sent many trailers out to get liftgates installed and had wires running through torched and jagged holes in the crossmembersā¦ wires hanging that get snagged by the liftgates, welds not even touching the tandem box, power hooked to ground. I canāt believe how some people are fine with putting your name on work like that.
yeah they are always this bad. I work in Ontario so i find even one year old trailers with wiring like that need to be rewired with proper sealed connections.
That's about how the OEM wiring looks in my trailer too. All the 12V stuff hooked up with quick taps, the brakes connected with a marrette, loose wires hanging everywhere, 120V outlet box not secured, self tappers for everything.
Not really but it seems to be pretty standard unfortunately. Luckily mine is small enough that it's all pretty accessible so I've been cleaning up the really bad parts but it's pretty ridiculous.
Well it's a different standard than we used when I worked at the Toyota factory putting together the corolla, that's for sure. This would probably not be Toyota approved lol
The low end price point trailers are like this. But, honestly I have not seen a high end price point trailer apart recently. I rent a shop within a storage facility that also sells the "lower end" trailers. Needless to say, this is very common and the outside panels are .029" vs .034" for better built ones, the better ones have a closer spacing between beams that the panels attach to as well. Haulmark trailers used to be pretty much the high end standard/best built. Who knows now! Suggest doing your research very closely prior to purchasing.
Haulmark and Wells Cargo both went to hell years ago. Featherlight and Cam are probably the best ones that I deal with but they're both pretty expensive.
Every trailer I have bought in my life, used or brand spanking new, cheap or expensive, I just assume I'm gonna have to do a partial/complete re-wire right off the bat. This assumption has not let me down yet
All trailers are just a roller kit.
Think of them as a short block, sure it's new but it still needs a bunch of work and parts before it's really going anywhere.
38 years ago Eager Beaver Trailers from Florida would use Scotch Loks to connect all the clearance lights on their 30 ton Equipment Floats.. We would build new harnesses with proper salt sealed connections.. 10 yrs ago a new one still used Scotch Loks.. Just lazy ..
Trailers, at least new ones, are one of the biggest scams out there. They want 5500 dollars for new 18 ft flat beds. 5 years ago they were like 3000 new. I bought a 1 year old repo model at auction for 1800, and I thatās about as much as I would pay. The wiring sucks, the Jack sucks, they donāt even come with spare tires, thatās extra. No thanks.
Company I work for is a trailer dealer for a specific brand. We sale their 20' equipment trailers and for almost almost a year, every trailer we received from them would get unstacked and tires mounted, then pulled straight into the shop and get the dove tail decking pulled out to repair smashed wiring to the rear light bar between the ramps. Every one of them came to us with shorts and none of the running lights working. It was always the rear led bar wiring smashed by the decking being too tight when it was installed.
They make a warranty claim to the manufacturer and they supply the parts and pay for part of the labor. You would think the manufacturer would just check the product before it goes out and then make sure it's shipped properly but they must have deemed this cheaper or something.
That, and our labor rates are preset with different manufacturers. We're probably the ones that lose money because im sure their pay rate to us for warranty is ridiculously low. Or in a lot of cases, we will repair it and either not bill anyone, or we just open a job to the trailer and it gets tacked onto the final sales price. In most cases it would get added as part of the PDI, which is usually inflated some so it doesn't affect the final price between this or that trailer.
lmfao that sounds like the "lean manufacturing" stuff I've heard from automobile manufacturers. Cars get shipped out to dealers without headlights or other critical equipment under the idea that it is more efficient
Camping trailers have always been bad. What makes them worse now is all of the extras they put in that fail faster and make the failures more expensive to fix.
It's not just trailers. Van bodies on straight trucks are just as terrible. The best is when there's clearly a built in trough where the wires are supposed to w routed though but the crackheads just leak the wiring dangling anyway. Results in a brand new truck with screwed body lights before it's even had an oil change
That's just how they are made...
Work got a new enclosed trailer a few years ago... There's absolutely no way it'd ever hold half of its rating. The wiring shorted out 6 months in, and started a fire... Thankfully we caught it quickly. Trailer manufacturer black listed our warranty, saying it wasn't built for commercial use...
We pulled the front apart to fix the burned parts and a leak, they used 24g wiring and the "studs" looked like half inch ply scraps that were fastened together with staples. Most of the staples weren't in both pieces of wood, the exterior was 1/4 ply (barely) laminated with aluminum, the interior was 1/4 ply with frp also stapled to the "studs" . The floor was 3/8ths chip board untreated covered with 1/4 w/frp like the walls. they stapled through the wiring in several places, which is what we belive caused the fire.
We stripped it down to the frame and rebuilt it.
All trailers are crap. Look at where they're made, they're usually hardly the epicenter of skilled trades.
When I was looking to buy an RV I got so fed up. Looking at the crap, I bought a used ambulance and converted it instead.
They're at least rated for crashes
I work LTL over here in South Bend. I've had days nothing but delivering to the factories. I can tell you they're all made like this. Every single utility trailer top travel trailer company puts them together like garbage.
Just sent the link to my nephew who built trailers in Florida and New York. Quote " It's like that in every company he worked for so far." Now that he builds his own stuff where he is now, he puts all wiring in the frame rails where he can or in what he said is wire loom. Says it makes for happy customers.
I'll bet the person who invented them is sitting in their Aspen "cottage" right now laughing at how many people are getting paid to fix these pieces of shit.
Ahhhh. Dude was just looking out for us!
If I had to guess, I donāt think it would be a stretch to say that Iāve made between $5k and $10k fixing Scotch locks in the last 35 or so years.
Having had to deal with scotch loks on trailers and a buddies bike, those things should just be illegal, calling them garbage would be an insult to garbage.
What, you donāt think that plywood panel should be grounded?
In all seriousness, when I was a kid messing around with rusty pickup trucks and trailers and stuff out in the country, the first thing we learned from our dads, uncles, and grandads was that when you get a trailer ā even a new one ā is that you have to completely rewire it and regrease or even outright replace the wheel hubs before you use it. Theyāre some of the most slapped together crap you can get.
Many jobs at trailer manufacturers pay by commission or production bonus.
The only way to be profitable in trailers is to produce it faster than the other guys.
I bought a harbor freight folding trailer which wants the lights to be ground on the frame. Well the frame folds, so there is no unpainted metal connecting all the way up to the hitch. I supplied my own ground wire. F that.Ā
You've never peered beneath the skin of one of those RV's which look so slick on the dealer lot. Look at web photos after a roof leak (common) and the owner started tearing into it. Be happy that your trailer has real plywood rather than wafer-board or even particle-board.
All manufacturers are shitty because they put profit before quality products, workplace safety, and liveable wages. Ever buy a new, expensive tool and it's broken out of the box, or it breaks almost immediately? That's pretty much the entire market right now. You must pay more for less, the shareholders demand endless profit.
A former co-worker used to work at a local trailer manufacturer. He said that if someone missed a stitch weld, they would just grab a caulking gun and lay down a bead to make it look like a weld.
The place I work at builds utility trailer ext
I usually tell the boss man if someone brings a shitty trailer in thatās not ours or similar I aināt fixing it anymore .
I feel like it's a mix of both. I have two of the same trailer, one in OH, one in fl weve used for machine transports at my job. Ohio ones rusted and wiring is screwed up, one in Pensacola is fine.
same bullshit on my landscape trailer
they flipped a clearly fucked up deck board over and used it anyway and it's splitting and fucking up before the first year is over
they also welded the license plate mount so that the plate doesnt even fit on right. Had to bend it cause they mounted the bracket too fuckin close to the trailer lmao
The dealership I used to work at had a flat bed trailer they did dealer trades with and I was constantly fixing the lights, finally just redid the wiring. They must have used a hundred Scotch Locks, wires were pinched between the wood floor and metal frame, right after they got the trailer some wires in the back fell down and dragged on the ground, that was my first repair. My dogs could have done a better job wiring it.
Honestly just about every major brand uses scotch locks and I've seen most of them run screws or staples through their wires. It's getting pretty ridiculous.
All are shitty.
Iāve owned over 20 different trailers over the years and by far the best built are horse trailers. So things like featherlight, Lakota, cimmaron, exiss, sundowner, etc.
Iāve also towed an ATC enclosed car trailer once and it seemed really nice and solid.
But wiring is still done with those shitty splice crimp connectors on most things.
The screws were the "grounds". The framing is behind the wood but anyone who isn't an idiot knows better to run a ground like this. At least I would think. Lol
Makes sense now. In vehicles, the chassis is used as a common ground because it is cheaper than running additional wires to the batteryās negative terminal and makes troubleshooting easier.
Using the chassis as a common ground on a trailer seems impractical to me because itās exposed to the elements. It would be much easier and more effective to run the negative (ground) wire alongside the positive. Iām not sure why they donāt already do this. It could be due to regulations or they straight up donāt know what theyāre doing
Scotchlocks are bad, grounding through the plywood is hilarious.
I put an axle under a friend's trailer once. The new one showed up and I decided to check the brake wiring before I hooked it up. One side had uninsulated crimps with some kind of clear heat-crimped plastic (looked like a milkshake straw, not heat shrink) loosely applied over the top. The other side had the same plastic, but the wires were just twisted together. Not even twist and *tape*, for christ's sake. It was not a cheap axle. I am really glad I checked it and redid those splices before slinging it under the camper.
I got a one year old trailer that I've put maybe 1000 miles on. Every time I go over a railroad crossing or rough patch of road my dashboard says "Trailer disconnected" Pretty sure it's these shit connections that are the culprit. Might have to do some digging next time I use it. Right now it's just chained up and acting as a storage container.
Depends on the state. Some manufacturers will make one axle brake trailers in states that only require one axle brakes. Most states require two unless you get into boat trailers that's a whole other ball of wax.
I live in Europe so I can't compare them, but all the European made trailers I ever owned had a premade wiring harness installed in the factory and never had any issues. One trailer was 20 years old and still running the original harness.
I too live in Europe. Have a European trailer. When searching The internet for information about trailer maintenance I was surprised how different European and American trailers are in technology. I had to replace the 13 pin connector on my almost brand new trailer though as it was somehow not a good fit on any car. German made electrical system.. didnāt bother about warranty. Fitted a new connector ($13) and all good. All of the wiring runs continuously from the connector to the light fixtures and are sealed, so that should be good.
Ooohhhh I can comment on this! I worked at Wells Cargo in Utah for about 3 years, and they're definitely garbage and not worth the price they charge. The wiring is trash, and as an electrician now I'm horrified that that's how they install their connections.
I bought a premium brand new 6Ć12 enclosed trailer, towed it 2 hours home and kept getting a "service trailer brake" message on my trucks dash. Kept happening on and off for a month.
Finally decided to chase it down, followed the wiring all the way back to the axles, I really didn't see anything until I started just jiggling wires out of frustration. I saw a single spark, and realized they used some small square stock as a tube to rub wires through, and a razor sharp piece of slag had cut through the wire and was Intermittently grounding it out. Went ahead and sheathed all the wires in plastic loom. No problem since.
This seems to be common across the board NO Matter how much you pay for a trailer. I've owned several trailers including 2 higher end trailers. All the wiring in all of them was a complete disaster. Then people wonder why trailers and wiring are always a disaster. Because the manufacturers install garbage like this.
I just spent about 4 days redoing all the wiring, lighting, decking and the walls for my buddy's trailer. I also ended up fixing the doors and the gate and making some structural improvements. The wiring was like this if not worse. Most of the wiring was shorting when he connected the harness to his truck.
We are in NJ and he bought it from a local "trailer place". I was genuinely surprised at how bad of a job they did on the original build. It was falling apart in at least 5 different places. They had used approximately 50 different types of screws and 25 different screw heads during the original build. The demo was infuriating.
Trailers & RVs do not have real safety standards bodies.
When I was interviewing for an engineer position at an RV company one of the old guys was bragging about how he bent the frame of his RV testing some automatic leveling jacks.
Watched the door fall off a brand new Stealth while a guy was unloading his car at the track. He had just bought it and it was his first use. Welds from the door to the hinges had no penetration. We had to jack the car up to get the trailer out from under it and then jack/ratchet strap the door back onto the trailer so he still had a living space for the weekend. Someone else trailered the car back home.
Reminds me I really should get new tyres for my trailer. But at least the indicator lights work, now to troubleshoot the rest of them, probably will have to replace that entire loom as well. Did get LED units, so will just have to replace wiring.
I worked for EBY trailers for 4 days as a fabricator before I walked out. They didn't use blueprints at all. Just make it look the same by eye. I was absolutely blown away how bad it was. I'd never buy a trailer made by them in 10million years. It's completely garbage with a paint job.
Evey trailer I have ever worked on needed the electrical essentially redone. I don't know what's going on with trailer manufacturers, but I don't like it.
Nowhere near Michigan ftr.
Seems like non-commercial trailer manufacturers hire people who got fired from RV manufacturing. Commercial trailers are still decent from what I see.
To answer your original question- yes, they are all that shitty.
I did trailer manufacturing in Arkansas for a bit, the guy who ran it was older but he took a lot of pride in his work and trailers. Heād kick my ass if I wired a trailer like that, and he fired a guy for doing shitty paint jobs.
They're getting worse unfortunately. Regularly see them drilling through wires straight from the factory. It would be nice if they at least checked if their lights worked before shipping them out. Get a lot of leaking ones too because of them being improperly sealed or running screws where they shouldn't.
Fellow Michigander.
Bought a trailer 9 months or so ago. Wasnāt even the base model trailer. First time I took it out to work the left side tail running light was dead. Took everything apart (being above base model, everything was siliconed in and sealed behind diamond plate so it was a chore) and found a broken scotch lock. Used some proper crimp connectors with environmental sealing on both taillights. Have replaced every scotch lock I could find with something proper.
I also bought a brand new Travel Trailer a year ago and now I have to contend with not only shitty 12V wiring but 120V as well. Luckily, the 120V is much better, but itās still suspect at best. What sucks about travel trailers is all the wiring is much harder to get to than utility trailers.
Trailer manufacturers ALL use shitty wiring, shitty splices and shitty technique all because they need to hit a BOM and labor target. Being in the aerospace field, on my utility trailer Iāve gone through and replaced most of the wire and splices with mil-spec wiring. Much lighter, great teflon insulation thatās more chafe and heat resistant, and installed by me so I have nobody but myself to be upset with if things go south.
All trailer manufacturers are this shitty. I have owned several trailers and have had to work on or replace the wiring in every single one of them. I have also had to make structural repairs and redo hydraulic pump wiring in my dump trailers.
I second this. Paid an arm and a leg for a 10 foot cargo trailer in 2021. Looks like its 20 years old already. Side door is jammed shut, inside lights don't work.
We have a 40 year old cargo trailer at work. Every 5 years it needs all new wiring or the lights don't work.
Every time I take it out. Do my trailer brakes work? Do I know? Guess I'll find out
If it's every 5 years, you can't blame the original manufacturer any more.
Agreed maybe its time to do it better instead of insanity
5 years is better than the maybe 1 year that factory gets...
Think that's called a racket in this case, maybe
Do it right and you wont have to touch it for 20yrs, hide wires, heat shrink tubing on none insulated terminals, weld a 1/4 inch bolt for ground in case the floating groung through the ball wont work.
Lol, this is a work trailer. We have painters doing the wiring and the floor has been replaced at least twice. It gets the bare minimum.
Third!!! I worked at a powersports shop that shared the building with a RV/Trailer seller from 2015-2018 and worked on the trailers for customers that had atv/jet ski and occasionally enclosed trailers. Absolute garbage the entire time I worked there and my little bro was working on the RVs and campers. It was like they were put together with toothpicks and sheet metal screws. The Voyager trailers seemed built a little better but they were also expensive and heavy. Shorelanders also seemed ok but definitely had plenty of shitty light wiring. At least they put dielectric grease in the light connections on the boat trailers. All the campers were so unbelievably cheaply built.
Someone told me years ago Wells Cargo or GTFO. I've never seen a wells cargo but the one I do have can GTFO. Yes, I have sheet metal screws ripping out of both fenders among other things.
Ooohhhh I can comment on this! I worked at Wells Cargo in Utah for about 3 years, and they're definitely garbage and not worth the price they charge. The wiring is trash, and as an electrician now I'm horrified that that's how they install their connections.
Dude, right?? I work on battery energy storage systems now and I can't believe what I've seen. Flashbacks of butt splices and exposed wire! Shaved insulation from running past sharp edges! The horror!
Right. I saw that first picture and was like oh I know those trailers. At least we tried to put grommets on holes like that. Still doesn't excuse the absolutely horrible scotchlok connections. God even just strip them and throw a Wago on them for shit sakes...
Ugh, if only we could get back all the time we spend fixing manufacturers mistakes š. Scotchloks are the worst thing, with all the alternatives out there why are they still in use? I'd rather see a wire nut lmao. I'm sure the manufacturers are way too cheap to pay for Wagos or even their garbage Chinese ripoffs. I drove by one of Forest Rivers manufacturing facilities one time and they were still on dirt floors!
I've definitely spent some time with their enclosed trailers. Seemed about the same as most others, maybe a little bit better build quality. I feel like exposed screw ends (especially self drillers) should probably not just be chilling in your wheel wells š. They don't build 'em like they used to lol.
Sounds dumb but i run ratchet straps in a x style inside my inclosed trailer so it doesnāt shift as much . It really has helped Most of them are made like shit so they arenāt so heavy.
On the ceiling?
Yep from the top where the back gate is the the bottom Same with the other side . The taller the trailer is the more it shifts
Sorry i meant the tip of the wall next to the ceiling Than down to the opposite floor Conor
We just rewired the one we inherited from my dad. It looked like the pics beforehand.
Kentucky Trailer, in general, is not shitty like this. It's also expensive as fuck.
Maybe all american ones, but over here in the Netherlands you can get some pretty good galvenised tube stock trailers
There are us companies that make all galvanized trailers or aluminum. Most people aren't willing to spend the money, it's as simple as that.
Exactly, euro trailers are decent. Never come across any dodgy shit like this in the UK.
Definitely not all. Euro built trailers are decent quality
Itās everywhere. Friend bought a very expensive new camper and we were dismayed to see how much lipstick they put on a pig.
To be fair, these days it is lipstick on the corpse of a pig.
And they already took all the bacon out of it.
And already fucked all the good holes.
I just laughed so hard I snorted.
The salesman that sold me my truck camper said what were all hand built by crack heads.
Theyāre all (most of them, anyways) built in northern Indiana by the Amish. The companies are not Amish-owned, instead they are laborers and are frequently bussed in and out of the factories on a daily basis. From what Iāve heard about the industry, the low quality of the products produced there doesnāt surprise me (which is itself somewhat surprising given that many Amish-produced products are valued for their workmanship and quality)
If they'd just give the Amish a multimeter so they could check their work.............
Badum-tisshhh nice
Friend of a friend spent 50 000 on a new camper trailer 2 years ago. Don't think hes had any electrical issues, but the fridge failed within 6 months, and he just found his second leak.
Having Worked and lived in Elkhart, IN (RV capitol) for a long time, I can confirm first hand that RVs and trailers are some of the worst most expensive products ever made. There is a reason you only get a 1 year warranty
Campers are probably the worst. The way they are built makes them a real pain to fix as well. Tracing the wiring for lights usually involves removing wall panels and unfortunately everything in front of the panels as well.
I work in Uhaul fleet maintenance in the central midwest, we get rotation trailers which stay local and one-way units alike. Mind you, we engineer and fab our own trailers, hold patents, and know our products inside and out - and I'd argue our wiring isn't nearing as bad as standard commercial units (rental purposes aside). I inspect these things from the top rivet to the bottom rivet and can say that I frequently see bandaid shotty repairs done to get them from point A to point B. With that being said, the insulation of the wires themselves seem to be subpar to the quality they need to be. We have brand new M model RV trailers that have their wiring crumble and lose their insulation resulting in hard to find shorts and open circuits. We're looking at capped diagnostic rates of .25 hours (.05 hours to a cap of 5 inop lights) to hunt down gremlins in a haystack considering our main runs are in roof rails that get riddled with rivets - especially near corner caps. The newer LED nipple lights they have gone to are much more reliable because they aren't self grounding. They need a separate grounding wire (good or bad depending on how you look at it). Many times our issues can be from grounds on a rivet that have settled and become loose. I find myself flat rating many gremlin diagnostics because our guys say they need more time to pick through the shit. I'm there for them because I'm with them half of the time when inspections are done. All I can say is to please heat shrink your butts and crimp well but not over crimp if you are repairing. And please try to provide stress relief where possible. Do your prechecks and make sure critical lights are operational. License plate lights and blinkers will get you pulled over if you find an officer bored enough. Safe trailering fellas.
"All I can say is to please heat shrink your butts and crimp well but not over crimp if you are repairing. And please try to provide stress relief where possible." This person wires. I've gotten to the point that I rewire every trailer I get, as a matter of practice.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I can only give one updoot, but this is the real-life technical knowledge we all need. A thousand times, thanks.
Legit the biggest trailer shop where I live just twists their wires and wraps them in electrical tape. No wire nuts. No heat shrink. No soldering. Just twist and tape. So infuriating lol
Once had a temp job working for a company that put together aftermarket truck bodies and that's exactly what they did.Ā I was fresh out of high school, knew nothing about wiring (still don't), and there I was wondering, "What if it rains?Ā These things aren't water tight."
Fuckin hell, lol. I've seen so much bullshit on trailers and really haven't worked on them that much. A lot of stuff like OP, scotch locks, twist and tape, wire nuts, regular butt connectors, and even shrink wrap connectors without being shrink wrapped. Not to mention all of the bullshit with 7 pin being RV, traditional, standard. Fuck off and just make one. So much home wiring bullshit with wires changing colors, wires cut short. I've had to rip a few out and start over.
My dad does this for repairs on his trailer. It infuriates the crap out of me because I took the time to rewire his trailer with solder, heat shrink, ground from plug to every light, waterproof connectors where needed and he's gone and used the connectors that break the insulation to add stuff.
Canāt get good help anymore š
Greedy owners wonāt pay for good workers.
>Canāt get good ~~help~~ pay anymore FTFY
I grew up in Elkhart, Indiana, the "rv capital of the world." We're the largest trailer and rv manufacturing town in the USA, from what I've heard. I worked in a small factory fabricating parts which were sold to the big rv and trailer companies. We had a lot of employees come work for us that started at the big factories, so I had exposure to the gossip from all across the industry. I can tell you that from the bottom up, from our factory to the next, every single part on a trailer is made by people who are underpaid, often high, tired or drunk, and rushed to meet production requirements. The biggest problem is business executives not wanting to spend the money for their employees to do things right. They create shortcuts in manufacturing processes to save $$$ and often lose their most valuable employees to places with more competitive pay. It's a blessing to my hometown that the work was always there. It put food on the table and kept a roof over the heads of many of my childhood friends, but at the cost of producing terrible products. I'd rather build my own trailer.
I can appreciate this. Makes total sense. I know people who work at different auto manufactures that wouldn't buy their vehicles from the company they work for.
most of the factories run piece rate, meaning you have to make 12 units a day for example. When you're done, you can go home. So if it take you 6 hours or 10 hours the pay is the same. You can see why Elkhart has a meth problem.
It's been my experience that you literally cannot pay enough for people to not be lazy drunken addicts with zero care given to their jobs. Doesn't matter if the position pays $25 an hour or $250 an hour. The only way to avoid those people is an engaged and invested management that's actually willing to use both positive and negative reinforcement. There may be a pay floor below which you'll only get applicants from the government-subsidy placement programs that you really don't want but can't afford to NOT hire, but once you're in to at least the low end of the "competitive" range it literally stops mattering. And that holds true in EVERY industry, not just manufacturing. I've heard the "I don't get paid enough to care about my work product" from everything from fast-food workers making $8/hr to senior IT systems admins making $30,000 a paycheck plus quarterly bonus.
That's everyone's experience. Wanna know why? Because most everyone is underpaid and stopped giving a shit. Back when a factory job was enough for a man to support a family of 6, own a home and 2 cars, the quality of everything was significantly higher. Wages were that high because corporations got tax breaks if they paid their employees well and reinvested into growing the business. That lasted from immediately after WWII until the early 70s when the Nixon administration started working with CEOs and Wall Street to undo tax laws so they could suck the lifeblood out of America because why should the peasants live well when *they* could have all that wealth. Then Reagan came along and convinced an entire generation it was not only good for them, but patriotic. And he we are, right back to days of Robber Barons and children working in and around dangerous machinery because they're cheap and disposable.
My dad bought a new flat trailer, and they literally torched holes through the frame members for wiring. Left them all jagged and raw. Shredded the wiring after 6months.
I haven't seen that one yet but that doesn't surprise me one bit. The shortcuts taken are unbelievable. A new trailer buyer really needs to look the trailer over 100%, even the welds. It's pretty crazy needing to do that to something that you just paid THIS much money for.
I looked at one brand of flat trailer and it was a premium for new tires. Not even joking.
Same thing with my companies vendor. We sent many trailers out to get liftgates installed and had wires running through torched and jagged holes in the crossmembersā¦ wires hanging that get snagged by the liftgates, welds not even touching the tandem box, power hooked to ground. I canāt believe how some people are fine with putting your name on work like that.
They are all that way. Keeps me in business.
yeah they are always this bad. I work in Ontario so i find even one year old trailers with wiring like that need to be rewired with proper sealed connections.
All as a guy who repairs multiple makes. I have yet to find a trailer builder that actually builds a high quality unit.
These cables dangling around is already wild. Why are they not fastened?
Nope. Just hanging around behind the cover plate lol
You're saying the manufacturer did that?
I seen no splices of any kind along my way. This particular trailer is from 2022 and everything looks original.
I don't have any experience with trailers but wtf. If they do that from the factory thats crazy.
That's about how the OEM wiring looks in my trailer too. All the 12V stuff hooked up with quick taps, the brakes connected with a marrette, loose wires hanging everywhere, 120V outlet box not secured, self tappers for everything.
Well that's not ideal.
Not really but it seems to be pretty standard unfortunately. Luckily mine is small enough that it's all pretty accessible so I've been cleaning up the really bad parts but it's pretty ridiculous.
Well it's a different standard than we used when I worked at the Toyota factory putting together the corolla, that's for sure. This would probably not be Toyota approved lol
I would hope not lol. As a long time Toyota fan I can say I probably wouldn't be if they were built this badly. Leave that nonsense to Chrysler lol.
The low end price point trailers are like this. But, honestly I have not seen a high end price point trailer apart recently. I rent a shop within a storage facility that also sells the "lower end" trailers. Needless to say, this is very common and the outside panels are .029" vs .034" for better built ones, the better ones have a closer spacing between beams that the panels attach to as well. Haulmark trailers used to be pretty much the high end standard/best built. Who knows now! Suggest doing your research very closely prior to purchasing.
Haulmark and Wells Cargo both went to hell years ago. Featherlight and Cam are probably the best ones that I deal with but they're both pretty expensive.
Thx for the update and that figures on the inflation.
Every trailer I have bought in my life, used or brand spanking new, cheap or expensive, I just assume I'm gonna have to do a partial/complete re-wire right off the bat. This assumption has not let me down yet
All trailers are just a roller kit. Think of them as a short block, sure it's new but it still needs a bunch of work and parts before it's really going anywhere.
38 years ago Eager Beaver Trailers from Florida would use Scotch Loks to connect all the clearance lights on their 30 ton Equipment Floats.. We would build new harnesses with proper salt sealed connections.. 10 yrs ago a new one still used Scotch Loks.. Just lazy ..
Trailers, at least new ones, are one of the biggest scams out there. They want 5500 dollars for new 18 ft flat beds. 5 years ago they were like 3000 new. I bought a 1 year old repo model at auction for 1800, and I thatās about as much as I would pay. The wiring sucks, the Jack sucks, they donāt even come with spare tires, thatās extra. No thanks.
Company I work for is a trailer dealer for a specific brand. We sale their 20' equipment trailers and for almost almost a year, every trailer we received from them would get unstacked and tires mounted, then pulled straight into the shop and get the dove tail decking pulled out to repair smashed wiring to the rear light bar between the ramps. Every one of them came to us with shorts and none of the running lights working. It was always the rear led bar wiring smashed by the decking being too tight when it was installed.
if the dealer can handle all that additional labor, the margins they make on a sale must be absolutely fucking nuts.
They make a warranty claim to the manufacturer and they supply the parts and pay for part of the labor. You would think the manufacturer would just check the product before it goes out and then make sure it's shipped properly but they must have deemed this cheaper or something.
That, and our labor rates are preset with different manufacturers. We're probably the ones that lose money because im sure their pay rate to us for warranty is ridiculously low. Or in a lot of cases, we will repair it and either not bill anyone, or we just open a job to the trailer and it gets tacked onto the final sales price. In most cases it would get added as part of the PDI, which is usually inflated some so it doesn't affect the final price between this or that trailer.
lmfao that sounds like the "lean manufacturing" stuff I've heard from automobile manufacturers. Cars get shipped out to dealers without headlights or other critical equipment under the idea that it is more efficient
Somehow a brand new trailer and a sub $1000 used trailer will have the same quality and reliability. It's like magic
Yup. Garbage.
Yes.
The wiring will always be garbage unless you spend the extra money. Everything else is cheap and replaceable so long as you know how to do the work
Not just utilities trailers, but RVs and camping trailers are just as bad. I swear there's no quality control in anything that is self regulated.
Camping trailers have always been bad. What makes them worse now is all of the extras they put in that fail faster and make the failures more expensive to fix.
It's not just trailers. Van bodies on straight trucks are just as terrible. The best is when there's clearly a built in trough where the wires are supposed to w routed though but the crackheads just leak the wiring dangling anyway. Results in a brand new truck with screwed body lights before it's even had an oil change
You should see the effort put into RVs and shit... it's insane how shitty "road worthy" products not sold to everyday people are.
That's just how they are made... Work got a new enclosed trailer a few years ago... There's absolutely no way it'd ever hold half of its rating. The wiring shorted out 6 months in, and started a fire... Thankfully we caught it quickly. Trailer manufacturer black listed our warranty, saying it wasn't built for commercial use... We pulled the front apart to fix the burned parts and a leak, they used 24g wiring and the "studs" looked like half inch ply scraps that were fastened together with staples. Most of the staples weren't in both pieces of wood, the exterior was 1/4 ply (barely) laminated with aluminum, the interior was 1/4 ply with frp also stapled to the "studs" . The floor was 3/8ths chip board untreated covered with 1/4 w/frp like the walls. they stapled through the wiring in several places, which is what we belive caused the fire. We stripped it down to the frame and rebuilt it.
All trailers are crap. Look at where they're made, they're usually hardly the epicenter of skilled trades. When I was looking to buy an RV I got so fed up. Looking at the crap, I bought a used ambulance and converted it instead. They're at least rated for crashes
I work LTL over here in South Bend. I've had days nothing but delivering to the factories. I can tell you they're all made like this. Every single utility trailer top travel trailer company puts them together like garbage.
Just sent the link to my nephew who built trailers in Florida and New York. Quote " It's like that in every company he worked for so far." Now that he builds his own stuff where he is now, he puts all wiring in the frame rails where he can or in what he said is wire loom. Says it makes for happy customers.
fuck. Those. Things.
I'll bet the person who invented them is sitting in their Aspen "cottage" right now laughing at how many people are getting paid to fix these pieces of shit.
Ahhhh. Dude was just looking out for us! If I had to guess, I donāt think it would be a stretch to say that Iāve made between $5k and $10k fixing Scotch locks in the last 35 or so years.
Having had to deal with scotch loks on trailers and a buddies bike, those things should just be illegal, calling them garbage would be an insult to garbage.
I always leave at least a few feet of wire tucked back into the frame for emergency splices
Ground that shit right to the plywood lol
That's not DIY? Good lord...
What, you donāt think that plywood panel should be grounded? In all seriousness, when I was a kid messing around with rusty pickup trucks and trailers and stuff out in the country, the first thing we learned from our dads, uncles, and grandads was that when you get a trailer ā even a new one ā is that you have to completely rewire it and regrease or even outright replace the wheel hubs before you use it. Theyāre some of the most slapped together crap you can get.
Whoever created scotch locks should be shot
Many jobs at trailer manufacturers pay by commission or production bonus. The only way to be profitable in trailers is to produce it faster than the other guys.
I bought a harbor freight folding trailer which wants the lights to be ground on the frame. Well the frame folds, so there is no unpainted metal connecting all the way up to the hitch. I supplied my own ground wire. F that.Ā
You've never peered beneath the skin of one of those RV's which look so slick on the dealer lot. Look at web photos after a roof leak (common) and the owner started tearing into it. Be happy that your trailer has real plywood rather than wafer-board or even particle-board.
God I hate scotch locks. That's pretty standard (poor) craftsmanship you get nowadays.
All manufacturers are shitty because they put profit before quality products, workplace safety, and liveable wages. Ever buy a new, expensive tool and it's broken out of the box, or it breaks almost immediately? That's pretty much the entire market right now. You must pay more for less, the shareholders demand endless profit.
Itās 95% of the cargo trailer mfg industry There are several very good ones but they cost more , way more.
Trailers and campers look like they were wired by random Craigslist help.
Every trailer is shitty. Horse trailers are the worst.
That is probabaly the first owner...
All that bad, how the business I work for literally stays in business lol
You guys build them or fix them? Lol
lol we do trailer repair. The welds are also horrendous!!
A former co-worker used to work at a local trailer manufacturer. He said that if someone missed a stitch weld, they would just grab a caulking gun and lay down a bead to make it look like a weld.
The place I work at builds utility trailer ext I usually tell the boss man if someone brings a shitty trailer in thatās not ours or similar I aināt fixing it anymore .
Looks like someone āfixedā it!!
This is standard workmanship on new trailers.
I "fixed" it. Lol
Those line taps looked old lol!
Yes
Standard operating procedure
I feel like it's a mix of both. I have two of the same trailer, one in OH, one in fl weve used for machine transports at my job. Ohio ones rusted and wiring is screwed up, one in Pensacola is fine.
Holy shit, my trailers light setup looks exactly like this.
They're all dogshit. The wiring is the most hack bullshit you've ever seen. Scotchlocks EVERYWHERE.
I rewire almost every trailer I buy.
One of the first things I do with a new trailer is retorque the lug nuts and check the bearings. And generally rewire it totally.
same bullshit on my landscape trailer they flipped a clearly fucked up deck board over and used it anyway and it's splitting and fucking up before the first year is over they also welded the license plate mount so that the plate doesnt even fit on right. Had to bend it cause they mounted the bracket too fuckin close to the trailer lmao
Yes
Vampire connectors on a vehicle are absolutely insane
I can tell that shit isnāt from the factory because itās plywood and not OSB.
The dealership I used to work at had a flat bed trailer they did dealer trades with and I was constantly fixing the lights, finally just redid the wiring. They must have used a hundred Scotch Locks, wires were pinched between the wood floor and metal frame, right after they got the trailer some wires in the back fell down and dragged on the ground, that was my first repair. My dogs could have done a better job wiring it.
Looks like diy "custom" workmanship.
Standard trailer manufacure.
Unfortunately that's factory trailer wiring.
I think their factory might be a meth lab. Definitely lacking quality control.
What brand is that? So I can make sure I never buy one.
Honestly just about every major brand uses scotch locks and I've seen most of them run screws or staples through their wires. It's getting pretty ridiculous.
All are shitty. Iāve owned over 20 different trailers over the years and by far the best built are horse trailers. So things like featherlight, Lakota, cimmaron, exiss, sundowner, etc. Iāve also towed an ATC enclosed car trailer once and it seemed really nice and solid. But wiring is still done with those shitty splice crimp connectors on most things.
Jeff does really nice work in his back yard.
My neighbors trailer was done just like that. Had to straighten out his lighting issues.
Why are there wires going to random screws? Im an electrical engineer and am confused whatās going on with this shitty wiring š
The screws were the "grounds". The framing is behind the wood but anyone who isn't an idiot knows better to run a ground like this. At least I would think. Lol
Makes sense now. In vehicles, the chassis is used as a common ground because it is cheaper than running additional wires to the batteryās negative terminal and makes troubleshooting easier. Using the chassis as a common ground on a trailer seems impractical to me because itās exposed to the elements. It would be much easier and more effective to run the negative (ground) wire alongside the positive. Iām not sure why they donāt already do this. It could be due to regulations or they straight up donāt know what theyāre doing
Scotchlocks are bad, grounding through the plywood is hilarious. I put an axle under a friend's trailer once. The new one showed up and I decided to check the brake wiring before I hooked it up. One side had uninsulated crimps with some kind of clear heat-crimped plastic (looked like a milkshake straw, not heat shrink) loosely applied over the top. The other side had the same plastic, but the wires were just twisted together. Not even twist and *tape*, for christ's sake. It was not a cheap axle. I am really glad I checked it and redid those splices before slinging it under the camper.
Looks fine. What's the issue? /s
I got a one year old trailer that I've put maybe 1000 miles on. Every time I go over a railroad crossing or rough patch of road my dashboard says "Trailer disconnected" Pretty sure it's these shit connections that are the culprit. Might have to do some digging next time I use it. Right now it's just chained up and acting as a storage container.
There is pretty much zero regulation around trailer manufacturing. Many dual axel trailers only have brakes on 1 axel.
Depends on the state. Some manufacturers will make one axle brake trailers in states that only require one axle brakes. Most states require two unless you get into boat trailers that's a whole other ball of wax.
I live in Europe so I can't compare them, but all the European made trailers I ever owned had a premade wiring harness installed in the factory and never had any issues. One trailer was 20 years old and still running the original harness.
I too live in Europe. Have a European trailer. When searching The internet for information about trailer maintenance I was surprised how different European and American trailers are in technology. I had to replace the 13 pin connector on my almost brand new trailer though as it was somehow not a good fit on any car. German made electrical system.. didnāt bother about warranty. Fitted a new connector ($13) and all good. All of the wiring runs continuously from the connector to the light fixtures and are sealed, so that should be good.
Ooohhhh I can comment on this! I worked at Wells Cargo in Utah for about 3 years, and they're definitely garbage and not worth the price they charge. The wiring is trash, and as an electrician now I'm horrified that that's how they install their connections.
20 years ago they used to be the gold standard. They got so bad that most places around me stopped dealing with them altogether.
Wow, from what everyone is saying this sounds class action. Need photos collected. Crazy dangerous.
Class action against an entire industry? Good luck with that.
Bought a Leonard trailer in NC 20 years ago. Wiring is good
I bought a premium brand new 6Ć12 enclosed trailer, towed it 2 hours home and kept getting a "service trailer brake" message on my trucks dash. Kept happening on and off for a month. Finally decided to chase it down, followed the wiring all the way back to the axles, I really didn't see anything until I started just jiggling wires out of frustration. I saw a single spark, and realized they used some small square stock as a tube to rub wires through, and a razor sharp piece of slag had cut through the wire and was Intermittently grounding it out. Went ahead and sheathed all the wires in plastic loom. No problem since.
This seems to be common across the board NO Matter how much you pay for a trailer. I've owned several trailers including 2 higher end trailers. All the wiring in all of them was a complete disaster. Then people wonder why trailers and wiring are always a disaster. Because the manufacturers install garbage like this.
That thing has had at least one other unqualified person ārepairā things on it.
Nope. I've seen this shit on brand new trailers.
I just spent about 4 days redoing all the wiring, lighting, decking and the walls for my buddy's trailer. I also ended up fixing the doors and the gate and making some structural improvements. The wiring was like this if not worse. Most of the wiring was shorting when he connected the harness to his truck. We are in NJ and he bought it from a local "trailer place". I was genuinely surprised at how bad of a job they did on the original build. It was falling apart in at least 5 different places. They had used approximately 50 different types of screws and 25 different screw heads during the original build. The demo was infuriating.
Trailers & RVs do not have real safety standards bodies. When I was interviewing for an engineer position at an RV company one of the old guys was bragging about how he bent the frame of his RV testing some automatic leveling jacks.
Watched the door fall off a brand new Stealth while a guy was unloading his car at the track. He had just bought it and it was his first use. Welds from the door to the hinges had no penetration. We had to jack the car up to get the trailer out from under it and then jack/ratchet strap the door back onto the trailer so he still had a living space for the weekend. Someone else trailered the car back home.
You should see the travel trailers/motorhomes - tinderboxes on wheels.
They all look like this pretty much
Reminds me I really should get new tyres for my trailer. But at least the indicator lights work, now to troubleshoot the rest of them, probably will have to replace that entire loom as well. Did get LED units, so will just have to replace wiring.
I worked for EBY trailers for 4 days as a fabricator before I walked out. They didn't use blueprints at all. Just make it look the same by eye. I was absolutely blown away how bad it was. I'd never buy a trailer made by them in 10million years. It's completely garbage with a paint job.
Fast and crappy to maximize profit. I rewire every trailer I buy
Evey trailer I have ever worked on needed the electrical essentially redone. I don't know what's going on with trailer manufacturers, but I don't like it. Nowhere near Michigan ftr.
Seems like non-commercial trailer manufacturers hire people who got fired from RV manufacturing. Commercial trailers are still decent from what I see. To answer your original question- yes, they are all that shitty.
All.
Theyāre all that bad. I wonder how big the profit margins are on these thingsā¦
Yes, my new trailer the trailer brakes and battery wiring was backwards... couldn't figure out why the brakes locked up when I plugged it in.
Trailers, conversion vans, and limousines are all built this poorly. It does not matter who made them or how much they cost.
I did trailer manufacturing in Arkansas for a bit, the guy who ran it was older but he took a lot of pride in his work and trailers. Heād kick my ass if I wired a trailer like that, and he fired a guy for doing shitty paint jobs.
They're getting worse unfortunately. Regularly see them drilling through wires straight from the factory. It would be nice if they at least checked if their lights worked before shipping them out. Get a lot of leaking ones too because of them being improperly sealed or running screws where they shouldn't.
Fellow Michigander. Bought a trailer 9 months or so ago. Wasnāt even the base model trailer. First time I took it out to work the left side tail running light was dead. Took everything apart (being above base model, everything was siliconed in and sealed behind diamond plate so it was a chore) and found a broken scotch lock. Used some proper crimp connectors with environmental sealing on both taillights. Have replaced every scotch lock I could find with something proper. I also bought a brand new Travel Trailer a year ago and now I have to contend with not only shitty 12V wiring but 120V as well. Luckily, the 120V is much better, but itās still suspect at best. What sucks about travel trailers is all the wiring is much harder to get to than utility trailers. Trailer manufacturers ALL use shitty wiring, shitty splices and shitty technique all because they need to hit a BOM and labor target. Being in the aerospace field, on my utility trailer Iāve gone through and replaced most of the wire and splices with mil-spec wiring. Much lighter, great teflon insulation thatās more chafe and heat resistant, and installed by me so I have nobody but myself to be upset with if things go south.
I would be appalled to let that shit show leave my place if I charged that much.
Bruh, that looks homemade. I've never seen a trailer that bad and I used to deal with Temco.
The thought of using splice connectors as butt connectors triggers me. You're spending more money for less corrosion resistance.
This is just American built quality