Estimate for trailer rewiring?

I have a 20 year old single axle Shorelander. I’ve been noticing it’s been burning out fuses in my tow vehicle. What can one expect to have it rewired by a service shop?

If you have a buddy with any mechanical ability. You could go buy a $50 wiring kit and a case of beer and it would be done in about two hours.

I did one of my trailers a few years ago with a LED kit I go very easy to do. hour or 2 max

Couple hours of labor and parts….my guess is it’s $300 to $400 at a shop.

Most shops are pretty backed up right now, too.

You would save yourself a ton of money and likely do a far better job by doing it yourself.

One tip I have if the wire runs inside the frame channel, use the old wiring harness to pull through a thin rope from each side as you pull out the old harness. Then you can use those ropes to pull the new harness back through the trailer frame.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube about how to do this. Probably a 2 to 3 hour job even if you haven’t done it before.

I like using a extension cord wires stay together.

You can have the best mechanical person in the world do it but at some time it will fail and cause you grief !
If you do it yourself you will have a better understanding of how the wires run and where to look to make repairs

It’s really not that difficult to do it your self.

The extension cord idea works, I’ve done that. The only problem is you end up with different colored wires than the standard colors, which can make trouble shooting tough in the future.

When you pull new wire, pull one extra wire and use that for ground instead of the trailer frame. This increases reliability tremendously.

SR

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

You would save yourself a ton of money and likely do a far better job by doing it yourself.

One tip I have if the wire runs inside the frame channel, use the old wiring harness to pull through a thin rope from each side as you pull out the old harness. Then you can use those ropes to pull the new harness back through the trailer frame.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube about how to do this. Probably a 2 to 3 hour job even if you haven’t done it before.

I just did this on my trailer. I bought a harness from fleet farm. It was 35 bucks. Instead of rope just tape the new harness direct to the old one and pull it through. Skip the rope

Pull 1″ low voltage PVC conduit through the frame with two pull strings inserted into the conduit. Use one string to pull your new wire, the other is available if you need to pull additional or replacement wiring. Conduit is inexpensive, ~$1/foot.

He literally asked how much it would cost at a shop. Now everyone is chiming in how they wire a trailer. He should just hire one of you guys for a case of beer. Get the work done and learn how to do it on his own next time.

I love this website.

Matt Moen wrote:

He literally asked how much it would cost at a shop. Now everyone is chiming in how they wire a trailer. He should just hire one of you guys for a case of beer. Get the work done and learn how to do it on his own next time.

I love this website.

Oh sure. Make us stick strictly to the confines of answering the question as posed. Geeze. What are you trying to do kill all the fun on the internet?

Matt Moen wrote:

He literally asked how much it would cost at a shop. Now everyone is chiming in how they wire a trailer. He should just hire one of you guys for a case of beer. Get the work done and learn how to do it on his own next time.

I love this website.

Exactly! Help a brother out, and you might get a new fishing partner in the deal. If he was willing/able to drag it to 60185, I’d be more than willing to help.

HRG

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
He literally asked how much it would cost at a shop. Now everyone is chiming in how they wire a trailer. He should just hire one of you guys for a case of beer. Get the work done and learn how to do it on his own next time.

I love this website.

Exactly! Help a brother out, and you might get a new fishing partner in the deal. If he was willing/able to drag it to 60185, I’d be more than willing to help.

HRG

Careful there pretty sure Steve mostly chases bass…Ick

If you are near north branch I could help you out. I’ll trade it for a day of bass fishing

I’d like to stimulate the economy in Roberts WI. taking it to Roberts Marine. I literally have no aptitude for “handy”. The responses have put me in the ballpark. Thanks

steveo wrote:

I have a 20 year old single axle Shorelander. I’ve been noticing it’s been burning out fuses in my tow vehicle. What can one expect to have it rewired by a service shop?

Did my first time ever this weekend, Couple hours and some addtl parts that I have extra of and done. Not hard – pretty straightforward. Even used those little black shrinkable wraps instead of black tape

Umy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>steveo wrote:</div>
I have a 20 year old single axle Shorelander. I’ve been noticing it’s been burning out fuses in my tow vehicle. What can one expect to have it rewired by a service shop?

Did my first time ever this weekend, Couple hours and some addtl parts that I have extra of and done. Not hard – pretty straightforward. Even used those little black shrinkable wraps instead of black tape

Yep, guilty as charged for answering the question directly.

steveo wrote:

I’d like to stimulate the economy in Roberts WI. taking it to Roberts Marine. I literally have no aptitude for “handy”. The responses have put me in the ballpark. Thanks

Are they still in business? Did someone buy it or is Bob still running it? I am going to miss them if/when Bob retires, he is great at lower units and mercs in general.

/

Bob and Kenny are both there. Running about 5 days out for this rewire job. I agree about the Mercs. That 20 year old 90 horse I have still runs great. They’ve always done all my service work since BK and I tried to change an impeller about 18 years ago. That’s when I quit trying to do anything mechanical!

steveo wrote:

I have a 20 year old single axle Shorelander. I’ve been noticing it’s been burning out fuses in my tow vehicle. What can one expect to have it rewired by a service shop?

A guy I fish with got dinged 239 or so,plus Scotchlok connectors were involved.Early 2000s Shorelandr trailer.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
He literally asked how much it would cost at a shop. Now everyone is chiming in how they wire a trailer. He should just hire one of you guys for a case of beer. Get the work done and learn how to do it on his own next time.

I love this website.

Oh sure. Make us stick strictly to the confines of answering the question as posed. Geeze. What are you trying to do kill all the fun on the internet?

What type of harnesses are you running on the skunk works projects? We’re moving to a carbon fiber weave for the outer wiring sheath. Protects the platinum wire strands better. Haven’t found a better option. A little spendy but when your trailer is hauling a 32’ glass walleye rig with triple 600 mercs you don’t want someone tail piping you because they couldn’t see the triple axle trailer.

I’m sticking with my caps and liquid electric tape. I put that $hit on everything.