Length of Tail Light Crossover Harness

[Barry Maxwell]

I am in the process of ordering a complete wiring harness from Rhode Island Wiring for my '51 B3C.. Since their harness pattern does not include a right rear tail light, Mark at RI needs to know the approximte length of the crossover harness between the two lights that I have. I believe that my dual filament lights and brackets are relatively standard. Since my project is at the rolling chassis stage I have nothing to measure except the outside frame rail width (40"). Thus, I would appreciate if someone would measure the distance between the tail lights. Better yet, if someone has a RI harness with two lights, what length should I ask for. I assume that if I am to err, I should err on the high side. Thank you any help you can provide.

Barry

[Dave72dt]

Since a 1/2 ton box is 48" wide and a 1 ton, maybe some of the 3'4 tons as well is 54", that should give you some dimensions to work with.  Take into account where the connections to the taillights are made, under the box or outside and if they're going to tee the wires at the end of the frame rail or run from one tail light to the other.  Better yet, send them a diagram with dimensions and reference points marked out.

[Allan Parkhurst]

Barry I bought my harness from RI wiring and had them build in for right brake and turn single. From the left light they added two wires with 54" of tape and 4" of untapped wires. This was built into the harness as a complete unit. They did an excellent job. My truck was a B1B 108". Attached is from   knowledge section. Allan

http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/know/wiring_harness/B1_series_wiring_details.pdf

[Barry Maxwell]

Allan and Dave:

Thank you for your responses. I had forgotten about Dave Erb's excellent work from several years ago that is summarized in that link. I have a hard copy of his work that I dug out of my project folder. He also shows a 54" taped length of the cross harness, and 4-5" wire extensions beyond the tape.Thus, I will use 54" and assume that is enough to reach the right tail light. Both my rear lights and brackets are from VPW.

 

Another Question: A previous owner had the front signal lights mounted on top of the fenders behind the head lights. I can go with that if I have to, but I would rather not. Therefore, how do you and others convert the single wire/filamant front parking lights to two wire/dual filament lights? Obviously, I must be missing something. That is often the case with me but I plow ahead anyway. Thanks again for your help.

[Merle Coggins]

This is how I converted my front parking lamps into dual filament park/turn lamps. Granted your's will be slightly different being a B3 vrs. my B2, but the principal remains the same.

 

I found these sockets at a local parts store. (I believe it was a Checker, which is now O'Reilly)

 

I then figured out how to remove the sockets from my lamp housings. All it took was to heat them up and tap them out. They were just soldered in.

 

Then I just soldered the new one in place and painted it all up nice.

 

My next problem was that my lenses are clear glass and I couldn't find amber bulbs in 6 volt. So I got some amber LED replacement bulbs from superbrightleds.com. And since I made all of my harnesses, I just added the wires for the front turn signals as I assembled everything. Maybe RI wire can add your front signal wires too. The only problems comes in the fact that the parking lamp wire connects to the junction strips along side the radiator. There are only 3 terminals on those strips. 2 for the headlamps and 1 for the parking lamp. When I wired up mine I used the 3 terminals for the headlamps (Hi beam, lo beam, and ground) and added a couple of small connectors for the parking/turn signal lamps.

 

Merle

[Barry Maxwell]

Thank you Merle. I dug into my Restoration Supply catalog and found a double contact light socket that will snap in and hopefully solve my problem. Then, I assume that RI Wiring can add a fourth wire to the headlight crossover harness for right and left turn. I also assume that they will add two wires to their dimmer switch to headlight terminal block harness that will handle both the park and turn functions of my parking lights. If all this works as I hope - problem solved!! Thank you again. You and many others on this forum have always been very helpful.

Barry

[52b3b Joe]

Thank you Merle. I dug into my Restoration Supply catalog and found a double contact light socket that will snap in and hopefully solve my problem. Then, I assume that RI Wiring can add a fourth wire to the headlight crossover harness for right and left turn. I also assume that they will add two wires to their dimmer switch to headlight terminal block harness that will handle both the park and turn functions of my parking lights. If all this works as I hope - problem solved!! Thank you again. You and many others on this forum have always been very helpful.

Barry

 

RI will add them as a bullet style connector to plug in next to each of the headlight wire blocks. I have a RI harness with the added passenger side tail light and added turn directionals. As for adding the dual filament socket, just go to a local parts store and pick a couple up. Its a simple, fast and I thought a fun project bead blasting and repainting the housings along with putting the new socket in. It took me one evening to complete. The RI harness is great and you won't have any regrets. I have mine 90% installed with only wiring in the turn signal switch remaining.