What parts if any of the wiring harness on a 37 Ford 2-ton would interchange with the pick-ups of the same year. The current harness has been pretty well beat up over the years and I would love to replace it with a repro harness if any of the sections from the pick-ups will fit. I haven't found many that are listed to fit the bigger trucks. I know another option is to send the original out to someone loke R. I. Wiring and have it duplicated.
I would think everything would be the same to the back of the cab,just longer from there. And maybe some extra wire to the cab roof for any marker lights there.
Well, it's an open cab Firetruck so there is no roof to worry about. I was thinking that they would be similar but was concerned about the fit since ti looks like it may be a slightly longer run from the dash to the dizzy, or across the front between the headlights. Since I don't have a pick-up here to to compare it to I really can't tell.
Why not use a kit such as Rebel ? He gives you plenty of wire. If you run any extra lights are firetruck stuff you'll need extra cirruts
I checked out the Rebel stuff and it looks nice, but not exactly the direction I want to go in. I would like to keep the original look of the cloth covered wire and looms. Since all of the wiring done by the body builder is there I can duplicate that with matching wire.
There are cloth wire kits. So-Cal Speed Shop sells one but you better sit down 1st when you get the price.
It will be a lot easier to modify a P/U repro harness if you want to keep the stock switches and gauges etc. I'm guessing that it still has the H/L switch below the steering box on the column. Most of the time there will be several smaller harnesses boxed together rather than one humongous harness. Many of the smaller harnesses won't need to be modified at all like the engine harness etc. The H/L harness usually extends to the front and rear where it connects with bullet connectors to a smaller harness that goes side to side. As said above the run to the rear will need to be extended. That can usually be hidden underneath out of sight. The side to side harnesses probably will fit. The truck can't be too much wider than a P/U or it wouldn't fit on the 1937 roads. It might be cheaper to buy a street rod universal harness but the switches will look like a street rod universal harness...fuggly. It's much cooler to turn the horn button to turn on the lights than to pull out a plastic knob with the international H/L symbol on it. IMHO It's really not that hard to install or modify in the few areas that might need it.
Thanks Tommy. The more I looks at pics comparing the two body styles the better that idea seems. The truck uses to the original gages and the light switch is on the bottom of the steering box. I may still send out the harness just to see what it would cost to be duplicated. Maybe they will make up a pattern for it that will help other big truck owners in the same situation. The accessory wiring isn't too bad. There is two switches on the dash for the emergency lighting, one on th body for the pressure gage lights, and two foot pedals for the siren. All done by the body builder when the truck was put together. So there is no "correct" harness anyway. Since it is still intact I can duplicate that here with period correct wiring supplies. Here is a link to my intro with a few pick and a quick history on the truck. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405733
I would just any of the universal kits. Very easy to use and will come with lots of extra wiring for accessories.
That's what I thought it would look like. The Ford factory sold those chassis and partial cabs to the companies to build their bodies on. The only thing that would be different is the section going to the rear. Look to see if there are any bullet connectors close to the switch that connect the switch harness to the rear light harness that leads to the rear lights. If so then that long rear section is the only non P/U part that would need to be modified or duplicated. Ford didn't make custom harnesses for their longer trucks. They used a shorter rear section on the P/U and just replaced it with a longer section for whatever wheel base that was specified.
cowl harness...'37...same passenger, coomercial, and truck. This is the harness connecting gen, inst panel, solenoid. Comm and truck light harnesses (two kinds of each...single and dual horn) are different, but I would count on difference being just extra length for taillights. I think Ford just supplied the long wheelbase length and folded/taped the rear harness for shorter trucks. If later generator, some mods; there will be lots of minor bits, but all is readily available for com and pass. I do not see any reason truck would differ from pickup except as noted above...all cab and nose and engine dimensions are same, same lights, and so on. Obviously a fire truck would have tons of added wiring for sirens and flash lights. Just go to the Ford suppliers and order everything for a '37 pickup.
Shoot. Go to C&G. They even have the long harness for trucks. No improv needed. Basic pair of harnesses seems a bit less than 200, then there are probably a hatful of pigtails and headlight bucket harnesses and such as needed.
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