Dimmer switch and switch assembly

Tiny
JOVDUK
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 TOYOTA 4RUNNER
  • 4 CYL
  • 4WD
  • MANUAL
  • 123,456 MILES
My friend has a 1943 Willy's Jeep and he asked me to wire up his headlights, parking, turn signals hazards etc. The mother has been swapped out and so has the steering wheel (from left hand to right hand Australia) anyways the dimmer switch looks like it is from a 1995 Toyota 4Runner and has three wires (two white and one red tiny wires). I just need to know how to run them because all the connectors have been gutted and I am left with dangling wires. I have attached a picture of the switch if that helps at all. Any help will be greatly appreciated so thank you in advance.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 5:57 AM

11 Replies

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 14,470 POSTS
You are in for some work there.
Those wires are not the dimmer switch, they would be the ones to switch on the headlights and parking lights. You will need relays for that as the contacts in that switch would burn out instantly if they were used directly.

The dimmer switch wiring will be on the steering column as the dimmer switch is part of the turn signal switch. If the column information is correct the wires should be a red/yellow wire for one beam and red/green for the other. Those both switch to ground through a white/black wire.

The biggest issue is that the Toyota used ground side switching, so you will need to add relays for just about every function controlled by that column. None of the switches in it can handle much current.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 6:57 AM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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Good information. It is good because this was already hooked up before. It is bad because I started chopping wires and did not leave crumbs along the way and now I cannot find my way back home. All they had wired up from here are the headlights low and high) and parking. And from the dimmer switch the turn signals. Nothing else was used from this column. So I was hoping someone could quickly come up with a wiring diagram so I can easily follow it. Like I said I am not using all of those wires just the necessities. Here is what I hooked up so far.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 12:45 PM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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Here is what I hooked up so far. Also, there was a relay they had put in under the steering column (and it was for the headlights), but it was just one relay. Which is all I need to do. The photo. Slow is for the headlights, highs and lows. I will send you a better picture later on if the wires and hopefully you can draw me a diagram. Fingers crossed.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 12:51 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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How did the high/low headlights work? Turning that switch or pushing/pulling the lever like it would work in the Toyota? And how do you actually want them to work? It wouldn't be all that difficult to wire up the lights, signals and horn using the Toyota controls. Basically you need the relays simply to carry the current.

Turn the switch to the first position and you should find that two of the wires connect, turn it to the second position and the third one should join in. Use the first position for the parking lights through a relay, the second position will power on the headlights and keep the parking lights on. Now to have high/low you would run the switched power from the headlight relay into two more relays. Those would be switched on/off by the Toyota dimmer switch in the column.
It sounds like you have enough relays for this already and maybe that was how it was wired?
I'll see if I can't toss something together. You already have the turn signals sorted?
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 6:00 PM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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Like you said. Worked like a normal Toyota switch. Twist once for parkers, twist twice for low beams and parkers together, pull lever up and you can flash the high beams and push down to have constant high beams. Turn signals were also working but had to get rid of the wiring in there because it was all gutted (opened wire with no insulation. Thanks for all your help by the way. Just trying to learn all this stuff for future.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 6:37 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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Okay, it may take me a bit to work up a good diagram. I am going to try to use the factory column colors for a 1995 Toyota 4Runner as a base so you do not need to trace out every wire.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 6:56 PM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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Like I said I will get a picture of the wires so maybe it will kind of help you from the top of my head. There was a white with black line wire, red with white line, and another red wire with a black or dark color line (I do not think that one was used).
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 7:13 PM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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You can see the white wire with black line (which I believe is power) and red with white line).

*note that I did not wire it like this, I am simply trying to fix this bad job.
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Sunday, June 25th, 2017 AT 8:11 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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Okay, I will see what I can come up with.
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Monday, June 26th, 2017 AT 7:23 AM
Tiny
JOVDUK
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Thank you! How's the diagram coming along? Hopefully you didn t forget about me haha
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Tuesday, June 27th, 2017 AT 1:49 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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Nope, didn't forget, just been busy in the shop. The attached will give you headlights and markers. I looked up the specs on the switch and you can use it to switch high/low without using relays. Just need relays for the power side. The M Lite would be the marker/parking feed. To get the correct fuse size you add the draw of each bulb then add 50%. (Or put it all together and toss an ammeter in place of the fuse, then double that number) This keeps flash to pass.

The OEM system splits the power feed to the lights after the relay and uses 2 fuses. Not really needed for a Willys.

White W/ Black was originally the ground side. Various reds are the power feeds.
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Wednesday, June 28th, 2017 AT 8:18 AM

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