As I am getting close to finishing up the clean up of the interior of my cab I want to start look at re wiring. I have the wiring diagrams and they look pretty straightforward. I was thinking of ordering the proper color coded cloth covered wire by the foot. I am not clear what the correct gauge is for wiring. I am running 6v now and don’t necessarily plan to switch to 12v but you never know so I would like to use the correct gauge wire out of the gate.

i understand that the battery cables are clearly unique as are perhaps some of the other components fed off the battery and ground wires. I can sort those out one by one if I have to but for the general under dash and under hood wiring what gauge should I purchase?

Alternatively, are there reasonably priced kits for these trucks?. $1k is above the budget. I can see ending up spending several hundred dollars on just raw wiring so a simple pre wired harness that people have had good luck with would be good to know about. 6v of course which I think limits things.

Any general advice appreciated. I actually am having my Camaro getting fully rewired by someone else right now because I was too intimidated with the complexity of it and having it be neatly done. Electronic ignition, fuel injection, AC and other stuff integrated into a 45 year old wiring harness along with years of making a mess under the dash turned it into a fire hazard and was clearly beyond my ability to get right. This looks a lot more manageable. ‘55

Thanks!

 

Midfifty sold original style wiring harness with rubber insulation with correct color cloth cover. They are closed now but I'm sure others sell the same thing, like Chuck's Trucks, Carpenter, or Midwest Early Ford.

Is your original wiring still in place? If so, then replacing wiring will be a cinch. Simply remove several of original then put in the bed and so on. I used other wire for the tail lights and rear turn signals since no one sees them.

 

Mid West Early Ford purports to have original style cloth wiring harnesses. It would be best to give them a call at 937-325-2408 as their catalog and website does not list everything in this regard.

 

I recommend buying original style harness. When I did mine I found you buy the dash harness and charging harness and headlight crossover and chassis harness separately.
As Abe said, they're very easy to change out and are more than adequate for 12V if you go that way.

 

A harness is in the truck. It is a mix of original and replacement wiring from what I can tell but it is rough in a lot of places.

Are you saying it should be easy to just re wire what I have following the original harness or do you mean easy to pop a pre-made wiring harness in? Sorry for not understanding what you wrote.

 

whatever you do, make sure to add a fusebox.

 

The stock wiring has 15A and 30A circuit breakers that offer reasonable protection. If anything, I would be recommending a battery disconnect.

 

That was my fault! Sorry. I usually proofread after I post. Didn't that time. What I meant was to tear out a few feet of the old harness then put in the new harness. It is sort of like following a road map.

 

Brillman makes the harnesses sold by everyone else. You can get individual circuits/harnesses or a whole kit.

example:
https://brillman.com/product/ford-tr...-wire-harness/

Also get yourself the wiring diagram.

For your 1955:
https://classiccarwiring.com/product...wiring-diagram

 

What the guys are saying is good advise. That Diagram is a must and study it. I do one circuit at a time. A fuse panel is better than those smoke pots. They are good but weaken over time. The more they pop the weaker they get. Just my personal experience. Be sure to use terminals and heat shrink. It’s not original but I never use tape any more I use convoluted tubing. It protects the wiring from the elements. AJ

 

The breakers in my 54 work just fine. And my 54 is not a barn find. It was licensed and registered and inspected every year since new. So it has been used and used hard.

 

mine was trash and I gutted it. used an EZ wire kit

here's an article I did that might give you some ideas... it's certainly not a 'how to'

john

https://jniolon.classicpickup.com/wiring/wiring.htm

 

If you size your wires for 6 volt, the wiring would be adequate for any future change to 12 volt. 6 volt takes more amperage, so it uses larger wires. 12 volt doesn't use as much amperage. So the bigger wires work for both.

 

Thanks all.

I am still not clear what gauge wires I should be using. Chuck says he has all the harnesses available. I have to download his catalogue and go through it.

I am trying to avoid spending $1k on a harness. That brill man harness is $800 and I dint see one for my truck on their site. I will call at some point but will most likely go with what Chuck has even if it has some mark up on it. Important to support a business that has broad product availability for our trucks and someone who is so willing to provide direct product support.

I will get in there and start looking closely in the next couple of weeks. Right now I am knocked out by whatever illness is circulating here in MA. It's been a week and I am just starting to get in a real upswing. We had about 15% of our company out today sick.

 

Could you get all the diagrams and build a harness from scratch?
Or do you not have the patience/not trust yourself to do it.
Building a wiring harness is like rebuilding an automatic trans, it looks like your climbing mount Everest until you start then it is an anthill.