[mdboyd]

Hey Guys,

Unlike most of the veterans on this board, I've never really towed anything... until today.

My fiance is the varsity cheerleading coach the local high school and asked me to tow *drumroll* their homecoming float! :first: I know, it's not exactly challenging, but it certainly made me nervous, especially because there were going to be girls on the trailer as well as walking beside it.

Fortunately, everything went well... except the instrument cluster and turn signals on my truck stopped working right before the parade started. The speedo and tach were sitting at zero, along with the volt, temp, and oil pressure gauges. 4-ways worked, but turn signals didn't.

When I got home, I started checking fuses and found that the defog fuse (15A) was blown. I replaced it with a spare and everything worked again! This leads into two questions that I have now:

• First, I'm really surprised that this ended up affecting my instrument gauge. Has anyone had this happen, and is it normal?
• Does anyone know what might have caused this, and is there anything that I should check or be concerned about? The only thing I can think of is that something is wrong with the wiring harness on my hitch.

I attached a few pictures for your amusement. Oh, and something funny happened while we were getting ready for the parade. Our spot was at the front of the parade line, and so I had to jump a curb and cut across some grass to get around one of the larger trailers. Well, there were two girls sitting on the trailer while I was doing this... I got the truck into the grass and lost traction. With all the rain we've gotten over the past week, the ground was still pretty wet and I ended up slinging mud all over the girls and the float! :angel: There were about 100 people around that started busting out laughing (including the girls and myself). I switched to 4x4 and carefully pulled the float over the curb. Whoops. One of the picks shows the mud on the trailer and another shows the trail I blazed through the grass...

Love my Tundra.

 

[Highwaylizard]

Pretty neat that your fiance' managed to convince the school to change their school colors to match your truck.

 

[mdboyd]

I know right? I think the truck should be their mascot

:cheer2:

 

[Cian]

DCs are so cool.

 

[RCsTundra]

I attached a few pictures for your amusement. Oh, and something funny happened while we were getting ready for the parade. Our spot was at the front of the parade line, and so I had to jump a curb and cut across some grass to get around one of the larger trailers. Well, there were two girls sitting on the trailer while I was doing this... I got the truck into the grass and lost traction. With all the rain we've gotten over the past week, the ground was still pretty wet and I ended up slinging mud all over the girls and the float! :angel: There were about 100 people around that started busting out laughing (including the girls and myself). I switched to 4x4 and carefully pulled the float over the curb. Whoops. One of the picks shows the mud on the trailer and another shows the trail I blazed through the grass...

Love my Tundra.

LOL, just be glad you have a 4wd DC and not a 2wd, not THAT wouldve been embarrassing, slinging mud and couldnt get out of some wet grass.

Ive been there but was stuck in some deep mud on the 4th of July and couldnt get out, f'ing 2wd or should I say 1wd.

 

[mdboyd]

Ive been there but was stuck in some deep mud on the 4th of July and couldnt get out, f'ing 2wd or should I say 1wd.

Bummer! If I had gotten stuck, my fiance would have been laughing-stock of the high school. I'll have to tell her how lucky she is to have me and the 4x4 Tundra.

Is an LSD or locker in your future?

 

[zcd]

Forgive me, but is this your fiance?

What I meant to say is, I feel your pain on blown fuses. Few weeks back I blew a fuse on the 12V power deck but it also took out the stereo, inside lights, clock, and a 2 other things I do not remember, but replacing like 5 fuses fixed the problem. GO TEAM!

 

[[email protected]]

Don't mean to high jack but has anyone heard of there being a separate fuse for the factory towing wiring harness and if so where is it located. Trailer running lights not working and all wires have power, trailer is fine.

 

[Highwaylizard]

Don't mean to high jack but has anyone heard of there being a separate fuse for the factory towing wiring harness and if so where is it located. Trailer running lights not working and all wires have power, trailer is fine.

You are a fellow DC'er so it is not considered hi-jacking. I will pull out the owners manual to see about that separate fuse.

Have you checked here: 2004 to 2006 Toyota OEM Repair Manuals

 

[burned300]

Don't mean to high jack but has anyone heard of there being a separate fuse for the factory towing wiring harness and if so where is it located. Trailer running lights not working and all wires have power, trailer is fine.

the tow tail fuse is in a small fuse block just behind the main fuse block under the hood, however, if all wires have power, no need to look for fuses,

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the help and it's not a fuse. But was curious about location. Thanks again fellas