1965 chevy step c10 / new repro tail lights - help ?

[Woogeroo]

1965 Chevrolet stepside C10 lwb

I installed new reproduction '1960's' tail lights on Sunday - March 6th, 2005.

As of then everything blinked on and off like it should, at least I thought so.. when Iw as done I did a check with everything on... so either I missed something then or something else has broken.



There are two elements inside the bulb, a long one and a short one. One is the running light/brake light element and the other is the blinker... I think. If I'm wrong correct me...



Here is the breakdown of what is and is not happening:


Lights off / Ignition On / Engine Not Running

with the driver side blinker turned on

Short element in the bulb blinks

--

with the passenger side blinker turned on

Long element in the bulb blinks


-------------


Lights on / Ignition on / Engine Not Running

Both Sides long element on

--

with the driver side blinker turned on

Long element in bulb stays on / short element blinks

Note: passenger side long element goes off

--

with the passenger side blinker turned on

Long element dims, stays on. short element does nothing


-------------


So the fact that the short element blinks on the driver side and the short element does not do anything on the passenger side makes me suspicious.

The thing is, I wired it up(I thought) the way the other lights were wired up... but the other lights(Jeep-Jeep looking boat trailer looking lights with a reverse light in it) had 3 wires to each light.

I did ponder if maybe the new bulb was blown or something - so I swapped the bulbs back and forth - checked it all again, same result.

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks,

-W

[60-66 Nut]

Woogeroo, you're right, the short(bright) element is the turn-brake element and the long element is for the tail lights. Sounds like it could be a poor ground on the right light.

60-66 Nut

[Demmit_Hemmit's 65]

I'd Have To Agree With 60-66 Nut........................sounds Like A Ground To Me......................had ThE Same Problem With My Burb After I Got It Painted.....................removed Some Paint Around The Inside Of The Taillight And Grounded It There.....................good Luck And Let Us Know........................

[Woogeroo]

Okie dokie... it is/was a bad ground.

I took a piece of wire I have with two alligator clips on it and clipped one end to the chain holder where it is good and rusty and the other to the base that holds the bulb - flash city!

So I took it all apart and cleaned it with electronic cleaner - the kind they use on computer computers - the bolts where it mounted to the bed, everything, bolted it back up - ta-da.

I am still thinking about runnin' a actual ground wire to the light, but still pondering the best method of doing so.

Thanks everyone.

-W

[60-66 Nut]

That's great Woog, glad that's all it was. If you do run a ground wire, you might want to make sure and go from one of the mounting studs on the light down to the frame. I've seen lot's of grounding problems with the wood floor beds on these old trucks, especially when the wood rots away and a steel floor is layed over it. Later.

60-66 Nut