Adding auxiliary tail lights….. would like some help…..

[ramdough]

I want to wire in some trailer led lights on the back of my truck higher up. I have a reason…..

Anyone interested in making and selling me some male-female splices. Basically a male and female connector to go between the light plugs and the truck harness using the military connectors, then have a pigtail that comes off maybe 4 feet. I would need 6 of these for brake, tail lights and ground per side.

Please PM me if you can help.


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[wheelspinner]

“Y” connectors are fairly easy to get, interrupt each wire needed for your additional lights and run some wire. Super simple.

 

[ramdough]

“Y” connectors are fairly easy to get, interrupt each wire needed for your additional lights and run some wire. Super simple.

Do they make the military ones that plug right into the light pigtails? I was hoping to not modify my stock harness if I could.


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[chucky]

 

[chucky]

 

[ramdough]

View attachment 896776

Thanks, but I don’t like that style. I was thinking of just a y harness using a male and female light connector and a pigtail for me to terminate. I have the AF8 crimper somewhere, but thought I could learn that system later when I have time. In a time crunch now.


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[Ronmar]

Yea,I don’t like those wire taps either, they damage the wire, compromise the insulation and allow moisture intrusion and corrosion. I have pulled apart lot of damaged wiring where those were installed. When they come inan install kit, I throw them in the trash…

There is nothing special about the rear lighting or headlight connectors. They are simply bullet connectors. You can get these type terminals all over the place in various wire gauges. An easy way to make a tap is to take a larger gauge 12-10(yellow) male bullet and crimp 2 short pieces of #12 wire into it. On the opposit end of each wire you put a female 12-14(blue). You connect the yellow into one of the separated connectors and one of the blues into the other half of the separated connection. You then have a tap to send to a new light. You could make the second wire of your Y as long as needed to reach the new light and connect it there.

At the separated connector where you are tapping energy for the new light. Slide heat shrink tubing onto the original wires. Fill the bullet connections with silicone dielectric grease and plug them together, then heat shrink over the connections. The grease helps prevent moisture intrusion and corrosion(full of grease can’t be full of water) and is completely reversible with no damage to the original wiring…

 

[G744]

Well, the male & female connectors are dimensionally unique in the automotive wiring world. They have been since the days of the Douglas metal shell cover connector days (over 70 years). The current tactical connectors are referred to as Packard type.

Commercial parts are close, but not the same. The real male ones are turned out of solid brass, then silver plated...

There are small rubber connectors with 1 into 2 hookups just for your purpose as attached.

BTW, tactical taillights don't have ground wires, rather they get a ground thru the mounting bolts. You can pick up a ground connection by using the trailer receptical with the same technique.

 

[flyfishtrailer]

Using the above Y connectors, tapping into the rear harness is actually very easy. Although not as cheap as common electrical connectors, you can very quickly creat a mini harness to add your additional lights without disturbing the original harness. I have used these to add marker lights to my MKT. The hard part is finding wire that has a jacket as thick as the military wire so that the Packard connecters seal like they should. You will spend more time installing/attaching your lights than creating a wiring harness.

 

[wheelspinner]

Do they make the military ones that plug right into the light pigtails? I was hoping to not modify my stock harness if I could.


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Yes-look up ^^

 

[coachgeo]

View attachment 896777

have not seen these.... wonder if they are just "cooler" looking than the blue ones but essenturally the same?

Agree blue ones are horrible though not sure if they cant be personally improved upon (drop little electronics solder in there before final snap together, dab of electric grease too, clip it home , followed by and drown it in paint on electrical coating)

 

[porkysplace]

View attachment 896776

No NEVER

 

[porkysplace]

Using the above Y connectors, tapping into the rear harness is actually very easy. Although not as cheap as common electrical connectors, you can very quickly creat a mini harness to add your additional lights without disturbing the original harness. I have used these to add marker lights to my MKT. The hard part is finding wire that has a jacket as thick as the military wire so that the Packard connecters seal like they should. You will spend more time installing/attaching your lights than creating a wiring harness.

Big Mikes Motorpool "Y" connectors

FEMALE PACKARD

USE THIS CONNECTOR TO MAKE A CLEAN SPLICE INTO A CIRCUIT WHEN ADDING ACCESSORIES OR OTHER ELECTRICAL ITEMS TO YOUR MILITARY VEHICLE. THIS UNIT FEATURES 3 FEMALE ENDS. PART # MS27144-2 NSN 5935-00-115-2307 COMMONLY KNOWN AS PACKARD CONNECTORS, THESE STYLE CONNECTIONS ARE WATERPROOF AND STANDARD...

www.bigmikesmotorpool.com

 

[ramdough]

Big Mikes Motorpool "Y" connectors

FEMALE PACKARD

USE THIS CONNECTOR TO MAKE A CLEAN SPLICE INTO A CIRCUIT WHEN ADDING ACCESSORIES OR OTHER ELECTRICAL ITEMS TO YOUR MILITARY VEHICLE. THIS UNIT FEATURES 3 FEMALE ENDS. PART # MS27144-2 NSN 5935-00-115-2307 COMMONLY KNOWN AS PACKARD CONNECTORS, THESE STYLE CONNECTIONS ARE WATERPROOF AND STANDARD...

www.bigmikesmotorpool.com

Those are all the same gender, so that would require a gender changing harness as well and a connector pigtail.

At that point, I may as well just make the “y” from scratch.


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[ramdough]

have not seen these.... wonder if they are just "cooler" looking than the blue ones but essenturally the same?

Agree blue ones are horrible though not sure if they cant be personally improved upon (drop little electronics solder in there before final snap together, dab of electric grease too, clip it home , followed by and drown it in paint on electrical coating)

I think for that to work properly, I would need to also wrap it in electrical tape, then some duct tape, then a some bailing wire for good measure so the tape can’t come off….

In all seriousness, I really wanted to not modify my harnesses. It sounds like I will need to find and dust off the AF8, buy the connectors, then learn how to crimp these things.

I was just busy doing other work, and was hoping someone else had the bandwidth to knock this out for me at a reasonable price.


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[porkysplace]

Those are all the same gender, so that would require a gender changing harness as well and a connector pigtail.

At that point, I may as well just make the “y” from scratch.


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I'm sure with a little more googling you can find a male / female "Y' connector , that was the first one that popped up .

 

[G744]

All the Packard parts are available on eBay, that's where I get mine.

 

[M813rc]

I've not seen Packard Ys that were other than female all around, a female to two males would sure be handy for splitting light wires.
I use what are called Bulkhead Connectors to connect females together. There are several places to get them, I get mine from Erik's.

Bulkhead Connector For Rubber Shell Connectors, 8741492

Headlight housing connector for military vehicles using rubber shell connectors on the headlights. <br>P/N 8741492. NSN 5935008074109. Made in USA. Also useable as an adapter on the MS27147-1 wye connector. <br> Each side of the bulkhead connector mates to the MS27142-2, MS27142-3, or...

www.eriksmilitarysurplus.com

Cheers