Installing trailer hitch

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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irowiki
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by irowiki »

Yeah, anything not on the brakes, turn signals or reverse lights would be wired to the tail light wire. Hopefully the fuse is big enough? I wonder if you'd need a relay.
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

I've been looking at every trailer I've seen drive by today and I looked at a couple of new ones in a dealership and not one of them had front lights or a licence plate light as apparently required by law. None of the trailer lighting kits I've seen have them either. I'm starting to think I've been had by the internet.
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

I bought a few more lights and reflectors anyway. My trailer will be the most lit-up, legal trailer in town. At least it would be if I didn't intend to just tow it during the day.
jimcrazy
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by jimcrazy »

the under side of the light has a clear cut out in it were you mount the licence plate
to it,
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

jimcrazy wrote:the under side of the light has a clear cut out in it were you mount the licence plate
to it,
Now I feel dumb. One of my tail lights that came with the trailer has a clear/frosted area on it. I had no idea what it was and I mounted it pointing up. Thanks for the info.
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Ridlbox »

If you look on most trailers there are orange or amber lights in the front all they are our marker lights to let you know that the trailer is there sometimes they can be used as blinkers
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

I installed the lights and licence plate (I still have to wire up the lights) and added some "bunks" (the boards for the boat pontoons to sit on). I still have to find some slippery carpet for the bunks and find some rollers to make it easier to slide the boat up.
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

The pretty-much finished trailer:
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I'm taking the boat out tomorrow for a dive so I'll see how it goes.
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irowiki
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by irowiki »

*claps*
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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
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95 Camry Wagon, 170k
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marlinh
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by marlinh »

Awesome. Great job on the trailer!
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Mark
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Mark »

I took the boat out on the water today. The trailer is definitely not as easy to use as just shoving the boat up on the roof rack, but my idea was to save the wear and tear on the wagon. I've discovered that backing the trailer up in a straight line is almost impossible. The trailer wheels are too close to the car. When it came time to load the boat back up on to the trailer I ended up disconnecting the trailer from the car, walking the trailer down the boat ramp near the boat and then backed the car down and hooked the trailer back up. It also bounced more than I expected while driving. I'm pretty sure the trailer got air at times. I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see if the outboard had broken off yet.
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I have no suggestions about the "bouncing" problem (trailer too light, even with load?), but I would venture that the difficulty with backing up in a straight line would disappear with practice.
Back in the Army in the early/mid/late '60s, my M38 Jeep (and later M38A1) was occasionally hitched to a A105 small trailer. The Jeeps, so course, had a small wheelbase and the trailer was "close behind" the vehicle. It took me a while, but I eventually got proficient with it (as long as it did not have the high canvas top installed!).

Props on your revival of the trailer!
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Jarf
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Jarf »

Mark - Most small trailers have "1000lbs" springs and will bounce like crazy with a light load, not much you can do other than add weight to the trailer.
Installing a set of shocks would certainly help somewhat, at least with the oscillations that occur post bump.

Odd about the lights, never seen fed reg's before, I have only ever looked at provincial regs, generally speaking (Ont at least) all that extra stuff is only for trailers over 80in wide/30ft long.

Finished product looks great
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Paultercel
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Paultercel »

Where would anyone recommend getting the tongue for a trailer hitch?!
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Petros
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Re: Installing trailer hitch

Post by Petros »

you might run the trailer tires on the soft side, not too low, but low enough where they will provide some damping and not so much bounce.
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