Brake Lights

[64shortwide]

Ready To Drive My 64 Except Can't Get Any Park Lights And Barley Any Brake Lights. Replaced Many Harness Like The Two For The Engine The Steering Column The Dome Light The Rear Brake Light Harness. I Have Checked All The Plug-ins The Light Switch The Brake Light Switch. When I Ground The Brake Light Directly To The Body I Get Them To Turn On But Then When I Turn On My Headlights I Blow The Brakelight Fuse?! I'm Lost As To What To Do Now. Any Suggestions?
K

 

[drabo]

It sounds like a short. You can check for this condition by using an ohm meter. First unplug the harness from the fire wall. Remove the lightbulbs from the taillights and reverse lights. At this point you should not be able to get any reading on you ohm meter. One at a time place one test lead on one of the wires in the harness and the other lead to the frame. Any sort of reading at this point is bad. You should see OL on the meter if anything.

If it all checks out good then your problem is inside the cab. But from your discription it sounds like your driving light circuit which only goes to the rear lights. If you need a wiring diagram I might be able to scare one up for you.

 

[drabo]

One other thing it could be is a bad ground. Remove the screws that hold the bezels in and replace them with shiny new ones. Rust does not conduct electricity well. A bunch of resistance will make the lights real dim and could make your fuses pop.

 

[crew_cab1978]

Sorry hope this is not to late. I had similar issue on one of my brothers 66 short bed. It turned out to be the brass sleeve that held the bulb in the tail light housing had corroded. I had to take the housing apart and push the sleeve that held the bulb out of the socket and run some steel wool around the housing and the sleeve. This took care of the grounding problem. I had checked ever inch of wire and the grounds up this point then to find out if was in an area you can't even see the housing itself. Hope this helps if you have not corrected the problem by now.