Plug for trailer wiring

[RustCollector]

I've never seen that one before. Thanks for posting it.

[RustCollector]

I just ordered from ebay a used Defender high level stop lamp with the plastic housing. It mounts inside the rear door at the top. I have heard the posters advice on glare in the rain, and I'll keep that in mind. This lamp is not LED and it was $18 with shipping, which is cheaper than other options, but not the cheapest. If it's not crap, it should be a good solution. I'll need to make up a sheet metal bracket, and drill into the door frame for it. I haven't decided on how to wire it yet. It needs to be removable for the canvas top, so I'm weighing the advice farther up in this thread.



I'm also ordering a Curt 4 pin round trailer wiring socket and an adaptor to a flat 4 pin (see post #4 in this thread). I thought about the larger plastic one to mount in the PTO hole, but my kids use everything in that area as a step, and I fear it would lose that battle quickly. If the Curt works, it should be enough for my needs.

Next up, I'll spend a few hours wiring both of these up at the same time.

Oh, and thanks for all the advice.

[64osby]

Posted this in my rebuild thread. It is a Hopkins 4flat mounting bracket.

[RustCollector]

Nice strong looking bracket there, Osby.

If I had that hitch that might be a good optoin to consider. I suppose that connector could be installed in the PTO hole, too.

[Bioheat]

The hole size is for the old style rubber Lucas 4 pin plugs

[RustCollector]

Yeah, I'll probably have to make a plate or something to make it work in that hole.

[64osby]

The rear cross member should have 3 nuts welded on the bottom, both my frames had them. You could bolt a plate on.

[RustCollector]

I decided to try the Curt 4 pin round receptacle and a 4 pin flat to round adaptor cable. The cable was not a Curt product, and it did not fit the Curt receptacle, which was a bit annoying.

I took it apart and found that the 3 brass signal pins in the round side of the adaptor cable were to large in diameter. The one ground pin, which was chromed, does fit. I pressed out the 3 oversized ones, chucked them into the drill press one at a time, and filed them down to size. Sure, it only took half an hour, but didn't we all adapt standardization in the early 1800's?

The plug housing does fit nicely in the hole in the original post image.

Anyway, no images of that. Sorry.

Question: is it better to clamp that socket in place from behind without drilling the rear crossmember, or should I not worry about rust on my new galvy chassis and just drill the holes?


Also: the center brake light arrived and I made a steel bracket for it. Being a pack rat, I found an old foot box side piece from my bulkhead rebuild and used that.

It was dead simple to make, with only two bends and a simple profile. I have no idea what the original bracket looks like, and I think this is from a Disco anyway, not a Defender - it has a 15 degree angle to the glass which might match a Disco (?).


I ground off most of the heads of two vintage 1/4-20 bolts which I will weld into place soon. You can see them on either end of the red lens in the lamp, heading through the steel and then through the plastic lens housing. Because that face of the lamp touches the glass, I can't have bolt heads in there. There is a black gasket material on there now, which looks kind of rough. I'll replace with something when it goes on.

The 4 holes in the top of the bracket are drilled out spot welds from when this was part of the bulkhead. Right now the steel looks like it came off of the Titanic, but I'll paint it up a bit before it gets installed.

The lamp enclosure is the larger thing right next to the lens housing. It's kind of big when installed, but it has to be to clear the bulb socket, which isn't installed in this photo. It it's too big, I can try out a flat LED with this bracket.

I'm going to take a look at my 110's rear door and copy the wiring flex joint (it has rear defog and wiper on the door). I'll still have to make a disconnect for when the hard top gets replaced with the canvas.

I'll wire the brake light, the trailer socket, and an LED work light all at once as soon as my kids are back in school.

[loose gravel]

Probably an easier fit with the KCHILite cyclone and a red lens,; https://www.kchilites.com/cyclone-v2...gle-light.html though I get the originality aspect of your install.

[RustCollector]

I have not seen that option yet, Gene. I like it.

The "originality" you mention is based on my cheapness. I found the Rover unit for cheap. If it was an unobtanium part, I'd already be working on an LED solution. Thanks for showing me that link.

[RustCollector]

It's been a busy winter with limited Rover work time. I've done a bit of work on the stop lamp, but have only test fit it so far. I welded the bolts to the bracket and ground the hex head down so they're more like welded on studs. It got a rattle can spray. I'm still going to put something between the glass and the lamp assembly - probably self adhesive foam. It's not much work since last time but I fell lazy if I don't post something.

[loose gravel]

Nice!

[RustCollector]

Thanks, Gene.