65 tail light problems

[Hillbilly Deluxe 65]

ok so i ordered all new wiring harnesses for the tail light all the woring from the firewall to the lights is brand new one light works flawlessly the other i just cant seem to get a ground, where or how are the tail light buckets grounded to the truck, i know its a ground problem b/c i can put alligator clips on the bucket and the other end on o bolt or somethin and it works fine

sooo any ideas???

[LILRED66]

One the back side of the tail light bucket, run a jumper wire or grounding strap to the adjacent frame rail or to the inside of the stake pocket at the tail light opening. I use a 6"-8" long wire with a crimp terminal on each end or a grounding strap (from your FLAPS), attached at both ends with small self-tapping screws. This is against my factory/stock approach, but I find it to be the best, fail-safe rememdy to the tail light grounding issues.

I hope this helps and good luck with your tail light issues.

[markeb01]

After years of various lighting issues on my previous rides, I take grounding one step further. It's pretty simple, but not appropriate for a pure stock restoration.

On the rear of the vehicle I run individual ground wires from each light bucket, including the license light to a central ground terminal mounted on the frame. From here, a separate 14 gauge ground wire is run to the front of the frame near the battery, and attaches to what I call the Primary Ground terminal. From here, individual ground wires connect to each front light bucket, and another wire runs to a ground post on the dashboard. The Primary Ground terminal is connected to the engine block with a full size battery cable. A second battery cable runs from the same bolt on the engine block to the negative post of the battery. It sounds like overkill, but it’s easy to do and eliminates random problems later. The more lighting and electronics installed, the more important the grounding becomes.