I went with a civilian harness but this advice still goes, regardless: do not reuse ANY of the old wiring, even if it looks brand new. Replace all of it.
Gary
Cal_Gary
1954 M37 W/W
MVPA Correspondent #28500
G741.org Forum member since 2004
Yeah I am sore today after breaking it all down and putting it back together but it couldn't be helped. Now I need to get a 7/16x24 NF stubby bolt for that troublesome spot!
Gary
Cal_Gary
1954 M37 W/W
MVPA Correspondent #28500
G741.org Forum member since 2004
I rewired my sled from scratch but I have done many harnesses before.
I like to lay them out on the ground and kind of " visualise" where everthing is going. I also like to "map out" in my mind the schematic and match that to the harness on the floor to the schematic.
Do you have the schematic?
I have one somwhere if you need it.
J.B.
I think there is a schematic in the paperwork they sent as well as a listing of all wires by number and what they are for. I will just start at the front and see how I end up at the back !!!
Make sure you have good gounds. Anyplace that goes to ground should have an internal/external toothed washer on it. This includes the marker lights and tail lights. Make sure the washers bite into the paint...then touch them up afterwords. MVs get really squirley if they don't have a good ground and it will drive you nuts trouble shooting it. Also anyplace that the wire goes through metal (body or frame) make sure that there is a rubber groument there to protect the wire. Lastly it is plug and play in that 22 goes to 22 etc. Follow the diagram they included and you should be good to go!
A couple of installation tips you may find useful.
Where ground wires are bolted or screwed to the body/frame use a spot type drill operated wire brush to remove the paint around the bolt hole for a clean band of steel about 3/16" wide. You can find the wire brushes anywhere sheet metal tools are found. http://www.usatco.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB? ... 66+M37+ENG
Get a large tube of dielectric grease and coat all ground connections during assembly and use the grease to seal them up. Use the grease inside all wire connectors as well.
Definitely slobber up those grounds with dielectric grease, and use the internal/external tooth washers. Petroleum jelly also works for goobering up grounds - but the dielectric grease is much better at forming a water-resistant coating. Also the petroleum eats latex, so can possibly do very bad things to connectors. And as my signature says ...
You can trust your mother, but you can't trust your ground.
I am doing a frame off. Should I run the wires before putting the cab and bed back on? Didnt know if I should leave all the wires hanging until I get to that point.
Sorry to cut in on your thread,
Thanks,
I would put the cab back on first - less chance of wires getting pinched during reassembly.
I also like to make a list of all the circuits in the truck, and then cross them off after I've routed the wire where it needs to go. Keeps my memory straight if the job takes more than a couple of days to accomplish. A handfull of wiring all begins to look the same after a while.
Wiring is easy if your joints are reasonably flexible (which mine aren't any more), One humorous tidbit for you, though. Make sure you aren't color blind! A friend of mine at my last overseas base tried to rewire his car, making up his own looms as he went. He soon discovered that he was color blind. For some reason, he never got the standard test during his induction physical and, being a paper shuffler, it wasn't an issue, so he was almost through his enlistment before he found out the hard way. Long story short, after hassling with it for a couple of weeks, he came to me or help. We tore it all back out,m and I rewired his car the right way.
Please note that military M series wiring for the most part uses black wire and ID'g circuits is by metal number tags. So if you are color blind you should do just fine unless someone has added some fancy electronics.