I would really like to get one of those centech or painless wiring kits. I really don't want to spend $600 or so on one.
After looking up under my truck's rear bumper/frame trying to trace down a problem with my right brake light, I decided I would like to improve on the existing wiring.
So, my thought was to start replacing wiring starting at the rear and working forward (of course it's under the dash where the fun would begin).
My questions:
What gauge for the most part would the wiring going to the rear end be?
Is there a source for factory wiring colors - Black-red stripe, Yellow-black stripe and the other non solid color wires?
Also any good sources for replacing the rear light assemblies on my flare-side?
I have found them at NPD. LMC seems to be cheaper, but don't know about the quality. Would be nice to find NOS replacements.
And from a wiring perspective the $2xx kit from Rebel Wiring (Rebel Wire 16 Circuit Wiring Harness) sure looks appealing.
If Orich is reading this, this post might answer the question of where I am going next with the old truck. Not sure I should be looking at this area considering I need so much body work, but my wiring is in pretty sad shape. Butchered would be a better word.

 

Hmm well, I'd say the old beast will keep running when in need of body work Right.

But the wiring could may be short or cause you to be stuck with out lights or worse a fire. Since ford dropped the ball dreaming up some parts, like connecting in the #18ga. dash brake warning light wire into a 20amp main fuse.

This was what almost caused my truck to become toast.

Ash yourself what is the most important between the two body or wiring.

orich

 

I would guess the factory only used 16 or 18 ga wire. With the size of the load the factory figured on, that is plenty large enough.

There are only FOUR wires to the back of the truck. Replacing them is not a big project. I would find the four pin connector up near the firewall and start new there.

Left Brake
Right brake
Running lights
Backup lights

Once you have them run to the rear, operate each individually and then solder them to the correct bulb lead. That is as long as they operate correctly from the cab. If you have issues with the turn signal switch or such then they will never work right even with new wire to them.

 

Had been working fine. Pretty sure some of the PO's twisted, crimped connections are failing. That right-hand tail light is pretty beat up as well.
Will be starting out simply by correcting/repairing that "simple" wiring run to the back end.
Would liked to have found the correct color coding to match up with the factory.

 

Just a couple tips/tricks.

I really like using trailer plugs and standard trailer wiring colors for lights. For the back of the truck a basic trailer wiring kit works very well. It gives you an easy reliable and standard plug or two for removing the bed, standard colors, etc. I tend to do the same thing in many other places also with other of the 10 standard plugs. For example up front and under the dash also, using a 4 flat for turn/driving and a 4 round for headlights.

Error on the large side on the wire. It doesn't hurt anything but your wallet to use a 10ga were a 16 would be fine.

 

Finding correct wiring with correct tracers is likely a bit much for what you are doing. Not that it can't be done with some Google searches and looking for that kind of wire. Getting just short pieces will probably be the catch. Unless you plan on wiring 10 trucks it will probably be cost prohibitive.

 

The cheapest way out, I would think is getting some matched colored wire at the jy. Then solder it into rear wiring to clean it up. Plus add a trailer plug as noted above so you'll not have to mess with the rear wiring again.

orich

 

JY = refresh my memory.
I did find this company on-line and have put in request for wiring to match my existing color code. Will see what happens.
http://www.narragansettreproductions...Supplies11.pdf
Their min order (25 feet) should be enough to easily take care of my requirements.

 

JY= junkyard

(closest thing I could think of)

 

Closest pick-and-pull is 70 miles away. Closest auto salvage yard is 30 miles away and they don't allow people in their yard.
sucks in my part of texas.

 

If you are going to rewire the truck and have limited experience, your best bet would be a Painless (or equivalent) kit with enough circuits to handle your needs. That way you get proper fusing and proper gauge wires.
Rip everything out. Lay the fuse block and wiring out in the driveway and go to work. One circuit at a time. Check each one as you go.
It worked for me.

Semper Fi

 

Painless is not painless on the wallet as is the centech harness, which would probably be my preference.
Additionally, I was hoping to hold off on the complete rewiring until I have done the body work in the cab area (riipping everything out, replacing te dash). Just don't want to do it twice.
But as it stands, probably time to put the truck on stands again (to facilitate crawling around under it) and at least redo the assembly to the back. That one looks pretty easy on the wiring chart.

 

I did talk to the people at:
Contact Us - Narragansett Reproductions - Wiring Harnesses and car restoration supplies

They are sending me out the wire.
They do create wiring harnesses using factory style connectors and factory wiring schemes for our vehicles. The harness for under the dash and to the engine, I believe is about $600. They don't provide the fuse block.
Said they have been doing this stuff for about 20 years.
He will be sending me the instruction sheets for his under dash and frame harnesses for my review.
He also said he can do a thing where you send them your harness and they rebuild it.
There stuff might not be appealing to you guys who want extra stuff, but it has appeal to me since I am leaving mine primarily stock.

 

Finally spent some time with a printout of the rear wiring and a pen and figured out what I think is wrong. Going to work on it next week after I return from a trip to West Texas.
I can basically mimic the setup using three of those 4 plug flat trailer wiring connectors.
Plus, I should have my replacement right hand turn signal in then as well. It is pretty beat up.
AFter talking to the wiring guy at Narranganset, I started thinking about what I would be getting into if I pulled the assembly (ies) out from under the dash and tried to fix/clean it up some. Sounds like a tedious project and ripe for problems, but I might I actually get things working better.

 

1967 to 1972 Ford F100 F250 Wiring Harness for The Taillights 1971 | eBay
1967 to 1972 Ford F100 F250 Wiring Harness for Inside The Cab I Think Its A 1967 | eBay

I ran across these two items last week and offered the seller $10 each. No harm in low-bidding and if they were not what I needed, I might be able to at least use connectors.

Received them yesterday. Have not looked over the under dash harness real well, but the tail light wiring harness appears to be just what I needed based on the wiring diagram and my existing connectors (where they have not been cut off by a PO). Have a new right side tail light that was shipped with the appropriate connectors. So hopefully I can make some improvements this weekend.