Okay I just got back from having a look and comparing the diagrams. I could make much sense of it so I'm just going to write what I saw.

There are four wires coming from the tree mounted signal switcher (lever). They are red, black, yellow, and green wire. The Green wire connects with a white and yellow wire and all bundled up and taped together. The yellow connects with a black and red wire all bundled up. The Black wire is the wire (previously mentioned) connected with the yellow and the other red. And the red wire is just hanging there. Would this red wire be the key or must I scrap the whole thing and go from the ground up?

There are two white wires just dangling from the flasher which look like they were connected or something but the flasher is not even wired directly to the lever on the tree.

Thanks for your help!

 

You all aren't going to believe this! I connected the white wires from the flasher to the red wire that was disconnected and the turn signals work! I can't believe it!

I don't think it has front flashers though?

 

Dude, ever do any plumbing? electrical work is just like pumbing, the wires are the pipes, the switches are the valves, the devices etc are the sprinklers, water wheels, etc that use the electricity (water) running thru them to do work. The main power lead is the water main, the ground is the drain back to the lake. The water needs a complete path from the main supply thru the device and back to the lake (battery ground terminal). First thing you need to do is identify what size and type main service you are working with (6V or 12V) and which side is the drain connection (+ground or -ground), that there is water in the lake (battery is charged), and that the main line and drain are connected to the lake (battery has cables one on each terminal), one cable will be bolted directly to the chassis, that one is the ground. It should have a + or - marking on the battery next to each terminal). If the + terminal is connected to the chassis, then you have a positive ground system and likely a 6V battery. Ford used 6V + grnd in his trucks until 1956. A lot of the pre 56 trucks have been converted to the more modern 12V negative ground, so the truck year is not a guarantee of the system unless you have a 56 and up year truck.
To sucessfully do electrical work troubleshooting you really need two inexpensive test tools that are available at your local auto parts stores and many DIY and hardware stores and stores like Radio Shack, just be sure they are meant for use on 12V not house current. The first is a continuity tester. It is likely to look like an ice pick with a light bulb in the handle and a wire with a clip or metal probe attached to it. The continuity tester will also require a penlight battery to be inserted into it. It is used to determine if a pipe (wire) does not have a break or bad connection and there is a continuous path from one point to another. It is used without any other power connected the system (remove the ground cable from the battery when using the continuity tester). To test that the tester is working touch the probe on the end of the wire to the shaft of the ice pick part. The light in the handle should light indicating electricity can flow thru the tester. To test a wire: touch the bare conductor at one end of the wire with the point of the pick and the other end of the wire with the clip or probe at the end of the wire attached to the tester. If the wire is good, the light will light. If the wire is broken the light will not light. It is possible to determine where a wire is broken by pushing the point of the pick thru the insultion until it touches the conductor inside near the end where the wire lead is attached. If the light lights continue to do a similar stick and see if the light goes on until you find where the light will no longer light. The break is between the last test point and this one. A switch can be tested in a similar manner to either see if it is working, and/or to see which is the on and which is the off position. Touch the terter lead to one switch terminal the probe to the other. Observe the light. Now flip the switch. If the light lights in the one switch position and not in the other, you know the switch works, and which is the off and on positions. If there is more than 2 terminal and or more than 2 switch positions you'll need to test all the different terminal combinations and switch positions to see what happens.
The other tester needed is a voltage tester. It may look very similar to the continuity tester except it will not require a battery to operate. The voltage tester is used to verify that power is present, so the vehicle battery needs to be connected. To use the voltage tester you clip the clip on the end of the wire to a clean metal part of the vehicle near to where you are testing and touch the probe to the wire/terminal/device where you want to determine if power is present. If it is the light will light. try switching a controlling switch such as the ignition or device switch to see if it turns the power on if you first determne no power is present. The voltage tester is often used to look for a wire that always has power or one that only has power when the ignition switch is on to make accessory device connections.
Once you have one of each tester and familiarize yourself with their use, I'll talk about how to use them to wire up your turn signals.
Depending on year, you might not have front turn indicators. Check the front parking light bulbs. Do they have two distinct filaments and two terminals on the bottom of the bulb? Does the socket have two wires leading to it? If any of the answers was no, you do not have front turn signal capability at the present moment. It is possible to change the socket and bulb to a dual filament type and wire the brighter filament into the turn signal circuits.

 

If your truck doesn't have an extra set of lights in the front I doubt the truck ever front turn signals. If you have the two lights in the upper grill bar pull them out and do as AX says, look to see if they have two filaments. Look at the back of the light socket, there's probably only on wire going into it. Trucks of your vintage only came with the parking likes in the front and one taillight/brake light on the left rear. There were dealer options for additional lights but most original trucks I have seen either had the basic light system. Most trucks were later fitted with extra lights in the front and back.

From your description of the wiring system I would yank the entire mess and rewire from scratch or better yet, buy a new aftermarket wire harness. I would stay away from a reproduction harness unless you're going for show judging. The stock type of harness is made of the original type clothe insulated wire and won't last long. I wire my panel from front to back from scratch but I do industrial wiring for a living so it wasn't that hard. I also have an assortment of gages and colors of wire. If you're a novice at wiring the aftermarket harness are the way to go. Do a search of the forum and you'll find many posts on the subject.

 

This is a great thread for me as a novice onlooker! Thanks for all the good info.

Eric

 

Absolutely!

 

man that rats nest is almost as bad as my 53's !!! that's why mine is parked pretty much . when i pulled the heads and intake ( the alternator went nuts too and had to be looked at again ) i intentionally YANKED IT HARD AND CUT the wiring up so i had to fix it right by rewiring instead of just keep patching to drive her !!!!!!!!!

 

Yes wiring is one of those "mysterious" things to so many people, but it's not really difficult once you understand just a few basics of how things work, and how to test circuits. I too agree it would be best to rip all that out and start over with wiring that's neat, color coded, and easy to follow if trouble shooting is every necessary. It's also good to have a modern system of 12V - ground and a fuse panel with expandability. Sooner or later you're going to want to add some electrical acessories. I too inherited the same type of rats nest under the dash (see my making changes gallery) and there was even evidence of a under dash fire at one time.
I'll continue this topic if others are interested and have questions they'd like answered. Maybe Julie will add some more, she's the wiring guru around these parts, especially on Bonus Builts.

 

Axracer: I was taught to disconnect the vehicle's negative and positive conections when doing continuity testing. With the vehicle's positive battery lead attached, a novice can accidently provide a ground through loose wiring in a metal envirement and either cause a shock to himself, pop circuit breakers, arc wiring to metal or damage a ohm meter, should that be his tester for continuity testing. Some people, new to wiring may not know the possibilities. Please explain more in your next article. Good article!! chuck

 

Almost got me! If the battery is not grounded (or either terminal cable is off the battery for that matter), you cannot complete a circuit no matter what wires you touch or short. You have effectively shut off the "drain line" using our water analogy, so the water can't return to the "lake".

 

You are right. What I was taught sounded right. There is no return to ground. Thanks for clearing that up for me. chuck

 

yah, it sounded right to me too when I first read it and was about to correct myself until I took a minute to think about it.

 

Who me? Tee hee I do have to Go to work SOMETIME ya know.

Wiring is easy! It just looks difficult when you are undoing a rats nest that makes Phylis Dillers Hair look good.

AX hit the nail right on the head. It's exactly the same a plumbing except in certain environments it'll kill ya - not this one though.

Imagine each thing that uses electricity in your truck as a sink in your house. You have a faucet (supply), a drain, and an overflow. Lets say you want to wash those filthy hands of yours. That's gonna take some "work." So, you turn on the water, it flows in and down the drain just like it's supposed to. You seem to be getting enough water out of the faucet, a lot is coming out but really soft- it's not going to clean those hands. So you put a nozzle on the faucet and it makes the water squirt out harder - that help clean your hands much better.

Electricity is EXACTLY the same. When you have something that requires electricity to WORK, you have a supply (like the faucet) which starts at the battery, and a drain which is the ground. Now the amount of water that comes out of the faucet is constant. The AMOUNT of electricity is AMPERAGE. Just like it took a certain amount of water to wash your hands, it takes a certain amount of amperage to do the work that is required by whatever you are powering. The amount of work that is required (or more properly what is used) is WATTAGE. Now, you can have two gallons of water come out of the faucet in a large slow flow and it just isn't going to clean your hands. So you put the nozzle on it. That nozzle restricts the water and makes it shoot out harder - for the same amount. With electricity, the nozzle is RESISTANCE (measured in ohms). And what you did by installing the nozzle was make that same amount of water do more work by shooting out harder - more pressure - that pressure in electricity is called VOLTAGE. Amperage X Resistance = Voltage. So, that's the reason a 12 volt system is more efficient in your truck, because it's just like putting the nozzle on the faucet, it increases the pressure of the electricity, using the same amount and causes that same amount to do more work. If you reverse that statement, because it will do more work with the same amount of electricity, you need a lesser amount. IOW like washing your hands, if the pressure helps wash them better, you will use less water - right? Thus, with a constant wattage requirement, an increase in voltage will reduce the amperage requirement proportionally.

OK basic wiring - you are soldering in the pipes that carry the water and hooking up the drain pipes to and from the sink - just that simple.

OK now I'm sure I'll take a few shots for this, but I'm a big proponent of one wire at a time wiring. First it's simple - connect the dots. You can bundle it all into a harness when you are finished.

It's very simple if you just divide and conquer. You have three basic electrical systems on your truck - engine/ignition; lights; and, accessories.

You have switches (faucets) wires (pipes) fuse panel (the county water distribution center), a battery (the local lake), your ground wires (the drain and septic system). The water flows from the lake, through the county distribution system, through your main water shut off out at the meter, through the pipes in your house, to the faucet, gets turned on, does the work (washes those hands), goes out the drain to the septic leach field and eventually through the ground water back into the lake!

Electricity flows from the battery (lake) to the distribution system (starter solenoid batter post and fuse blocks) to the main switch (ignition switch) through the pipes (wires) to the faucet (heater switch) does the work (turns the blower motor) goes down the drain (out the ground wire, or imagine the entire truck metal being that leach field) then eventually back to the lake (battery).

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS WATER PUSHES, ELECTRICITY PULLS - THAT'S IT. Cut out the drain or the leach field, the water never gets pulled back to the lake.


So, in order to hook up the plumbing correctly, you plan out a "Flow diagram" - just as I verbally described it above. That is a wiring diagram. And if you run one wire at a time from point "A" to point "B" its effortless. All the wires are the right length, everything is hooked up, you know what color of wire goes from the water meter to the kitchen sink and what color goes to the bathroom sink, etc.

And, there are a number of great diagrams available here. I have one for 12 volt rewiring, and I've seen a couple more. With premade harnesses, you have instructions that tell you what color to plug into the kitchen sink and what color to plug into the bathroom sink.

Honestly, you got real REAL lucky with this fix. If you ever had to trouble hoot that system with a serious fault - like the infamous "my signals and tail lights don't work right" you'd be in trouble - not to mention the safety aspects of bad and sloppy wiring. Sloppiness like that usually accompanies poor quality in connections and insulation/protection.

If you decide to rewire, let us know and we can get you through it in a weekend!

Here is my rewire lighting diagram - Pretty colors, connect the dots - simple right?!?



PS

 

Axracer: This was still bugging me, so I looked in my old corporate aircraft maintenance manuals. We used nickle-cadmium (NICAD) batteries. The battery picture said it all. The battery box has a single plastic connector with both POS and NEG wires. The aircraft POS/NEG wires were in a single plastic ELCON quick disconnect. So when it said, disconnect the POS/NEG wires, it was because they were together and couldn't be disconnected seperately. I never needed to disconnect one wire (the why portion). It is good to learn something new, almost every day. Maybe it is just old age creeping in. This is such a great site and the people make it work for everyone. Thanks again, chuck

 

LOL! that's a good story. Misremembering or 1/2 memories I believe brings rise to a lot of the old wives tales. Not that there is anything wrong with disconnecting both sides of a battery before working on any electrical circuits, it was interesting that in your situation any other option wouldn't have been near as easy or practical.
One piece of advice I learned the hard way is to remove all metal jewelry before working around electrical components, no matter how simple a project. I was wiring up some accessory into my car, and had my hands up under the dashboard just routing wires when my metal watchband accidently shorted out the terminals on the back of a ammeter I had hung under the dash. The band became red hot almost instantly, giving me a very nasty burn around my wrist. I had an impression of the back side of a "twistoflex" band around my wrist for a number of years to remind me.