In over 15,000 miles, I never had a problem with the Bargman cable that connected our Milan 26RLS travel trailer and our 2012 Ford Expedition, even though the socket on the Expedition was below the bumper. That changed a bit with our 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty, which has the connection socket above the bumper. The connection plug above the bumper is a huge advantage for easy access.
Back in August we were driving home with the trailer in tow and the dash had a message stating, “Trailer Disconnected,” or something similar. When I pulled over the cable was connected and secure, but I noticed it had been pinched and the rubber covering was cut along with a wire. I was able to quickly repair it and continue home.
What Happened?
Two things:
- The cable had a bit more slack with the new tow vehicle
- Sometime I have to make sharper turns when backing into a spot because the F-250 is about 5 feet longer than our 2012 Ford Expedition
So what happened is the cable dropped down during a sharp backing maneuver and was pinched by the hitch. The main power feed from the truck shorted out on the frame, but the circuit breaker protected the system. The truck noticed the problem and turned on the warning light.
ProPride Trailer Hitch
It is common to add a Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH) to a travel trailer. This moves the trailer further away from the back of the tow vehicle. In the bottom of this post, I discuss the installation of the ProPride.
The picture below shows how the cable can drop.
Solution
First I had to repair the damaged wire. Once at home, I removed the temporary butt connector soldered the ends of the wire together and covered them with heat shrink. Instead of taking time to document the process, below are a couple pictures I found on the Web.
Routing the Cable
Now I needed a way to keep the cable above the point where the hitch swivels during a turn without shortening the cable length. The answer was a couple Lynch Pins. This should work with most hitches.
Lynch pins are simply a fastener with a locking mechanism to keep the pin in place. The pins come in various lengths, diameters, and configurations. Most hardware stores sell them.
The first point to secure the cable needed to be on the trailer tongue itself, and being lazy, I didn’t want this to become a huge project. The perfect spot was the coupler, which already had a pin in place — the coupler lock.
The hitch drawbar had a convenient hole at the top, perfect location for the second pin.
Competed project and Cost was under $5
As a side note, almost all 7-pin trailer connection cables use the Bargman style connections. There are a plethora of parts available for conversion or repairs.
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