Wiring question

[MyDream55]

Hello all,

I have a question for some of you that know the wiring in and out of these trucks. I have a 56 by the way. I got the truck from a previous owner and dont know if all the wiring is correct. The other day I was driving home and an older gentleman flagged me down and asked me to pull over to check out my truck (Gas Monkey style..lol). I pulled over, he looked at my truck, didnt offer me money, but loved it..

Anyway, I got back in, went to start it and nothing.. No power whatsoever. Tried getting a boost and nothing. Finally stuck a screwdriver across starter and started up and drove home. At this point I knew it was a wiring issue (I'm a controls engineer and know wiring so I knew something electrical was the issue).

I finally had time to go through it tonight and found the brown wire (or red, hard to tell since wire was painted) from starter was run from starter (Battery) to the back of my gauge panel and connected to Red wire (also hard to tell) through male fittings on gauge panel. The only thing I can think of is this wire came loose and fell off. Once I reconnected both wires to gauge panel everything seems to work.

My question is - is this normal or should it run to ignition switch instead?

Sorry for long post but hopefully you understand..

Thanks a lot

[tmoble]

Those male spades were probably on the back of the amp gauge. They used it for a sort of buss bar. If they just plain fell off you might start thinking about replacing the wire harness as those probably aren't the only ones loose. That's a series ammeter, all charging current goes through it. Sort of a weak point in these trucks.

American Autowire is good. better than good.

[OrrieG]

Here is a factory wiring diagram. Connectors failing is usually what happens, wire is getting brittle from heating up and vibration causes failure. Or insulation hardens, falls off, and it shorts to a piece of metal. This time I replaced all mine with EZ wire. You can get all the stock configured harnesse as a total kit or just front, engine, dash and rear sections if you want to do it in pieces.

[MyDream55]

All,

Thanks a lot for the replies. I really do appreciate it. I do have a new EZ wiring I'm going to do but I'm waiting on doing that until I have to keep it parked for a while (like winter time).

I'm just wondering if the Battery Power was always hooked through the gauge panel (ammeter gauge) in back and than split off to light switch and from there to ignition?

Thanks again

[OneOffStroker]

I completely rewired my 57 with a painless harness in about two days, when I was just 17 years old, meaning that anyone can do it easily enough.

If you have a new harness, take a weekend and put it in, don't wait until the winter. It will be the best upgrade you ever do to your truck.

[mr48chev]

The battery pole on the starter to the amp gauge was probably pretty close to how it was wired originally as that would be the hot lead into the amp gauge for current flow to the rest of the electrical system after the current flowed though the gauge. As Tmobile said earlier it is pretty common to see several wires run to the back of amp gauges on older rigs as guys used the studs on them as connection points.