How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

The other day a nice package arrived containing a new made wiring harness for the truck. However the company wasn’t able to do the metal braid shielding as found on the wireless trucks. So I ordered a roll of stainless braid and have been slowly getting the harness sheathed in it to match the original. So far it’s turnout looking great. The last photo is an original wire for comparison.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Jordan


Nice work on the wiring harness. Want to see the first mouse who tries to chew on that, wonder where you get mouse dentures.


The shielded wiring and that every panel on my C60S had braided grounds like that was why I was pretty sure it had been a radio truck, even though it didn't have a body when I got it.



Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Nice job Jordan.

Are we talking Stainless Steel braided casings or "tinned woven/braided copper casings" .............. I have found and used a variety of sizes of the tinned copper type as found by the foot on Ebay and other suppliers....... heavy stock can be made into custom ground straps and very easy to lead/silver solder.

Curious!!!!

[Jordan Baker]

Well with some barn cats I’m hoping the mice don’t even get to the denture stage.

Phil, can you check your records for me please on the length of the rear harness? I’m looking for the length from the change over switch towards the front. Please and thanks.

Bob, I’m using Stainless braided covering. It’s working very well.

Anyone have any pictures on where the wires from the fuel tanks are run and secured to the frame?

[Grant Bowker]

Good afternoon,
The harness looks nice.
Is the harness an off the shelf item?
Who's the maker/supplier (looks like it shipped in a USPS box....).
Does it include provision for turn signals?
Source for stainless braid? A quick check of ebay shows more choice of sizes for tinned copper than stainless. McMaster shows more variety but won't sell to Canada or Canadian credit cards. Is your source local or a nationwide chain?
Lots of questions, hoping for answers.

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Well with some barn cats ......

Phil, can you check your records for me please on the length of the rear harness? I’m looking for the length from the change over switch towards the front. Please and .....

Anyone have any pictures on where the wires from the fuel tanks are run and secured to the frame?

Hi Jordan

Having made harnesses for HUPS, C60S, C60L, C15A that the front harness seem to be the same length with the individual differences being for which Pattern and then on Pat 13s early or late instrument panel. From what I can figure/observed rear harness for, 134, and 158 inch wheel base are all the same from rear to just in front of the rear axle. That the difference is the length forward to the connection lenght to the junction point with the front harness.

If you think about it this would make a lot of sense for parts interchangeablity.

Will look tomorrow for photos and more details.

Cheers Phil

[Jordan Baker]

Grant,

Yes it’s an off the shelf item from Vintage Wiring Harness in Australia. Item number CV425. I had them add the separate wires for turn signals as well. The quality is great and I’m very happy with it. All of the leads are tagged, however the numbers don’t match up to the wiring diagram in the C15a manuals. Saying this they may have used a different wiring diagram and matched it to them. One other thing I have noticed is that you have to provide your own light sockets for the dash lights. If I come across anything else I post about it. Ignore the box as it is only being used for holding CMP goodies such as side lights and other original bits.

The stainless braiding came from https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/sta...aided-sleeving. I ordered online and it arrived by the end of the next day via UPS.

I went with stainless as the tinned copper was a lot more. The other advantage was that the stainless had a good expansion range. So using the 1/2” stainless, I was able to do all the sizes as found on the main harness.

Thanks Phil. I look forward to seeing what you’ve got in your files. I’ve got what I believe to be an original rear harness. I’ll have to slip under the truck and see how it goes then compare to the new made one. I do know the new one is way longer then needed for a 15cwt.

[Jordan Baker]

Started installing the front harness today. It was quite the job getting the dash wires to feed through the hole. Eventually everything got pushed and pulled through. I also started securing the harness to the cab frame with some clips. I’m so glad I went the extra and put the metal shielding on everything. It looks just like how the original should.

In my last photo showing the various holes. What are they all for? I know the top one is for the main wiring harness. Does anyone have any documents on what goes where?

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Having made harnesses for HUPS, C60S, C60L, C15A that the front harness seem to be the same length with the individual differences being for which Pattern and then on Pat 13s early or late instrument panel. From what I can figure/observed rear harness for 101, 134 and 158 inch wheel base are all the same from rear to just in front of the rear axle. That the difference is the length forward to the connection length to the junction point with the front harness.
If you think about it this would make a lot of sense for parts interchangeablity.

This morning I compared the parts books for C15A and C60L, most of the wiring harness part numbers were identical (differences for applications such as portee, arctic, instrument styles, wireless shielding, etc.).
To allow for the difference in wheelbases I would have expected either that there would be long, medium and short rear harnesses or that there would be extension harnesses to fit between common front and rear harnesses. Maybe I wasn't seeing clearly or didn't recognize what they were calling the parts but I didn't see either of these approaches described in the parts books....

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All



WARNING - BE SURE TO SECURE WIRING HARNESS

Yes, using all caps is like shouting, and regarding this warning I am, I learned the hard way. While looking for photos for this thread found the photos of the wiring harness FIRE I had in a freshly made wiring harness. The cause of the fire was simple I had not yet secured the harness with the clamps it shifted was shorted out burned out the harness. Nearly burned through a rubber gas line. I could have lost the truck, the other two trucks parked in the shop and the shop.

Pat 12 Cable Fire Sept 07 018.jpg Top to bottom, speedo cable, fuel line, main harness, and bottom battery cable.

Be sure as you go along to secure the wiring harness with cable clamps, that's what all those 1/4 holes are for. Also watch very carefully your routing in the area around the brake master cylinder, starter, speedometer cable and fuel line.


What happened was I was in a hurry to test the truck and hooked every thing up and drove it around quite a bit great fun. Figured I'd get around to putting in all the clamps. What happened was the speedometer cable shifted shorted out to the brake light switch on the master cylinder. That heated up and melted the insulation on the main power going to the starter that that lit up the speedo cable which was tight with the main wiring harness running forward to come up to the dash. Resultant damage was a foot of the main harness had to be cut out and replaced.

All because I didn't take the time to put clamps on everything before powering the system up.



Now back to Jordan's excellent restoration thread with a question. What are you going to use as overload protection?


Cheers Phil