ot i need help

still working on this 1957 chevy 4400 truck,almost done except for one of the original big problems , the trouble is im fixing turn signals. fronts are on top of the fenders, rears are on the frame, [ big flatbed] now somebody or several somebodies have been in here before me, and the wiring is a disaster! i decided to just start over and ordered a whole new switch. now the trucks original switch looks the same but.. half the wires of the new switch are not on the old one, they may have been removed and there is tape all over the thing, i bought a 900 page factory shop manual, but it has 1 sentance on turn signals just to say the manual doesnt cover them as there a add on, these are not add on signals, that would be easy, these are integrated into the trucks steering colume, i need something to show me what color wire goes where, and im not finding it, i got the left turn lites working finaly but when they are on the dash indicator flashing is for the right turn, and i cant even find the right turn wires on the truck! it will be best to just run a whole new system and bypas all the cut wires, missing wires and swapped in mess. anybody know where i can go to find this? i even thought about borrowing another truck to look at but i cant even find another big tri five chevy truck around here

Just about every truck I have ever been around, from 1/2 tons on up, has a very good wiring diagram in the owners manual. If the manual you have does not have the diagram for turn signals, which I believe WERE optional at that time, see if you can find a manual for a Chevy truck a few years newer. Your truck won't care if it is original or not.

If that truck was in my shop, I think I would totally remove ALL the old wiring and start from scratch with brand new wire. Don't even bother with trying to find a complete wiring harness. Just start from scratch.

If I remember right, the turn signals on most of those old trucks would function even with the ignition shut off.

I would GUESS one problem is that the brake lights would have originally had their own wiring, all the way back to the lamps in the back. Newer systems share the rear lamps between brake and turn signal duty... the output of the brake light switch feeds into the TS switch.

ANOTHER thing... if the truck has parking lights in the grille, separate of the turn signals, wiring will be different than if front TS lamps and parking lamps are separate.

As to the indicators in the dash, they MAY be wired in common with the FRONT turn signals, or certain switches had separate outputs for the dashboard indicators, as well.

Here's a link to some Signal Stat diagrams that MAY shed some light on just how varied the wiring can be.
Blinkers at the HAMB

Looking on the internet, I found this site that might be helpful.

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/electrical/wiring/index.htm

Looks like one of the Chevy truck forums would be able to come up with a good schematic for you. I have an old Ford, and I found everything I needed on the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forum.

One bad memory that I have about re-wiring turn signals - when I was in high school, I rewired an old Ford pickup. When I got done, the front signals came on with the brake lights, just like on the back. They flashed like they were supposed to, but those "brake lights" on the front got me a lot of ridicule from all of my buddies. I almost pulled my hair out before I figured out what I'd done wrong, and for the life of me, I can't remember how I fixed it - too many years have gone by, but I'll bet I lie awake tonight and dwell on it. . .

I tried wiring turn signals up with toggle switches on an old Comet once, wouldn't work as the rears always backfeed through the brake light switch. When I did this I do remember sitting in the car with a hot wire and a helper outside and jumpering each wire to the hot until we figured out what went where and then wiring them up. I finally got turn signals on the Comet by using a clamp on column switch, seems they have circuitry in them that disconnects the rear turn signal from the brake light circuit when it's being used as a turn signal- that's what you need to figure out on your OEM switch.

Check if there are any club web sites or forums for your truck. Someone there could probably post or email the correct wiring diagram.

I'm not sure I'd put much trust in the insulation on 55 year old wiring. You can buy pre-made boat trailer wiring harness for less than $20 from many places. For severe applications I've cut off 16 GA outdoor extension cords to make wireing harnesses for trailers. A different color cord for each side. Those held up well.

If i found myself in this situation i would be digging in my Terminal supply catalog and ordering in rolls of wire in all the many colors and even ordering in wires with tracer stripes and all the molded plugs and set down a build a totally new harness as i have done for the tractors that there is no new harness available for anymore . So as for the rear harness more then likely it was a three or four wire going to the back of the truck as stop and turn are usually the same two wires . so like i said on the three or four wires one right turn and stop and one left turn and stop one wire for tail light and maybe on ground . So going to the turn signal switch you need a power wire and a wire off the brake light switch and also a horn wire and a ground . I would have to see the switch to see how it is wired . Back in the car and truck days i was pretty good at fixen electrical problems.

Look up Jim Carter truck parts in K.C. he has it all.

A number of years ago I fixed up a 56 GMC 2 ton truck. AIRC the factory turn signals didn't work, so I got a turn signal controller which clamped to the steering column and ran new wires. It had to have the turn signals turned off by hand, they would not automatically turn off like factory. I don't remember how I wired it. On another issue, after I got it running it ran poorly. I finally traced the trouble, probably with some help, to a bad ground. The factory(I guess) ran the ground from the battery to the body of the truck. I changed the ground to the frame and all was well.

The most annoying problem I had was brakes. I got brake fluid on one rear brake shoe and it would lock up and not turn loose until I reversed the truck briefly. With unbelievible luck I found brake shoes for one side in an auto parts store, installed them, and brakes worked fine. In the end I had new shoes and rebuilt cylinders all the way around and it would stop on a dime. A final problem I had was tht i noticed the crankcase was overfull. I found that the carburator had something hang up and it let gas drain into the crankcase. The truck was one of those half cab forward models amd the gas tank was high enough to let gas siphon through the system.

Yes, I tried torching off the brake fluid. Didn't work.

KEH

Once you get a schematic that will show how it all gets connected, the next thing you will need to do is identify all of your wires. Go to your local electrical supply and get a book of number ID tags. T&B makes some good ones that will stay on a long time. r an electrical contractor may have a printer that will print anything you want. The important thing is to have all of your wires identified so you know where they go.

Send me an email. I've got that 58 that I gave you info on for the fronts. The weather is nice - I can pull it out and snap some picks or draw you a diagram. Email should be open.

You might give the folks at Faxon Auto Literature a call and see of they have a wiring diagram. We got a set of factory manuals for one of the old cab over Fords from them years ago and they had both the repair manuals and a separate set of prints just for the wiring.

Unfortunately, in a situation like you"ve got, there are usually so many wires that have been cut, shorted, etc, etc over the years that the best thing to do is to take them out and start fresh. That might not be as easy as it sounds without a diagram. However, given that the basic wiring diagram on those old vehicles are all pretty much the same, and color codes are often the same also, if you can find one for even a standard pickup it should cross directly, or nearly so, to what you need. Good luck.
Faxon

Eric
Try Painless Wireing.
They list one for a 1955 to 57 "Tri-five Chevy"
http://www.painlessperformance.com/webcatalog/lv.php?sl=20106
Hope this helps.

Steve A W
Painless Wireing

think i found something, a wiring code for the 57 chevy 210 the wires are the same color i have in the new switch, what im going to try is wiring completly new, using that diagram, and nevermind what the truck has now,i cant help but think this truck has some wiring missing completly although nobody seems to remember it being canabilized for parts, it should work, as long as i take the 'front turn signals' to the fender mounted lites and leave the park lites on the headlite switch, the larger trucks just use these lites below the headlites for park lites anyway , they never used them for turn signals like the pickups .wish me luck lol