The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Turn signals...more confused than ever!!!!!

I've done a search and read ALL the posts over the last six months on turn signals...and I'm still confused. Here's what I'm looking for: Is there a kit, or an idiot-proof set of instructions, to add turn signals to my 50 GMC? I want to avoid adding additional lights, and use the parking lights housings in front and the taillight housings in back (already added the right side taillight) for my signals. Everyone seems to approach this issue differently. I know I need to change sockets, etc, but I literally need a STEP BY STEP GUIDE or an aftermarket KIT to do this right. My electrical knowledge is limited to operating a toaster! THERE MUST BE A SOLUTION OUT THERE, I can't be the first guy to want to do it this way! PLEASE, help a moron out!

fredb, before you by the 1157 sockets there is a replacement that works perfect. You take out the small screw in the back and remove the single 1156?? socket and replace them with the new 1157 sockets. I think I got them from american classic.
Greg. I have a 1951 1.5 ton.

I don't know how American Classic compared in price, but NAPA has dual-filament sockets in the "trailer light" section. Simply remove the original monopole socket from the housing and replace it with the 1157 socket. You will need a signal switch for the column; most of them have pretty clear instructions regarding the wiring. And be sure to run a ground to the chassis at each socket, this will eliminate problems later.

I noticed in the photos you sent to me that you replaced your wire harness. Did you order a harness with directionals already prewired?

oops, uh, no. Like I said, 'help a moron'. Thanks.

Fred, there doesn't seem to be a lot of sense in taking a nice new wire harness that all neat and tidy, and then scabbing a bunch of wires on top of it and running them outside of the new harness to the parklamps. It will be unprotected and look like hell given the level of attention that you've give to the rest of the truck.

Now is the time to send that harness back and order one with the directionals pre-wired. Then it's a piece of cake that COMES WITH DIRECTIONS (and directionals).

Cobbing up the wire harness now is counterproductive to the other work. Cut your losses and start fresh would seem to make the most sense to me. When you get the whole truck back together, you won't want to but if you run those wires on top of your harness, you'll see them every time you open that hood and it will drive you crazy.

You've gone this far to make everything right, why start cutting corners now so close to the end?

Sorry Rob, but there's a very practical reason why I can't do it that way. $$$. I'm very limited in what I can do myself (recent surgery and a full time job), so I have to pay $25 an hour for everything. I did a lot of disassembly myself, but that was before I went under the knife. I'll do a lot of finishing myself (all the chrome reinstallation, etc, but nothing that requires electrical 'talent'. My shop guy tells me pulling and reinstalling a new harness is likely 8 - 10 hours, plus parts, could be longer if...you get the idea. So my choices are: A 'patched in' solution for now, hand signals only, or trying to find someone who works cheaper. He won't give me a fixed price quote, since he laid in the old harness before the truck was completely reassembled, now that it's back together he thinks it's gonna take a lot more time to replace it. Maybe the best answer is to just live without signals for now, but that seems stupid, since it's a safety issue. Cobbling something in may seem wrong, but I'm a detail guy, and I bet I could hide most of the wires to my own satisfaction. Not 'correct' perhaps, but I still think better than nothing, at least for now!

Hmm...there might be an in-between solution. I haven't looked for them in a while, but Rob used to have some old Signal-Stat instruction sheets on his web page, and they were designed to be added to vehicles without turn signals. Maybe one of those plans would let you keep additional wiring to a minimum.

You only need run two extra wires from underdash to the front end and one to the rear , judicous positioning of these wires and use of black zip ties will render them almost invisable as will using only black wire .

I use / recommend the Signal Stat #900 switch , it comes with clear color coded instructions , I think CD and other vendors sell the old Truck Lite
(copy) switch really cheaply .

Or , you could drive to sunny So.Cal. and I'll instal them for you .

You can do the wiring harness on an AD/ND truck in 2 hours, and that includes removing the gauges and headlight housings and adding dual filament sockets to the parklamps. It isn't like a modern car, the harness only has a few sections. I bought a new harness from Chevy Duty for my '50 Chevy and it came with the wires for the turnsignals, I just added the switch.