Funny story

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

So, I'm driving home from the dog park last night in the 44. it had just gone true night on me and i hit a bump in the road... you know the kind, where the back end feels like it may have actually left the ground (I need a new suspension).

Next thing you know, my tail and dash lights go dead. So I drive a short while further until I see headlights comig up behind me so I pull off... right behind the Sherriff sittig on the side of the road.

Well, I get out of the car like no big deal and I walk around the truck to see what is going on. My heads are still working, as are my turn signals. Brake lights too. Guess it yet? I had somehow blown a tail fuse. I changed the fuse and POP. I tried a bigger fuse (just to get home) and POP. Eventually I waited for when I couldn't see anyone on the road and I took off to make it the last two or three back to the house.

I get home and cook dinner, feed the dogs and then it hits me. It has to be the wire to the License plate lights. I check it out.. disconnect it where it is frayed and put a new fuse in... A 5 amp even... and... it worked!

moral of the story. Summer better get here soon, because I have a lot of work to do.

After all of that I have a question. If I want to rebuild my wiring harness in the back of the truck by taking it out and replacing all of the wire with new (keeping the existing connectors), what is the best guage to use for a 24v? Should I use the same as what it came with, or use a heavier gauge?

Thanks all!

 

[ivanhoe]

hi,
same gauge of wire would help reusing the connectors. heavier gauge shouldn't be a problem, we will let the cruiser gods chime in if i'm out of line. just tape a few layers over the frayed area in the mean time.
hth,

 

[brownbear]

Whole new harness??

Do they sell the harness maybe? Worth seeing

In the EPC they list a harness for the chassis. I would try toyota......yah never know.. could be a pleasent surprise.

If your USA dealer is of no help you can try a Canadian member or MOT one of the members in Japan.

If you made the harness you would need to buy a lot of different colours of wire and make your wiring diagram.

Personally I might try buying a harness.

 

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

I can access a lot of really good legths of wire in any guage and insulation thickness. They have a ton of colors that would mirror stock toyota colors.

I am going to restore my BJ44 and I want to make it a bulletproof rig. One idea I had was to build the harnesses that are more exposed with a thicker gauge wire and seal it with tape and the paint on stuff to ensure that it will last another 20 years. maybe that's overkill, but what the hey!

I'm digging out my electrical tape today to fix that short and get my plate relit. Stuff like that never happenes at dusk when you have a box of flashlights and batteries in the passenger seat!

 

[cody c]

i would be more concerned about the insulation, for thickness and proper type, UV resistant and built to handle the wear it gets on a vehicle. as well check the grommets where it passes through the body. Also maybe use something like LPS (a spray on wax to prevent corrosion) at connectors and joints.

As long as the wire is the same size or bigger, and of a similar construction (stranded not solid) it should be OK, but if you add a light in later ( like back up lights) than a larger size wire would have been better.

 

[sandcruiser]

haven't tried it yet, but someone else mentioned to me once that a good solution for "different color wire" is to buy a large spool of a given color (say, Red) then you can coil it up around a coffee can (or soup can, or whatever) and hit it with a few blasts of spray paint in whatever color(s) you want. Not as nice as OEM speckled wire, but cheap and you can make a nearly-infinite number of unique color combos

not sure if spray paint hurts insulation....

 

[brownbear]

haven't tried it yet, but someone else mentioned to me once that a good solution for "different color wire" is to buy a large spool of a given color (say, Red) then you can coil it up around a coffee can (or soup can, or whatever) and hit it with a few blasts of spray paint in whatever color(s) you want. Not as nice as OEM speckled wire, but cheap and you can make a nearly-infinite number of unique color combos

not sure if spray paint hurts insulation....

good idea.

sounds back country, or in the bush kinda thing.

On airplanes the wires are all white. They have numbers on them. We can make a new wire at anytime. just have to get it stamped with the number. Most large aviation shops have them. I have built many harness for planes.