Toasted 7-Wire Trailer Wiring Harness Box

[Thomas DeBusk]

The black box full of relays at the back of my '83 Wagoneer that's part of the factory 7-wire trailer wiring harness has gone bad. The parking lights stay on when you've turned the off when it's hooked up.

Can you tell me a satisfactory way to get into this one (it looks like it's sealed so you can't get into it) so I can maybe fix it? And how to go about fixing it while I'm in and re-sealing it when I'm done?

Or, maybe even better, where I can find a good replacement?

Thomas

[Bob Barry]

The box contains separate relays that can be replaced individually; it sounds like one of them is stuck closed. It bolts to the back frame crossmember, and once removed, you can see how the plastic cover is retained by four screws in the corners. They are probably rusted on, so removing them may be fun. You can unplug it from the wiring harness, and while working on it plug the taillights back into the harness (it's a plug and play operation) so the lights work while you're fiddling with it. You may also have to unbolt the ground wire to the box; again, that will likely be rusted on.

[Jeep Jeep]

What was the reason for the box in the first place? I'm about to that area on my project and thinking of removing it and wiring direct. What are the pro's and con's?

[billyrb]

did you ever remove the box dudley? If so, let me know how it went.....

btw, WOW this is an old post!!!

[billyrb]

ah screw it, I just removed mine and bypassed it. Had to take the large 6-pin connector and disconnect it from the black box and plug it directly into the other 6-pin connector that was on the rear crossmember. Then, had to remove the ground wire for the black box. All is well, all lights seem to work fine.

[Tad]

Ryan, I might still have that stuff from the '85 if you want it.
I'm darn sure never going to need or use it.