jomichael,
* You're have received lots of input so far and probably more to come. some of us buy wiring harness and hope we end up w/ something that fits closely to our beloved trucks or vehicles.
* That being said you are in good hands by asking questions as clearly as possible. better stated querries result in better understood answers. NO queerie is stupid!
. ask away. some basic questions you have asked were covered in high school autoshop 101. to help this lesson along about grounding, many bolters have simple problems because they think all is well in boltville. most of our bolts origionally came w/ two single ground straps, one from the engine to the frame, the other from the battery to the frame, (not to confuse you some were grounded on the positive side of the battery) but we're NOT doing that here! old vehicles were grounded together because everything was metal. those problems bolters have is becaues may times the lack of a GOOD ground causes them. so real headaches for many. a good ground means that the painted surface must be scraped away down to bare metal on the cab, bed, gas tank, main truck frame, radiator frame, engine and/or cab. however you wish to look at this. if you do a ground up restoration it's always nice to ground everything I've listed for electrical reasons cause everything has a fresh coat of paint on it.
* Blinkers, tail lights and headlights are dim or don't work because of poor grounds. SO if when putting your harness in pay attention to well groundede wires.
* some tricks can help, i like to use a serrarted lock washer against the body and the wire's solderless connection. i also like to coat each grounded wire because if you leave the bare metal surface along rust and/or corrosion can more easily start thus preventing a good ground. ask at any parts house for a battery paste or spray coating. If all grounds are correctly done and a particular item does not work you will have an easier issue to trouble shoot the pos 12V side. a cheap VOM and simple trouble test light http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.2carpros.com/dia/images/test_light.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.2carpros.com/dia/test_light.htm&usg=__8Du796Ivz6TIUc5hh-rDlQ0io5I=&h=341&w=521&sz=22&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=WkN4gzfavZKpiM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtest%2Blight%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN
are nice to have. the battery braided strap has to be as big as the battery positive wire. i use a 2.0 gauge wire and a double flat strap braided for the ground to frame (coated @ the frame).
* example of a good ground, photos are worth .....
http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view¤t=2650080-R2-014-5A.jpghttp://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view¤t=2650080-R2-008-2A.jpghttp://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/1951otter/?action=view¤t=0732700-R1-036-16A.jpgas you remove the new/old harness take notes. if you can try and figure out what fuse powers what?? on your truck. the better the records you keep will make life so much easier to you in the future. i use an excel spread sheet to show what main fuse is linked to what minor fuse to a specific feature (radio, cigar lighter, heater, Ign, lights, or ??) I would run every ground to the main frame because the frame is everywhere. your head and tail lights, battery and cab all come close contact to the frame. your taillights are not close to the cab.
i run
battery to frame
cab to frame
inner fender to frame because i have all my relays mounted on my inner fender.
gas tank to frame.
bed to frame.
engine to frame.
most all of these ground wires are 8-10 gauge and because
i work telecommunication i have access to 'find' these. most are crimped and soldered and heat shrunk.
to help you to understand how some things are wired and some better ways of wiring are shown here...
http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical-tech.shtml
