TOPIC: New tongue time!

I took the old 8' trailer tongue off the Power Cat trailer and replaced it with the 11' one that had originally been on the trailer. I needed at least another foot for my new hydraulic coupler (for brakes), and had this one all ready, just needed paint, a 1/2" hole drilled and trailer wiring lengthened, so back on it went. Right now I'm taking a break to let the liquid electrical tape dry (where I spliced the new longer wire in), then can pull it through with the stiffer yellow house wiring I ran back through the tongue.

Also, yesterday morning I dragged my trailer over to Dave's place (kingdve) for some expert welding to fix my right rear stepplate. Thanks Dave!

That's it for new, gonna have some scrambled eggs and toast and see what happens. I may get roped into decorating, we'll see. Before coming upstairs I brought the old Christmas tree up, so may have sealed my immediate fate...

Frank

No problems here, fits this old trailer tongue perfect. Having this extra room on the tongue is going to relieve me from having everything right on top of everything else (coupler, winch, spare tire holder), plus I will be able to see the boat much better in my rear view mirror. Because I have room, I'm going to see of I can mount the spare on top of the tongue instead of to the side. Also this new tongue is 3X4 where the old one was 3X3. It has a heavier wall too, so adds some weight up front. It will be interesting to see how everything balances out in the spring. The jack is not installed tight for right now till I see how I want to mount things when the boat is on the trailer.

Frank

Nice work, as always Frank. That longer tongue should make it pull better and be easier to back up with, I would think. The brakes will be a nice addition as well.

Only thing I'd done differently was solder those wires and have shrink wrap on them. I had to many crushed fitting failures over time.

I've been using cheap crush connectors and liquid electrical tape now going on 20 years Robert, and like it much better than solder. I honestly can't remember ever having a connection failure with this method. Liquid electrical tape flows into and around the connection, and if you make sure it's sealed (no pinholes, etc.), it's trouble free for longer than I've been doing this stuff.

Frank

Looks good frank! I usualy use the crush connectors with the factory plastic removed and solder the connections in them after they are crimped, then cover with Heat shrink tube, No problems yet but I havent been doing it as long, I think the liquid electrical tape is a good method as well as the Heat shrink doesn't give a water tight seal.

Thanks Jesse. I have had problems with soldering over time becoming brittle, where crimping and liquid electrical tape seem to work much better. Also, as you note, heat shrink does not always seal well. Seems to me I first heard about liquid electrical tape in that book about restoring old runabouts by Jim Anderson, many, many moons ago. I did all the connections in my hot rod with it too, and nary a problem over 10 years of use.

Frank

I would think they should be fine, its the water and corrosion that causes issues, for me I just rake off the plastic for aesthetics it makes a much cleaner look with the bare metal crimp and heatshrink tape. Started doing that on some RC plane projects.

Never had a solder connection fail and you must use the right size shrink. You cannot leave any acid on the repair or get it to hot. Too much heat makes them brittle. On the other hand I have repaired dozens of crush connectors for people and have repaired Lord knows how many trailer connector failures on car and trucks. Of course I know how to solder well. I used to repair all my own radiators and make wiring harness's. An old man taught me how who did these things. That was back in 76. He repaired my radiator on my first car and charged me a whooping 4 dollars and then showed me how to do it. He was in his late seventies back then. We used to stop and help him out before he died. I used to repair electrical problems for people also. Trouble shooting electrical problems and hard to fix things I loved. Not anymore. I can't see as good as I used too. We all know there are more than one way to skin a cat. I used to do all the radiator work for our local Cadillac and Buick dealers as well as windshield replacement.