10:00am til 12:25am. This is fun?
I wired in the pigtail to plug in to the truck. I also worked on the center panel for the rear lights. Then I remembered I had to paint it black, and did so, and who knows what but I did a bunch of other things. Lincoln and I came in for lunch about 1 o’clock.
Then I backed the truck up close enough to plug the trailer in. When I was wiring the trailer, I used an old 12 V computer power supply to test everything from the terminal strip in the tongue. Everything was working perfect except one of the sequential turn signal lights. I made the executive decision to let it go for now.
Sooo, I hooked it up to the truck, and nothing worked worth a crap. Long story short, I fiddled around with the trailer wiring and even opened up the back of the truck and fiddled around the truck wiring for three hours, tired as hell, confused, (but you already know that), and basically pretty pissed off. My schedule was in the toilet.
Imagine my “happiness“ when I gave up on everything that I might’ve done wrong because I’m old and feeble and tired, and I did a continuity check on the pigtail to the truck. Of the seven wires, only three had connectivity, one of those was with one of the others, and the others were just dead. My depression era tendencies caught up with me, this was a seven wire cord I got who knows where years ago. When I cut it to length, and wired it to the plug, and stripped it for the terminal strip, all the copper looked good. After I realized that it was the problem, I’m not sure if I did it because I was curious or because I wanted to kill it for once and for all, but I cut it about every 12 inches on the bandsaw. First cut good, second cut good, third cut look like it sat in an acid bath for a year, fourth cut was mostly carbon, not copper, etc. amazingly, there was no damage to the outer skin, so I have no how idea how it got corroded in the middle. Learn something new every day. I was not a happy camper..
Soooo, when I re-grouped and went out about 4 PM, remember, I live in a subdivision, I shifted to cutting the diamond plate for the deck. I literally zipped it and threw it down and threw a few screws in it for the trip, it will all be redone later. I have to do the riser panel still, and I have to do the upper deck, but those will be easy. I can’t use the skill saw on aluminum sheet after 8 o’clock around here.
I shifted my focus to putting together the center panel for the rear lights, installing the lights, and wiring them up. Of course, I had pre-measured, and pre-cut everything to slide into the center slot. The left and right panels overlap, and I cut out each to allow for the stop light holes in the middle. But I didn’t account for the depth of the actual stoplights. It was too late to start sawing on something like that, so that will be first thing in the morning.
So around 10, I ripped the pigtail apart, the plug was brand new, and I used seven fresh brandy new wires to make the run. Now, a lot of this project, in your world, is half assed, and I’m sitting here fretting that you guys will make fun of my multicolored pigtail, so I had to think of a way to make it look like a real pig tail. So I dug in my box of vacuum tubing and radiator hose, and I found what I think is a vacuum hose, that was just the right diameter and length to cover all the wire and fit in the plug. So I rewired the plugs with brandy new wire, used WD-40 and a snake to pull it through the vacuum tube. Then I stripped the ends, ready to go into the terminal strip. I was going to wire it into, but I have the upper deck lifted (think of a drawbridge), while I was trying to figure out the problem, and I was pooped, so I put everything on the deck ready to go for the morning
Now, I was planning on leaving at eight in the morning, and I haven’t even touched the truck yet. Good news is the truck is roadworthy, so I really don’t need to do anything to it. Since it was only 11:15, I got the tires and slid them on to the hubs, finger tightening the nuts. No impact wrenches this time of night. Of course, I was so tired, that I put some of the wrong tires in the wrong place, so I only had to do it twice.
I picked up my tools, the ones I worry about disappearing, and came in and Lincoln jumped up and down like I’ve been gone for a year. How did I live all these years without a dog?
More to follow in the 40th anniversary chain…
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