taillight harness to full wiring harness?

[alden]

I received an order through Brothers after a long back-order issue (due to GM bankruptcy, not Brothers) with my full factory style wiring harness today. I had expected the harness kit to include the tail lamp wiring as well but it does not. I called the manufacture and they explained that this was separate due to the fleetside/stepside taillight differences; not a big deal as I already had one new wiring kit for the taillight and just needed to order a second one now. The issue that I've come across is that the rear lighting harness that came with the kit has wires that are simply cut off and the wiring that I got seperately for the taillights have no wires that do not have clips on both ends (again this was explained by the manufacturer as being standard since different people use different lights - though I can't confirm but do believe they make both the complete wiring kit and the separate one for my taillights). Am I getting jerked around or is this common?

What would the most common avenue be to connect the wiring in the most factory like fashion?

Here is what I'm talking about. The top black/white harness is for a single taillight (and I believe possibly has an extension for the license plate lighting). The bottom (brown/yellow/green/light green) is what was sent today as part of the whole harness kit, labeled "rear body light harness" (second picture shows the lack of connectors better).




Any thoughts? Thanks!

-Alden

[MrSinister]

this link might help with the wiring http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...df/55truck.pdf the stock rear wiring used the black and white wires to the tail/ brakelights, turnsignals were an option the other harness looks like and upgrade to a newer style chevy wiring style with the brown being tail the lighter green right turn yellow is left turn and other green is backup light. as far as factory look you can get the proper packard 56 connectors from waytekwire.com and another taillight harness would also be needed (black and white wires) hope this helps

[OrrieG]

Sounds pretty typical of what I found. There is a big difference in what is supplied by the different wiring kit manufacturers. I finally went with a EZ Wire 21 circuit kit knowing that I will need to make a lot of the final connections. Other kits came with connections made but it looked like I would need to change a lot of them anyway for franken-truck. They also came with stuff I did not need and could not get credit for deleting, like ignition switch, dimmer switch, light switch, etc. When you call EZ wire the guy that owns the company and designs, and my even build, the harnesses answers the phone. Product looks good. we will see soon how much work it really is.

I looked at the "original" replacement harnesses, but even with upgrades did not address all the extras or changes I have made, like adding a winch, trailer connections, big backup lights, cargo light, moving all the lightingand ignition functions to the steering column, adding ac, on and on.

[rhodog77]

orrieG, what did you think of the ez 21 circuit kit. I am looking to purchase this kit. Like you, Im not sure I need all the circuits in the 21 kit but definitly need more than the basic 12. Any advice on the 21 kit would be appreciated. Would you recommend or not?????

thanks
br

[OrrieG]

Quality looks good but it is still in the box. Instructions are pretty comprehensive and when I called with questions after I went through the instructions a couple of times I got the owner. He had answers right off the top of his head, added some information and told be to call back when I got to stuff not specifically covered in the instructions like the winch, trailer, additional driving lights front and back, etc. and he could give me some more stuff. I got the biggest kit because the price difference was like $30 for the extra 6-8 circuits.

Contrary to what I have seen stated on line the wiring is EZ Wiring is NOT all one size, it is sized to the load and distance for each circuit. It follows most of the GM standard wiring colors and is clearly labled. It is more bare bones than American Auto Wire and the other more expensive kits but I did not need all the extra stuff and they would not remove it from the kit and reduce the price. I'm comfortable making up my end connections, in the 70's I rewired the truck the first time using a buick fuse box and my own wire, back than aftermarket stuff was not available. That effort is old and brittle and I did not want to burn up 3 years of hard work to save a few bucks and a couple of days time.

I would also recommend going here: http://alanhorvath.com/54chevy/index.php# and read everything about his rewiring job. Also go to the Mad Wiring site he links to.

[alden]

Originally Posted by MrSinister

this link might help with the wiring http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...df/55truck.pdf the stock rear wiring used the black and white wires to the tail/ brakelights, turnsignals were an option the other harness looks like and upgrade to a newer style chevy wiring style with the brown being tail the lighter green right turn yellow is left turn and other green is backup light. as far as factory look you can get the proper packard 56 connectors from waytekwire.com and another taillight harness would also be needed (black and white wires) hope this helps

Is there a requirement for the black/white to be connected in any specific order? i.e. does the black go to the brake or turn signal, or does it not matter since it's all just creating a circuit?

[alden]

sorry a followup question. I still haven't gotten around to working on this thanks to having a deck to build, but I'm getting close. The Brown/Green/Light Green/Yellow harness that goes from the cab back in the truck currently has a protective black covering, but the new wire doesn't. Is this something I can purchase elsewhere and put on the wire?

Thanks!
-Alden

[OrrieG]

Google "auto wire loom"; many varietys, materials and colors! The corrugated stuff looks cool but is a pain to clean after a while. I'm leaning towards the spiral stuff myself or straight split since most of it is going to be hidden. You can also get original impregnated cloth but I have heard its a pain to work with. Go look at Alan Horvarth's web page on his electrical he has some good tips, to many to repeat here.