Who is the Manufacturer of the Trailer Wiring Harness Part # 118334 Hopkins Harness Keeps Shorting

Question:

who is the manufacture of this part? my Hopkins wire harness has gone bad for me three years in a row. I get one season out of it and it stops working. one year it was the turning signal stopped and the next it was the breaks stopped working. Is it common for one year of usage and they burn out?

asked by: Bob S

Expert Reply:

The manufacturer of the T-One Vehicle Wiring Harness, # 118334, is Tow Ready.

You may get better service life from the Tow Ready wiring harness, but in my experience, converters short out due to wiring issues on the trailer. Many boat owners have trouble with converters shorting out because the tail lights short out when backing their boats into the water. The solution in this case is to unplug the trailer before launching the boat, and to leave the trailer unplugged when loading the boat until the lights have had an opportunity to drain. This eliminates shorted converter boxes and blown light bulbs.

Another possibility is that there is a wire on the trailer that is making contact with the frame somewhere, in this case the converter shorts out, protecting the vehicle circuitry. Unfortunately, when there is a short the converter does need to be replaced.

There is one other possibility that comes to mind. Your trailer may have too many lights for the converter to handle properly. The # 118334 harness is capable of 1 light per side, in other words one tail light, one brake light/turn signal. If your trailer has additional lighting, you may be overheating the converter box causing premature failure. If this is the case, you would need to go to a heavy duty, hard wire, wiring harness on your Durango.

expert reply by: Robert G