Fifth wheel wiring harnes

[chrisinkanata]

We've traded our travel trailer for new Fifth wheel. I'm doing the wiring up into the box from the butt ended 'camper' harness between the box and cab of the truck. All good except no 12V power at the red battery voltage wire. The red 12V at the rear connector has power as it should.

From what I can see so far, the camper harness is spliced out of the Heavy Duty harness near the back of the truck, so I would have thought it would be on the same fuse.

Is there another fuse I'm missing? I recall when I bought the truck, I had to install a 40a fuse at the Stud 1 location in the LF fuse box.

Hope it's that simple....

'02 GMC D/A crew cab

[richp]

Hi,

I know this may be sort of heretical, but I wonder why bother putting a separate receptacle in the bed of your truck, if the fiver's power cord will reach to the receptacle that's already installed at the rear bumper. You say you have the current you need at that rear plug, which seems to indicate you are good to go already, simply by reaching over the tailgate and down.

I've owned three fifth wheels, and the power cable for all three ran very nicely over the tailgate and down to the regular trailer plug near the receiver hitch. Never had the cord bind or malfunction in any way due to the location.

In addition to being lazy and cheap, it seemed to me that doing it this way also eliminated one possible point of failure (corrosion, etc.) at some time in the future.

Am I missing something?

[chrisinkanata]

Everyone I've talked to says you need a separate plug in for the 5th wheel so your approach is very interesting - something I'll have to look at for sure. Having said that though, I don't want to show up at the dealer to pick it up and then not be able to plug it in. Also, really curious as to why it is not powered now.

[richp]

Hi,

Next time someone tells you that, ask them why.....

All I can tell you is that my power cord has always fit, has always worked, and has never bound up or otherwise pulled out when it was routed over the tailgate. Three separate fifth wheel trailer of three different designs, and two different manufacturers.

If you have the 7-blade round plug on your rear bumper, and all the leads test OK, and the line from the trailer is long enough, I just can't see going to all the trouble of running another harness and mounting a redundant plug receptacle.

At any rate, good luck, and enjoy the new rig.

[arveetek]

I've been in the RV business for almost 14 years now, with 12 of those in the service side. I still recommend a plug in the bed for 5th wheel owners. While you may have never had problems, they can occur. Mostly from the cord hanging down and getting caught on the rear of the truck when making sharp turns. I have seen it happen. In my opinion, it's not worth risking safety (losing brakes and lights) for sake of convienence.

Casey

[ramblinrodney]

I don't know why I always ordered a 5th wheel harness for every truck. Just like richp. I use the bumper plug.