Just bought a camping trailer, its a 1973 26' and the lights arent working , I started with the #1 problem made sure I have a good ground and I do, then I started taking my tail lights off to check bulbs sockets and connections and to my suprise it looks like the wires are run in between the plywood and the aluminum shell and it looks like they use the aluminum body for grounding. is this the way they did it back then because I cant get to any of the wires to do anything with them and i dont know if the body is grounded properly. I used a jumper wire and grounded the tail lights direct to the frame and I got the left signal to have power but thats it. I can get to where the wire for the running light all meet up to check the connection, there is no where inside that i can see to get at the wires. any ideas guys?

 

Well, W/C, I'm afraid you've discovered one of the horrors of RV's! I don't know what ignoramus dreamed that one up but all of my RV's have been wired that way! First get some emery cloth and polish the insides of bulb sockets and the little buttons that contact bulb contacts, and polish bulb contacts also. Sometimes you get lucky, but...

It depends entirely on the model of manufacturer but in many cases it's a fairly easy job to remove a panel or two of the aluminum sheathing. Many of the trailers use an aluminum trim strip at the various edges which acts as the main anchor for the sheathing so removing it allows access.

Sometimes you can remove that Al. trim and slide a panel sideways after slightly loosening the seam interlock. Pulling off a piece of trim will reveal a lot about the construction. If you decide to remove some you might consider adding some insulation behind the panels before buttoning back up. Some mfgr's only use 1/4"-5/16" fiberglass [Komfort] for insulation!

Once you've removed a panel you'll see where the 'studs' are and when you reinstall you can run in some sheetmetal screws to help hold panels. With the panel removed pre-mark the adjacent panels so you know where the studs are for reassembly. Us some Silicone/Latex like Alex to seal seams and trim, and put a dab under screwhead before it's tightened down. Sometimes you can get to the side running lights by carefully cutting a small hole in the interior paneling which is then very easy to patch so it hardly even shows.

Aluminum sheathing is usually run from the top down so it's sometimes easiest to loosen a panel at the very bottom and then work your way up. It's held in place with small staples which can be a PITA to remove, but it's do-able with some patience, a small screwdriver, side cutters and maybe a linesman's pliers. I hope you got this thing cheap enough to make some extra work worth the effort. I'll never buy another trailer without first testing the lighting!

JimmieD

 

thanks for the info I only paid $400 for it and the inside is in real nice shape. so doing a little work is ok, I think the people that decided to run the wireing like that should be shot and ****** on. why they couldnt have just put it inside in one of the many cupboards.

 

Yea, I think they should be too, but not in that order.....