1965-66 custom cab cluster... yard find

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 8:11 am

i picked this up at a local junk yard yesterday. anyone got any tips on how to bench test the gauges? i got the amp gauge to "work" when i hit it to a battery. havent really messed with the others. well i did test the speedo and the bulbs

also anyone know what the 2 post "relay" looking box on the back side is? it doesnt really seem to be a relay and if you follow the wires one post seem to feed several things and the other goes to a few as well.

tomrooster · Post by **tomrooster** » February 14, 2011, 9:12 am

The 2 post relay thing is for voltage to the guages. Tom

banjopicker66 · Post by **banjopicker66** » February 14, 2011, 9:17 am

That "relay" is a voltage regulator, and it powers the oil and fuel gauges. It also steps the voltage down.
The ammeter isn't powered as such, it simply measures the flow of current. You'll need to do some light-duty rewiring to get it to work properly.
The oil gauge will require a different sending unit. It can be installed on a "T" at the current oil idiot light sending unit location. Run a wire from the sending unit to the other post of the oil gauge. The relay sends power to the gauge and the sending unit grounds the gauge out.
Nice find, by the way!

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 9:20 am

alright, that makes sense... any tips on how to test the gauges?

banjopicker66 · Post by **banjopicker66** » February 14, 2011, 9:23 am

To test:
Apply 12V to the regulator.
Make sure fuel or oil gauge has power from the regulator.
Ground out the other side of the gauge.
If the gauge moves to FULL or HIGH, the gauge is good.
The sending units use a variable ground to control the gauge's measurement.

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 9:36 am

preciate the help! sounds simple enuff, just wanted to make sure before i went and fired something.

i just seen you edit to the 1st reply... this isnt a "stock" truck or any thing like that, can just wire in a stock sending unit from the donor truck for oil sending unit? seems like that would be simple enuff.

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 9:47 am

i was pretty suprised to see the truck in the yard honeslty... it was pretty loaded! 4x4 f250, 4 spd, fe, every piece of trim ive ever seen for these, door pockets..... sadly most everything was messed up in one shape or form.
i did save these incase someone needed em
the boards are spoken for though

banjopicker66 · Post by **banjopicker66** » February 14, 2011, 9:55 am

As regards the sending unit, you cannot use the idiot light sender for the gauge. The idiot sender is just an on-off switch. When pressure is low, it grounds out the light and turns it on.
The gauge sending unit is not on-off, it is a graduated switch using an internal resistor. As the pressure increases, it reduces the resistance, allowing more current to flow through the gauge.
Yes, you can use a simple wire from the sending unit to the gauge to make it work, but you must use the right type of sending unit.

BigMike · Post by **BigMike** » February 14, 2011, 10:14 am

You can get a sending unit from NAPA. They even had one in stock when I replaced mine.

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 10:32 am

banjopicker66 wrote:As regards the sending unit, you cannot use the idiot light sender for the gauge. The idiot sender is just an on-off switch. When pressure is low, it grounds out the light and turns it on.
The gauge sending unit is not on-off, it is a graduated switch using an internal resistor. As the pressure increases, it reduces the resistance, allowing more current to flow through the gauge.
Yes, you can use a simple wire from the sending unit to the gauge to make it work, but you must use the right type of sending unit.

yeah i think i worded that wrong... we're on the same page
i'll prolly tee em together like you mentioned so i can use both.

does the temp gauge sending unit work the same, i would assume so
obviously a different one though

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 14, 2011, 10:34 am

on a side note, that truck also had headers like the ones pictured above... is there much of a market for them? should i go through the trouble to get em?

jmf66 · Post by **jmf66** » February 15, 2011, 3:49 pm

As part of your test, you can check that the regulator has 5v output (with 12v input).

dragginwagon · Post by **dragginwagon** » February 15, 2011, 3:52 pm

cool, sounds good!
i'll mess with this thing tonight or tomm night

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » February 15, 2011, 4:03 pm

dragginwagon wrote:i was pretty suprised to see the truck in the yard honeslty... it was pretty loaded! 4x4 f250, 4 spd, fe,

bet it was a conversion to a later frame as those instruments were not installed in any factory f250 4x4s.