Willys Jeep; Sorting some dodgy wiring....

 

ha ha!... as we near Halloween this weekend I have my own scary story, of some scary wiring!...

There used to be a joke amongst British Motorbike owners when we were teenagers riding Japanese  Motorbikes from the 1970`s and 80`s about the the lights of these bikes and British motorbikes being useless and low power. Today's LED mountain bike lights are actually more powerful!, but when it comes to an Army vehicle I guess you don't want massive power lights - you may as we have a big Neon sign saying `Aim Here...`, but the Jeeps lights do remind me of those old Honda motorbikes with the same yellow glow 12 volt 45w bulbs, maybe their fine to get you home after dark on cats eye lit roads but their pure scary on a narrow country road in the pitch black, so always best to get home before they are needed....

The Wiring on my Jeep is a bit of a mess being untouched and as I have found out is pretty bodged , and recently I had to do some repairs which quite shocked me, Needing the lights now on dull days - also you need to switch the lights on to get the brake lights and indicators to work - you would not want them coming on in a battlefield!, and the bulbs have been playing up and first time I replaced them i discovered this - just who in there right mind would wind up and knot electric cable?, I know this would not have been the previous owner Paul who got the Jeep up and running after it lay 7 years in a barn, to be fair also he had only just got the Jeep running and not went fully through everything, when a 1950s Chevy pick up turned up for sale which he specialises in and seeing pics of these lovely restored motors he has done he did not do this to the wiring...

Check this out man!, what the FXXX?

I knew there was knotted wiring but did not really pay attention to sorting this - which yeah maybe that's as stupid as the fire risk this represents, but... what sort of muppet did this which has no real meaning when you would just shorten the wires??? 

Now i am maybe a qualified Greenskeeper to trade, but that does involve needing some common sense... And while I am a self taught bicycle mechanic, and a self taught/learning on the job Jeep mechanic (with some assistance from others), it does not need an Auto Electrician to tell you you should never coil electrical cables that have a current through them big or small - you always reel your extension cable right out for your Electric hover mower to mow your lawns right?, so what previous owner of this Jeep did this?

You can see here the bulb holders are drawing heat...

When I see this it makes me glad to know the engine and stuff has never been out and dismantled on this Jeep (since it was in Military service) as who knows what bodged gremlins I could have found...

Fuel or electrics are the main reasons for car fires, there are fire extinguishers (new and painted green) on either side of my Jeep for this very reason...

So I ordered some new bulb holders and a box of connectors along with replacement bulbs form eBay and they arrived a few days later...

Still cannot believe  someone did this!...

I do have higher quality 4mm (same as Honda motorbikes) connectors which are better for stopping water ingress on off-road bikes, 

but decided to just use basic ones as they are already on the Jeep and it does not see much water (esp no real crazy off road stuff), and the Jeep already has these...

It was an easy job to cut out the knots and with new connectors on plug in and check the hi/low beams are the right way around...

Here the loom is knotted outside (underneath) a headlight...

I soon had that sorted and straightened ...

Army Jeeps are well earthed everywhere to reduce static on radios, but I still cleaned up the earth point on the inside of each lamp shell...

And the old bulbs seem to have damaged elements and one seemed dull and the elements had fused together since fitting it last month, probably because of the previous crows nest of wiring drawing heat. With the new bulbs  fitted in sorted wiring all was good in the world again...

High beam...

And low beam...

Will keep this as a souvenir on the key ring to someones mad crazy bodging...

The Hotchkiss Jeep has a different looking light switch to Wartime Willys MB and Ford GPW Jeeps,  this one has a button you push before you an turn it to operate - again you don't want to be in a warfare situation and accidentally you switch on your lights!...

one click right is side lights, two clicks main lights - with high low beam changed with your left foot on a floor button...

One click left is convoy lights and two clicks left are blackout lights, The original blackout lights on the front under the main lights on my Jeep have been rewired as indicators using orange LED bulbs by the previous owner which is a good idea and got rid of the ugly French fitted indicators. 

The blackout driving front light is on the front left wing same as war ear Jeeps but is a different shape with a flatter rear shell - a distinctive give away of a Hotchkiss item, and not war time...

Blackout driving light front

Rear blackouts are separate bulbs below rear light/brake lights...

Rear blackout lamp...

In the dark you can just see the the front light if you bend down, it was only powerful enough to see the vehicle in front...

You can just see the line of light on the garage door...

The rear light again is not visible from above so could not be see from the air and emits a low glow...

All clever stuff and its cool these things are still working along with the  necessary  legal lighting for UK roads, my Jeeps rear numberplate light does light up whatever light setting is switched on, which it should not in blackout/convoy settings but it keeps the lights road legal for here in the UK...

This Halloween weekend weather forecast is not looking good so doubt I will be out in the Jeep, but hope to get a cycle on my original Surly Pugsley Fatbike as it is 13 years ago this Halloween since I picked up the bike... Lucky for me!, unlike what that dodgy wiring could have caused!

More soon...