VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Rewire my truck for how much?

A local (Southern Calif) restoration garage gave me $4800.00 as a ballpark figure for labor for installing a new wiring harness in my '46 truck. I nearly fell over. This can't be right, can it?

Sure can. You just have to remember where you are. It would be a bargain. Also, consider that 46 pickups are a pain to rewire. What are there? Three or four wires?

Seriously, why don't you get some YNZ (?) kit and do it yourself.

Charlie

BTW: I think they were just trying to get rid of you like they didn't want the job or something.

YNZ in Redlands, CA is very good. The instructions are clear and the wires are labled. The folks there are also very good with questions on the phone when you need them.

Give it a try.

Dave

I used a YnZ in my 48 coupe. I installed it in the summer of 2012. Kit was around $#600.00. As you are in LA, call them and see if they install or know someone that uses thier harnesses.

If you are not interested in having the wiring "original" check out some of the aftermarket wiring companies like Haywire or Painless Wiring or Ron Francis. They have kits with very few circuits all the way up to 21 circuits and I believe they start at way less than $600.00 for a minimum sized kit.

Just make sure they are rated for 6 volt if that is what you still have.

Jane,

I have a brand new (all in original packaging) 1941 pickup wire harness that is from Rhode Island Wiring Services (http://www.riwire.com/). A harness from Rhode Island is identical to the one originally installed in your truck and is of equal or better quality. I would gladly sell it to you for $250 plus postage. I have one of their harnesses in my 41 car that I installed myself. The harness comes with excellant diagrams and instructions and on a scale of 1 to 10 I say rewiring a car/truck is about a 3 in difficulty. If you have rewired a house light switch, lamp, etc. you should have no problem doing a car or truck. Just take your time and remove only one wire at a time and replace it with the new one. If you think this is confusing then make a video or take pictures of where the old wires were located before you remove them. You do need to be healthy enough to work on your back under the dash.

If anyone is serious about doing the work themselves I am sure there are a lot of members on our chat site willing to provide good advice. For $4800 the company that quoted the installation fee should be selling you a pretty nice pickup all newly rewired.

A call to Rhode Island Wiring will tell you what the differences in a 41 or 46 harness are? Maybe they are identical?

For less than $4800 a bunch of us would be glad to fly to CA to do the work for you. Of course we would need a picture of your truck before deciding to make the trip!!!

Good luck, Mike

Best way to get under the dash is to remove the seat and throw down some old blankets or carpets and alot easier to get behind the dash.

I'll second what everyone has said. Its really not too hard to rewire a car or truck with a quality harness like the ones mentioned. I hope you locate one and give it a whirl. Its a great feeling fixing electrical gremlins with new parts! Good luck to you.

I second all of the above,I also wired my 48 with a YnZ harness with very few snags.