Shadetree Grommet Fix

[crazy4offroad]

Many people like to add driving lights, offroad lights, amps, in-cab winch controllers, etc to their truck, and I must admit, I'm one of the worst. For a while I had just popped out the firewall grommet that the speedometer cable passes through and ran all my wires through there. Well one day I was adding yet another doohicky and one of my buddies expressed his concern of what an electrical fire hazard I had created. (More like "Hey *******, you're gonna burn your fuggin truck up like that!") Fortunately for me he shed some of his wisdom on me and showed me a better way...

This is what it looked like before. Mechanical oil pressure gauge tube, temp gauge tube, speedometer cable, winch control, 2 sets of offroad lights, a heavy-gauge wire for in-cab accessories, and a couple wires for things that stopped working I had to run new wire for lol...

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Anyway, you take a piece of 5/8" or 3/4" heater hose 2 or 3 inches long...

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...cut a spiral cut through the hose...

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...and wrap it around the rat's nest of wires and hoses...

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Now all ya gotta do is tuck it into the metal firewall with a screwdriver...

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...for a finished product like this...

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Now your wires are safe from shorting out on the metal of the firewall!

These are the new lights I installed, since I busted up my other ones pretty bad on the trail last time out...

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I also installed this throw switch as a theft-deterrent, but mainly to stop the battery from being drained dead every time I get in it...

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And I mounted my fire extinguisher finally...

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All-in-all it was a beautiful day to spend working on the square!

 

[Irishman999]

Thats a good one, I know they make grommet kits that are different sizes but I had to rig mine up too.

I drilled a 1 inch hole in my firewall and found some wire loom in my father in laws garage, its yellow and looks like some ricer **** but it protects my oil pressure line and and temp sensor wire.

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[crazy4offroad]

I started to order one of the Mr Gasket grommet kits, has just about every size you can imagine. But I like being able to do something for free, and not having to wait on it to arrive. I need to get some wire loom and fix up my wiring, it looks like hell now.

 

[89Suburban]

Great trick right there C4!

 

[Swims350]

yep done that one many times.

As for battery drain you got something staying on in the truck. You could track it down and find it.

I like the switch idea though, but wonder if it'll corrode up in the winter or when the truck is sitting. This winter really killed the 84's terminals and stuff, tons of corrosion and build up on them.

 

[crazy4offroad]

I think the direct tap for the offroad light relays, CB and stereo is the root of it all. Either way, I like being able to cut the power to the whole truck, it cuts off the negative side. If you have a bunch of corrosion on your terminals get some dielectric grease for them, helps a lot.

 

[89Suburban]

I think the direct tap for the offroad light relays, CB and stereo is the root of it all. Either way, I like being able to cut the power to the whole truck, it cuts off the negative side. If you have a bunch of corrosion on your terminals get some dielectric grease for them, helps a lot.

And that spray battery terminal protector stuff works good too, and you can use it anywhere.