Wiring Conversion Chart

[dragogt]

Than I run that one to always on/ hot.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Ya need a test light. It makes it alot easier.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

I'll look for our test light. Would a multi-meter work?

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Yeah itll work but I like the test light cause its simple.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

Yeah itll work but I like the test light cause its simple.

As I said, I know we have/had one but I don't know exactly where it is. but if I can find it I'll use it.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Yeah we got three of em just cause of that reason.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

I went to where we have our tools and couldn't find it so i grabbed the multi-meter. Oh, it says to disconnect the - side of the battery only, should I do that or disconnect the whole thing?

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Just the negative is fine but dont let it touch metal.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

Just the negative is fine but dont let it touch metal.

Got any suggestions on a good place to put it.

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Just the top of the battery is fine as long as it dont touch the hold down or slide off. Or you can just take both of em off so ya wont have to worry about it.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

I went to put in the radio, go it out fine. I pretty much failed at crimping, when I got the harness to the truck it pretty much all fell apart. I'm going to get some more but connectors and re cut and strip all the wires.

 

[Fordzilla80]

I've been reading through this thread for the last couple minutes,and let me say I wish you the best of luck Taylor.I'm kinda doin the same thing on my truck,but i'm putting in a factory premium radio from an 85.My truck never had a radio from the factory though,so I had to get a speaker harness from a donor truck.

Best of luck to ya on your install.

 

[Skandocious]

Might either be the wrong size crimps or cheap/crappy crimpers. I have a set of crimpers that came in like a crimper starter kit and they SUCK. Every wire pulls right out of the connector no matter how hard I crimp.


My crappy ones look like this:

My good ones look like this:

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

Part of my problem is that I was using pliers for crimping! I was using the type up top for stripping. Where did you get the good and how much was it.

 

[Skandocious]

Oh man-- yeah pliers will not do the trick. I got my good crimpers at Ace Hardware. The top ones are crappy but they would sure do a lot better than pliers.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

Oh man-- yeah pliers will not do the trick. I got my good crimpers at Ace Hardware. The top ones are crappy but they would sure do a lot better than pliers.

How much are they gonna cost me, because all the nice crimpers I've seen are about $50. Do these just crimp or cut/crimp?

 

[john112deere]

If you're desperate, the "cutter" part of a pair of needlenose will crimp 'em OK, too.

You need to be careful not to go too far, and you'll probably cut through the plastic, but if you wrap it in electrical tape...it'll work.

*I'd only do this in an "emergency" situation (i.e. out after dark with a trailer and need to fix a light), or on something that just didn't matter if it went bad.

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

I was just using the normal part of a needle nose. Skank, where's the crimping part of the cheap-o ones.

 

[Skandocious]

How much are they gonna cost me, because all the nice crimpers I've seen are about $50. Do these just crimp or cut/crimp?

Nah they've got fancy crimpers that get pretty expensive but those are pretty basic ones. They've usually got 1 or 2 different crimp points (mine have 2-- one for bigger crimps and one for smaller ones). I think I paid no more than $15 or $20 TOPS.

EDIT: Actually I believe these are what I bought... But I don't recall them costing that much, otherwise I probably would not have bought them. I'm not sure...

 

[john112deere]

On the cheap ones he posted, the very top "squared off" hole is the crimping part. See the red, yellow, and blue dots? They correspond to the different sizes (which are color coded) of the crimp connectors.

My cheap crimpers have three different sized holes, each marked by a different color.