Brake Lights seeking a ground

[Highlander]

I realized the other day that the brake lights in the '85 are seeking a ground through the parking lights, as a result, at night I'm only getting a slight brightness change when I step on the brakes. Not Good! The parking lights, including the dash lights, all come on when your foot is on the brake, the rheostat dims the dash lights, my intermittent wipers don't work, except when you park them wrong and then step on the brake or use the turn signals. Everything else on the car works great.
So where do I search first for the bad ground, at the tail lights, at the brake switch, or in the steering wheel housing? I've been putting off taking the wheel housing apart to resolder the ground on the wipers 'cause I'm lazy sometimes.
Can any of you professionals help me out here?
I'm great with the mechanicals, but grounding stuff just pisses me off due to the time it takes me to fix it.

EDIT-- In looking at the FSM, methinks that the ground near the R Rear combination light is where the problem lies, I'll try that first.

[Highlander]

Easier fix than that... I couldn't find the ground back by the RR combination light, so I popped both of the turn/brake lamps out of the combination lights, dropped the rear seats and started removing the bulbs one at a time. The drivers side light bulb was the culprit, it had been in there so long that the solder blobs used for contacts had mushroomed out and were contacting the grounding portion of the light socket itself. So the brake lights are good now,
Stupidly I spun it leaving the house last night and busted the right front turn signal on the berm above the road. (Too Much Fun= Fix It Again Tony )
So I'll have to see if the '85 just down the road from me has one . I may just have to buy the whole dang car, just for parts -No Title Available for it whatsoever

[dlb]

thumbs up on the easy fix, thumbs down on the new damage!