First truck ever

[justinburnett]

I've always been a Jeep guy, but I finally broke down and got a truck. Tired of always having electrical/computer related problems so I picked up an old 73 GMC 3/4t 4x4 for $900 off craigslist. Guess what happened: Electrical problems!

I imagine these'll be simpler to track down. When I bought it, all the gauges worked. After about a half hour of driving, all the gauges were pegged except for the Ammeter/voltmeter and the oil pressure which neither one ever move so I assume they're not working. I kinda freaked out when I looked down at my temp which was hovering previously around 180 and saw it pinned on the hot side, but after pulling over and thinking about it I realized it couldn't be THAT hot or I'd smell it and it wouldn't be driving so well. Got out, felt the engine, it was warm but that's it. Checked fluids, drove home.

When I got home I turned off the ignition and the truck wouldn't turn off. It kills power to the fan, but the coil's still getting an input so it keeps right on chugging. Had to pull the coil wire. Then of course the battery died overnight. Went to jump it the next day and the starter was out. Put a new starter in the next day and found out that there was a broken tooth on the flexplate! I put the new one in anyway, and it'll turn it but you can hear it hit the dead spot every time it turns over so... I'll get to it asap. Don't have anywhere to drop a tranny that heavy though so it'll be a job I pay for.

Basically my goals are: get gauges working, replace flexplate, and figure out why it's so hard to start in the morning. Any help with any of these things would be great. Hopefully I can get everything working good before it starts snowing, since I don't have my jeeps anymore and all I have otherwise to drive is a tiny (seems even smaller now) Datsun station wagon that is not so great in the snow.

I fell in love with the damn thing the first time I drove it. I've driven newer trucks, and I didn't care either way for them, but there's something about it... I can't figure out how to actually post a picture in the message but here's a link to it.
http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=675A0363.jpg