Ford F834 Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Good points, Jonathan. And let me chime in on the wiring issue. If you find insulation-displacement connectors being used, walk away. What's an insulation-displacement connector? These things: And, if you find house wiring, like 14-2 stuff, or little bitty wires, or ....... just realize that whomever owned it didn't know what they were doing and the truck WILL have problems that you will have to correct. And wiring issues are a bear to find and sometimes very difficult to fix. Case-in-point: trailer wiring. Frequently people tap into the truck wiring with insulation-displacement connectors. But the tail end of a pickup is the absolute worst environment for wiring, and the "stuff" that gets on the connectors will wick back up the truck's wiring and make it almost impossible to make a proper connection to that wire for many inches either direction from the splice. In short, you need a new harness, but they aren't available. Absolutely Gary. Those “connectors” are evil, and often supplied with the trailer connector plugs so of course people use them just as instructed! 😡. I guess for me hacked wiring wouldn’t totally kill the deal, but it sure wouldn’t help. Electrical issues can be absolutely maddening and very time consuming to find and correct. If the truck is otherwise in great shape I would overlook some wire jankyness, but usually it goes hand in hand with poor maintenance and general abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullnoseHunter02 Posted April 13, 2019 Author Share Posted April 13, 2019 It sounds like wiring is the 2nd most important thing. My dad is an electrical engineer so he should be able to give me some tips and help if i end up running into issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 It sounds like wiring is the 2nd most important thing. My dad is an electrical engineer so he should be able to give me some tips and help if i end up running into issues. An electrical engineer would be handy to have around on electrical problems. Reading color codes on the wiring diagrams as well as just overall understanding of schematics would make a big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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