1962 - 1971 Wagoneer / J-Truck Brake Systems

[Harry Dawg]

Thanks for the reply Tgreese. I figured that would be the case.

Looks like I will have to pull the steering wheel to attach the new brake light wire into the circuit OR find the old brake light power wire coming out of the colum. This might be easier.

BJ's shows that the turn signal assembly is the same from 63-72. I am guessing the brake light wire is one of the 6 on the hazard switch. Possibly the double yellow terminal.

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[Herk]

The brake light switch were brown wires. Should be able to find the remains of these in the engine compartment. Otherwise start witht he brown wires that come out of the turn signal connector and go toward the engine compartment. (might have to unwrap the loom a bit and/or test connect them with a clip lead before doing anything too permanent.

[tgreese]

The '72 diagram on the Tom Collins site will show you the colors and what each color wire is. Unlike most, that year has line drawings of the actual harness, and you probably can't infer the switch internals from the drawings. Good for colors though.

[Harry Dawg]

Thanks for everyone's input.

Judging by the Tom Collins drawing, circuit #29 (brown wire) connects the stop light switch to the directional signal switch.

Circuit #29 dead ends in a 6 pin connector (pictured), but I traced the next portion of the wiring harness back through the firewall and picked up this connector.

It was dangling by the master cylinder with nothing connected to it, so I have a sneaking suspicion this would have connected to the hydraulic stop light switch.

I need to finish wiring the tail lights before testing. I retrofitted these LEDs into the factory housing, as the original connector sockets were giving me issues.

I also converted the front turn signals to LED, so I changed my flasher relay FYI.

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[Harry Dawg]

Still no brake lights or turn signal.

I mocked up the switch using the 2 inlet mystery connector. It definitely has power as I accidentally grounded it out. I still think this is the brake switch, and something is off in the steering column or the relay. It was an Amazon special, so it's possible it was a dud out of the box.

I have running lights, so I know the LED's work.

[Yeller]

In my experience if there are no turn signals or brake lights and there is power to the brake switch, the switch is working, and the flasher unit is known good the trouble is always the switch or wiring in the column.

[Harry Dawg]

Went to pull the steering wheel today.

My old Grandpa Jones left me a surprise. It looks like he broke a tap off in the bottom hole where the puller threads into. Not sure what circumstances would have led to that.

At any rate, any ideas on how to get this out without my steering column getting FUBAR'D?

I already tried hitting it with a punch. Sucker is in there good.

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[Yeller]

Drill and tap another set of holes?

[tgreese]

Tap extractor looks the best, but expensive.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/cutt ... oken-taps/
https://www.amazon.com/Walton-Tools-180 ... B0006NGGCM

This is the steering wheel hub? You can rig a hydraulic jack to pull the wheel. CJ owners have done it with hydraulic jacks and with other jacks. Large bearing separator works too. Pull on the steering wheel hub and push on the center.

http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.ph ... ds/107071/

Or cut it off with a sawzall or abrasive disk. One cut through the hub, parallel with the shaft.

[Herk]

Drill and tap a couple new holes?

Also try a regular incandescent bulb. LED's are polarized.

[Harry Dawg]

Thanks for everyones feedback. I think I am going to try the bottle jack and ratchet strap technique just to avoid modifying the steering wheel. I'd like to keep it original if possible. Maybe one day I can afford the tap extractor, but it isn't today lol.

@Herk- Can you elaborate on how polarity affects turn signals? I did some research, but did not understand how this applied to my application since the LED's are grounded and support the 1 way flow from anode terminal to cathode terminal?

I also read another thread here about a grounded flasher relay like this one.
https://smile.amazon.com/CEC-Industries ... ed+flasher

Here is the thread I am referencing. https://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11693

Maybe that is what I need.

FYI, I swapped over to LED's because the factory sockets were shot. I suppose I could replace them, but it would be much more convenient to use the LED's.

[Harry Dawg]

Here is the relay I am currently using. It's a 2 post.

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[tgreese]

The LEDs are polar, not the switch. Anything in a car is inherently polar, because it runs on a battery that has a positive and a negative. DC electricity. If you use an "LED bulb" meant to replace the original, it should already have the anode connected to positive and the cathode connected to negative (ground). It's a light emitting diode and only conducts in one direction. Test it on the battery if you want - should light with the pin to positive and the shell to negative.

Your "flasher for LED' is an odd thing because it turns its own power on and off. It has to have some kind of memory that tells it when to turn on again once it has turned itself off. I expect there is a capacitor inside that charges up when the power is on, and discharges when the power is off. Just a guess though. The discharge current through the LED has to be small compared to the active current when the LED bulb is lit.

[tgreese]

Maybe you can find a machinist or machine shop locally that will extract the tap?

[Harry Dawg]

Thanks Tgreese.

The LED'S in the tail lights use an external ground wire that grounds on the tail light housing.

The front LED's are internally grounded I guess, as there are only 2 wires. One for the parking lights and one for turn signals.

The flasher relay sounds suspect. For 7 dollars, it doesn't sound like it will effectively do what you are describing. I ordered the grounded one I posted above, so we will see if that changes anything.

If not, I'll pull the wheel and take a look at the turn signal switch.

While I've got the wheel off I might take it up to Goza's Machine Shop to get that broken tap removed.


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[Harry Dawg]

Success!

The grounded LED relay fixed my turn signals and brake lights.

Didn't end up having to pull the steering wheel after all.

I guess that about wraps up the brake thread.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

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[tgreese]

Woohoo!

[Phils67]

Tested out the brakes yesterday.
They work like a charm! Almost too good LOL. Not used to such a sensitive pedal, which led to a few screeching halts.
Thanks @phils67 for sharing this idea.

Sorr, I haven't been on here in months. Had alot going on. Glad it worked for you!

[Harry Dawg]

I noticed this thread got quite a few views, so here is a link to an instructional video I made.

https://youtu.be/7jO3a07VuRw

Hope it helps y'all out.