gilbertsdodge

i need some help a friend of mine just went and had a j&i flatbed installed a week ago. now the lamp out indicator is on and the turnsignals flash like strobe lights. he has taken it back to them twice now. and the keep telling him he needs a heavy duty flasher on his truck. and that its a problem with the truck not their wiring. the flatbed is set up with 4 stop and turn signals two on the headache rack and two on the bed. i know this year of truck has a seperate turn and brake bulb. i tried looking at how they have it hooked up and they have hacked the original harness to pieces i'm wondering if anyone can give me some insight here to fix his truck... maybe a taillight harness diagram or something.any help would be appreciated!

RCW

It is not just a case of needing a wiring diagram, the truck should be scanned with the Dodge scan tool and the body control module codes read to make sure the symptoms are associated with true wiring faults.

Off the top of my head it sounds as if the truck body guys are simply morons that probably attempted to ground the light wiring on the truck body via a common frame ground. That will usually fry the ECM via a cascading of internal shorting from BCM and the ICM from internal ground faults that generate when the lighting is turned on and cannot find the corresponding ground lead signal.

Generally this problem can be remedied before it is necessary to replace any of the control modules themselves, but is not something that can be done in the backyard. It is critical the lighting not be used for more than a few minutes when in fault, or the bill to correct the mess will exceed the value of the truck.

Copenhagenjunkie

There are alot of 3rd gen trucks around here set up for welding with flat beds on them that have LED stop/turn lights. Changing lanes on the highway they will flash normal 2 times then flash very fast.

Then there are 3rd gen trucks with flat beds that have non-LED lights and they flash normal.

Is it the LED lights?

pind

Yes, it is the LED lights.

You need a resistor in the line, to simulate the load of a normal incandescent light, or the flasher will go nuts.

SWC

I had the same problem when I tried to install LED's on my deck. Grote has a sequencer that does not rely on the load of the regular light bulbs to flash.
Go to a big truck outfitter and they should have what you need.
Sorry I don't have the part number in front of me. If you need it I will find it.
Stan

rich

the 3rd gen trucks have seperate brake and turn wires for the tailights you need to wire them seperate. its the same way on my c&m flatbed. i have changed some of the lights out for led and have had no problem

Colo_River_Ram

Here you go as per my flatbed install:

You need to split the tail lights right and left(overheads as well) and tie both both the hot and ground wires into the associated L-R harness, You need to have a minimum resistance equivalent to 1 - 1157 bulb (aprox 2 amps) and a maximum of 2 - 1157 bulbs (aprox 4 amps) load.

You are probably getting a fast flash on the TS which is causing the lamp out indicator lamp to go on. You need to install a resistor like this (RL 650 aprox 1/2 down on this page) into both the L & R TS circuits:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR

If the lamp out persists you need to install the (RL-2525 resistor - right under the RL 650's) into the R&L tail light circuits..

If you had to split the headache tails vs the bumper tails that would work as well. Don't forget the grounds must be wired into the harness not grounded to the frame!

If this truck is to be used on highway construction where the flashers are in constant use I advise you to mount the resisters to a piece of aluminum like I did as they will generate a lot of heat ..Space that out from the frame for ventilation as well..



Here is my bed with optronic brand LED lights..if you know the brand of lights they put on the truck go to that website to check light ampacity ratings..



All of this lovely info can be found at Dodges up-fitter link:

http://www.dodge.com/bodybuilder/year.pdf

Hope this helps...

gilbertsdodge

thanks everybody i figured out a way to repair it and i was able to save a trip to the shop. come to find out the flatbed place tied everything into the trailer wiring i just redid everything and put 50 ohm resisters on every line that originally had a bulb then i left the turnsignals connected to the trailer wiring. and put a load resistor between ground and the stop turn circuits on the tailights. works great and and all lights are out