My 1985 Base model pickup did not come with a cigarette lighter. It was my Dad's truck and he bought it that way, with no frills whatsoever. Just took it on it's longest road trip (400 miles roundtrip) since driving it down from VA to TX 20 years ago and it sure would have been nice to be able to plug in my GPS. I also have a power inverter I might need to use soon too to run a hammer drill. Have not crawled under the dash yet to see what wires (if any) are already there, but some initial research suggests the wiring harness may already be there. Any hints, tips, and suggestions about how to do this, how much has to be removed, what kind to get, etc. would be welcome.

 

Start with this^^^ Good chance that there is already a connector there. Back in those days, those sockets were really made for lighters so should be rated for up to 10 amps (120watts).
Don't bother with stock socket. For personal electronics I just got this:

The panel section where stock socket would go should be easy to remove/mod/replace.


What is your inverter rated at? I would not use the lighter socket for anything over 120 watts. Need to connect directly to the battery for that. Heavy-duty inverter should come with heavy cable and clips for batt terminals/

 

Thanks RAD4Runner for your advice. I'll try taking off the shroud around the area and see what I find once the weather warm up a little.

The power socket you suggested looks pretty advanced for my simple needs ... I'll probably just go with a simple single socket cigarette lighter type, as close to OEM as possible. GPS and maybe phone charging are all I anticipate.

My power inverter is rated for 1000 watts continuous (1200 maximum), and it does have alligator clips, so I'll connect directly to the battery when I need to use it for drilling.