Add me to the ground wire crew. LOL. (Long post)

[REDROCKER652002]

My son's 69 brake lights started acting up. Both blinking, then not blinking. Right rear only, then front. Weird random stuff. Checked the power to the rear bulbs cause that seemed to be where the issues were mostly. Had good power to the connections in the bulb plug. Power would fluctuate when the blinkers were on. Tried switching the bulbs, nope. Checked the connections in the back and realized I had no ground on any of the harnesses in the back. HMMM. I know these things ground to the bed, but I also know I don't have a ground strap from the frame to the bed. So I get up early the next morning, I want my son to figure it out, but it is killing me that it isn't working. I take two alligator clips, run each off the stud to the tail light housing and clip it to the tail pipe as I know that is a good ground. I used it while I was testing the connections. And bam!!!!!!!! All lights functioning as they should. I did a little happy dance in the driveway, but then put everything away and waited for my son to get up and get to working. He asked if I wanted to help, and of course I said yes. He had bought new bulbs, so I let him try them. I told him to check the power to each of the spots where the bulb hit in the housing, good power. I told him, maybe look at the wires underneath and see what you can see. Nothing frayed or bare. Hmmm I tell him. What do you think? He said, well dad, I did notice there is no ground wires coming from any of the wiring to the back. I said, well OK, what do you think? So, he goes and gets the clips, basically does the same thing I did earlier and bam, there we are. LOL. I congratulate him for figuring it out and we proceed to wire up a ground for the tail lights.

I tell him, OK. So, we know the cab ground wire has been cut, so maybe next weekend will be a good time to redo that and maybe run a ground from the bed to the frame just in case? He says, sure.

He had bought carpet and sound deadener from LMC, so he asks, Can we try and put that in too since we have time? I said, ABSOLUTLEY!!!!!! So we go about getting that put in. Not an easy or clean job, but we got the deadener, the padding and the carpet laid in, just need to put some adhesive on it and cut the holes for the bolts and seatbelts. As a side note, the carpet from LMC is a bit narrow and we are going to have to get a bit creative so that the silver of the padding does not show, but we will work that out. I am thinking it will stretch a bit once it gets warm and lays flat on the floor. He took the time to sand some of the rust out of the floor and painted it just to give it a bit of protection. So, that was good.

Started the day at about 10AM and did not get done until after 5. It was a great day and that is why we bought the truck, to spend some much needed time together.

Sorry for the long post, but this is one happy papa for sure.

Be safe all. RR

[Willys_MB]

Very cool! I'm so happy for you and your son! This sounds just like how I got into cars - my dad bought an old WWII jeep and we started tinkering and then after I moved out and started my own family I needed a project, so I bought my truck.

I'm still learning every day that I get to work on it, but because of all the time we spent rebuilding that old '41, I still call dad with questions! Now I just have to convince my wife to let me get another truck to share with my kids!

[REDROCKER652002]

Originally Posted by Willys_MB

Very cool! I'm so happy for you and your son! This sounds just like how I got into cars - my dad bought an old WWII jeep and we started tinkering and then after I moved out and started my own family I needed a project, so I bought my truck.

I'm still learning every day that I get to work on it, but because of all the time we spent rebuilding that old '41, I still call dad with questions! Now I just have to convince my wife to let me get another truck to share with my kids!

LOL. Good luck, I have been trying to convince my wife to let me have one of my own.

My first project was a 65 Galaxie 500, it was my mom's and I was in High School. My dad and I worked on it and got it going. It was a beast, but fun as hell to drive, nothing could hurt it.

I don't have dad anymore, he passed about 12 years ago, damn cancer. But I am sure he is watching this and laughing his butt off as my son is so much like me when I was his age. All in all, a great experience that I hope my son will look back on like I do when I was doing it with my dad.

Good luck on your projects, be safe out there.

RR

[cj847]

Great story. It is amazing how many problems are solved by a ground wire on old vehicles.

On the carpet:
-lay it out in the sun to get it ready to lay
-I personally wouldn't use adhesive. You want to be able to remove it.
-For the holes, Use a screwdriver, rebar, or pipe heated with a propane torch. It melts the surrounding area making a nice clean hole, and no stray "hairs" to fudge up your threads.

[REDROCKER652002]

Originally Posted by cj847

Great story. It is amazing how many problems are solved by a ground wire on old vehicles.

On the carpet:
-lay it out in the sun to get it ready to lay
-I personally wouldn't use adhesive. You want to be able to remove it.
-For the holes, Use a screwdriver, rebar, or pipe heated with a propane torch. It melts the surrounding area making a nice clean hole, and no stray "hairs" to fudge up your threads.

Thank you for the info. I told him the same thing, if we need to fudge with it, and it is glued down, we will never get to move it. LOL.

He is at work, but I might see what I can do just because I am bored.

Thanks to all who looked and replied. Be safe out there