The temperature went to above zero today, so off to the Pick a Part. I am currently working on grill assembly, so one of the items on my list was to find dual filament sockets for the front park lights. I found '94 Dodge Dakota rear stop/turn are made of metal so I driled out the stock socket mounts and tack welded the Dakota sockets to the housing. I haven't tested them yet, waiting for paint to dry; but they are a natural fit. Should have them wired tomorow. Also pickd up pressure fit washers and mounted F-O-R-D lettering to grill.

Still in the midst of re-wiring; time consuming, soldering all connections and heat shrinking.

Later

Tom

 

Tom, sounds like you are doing what I have planned to do. I want to keep the orig. parking lights and install dual sockets. I have seen amber lense for sale and plan on using those. Glad to see someone else is using solder connection on a rewire. I have had trouble with the crimp on connectors too many times in the past to trust them on a complete rewire project. It takes a little longer but I think the results are better in the end. I plan to use terminal blocks in areas that are subject to removal to make that possible with out cutting wires or disconnecting long runs. Keep us posted on your project.

Gil

 

Hi Tom,

Sounds like you are moving right along. Can I offer a suggestion on your connections - you can take it or leave it.

I found with vibration and all, the sharp edges of soldered spliced would sometimes wear through the heat shrink and short.

What I did, was solder all the wire ends before I put them in crimp type connectors, and then heat shrinked over the connector for extra hold.

The connectors also allow you to have break points at critical places - if you need to ever replace a switch or something.

Have fun,

Julie

 

As a previous aircraft electrician we had excellent crimping tools when building wire bundles for aircraft. They would be expensive for the average builder. The crimpers having the different color handles, yellow(example) are not very good for anything except cutting small screws.
If you solder the wires first, the terminal can't be squeezed into the solder for a good enough grip. I have pulled the plastic terminal end off with longnose pliers, solder the wires in the terminal and then slid the plastic cover back over the terminal while still hot ,then when cool pulled a heat srink over the plastic covered terminal end. I also like terminal blocks having studed screws/nuts so you can use them for troubleshooting problems They were popular in military aircraft wiring (long ago). I would never just crimp wiring without soldering. Bad solder joints can also be problem. Many ways to skin a animal, to each his own. chuck $.02

 

All good inputs, but I can't agree with you on the presoldering of the wires to insert into crimp connectors. I found it provides a very good base to crimp into - much more so that just the stranded wire, it prevents over crimping and/or cutting into the wire when crimping.

I like your idea about soldering the connectors on as well.

To each there own I guess.

J!

PS With the number of Defense Industry Plant closures we have seen in the past 10 years, those crimping tools - along with many other types - are starting to show up at swap meets and car meets. I see them regularly. I already had all my own, but have bought a couple different varieties (for different types of applications) for about $10 to $15. And Chuck is right - the right crimping tool makes all the difference in the world!

 

Got the park lights back into the grill assembly. I'll post pics in a couple days. Using dual filament, amber colored 2057 bulbs.

I've been crimping, then soldering the bullet connectors to all my wiring; in case I need to disconnect in future. I then shrink over the completed connection.

Tom

 

Getting there with grill, just the bright metal to straighten and buff

 

looks good, I'm doing something similar, the taillights/front makers were pretty bad so I sanded the rust off, primer, then used chrome spray paint on the inside so it would reflect. On mine the sockets weren't welded in, just used some vice grips to pull them out and replaced with sockets I had from spare taillight assemblies for my montero.
Came out very nice.