Author: rexplex

With a bachelors degree in history, I turn wrenches for a living. I’m most at peace when I hear the wind in the trees or the gurgle of a brook. I’m a believer in the Renaissance Man, as epitomized by DaVinci engineer, artist, soldier, statesman. As Heinlein said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Adding brakes to the utility trailer- hardware (days 2&3)

Because you know I can’t do a project without things going sideways.

I decided to dry fit my wheels on the hubs before hanging the hubs on the trailer and……

One of these things is not like the others.

…..erupted in a cloud of profanity so robust that Old Man Parker* would have been impressed.

A game of inches

With the Excursion, the barn doors opened above the trailer crank handle. I’ve been worried about getting into the bed of the Ridgeline with the trailer hitched.

Adding brakes to the trailer – hardware (day 1)

It turns out my trailer has been non-compliant with NJ law for the entire time I’ve owned it. Trailers over 3,000 GVWR must have brakes & a breakaway system. My 3,500 pound trailer had neither when I bought it. So, let’s get to work.

Adding Brakes to the Utility Trailer – Electrical (Day 3)

In which your narrator is flummoxed by a bit of electronics.

So, I’m a firm believer in “Trust but Verify”, so I wanted to be sure that I knew which wires in the trailer wire were carrying which signals to the junction box*. Because I can’t be both in the drivers seat of the Honda and sitting at the trailer tongue with a multimeter, I enlisted the help of the youngest offspring.

He loved sitting in the drivers seat, stepping on pedals, flipping levers and things were going pretty well.

I was able to confirm my ground, hot, turn signals & marker lights. That left two terminals unaccounted for and no trigger voltage for the trailer brakes. No matter how hard he stepped on the pedal or pressed the override button, I wasn’t getting voltage on either post, but I was starting to get pretty hot under the collar.

Time to pull the dashboard apart again and make sure that everything was working correctly. There’s only four wires between the controller and the Honda, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sort.

Adding brakes to the Utility Trailer – electrical (day 2)

Good day, and welcome to day 2.

First step – get the junction box hung so I can complete my day 1 tasks.

Adding brakes to the utility trailer – electrical (Day 1)

Last fall I installed the Tow-Pro into the Ridgeline, now I have to make it so the Tow-Pro can control the trailer brakes.

First off, the brake-less trailer has a four pin plug (Ground, Marker, Left & Right Turns), while a trailer equipped with brakes has a seven pin plug (added Brakes, Reverse lights and Power).

New trailer wire

Adding brakes to the utility trailer this spring. I’m going to post little bits as I go, instead of one big post.

I’m moving from a four-wire cable to a seven wire cable to support the brakes & break away safety system. I’m also adding a seven pole junction box.

More Power

When we go camping, I like to make sure that everyone has a charged phone or watch so that I can find my family. Unfortunately, Honda doesn’t think you should have access to electrons when the engine isn’t running. Time to add some charging ports, without looking like I added some charging ports. (See Rule 2)

Box joint jig for the table saw

I’ve gotten to the point where new projects don’t always* require purchasing** new tools. But as I work on more ambitious projects, I am building more tools & jigs.

When I built the drawer for the drill press cabinet, I was very dissatisfied with my results, so I started looking for something better.

Enter the box joint or finger joint jig.

Band saw cabinet design

When I bought the bandsaw a few years ago, it was on this angle iron base. Perfectly functional, and purely functional. It works, but it looks like a bunch of angle iron off cuts (which is what it is).

Once I built the base for the drill press, I decided that the band saw needed a matching base.

Let’s take a little tour of my mental processes when designing a project like this.