Hi VAC listees,
We had a downer experience yesterday that took what seemed like forever to solve.
First, we had
trailer brakes and then, we didn't have trailer brakes. Although our Van's brakes are
nearly new and
very capable, I was not a happy camper. Getting off the highway and into a shopping
mall parking lot
was the priority. After getting permission from the Safeway Store Manager to do
repairs in his
parking lot, I gave it the old college try.
Tracking down an electrical problem is not my favorite activity. What seemed like
hours later, after
checking brake lines to each wheel, the connector going into the trailer, the
connector coming out
of the van, I began unwrapping the bundled wire coming out of the brake controller.
Going through
the contortions of kneeling on the ground, laying on the Van's floor under the
driver's seat and
manipulating wires up under the dash got old fast.
The crimp connectors inside the bundled wire looked good (or did they?). When I
removed the last
cable tie holding a portion of the bundled wires up under the dash and unwrapped it,
there it was -
a loose wire (short by 1/4") and not quite inside a crimp connector. Apparently, it
was under too
much tension when the cable tie was cinched up - and after months of vibrations, it
slipped out of
the crimp connector.
Simple solution? Not really. With hardly enough wire to get my fingers around it,
located up against
the fire wall, me on my knees outside the truck and not being able to get enough
length on the wire
into my crimp connector (red crimp already in the tool and ready to compress), it was
one of those
occasions where I knew what to do, how to do it, had the right tools to do it and yet,
couldn't
quite make the reach to bring it off. Being a persistent cuss and several attempts
later, I had to
rethink the solution.
Bottom line, spinning the wire tips together; holding them together with a small,
narrow vice grip;
I used my "too small" soldering iron, soldered them, let them cool and rewrapped them
with friction
tape to enclose the solder joint. Hitched up and voila` - we had trailer brakes again.
I love it
when four brakes bite evenly, decisively and at whatever degree of stopping power I
wish.
Lesson earned: The next time I can't find anything to do, I'll search out all the
crimp connectors
and wire nuts in my Van and Airstream and solder them. Then again, maybe I'll leave
well enough
alone and wait for the next problem. There's always another one about to show itself.
If there
wasn't, this would be no fun. It'd be just another ordinary day.
Terry
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