tail and brake light problem

[grandpastruck]

Help, I have turn signals and headlights, but no reverse, brake or taillights. Meter says I have no signal to the reverse or tail/brake lights at the back or leaving the cab, so presumably not a ground problem (?)

TAILLIGHTS: There’s no power from the light switch to the tail lights. Does that mean the switch is bad—or does power for the taillights depend on a different circuit than the headlights?

When I took the light switch apart everything looked fine—but if I short the light switch connector from the red wire (power for the headlights) to the brown wire (tail/brake light) my tail lights go on.

Where does power for the taillights come from? Is there something I’m missing here?

REVERSE LIGHTS: I haven’t really started to try to figure this out but I do know that little half-moon connector is just hanging loose by the steering column. It’s not clear to me from the shop manual how/whether this should be connected. Perhaps I’m missing the back-up switch entirely? Would this make any difference as far as my brake and tail lights?