i know a few guys have converted 3bulb trucks to run the 2bulb tails, but im gonna try to go the other direction and i dont have any wiring diagrams to help me out.

if anyone has converted thier 2buld tail harness to properly work a set of 3bulb tails, let me know!

 

I have lol

 

ok ok, more specifically, i need to divide the brake and turn outputs from my 02 tails so i can run 98 tails, lol

 

na, it would almost be impossible.. since the 98's have a orange light... you will have to paint the orange part translucent red, or go with 2000's

edit: i have 97's.. but i painted the bottom orange part red

 

the amber turn signal is the whole point of this mod for me. i want to keep it

 

i dont really have a wiring diagram but this is what i did...

on the taillight, you have 3 wires... one ground and 2 power. One of them is for the headlights (ect) and the other one is for brake and turn (the brighter one).

you can pretty much tap into ether one, depending on what you want. I tapped the brighter ones

 

now if i read this correctly, i can get a complete 98 tail subharness and it should be plug-n-play?

if not can i tap into the frame rail harness and get the seperate functions?

bob???

 

I'm having trouble finding that wire Gumby. If you find it take a picture of it for me.

 

You're in luck, Gumby. Since you have an 00~03, your truck is factory wired for both kinds.

Look under the truck at the end of the DS frame rail. You will find an 8-pin connector. Only 5 of the 8 wires continue on into the taillight subharness. The other three are for the 98~99 tails.


Here's how to hook it up (referencing the color codes on the 8-wire side only):

Light Green: both brake lights
Light Green/Orange: left amber turn signal
Orange/Light Blue: right amber turn signal


These 3 are unchanged after the conversion:

Black: ground
Solid Brown: running lights
Black/Pink: reverse lights


These 2 will be unused after the conversion:

Brown/Yellow
Dark Blue/White


Now, let me say it one more time. You MUST do the above based on the color codes on the 8-wire side only. The color codes on the 5-wire side do not match.

 

could you get a wiring diagram for that bob. im still a little confused cuz ive been trying to figure this out for my tail lights for a while. thanks.

 

yea, i was about to say.. that was not what mine was

 

thank you very much bob. i knew it would be possible, jus didnt think i could get that lucky!

if i had a 98-99 harness, would the pins match up correctly, plug-n-play, or would i need to repinn the connector? i.e. if i found a guy to swap tails, could we simply swap tail harnesses as well?

 

that is correct... wowak did it to his truck and i think he even made a how-to

 

Well mine works fine. I took the black wire and used it for the ground on both bulbs. It worked fine by putting both ground wires to the bulbs in one side of a butt connector and the ground wire in the other side. I am too lazy to solder. Then I ran the turn signal wire to the 12v wire of the upper bulb and then the 12v of the brake light signal to the lower bulb. It was 20 minutes tops but I had a multimeter to see which wire is for the blinkers and which is for the stoplights which is really helpful.

 

that makes so much more sense. thanks john.

 

Not a problem. It was a total of 4 butt connectors and some electrical tape.

 

paging bob.

finally gettin around to tryin to wire this up, and am lookin for some more info on the location of the turn signal only/brake signal only wires. i found an 8pin connector at the end of the frame rail as you mention, but it only has 5 wires on both sides of the connector. the other pin locations are empty.
i followed the harness forward past the spare and fuel tank all the way to the bulkhead connector thru the floor of the cab, no other connectors to be found.

any help with this? truck is an 02






PM sent also due to age of thread.

 

i have these 5 wires on the frame side of the connector, and have confirmed thier functions.
these three are not in the connector. jus empty holes...

 

Great minds must think alike.....I've been searching for some 99 tails to do the same thing with. lol

I'll have to check that harness when she gets home.

 

well a temporary compromise has been reached untill one of my wiring buddies gets back to me. my wiring resource was no help on this.

the tails are installed and, with a couple changes to the harness connectors, function the same as the 02 tails they replaced. as soon as i figure out how, i will rewire them so the amber section actually does sumthin besides look good!

 

Yeah, I've been wanting to do the two bulb to three bulb swap. I dunno why, just seems like they should be that way.

 

All 8 wires (enough to do either the 2-bulb or 3-bulb setup) should be in the harness that runs down the DS frame rail. Once you get the the connector at the end of the DS frame rail, only 5 continue into the 2001~2003 Ranger taillight subharness. You can probably do the installation by substituting a 2001~2003 Mazda rear subharness. Or you could add wires and connectors to the existing Ranger subharness to carry the circuits out to the 3-bulb tails.

 

i understand what you are sayin, and i see the connector you are talkin about, but the wires arent there. i found the 8 pin connector, but there are only 5 wires on BOTH sides of it.
i chased the harness down the DS framerail all the way to the bulkhead thru the floor pan and dont see a lg, lg/o, or o/lb anywhere.

i know wiring diagrams can be a PITA, and wiring over the internet is even worse, and that wire colors dont always match(although the newer stuff is alot better at that than before).
addin a rear mazda subharness or even wires to my subharness would be dandy if i had wires on the DS frame rail to add them to.

 

My 03 has 8 on one side and 5 on the other. The 2001, 2002 and 2003 Ford schematics all say that the truck has 8 on the DS frame rail harness. But if your 2002 doesn't, then it doesn't.

Here is an alternate way to do it but it requires running more wiring. You could probably 'reassign' two of the existing 5 wires but that would still leave one more to run (you would need to end up with at least 6 total for the LR signal, RR signal, brake lights, running lights, reverse lights and ground).

Tap the LG/OR of the LR signal from the LG/WH to the LF signal
Tap the OG/LB of the RR signal from the WH/LB to the RF signal
Tap the LG of the brake lights from the LG at the brake switch or from the DG at the CHMSL

 

is that the connector you disconnect to remove the bed? if you get a chance, can i get a pic?


this is my current plan to get the functions i want. would you suggest pullin the front signals from the headlight harness?
CHMSL = multi-function switch?
as far as reassigning wires in my harness; i would take the subharness ground and connect it to the chassis so i could use the existing wires in the DS frame rail harness to pick up the other 5 signals i need, and it would still remain plug-in at the bed removal connector.