1958 Apache temp brake lights question

[RostaRob]

Hello...hoping I can get a little Christmas present in the form of some info/help. I removed and sold the stepside bed for my truck (already have a Fleetside to replace it with...no wiring from brakes). I purchased two signal indicators from O'Riellys to bolt to the rear frame so I can drive it to and from a local weld shop. So my question is did I purchase the wrong signal/brake lights? The purchased lights have a red and a black wire while the wires coming to the back of the truck are brown, green and yellow. Assuming the black is the Ground I'm not sure how the other wires tie in to the remaining Red wire of the new lights. Make sense? I'll try to attach a photo of the wiring. Any help would be appreciated so I can take my truck out over the next few days without having to resort to hand signals....not that most people on the road would even recognize what they meant...haha....and it's freezing right now.

[Speedbumpauto]

IIRC, the brown wire is tail lights.(appears you won't use that in your temp solution) The green is L turn and the yellow is R turn. Those two wires will hook up, one each, to the red wire of each light and the black from your light will go to a good chassis(frame) ground. Could be wrong about the colors but not the procedure. Can be operationally checked with a test light on the vehicle.

[RostaRob]

Thanks Speedbump...I'll try this and reply back if it worked. No brake lights will work with this style of temp light? Am I missing a wire and bought the wrong kind? IIRC(??).

[Speedbumpauto]

Brake lights may work depending on your turn signal indicator. You just won't have tail lights. You would need a dual filament bulb(1157) socket and three wires for that. Your brake/signal lights may not be as bright but it should work for a temp fix during the daytime.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by RostaRob

Thanks Speedbump...I'll try this and reply back if it worked. No brake lights will work with this style of temp light? Am I missing a wire and bought the wrong kind? IIRC(??).

there are two possibilities, first:

the temp light you bought has a dual filament bulb and the two wires are 1. park and 2. stop/turn. in that case the temp light has to be attached firmly to sheetmetal or the frame to ground as the "third wire".

second:

the temp light is a single filament bulb for only park OR stop/turn operation. in that case the two wires are 1. stop/turn and 2. the ground wire that gets attached to the frame/sheetmetal.

the way to find out is to open the light and look at the bulb/socket. if it has two filaments, or the socket/bulb bottom has two contacts, it is a dual filament and is the first type. if it only has one filament/contact, it is the second type.

if you have the second type and need a park light (I doubt you will be driving it there at night) you will need a second set of temp lights.

[mr48chev]

Post the part number for the lights and someone can figure out what they are.

I'd say Speedbumpauto is correct on the color coding of the wires GM has used that on everything since around 1955.

If the truck has the stock turn signal switch in place and working the brake should work along with the turn lights. If they worked with single tail lights with the stepside you are good to go.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

If the truck has the stock turn signal switch in place and working the brake should work along with the turn lights. If they worked with single tail lights with the stepside you are good to go.

no if's about it, there is only the stop/turn and park wires in his picture, brown yellow and green. that truck was made to have combined stop/turn.

[mr48chev]

I have to stop and think out the Green/yellow every time I work on lights. I've got to rewire the back end of my dualie real soon as in should have done it last year and I should be well versed in color codes for stop, turn and tail lights along with clearance lights when that project is done.
I've been buying the multi strand trailer wire to run my stop, tail and turn lights with lately. It keeps things pretty neat and orderly.

[RostaRob]

Thank you all for the responses. I got it figured out by using the license plate light as a test light. The brown wire is for the parking/brake lights, the yellow wire is for the drivers side indicator and the green wire was for the passenger side. What threw me off was the most simplest thing...the temp light Ground was the through bolt...not a wire...where as the permanent lights on the truck bed have their own Ground wire. All good and ready to be driven. Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

[_Ogre]

brown wire is for the parking/brake lights

one thing that is hard to grasp when wiring the stop/turn/tail lights is that your brake lights are your turn signals
7 wires come out of the turn signal switch on most vehicles (no haz blinker on old stuff)
3 hot wires feeding it, brake light switch, turn indicator blinker and hazard blinker
4 wires going to each corner of the truck for turn indicator/brake light bulbs
green is RR turn/brake, yellow is LR turn brake

tail lights are powered from the headlight switch thru the brown wire