Keep Them Doggies Rollin'

Tabitha had been sitting for at least five years in the high desert of California. Not only had Mother Nature done an excellent sand blasting job on the paint. But the tires had baked to a crunchy consistency.
There were and are some things to attend to to make Tabitha ready to roll 160 miles. The tail lights had the backing plate but no light and no lens. Nor were there any wires to hook up lights. I am here in Los Angeles, Tabitha in Twenty nine Palms. I can't just run outside to check out details. I wanted to get Tabitha on the road as quickly as possible. I knew that I would have tons of time once she was settled in Julian to tweak and bring every detail back to stock. I ordered a 25' four wire harness [the absolute basic wire set up for a trailer, braking and turning lights] and watched a few YouTube videos on rewiring a Utility trailer. I then found my best wire stripper and bought HD zip ties and heat shrink butt connectors. I ordered teardrop lights to replace the old fogged and faded lenses on the sides and two 7" round red tail lights to use in the back. When I left for Twentynine Palms - a three hour one way road trip I accidentally left the tail lights. Boo Hoo at my blunder turned out to be a good thing [aside from the $50 I spent] - as I have since changed my mind about slapping any old thing on for the "haul". There were two existing wiring harness' on Tabitha. The original round 7 wire connector and another four wire flat connector from whomever made the same slap it together decision I had in order to move her here.
I left the seven wire harness attached - as I'd like to eventually rewire Tabitha properly. I pulled the old four wire harness and climbed underneath Tabitha's belly. Surprise - everything looked good underneath - 'cept for one wee problem which I refuse to make eye contact with at the moment. Ssssssh. There are a lot of granite rocks in the desert. Crawling on one's back atop them with 4,300 pounds balanced on 4 tiny jack stands 4" above your nose is a trial. Something I imagined I'd only need to endure if I were escaping prison. I rifled through the car - and if you know me - you know that I have a nuclear disaster response kit, amongst other things in the trunk. Let's just say that when I decide to rifle I don't come up empty handed. I brought back a sheepskin that I keep for the pups to snuggle on. It looked a little extravagant but it worked wonderfully.
I pushed the wiring harness into a plastic coil of accordion tubing [like a tiny vacuum hose] to protect it from the elements and ran that coil along the bottom out of road hazard snag range. I secured the coil with HD zip ties and ran the end through a tiny hole someone had drilled near the rear for the old four wire harness. I poked a steel wire into the hole, wrapped it around the harness and pulled the wires through two at a time [hole was too small to do it all together]. I just made it through the hole with about three inches to spare. Turns out I didn't need the tail lights this trip anyway as I didn't have enough wire to hook them up. But I did have enough to splice on my next trip!
I did all of this while awaiting a "Mobile Mechanic" I found on Craigslist. He was 4 1/2 hours late. I heard him coming from over a mile away. Old Chevy flat bed pick up with the hood sprung open and half of another truck used as a trailer pulled behind. A disabled parking placard on the rear view mirror. I saw a Craftsman toolbox with drawers hanging open and imagined what tools must be spread between here and Morongo Valley. He called to say he was on his way an hour and a quarter before. Being a Mathematician's Daughter, I quickly calculated that his average MPH were 40% less than mine... and I was speeding shall we say - conservatively. It was now 4:45pm and about 15 minutes from darkness in the desert.
At any rate, I pulled two 300 lumen lanterns from my trunk to light the operation and he helped me out by repacking my bearings for $240 which paid for his time, the gas to haul his rig out there and a can of grease. He was very nice and not completely crazy. He threw in the reattachment of a spring that had come loose from the brakes. He pulled the wheels. I was waiting for that. I wanted to take them to civilization and have new tires put on. I had put (4) 7500# rated leveling scissor jacks under Tabitha to augment the tiny jack stands so that she could sit without wheels for a bit. Meanwhile I had to get home - I had a three hour drive, it was freezing and the Mechanic started to remind me of a character in 'The Hills Have Eyes'.
UPDATE: found the tail light lenses - Auto Lamp 576 - after making animal sacrifice, on eBay. Another good source isTailight King.