The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - tail light oddity after on frame bed restore

hplacecf · 09-13-2013, 12:30 PM

Problems fixed!

Thanks to all that provided advice!

Write up below is for anyone else in the future who might have these issues.

I think the problems were caused by me taking things apart and painting them - inlcuding painting the frame and the stepside tail light housings.

(1)
What I think had originally been the main working 'ground' for the tail lights was the bottom of the bed up against the top of the unpainted frame - so there was metal to metal contact. I could not find any other ground connecting bed to frame.

So, once I painted the frame I lost that frame to bed 'ground' since there was no longer metal to metal contact - unless I moved the bed around and hit a sweet spot of metal to metal still left somewhere.

The fix for that was to add a bed to frame ground strap. That helped provide a main ground again and took care of the issue with one of the tail lights - but the other tail light was still not right.

(2)
What I think was an additional 'tail light ground' was where the one stepside tail light housing connected to the bed where there was paint worn away on both - so there was metal to metal contact.

So, once I painted the tail light housing and bed (where they connect), the one tail light must have been more sensitive 'ground wise' and the secondary ground was lost causing me odd issues with one tail light (even though the other tail light worked fine after adding the ground strap).

The fix for that was to add a ground wire from the metal plate inside the tail light housing (the one with issues) to the ground strap I had previously installed. Once I did that the tail light worked as it should.

So, in my case, I needed multiple grounds.

In addition to the tail lights now functioning as they should, they are brighter (in a good way). Thinking back, when I first got the truck (off of ebay, don't know the true history of the truck) I noticed the tail lights did not seem bright, though the head lights and front parkling lights were bright. Now I know it was the lack of a strong ground.

09-13-2013, 12:30 PM	#15
hplacecf Registered User Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: nj Posts: 83	Re: tail light oddity after on frame bed restore Problems fixed! Thanks to all that provided advice! Write up below is for anyone else in the future who might have these issues. I think the problems were caused by me taking things apart and painting them - inlcuding painting the frame and the stepside tail light housings. (1) What I think had originally been the main working 'ground' for the tail lights was the bottom of the bed up against the top of the unpainted frame - so there was metal to metal contact. I could not find any other ground connecting bed to frame. So, once I painted the frame I lost that frame to bed 'ground' since there was no longer metal to metal contact - unless I moved the bed around and hit a sweet spot of metal to metal still left somewhere. The fix for that was to add a bed to frame ground strap. That helped provide a main ground again and took care of the issue with one of the tail lights - but the other tail light was still not right. (2) What I think was an additional 'tail light ground' was where the one stepside tail light housing connected to the bed where there was paint worn away on both - so there was metal to metal contact. So, once I painted the tail light housing and bed (where they connect), the one tail light must have been more sensitive 'ground wise' and the secondary ground was lost causing me odd issues with one tail light (even though the other tail light worked fine after adding the ground strap). The fix for that was to add a ground wire from the metal plate inside the tail light housing (the one with issues) to the ground strap I had previously installed. Once I did that the tail light worked as it should. So, in my case, I needed multiple grounds. In addition to the tail lights now functioning as they should, they are brighter (in a good way). Thinking back, when I first got the truck (off of ebay, don't know the true history of the truck) I noticed the tail lights did not seem bright, though the head lights and front parkling lights were bright. Now I know it was the lack of a strong ground.