g741.org

Hello Gents ,
i have a B1 which of course has the Packhard connectors ,but the new harness i have [bought years ago ]is douglas ,so i decided to change over to all Douglas connectors ,all the tail and front lights for sale are Packhard connectors ,wondered why that is and if anyone knows where i can get lights with Douglas
Thankyou
Cheers
ausb1

You could buy the lights with the Packard connectors and change over to Douglas very easily since most new and NOS ones come not fitted with Douglas.

Here is some info on the change over subject posted previously here on the G741 forum. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6542

You can put Packard connectors in the locations you need them. You can make Douglass to Packard adapter cables. You can put Douglass connectors on the new items. Or you can expand your suppliers list and buy them with Douglass installed already.

or you can do like the previous owners did on my truck and just plug the two into each other, never mind that there is a metal shell which now has nothing to do so it just hangs out on the wire.

Wiring upkeep is one of my next projects

Thankyou Gents for the tips

Not to hijack the post but, ausb1 you made the comment that your B1 has Packard connectors. I have a 63B1 with Douglas connectors (metal). Which is the correct type of connector? It really doesn't matter to me just curious.

B1 is supposed to be Packard.

Well, there is yet another mystery for me to solve. The entire truck is douglas connectors. It is a B1 as it had the tire latch on the drivers door, wedges on the drivers side axles. Guess I will run what I have, way too expensive to swap everything out. What I have works well, no reason to change it out. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

MarkPick wrote:Well, there is yet another mystery for me to solve. The entire truck is douglas connectors. It is a B1 as it had the tire latch on the drivers door, wedges on the drivers side axles. Guess I will run what I have, way too expensive to swap everything out. What I have works well, no reason to change it out. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

The spare tire on the left side next to the driver's door is not a certain indicator of a B1 model. There was an MWO issued to convert existing first-generation G-741 trucks to the side mount spare, and although not all trucks were so modified, yours might have been one of them.

If you have your frame serial number (best to check that instead of relying on the glove box door plate), you can verify the production year here on g741.org: http://www.g741.org/ProductionDates.html. 1958 and later, it's a B1.

One other possibility is that the truck was re-wired using a first-generation harness, but that would have been a job to change over everything.

Thanks Elwood, Time to climb under the truck. Will let you know.

Mark

The number stamped on the frame starts off with 2668-0-XXXX. Yes I know I am short a number but that is all that was stamped on the truck. That makes it a 63B1. SO why then the douglas connectors? HUMMMMMMMM.

MarkPick wrote:The number stamped on the frame starts off with 2668-0-XXXX. Yes I know I am short a number but that is all that was stamped on the truck. That makes it a 63B1. SO why then the douglas connectors? HUMMMMMMMM.

I'd bet that the original harness was shot, and a previous owner got a very good deal on a surplus harness with Douglas connectors.

I would bet your right.

My truck is a B1 and some years ago got a complete New wire harness for $250.00 then[years later,stored it ] discovered it was Douglas connectors ,so decided to change everything over to Douglas ,i believe a new wire harness now is around $900 and up, VPW dont list prices on theirs, only ''CALL'' to find out ,i dont know who else makes them ,i think the company i bought mine from has now closed down .

I think vintage wiring of main still makes them, but yeah, somewhere around $850 now. For that price id be real tempted to just make my own, using the original as a pattern. There's only maybe 30 wires in the whole truck, if that.