The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Tailight problems...what the heck did I do?????

Ok, wondering if anyone can shed some light on this one...wow, uh, no pun intended...
I removed the old aftermarket tape deck today. It was rather simple as to how it was hooked up. But after removing it, I decided to check the lights. Headlights worked, tailights didn't. Brakelights and signals worked fine, just no tailights. Figured I may have bumped the fuse, because the radio was wired into the same one. So I wiggled it a bit, and tried again. Tailights worked. Then I got curious to see why the dome light didnt work. It didnt work when I bought it. Found out that if I connected a wire from the light to the cab (ground) it came on, but never shut off...which led me to believe there's something wrong with the light switch. So I attempted to take it out. Never really figured out how, thought it clipped onto a metal bracket (so it looked like) so I tried to pry it off. it came halfway off, but the knob had to come off. Couldnt get the knob off either, so I gave up and attempted to snap the switch back together, but it wouldn't go back together. Upon trying the lights again, the headlights still work, although the switch is now hard to pull out and push back in. The tailights generally still don't work, but I found that the brake lights and signals still come on, but the drivers side one is dim. On another occasion the tailights came on after the switch was pushed to "off". But when I pulled the switch, they turned off, and the headlights came on. Also on yet another occasion, the tailights came on, but when I pressed the brake, the passenger one brightened like it was supposed to, but the driver side one went off. The signals worked, but the drivers side was way dimmer than the passenger side. Also, if I wiggle the light switch knob, the headlights flicker.

So, my question is, what the heck did I do??? Do I need a new headlight switch? If so, how does it come out?

Starting to think that fixing up a truck like this is not for me...really, if I cant even get the knob off.....

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I don't really want to take it to a mechanic.

Sounds like if you didn't need a new switch before you do now.

There's a little spring loaded button on the switch you have to press to get the knob & shaft to slide out, then its just a matter of unscrewing the nut from the switch. If you crawl under the dash with a light you should be able to see the button- or go buy a new switch and see where the button is- it'll be the same place on the old one.

Once you've replaced the switch check everything again & hopefully all will be ok- if not post again & someone will reply.

Don't give up yet- we all started somewhere and you'll get lots of help here!

Thanks Dave! I was wondering what that spring loaded button was for! My plan of attack is to replace the switch with a new one, and buy a new rear wiring harness for the tailights, because the wiring back there is pretty sketchy. Someone has spliced in bits and pieces, and didn't do a very good job.
Yeah, you're right, everyone started somewhere. I think I may have started with a bit of a challenging project, seeing how it needs alot of welding, and my bodywork/welding skills are pretty much non existent. But we'll see what happens. I have grown to love the truck too much to part with it.

The tail lights not working is a common problem on these trucks. This has especially been an issue after the bed has been repainted and the lights reinstalled as the lights do not get a good ground.

Some folks have soldered ground wires to the light bulb bucket inside the tail light assembly. Then, run that wire along with the other wires back to underneath the bed or to the frame rails somewhere.

I myself had issues with my '65 c10 step side with the tail lights. I had several things I found, shorted out bad wires in a rats nest of bad splicing, then I found a bad short, behind the fuse panel itself.

I also eventually had to replace my light switch as I started having strange gremlins and no amount of taking it apart and cleaning it seemed to help.

Good luck, glad to have you around.

If these answers don't help ya, go stop by the Electrical Bay. Lots of people with a better understanding of electricity and switches hang out in there.

-W

i had the same problem with my 65, ground the bed to the frame at the rear of the truck, that fixed my taillites.hope this helps.

So many times with tail lights it is ground issues. Also, replace the bulbs with some new ones. Sometimes a bad bulb can cause some really crazy things to happen, add that to a rat's nest of wiring and it can really make you scratch your head. One more thing... I highly recommend you invest in a couple of books. Get a reprint of the original shop manual as well as a factory assembly manual. The shop manual will help on taking things apart and the assembly manual is really handing on putting things together.

I like the idea of getting the original manuals. Where do I find such a thing? Are they readily available somewhere?

Well, to give you an idea of what you need for a '61, here's the listings from Classic Parts: 1960 Shop Manual, 1961 Manual Supplement, 60-66 Assembly Manual

Look around at other vendor's too. I don't know what international shipping would be from Classic, so you may want to try and check for some Canadian vendors. Also, these pop up on ebay a lot as well. I just wanted to show you what to look for. They really do help a lot and that's why I recommend them all the time.

don't let that dome light fool you. it has power going to it all the time and only turns on when it is grounded on the switch. so anytime you ground it, it will come on.

My tail light harness was a mess too. I bought a new rear harness from Scotts in Penhold, cleaned the sockets real good, and then replaced the center harness from a few inches out of the firewall and all the way down the frame to the rear harness.

The center harness only has 4 wires that go to the rear of the truck so I just went over to my local FLAPS and bought about 15 feet of 4 wire RV trailer harness & a trailer 4 pin flat connector. Connected the center to rear harness with the connector and problem solved. Cheap & color matched wiring.

Ok...that's further proof that my light switch is no good:) Thanks

Thanks for all the advice guys! I'm pretty sure what I will do is replace the rear tailight harness and the headlight/dome light switch. Should fix it if I do everything right.

Adam61:

information about 1960 - 1966 manuals

Bear63 mentioned the ones ya need. The above article also mentions a few other manuals that are handy.

--

Most of the big vendors sell reprints of the manuals.. to find those vendors, go check out...

the parts page here at the 'Bolt

There are some eBay stores which also sell reprints of the various manuals, so shop around.

You can also look in the swap meet here at the bolt and look for old manuals.


Also check out other interesting books you might find useful :

book section


This is a definite keeper to have around:

How to restore you chevrolet pickup

It has a lot of sources for stuff, tools, paints and things. It also has a lot of information on the mentality and layout of space needed for tearing into a truck. Good reading.

Good luck to ya,

-W

Well guys, I seemed to have fixed my light issue, the truck is back to the way it used to be. I took out the switch, which was half pried apart, and did some "arts and crafts" at the kitchen table re-assembling it. Geez it has alot of pieces. After reinstalling it, everything worked again perfectly, but the tailights still wouldn't come on. After pulling the fuse for them, which looked good still, and putting it back in, the tailights worked. My guess is there's a connection to the fuse block that is loose. Still have no dome light though. Oh well. Can any of you guys explain to me why there's only 3 fuses running my whole truck? Some of them, like the radio for example, seem to have only one clip, and no fuse. The radio that was in there, which I pulled out, was powered by the same fuse as the tailights and brakelights...the previous owner had stuck a tab connector on the end of the stereo's power wire, and stabbed it in between the fuse and the fuse clip.

Adam61 - another issue I had with those old glass fuses... ya stick it in the fuse panel and things 'sort of work'. I had one fuse where the end was twisted off, but things were halfway working... but it was not black or blown, just broken.

Just something else to keep in mind...

Old trucks are fun.

-W

Sounds like mine! The brake and tailights work on the same fuse, but the tailights seem to sometimes not work, but the brake lights always work.