1950, 3100 w/ original 6v system (generator). No after-market anything.
I am about to replace all the wiring in my truck. It still has the original cloth-insulated wiring. I bought my wiring harness, grommets, extra bulbs, new tail-light assemblies, new battery box and hold-down. My existing headlights, and front running lights/turn lights are in good shape so I'm just going to change the bulbs in the turn lights. Somebody in the past put on some chintzy trailer lights for the rear lights and mounted them up high. It looks, well, chintzy so I'm putting on the "original-like" tail light assemblies that are held by brackets that bolt on the bottom portion of the bed (on either side of the tailgate). I bought all my stuff from Classic Parts and am so far very pleased with what I've received.
Do y'all have any suggestions of the best order of operations for this project?
Here are some of my initial thoughts:
1. Take lot's of pictures.
2. Label EXISTING wires and make note of what they are connected to. IS THIS NECESSARY???
3. Take old wiring out.
4. Put new wiring in.
Now, there is a whole helluva lot of stuff that needs to happen between #2 and the finishing of this project. But since I've never done this, I don't know what they are...in essence, I don't know what I don't know. I'm trying to figure out if I should just pull out all of the old and then start putting in the new? Or should I work in sections? Should I pull the new wire and have it along-side the old; disconnect the old, re-connect the new, then yank the old? That seems logical to me, but seems too easy and seems to make too much sense...
Do I work from front to back? Or start from the ________ (fill in the blank with battery, or dash, or any other component) and work my way out? Do I remove my gauges or just try to disconnect/re-connect while everything is intact in the dash? Are there things that should be removed just for ease of working (like the seat, or other things?)??? If and when I have a leftover wire, how will I know if I "missed something" or if there is just extra wire for other future accessories? And if I have an extra wire, do I cut it out our do I leave it and just keep it disconnected for future use?
Do I have to follow a certain order of operations when I hook things up and energize the system for the first time?
Any help y'all have to offer is greatly appreciated. There ain't very many wires in the whole darn truck so it can't be that difficult of a project, but I don't want to burn something up just out of pure ignorance and stupidity...
Thanks,
KINGLONESTAR
