55 Fargo

Had some time today to look at the signal switch ( Yankee Vintage 7 wire universal type), to try and figure out why the pilot light is lighting. It seems to draw just enough to dimly light the pilot light, when signal are not pushed to either right or left, so suppose it must be an open circuit with the switch. Not sure I should include the pilot light in this old switch ofr just leave it out, until I geta new switch....

Stained preserved, and bolted down Fir ply to box and truck frame, made my own rubber spacer pads too. Here are some pics of the truck bed, still need to prep and paint metal strips, thinks there going to be black. The insde of the box sides is rough now, but some day will repaint.... Next pic will be of the finished job... Nothing great about this job, but some of the members are interested in doing a budget job like this too....

Hey thanx, crawled under truck, and got access to sender, undid screw and installed new ring terminal, as the sender just quit, still not working, no gas in tank, but it should still flicker whn the key goes on, all wiring is neew, not sure what the issue is, will add a few gallons of gas and see if that is the problem. The sender is no doubt bottomed out, as I only added a couple gallons of gas , and have run it quite a bit since then....

I have a Dakota seat in my 55 Fargo/Dodge pickup, so have not pulled it out to see if there is an access to the fuel sender. Can anyone tell me if there is access from inside the cab on 55/56 Dodge trucks.....many thanks...

Good idea, as I am not going to treat the plywood until warmer weather in spring, will get all bolt and fasteners drilled, and installed, then will take off box , and go to it in warmer weather, I was really chilled laying on the garage floor tonight, it was quite cold here last night, and today it warmed quite a bit, but the shop floor is cold cement, did not bother truning the heat on today in there...

Did soem work on the box floor today, I decided to go with Fir marine grade 3/4 inch plywood. I had it cut to size at lumber yard, brought home and doinga test fit, and will drill mounting holes, then will stain or preseve wood with something, not sure what I am using yet. Here are a couple of pics, once stained, will install bed strips, those I have to blast and paint yet. I think it should do the trick for this old hauler. I will cover the floor once I commence body prep and paint in the box area, I may painted the bed wood the same color as the truck, therefore will need to shoot on primer too, not sure that sia good idea for haler truck....

Hi Hank, this unit works well, except it sticks a bit when you use the signals either side, so you tap it, and brake lights will work just fine after that. It is obviously a contact problem, not suire if is within the turn signal lever, or the relay itslef. The pilot light lights up, and then blinks when you hit the signals, but stays lit otherwise. It may very well be the wire it the bulb socket, touching ground on the socket itslef. I plan to get a new unit, as I do not want to be guessing what is going on behind the truck in traffic, the signal lights work great, the brake lights work well to, but if you have just used the signals, then you have to tap the lever for the brake lights to work again, so a contact issue......

Hi all, installed the old Yankee turn signal switch, it works as I had rewired, all turn signals and brake lights work. 2 things wrong however, if you turn on signals either side, you have to juggle the trun signal switch to allow brake lights to work again, so something is sticky, or worn. This also hapens when you turn on the right side signals, you have to move the trun signal lever a bit to get contact, so I guess this old switch is worn out in some ways. It all works as it should, signals on say left side, you hit the brakes, and the eftside still flashes as the brake lights are on. The other thing is the signal pilot light, it remains lit, when you power the hot wire to the signal fasher, it will flash once signals are turned on, but the pilot light remains lit, as long as there is power to the signal flasher, not sure why, but the piolt light is independant of the signal switch, I take it there is power to the flasher, and once the turn signal switch is moved, it allows current to draw, thus the flashing begins, or the trun signal switch is toast to begin with.......any ideas Tod or Tim

I had a 7 wire Yankee 783-6 old school signal light switch in the parts truck, all the wires were shot, and it was all dirty of course. I cleaned the unit up, replaced all wires, and tested and charted what color wires go where etc. It appears it may work out well... new ones are around $30.00, this one cost next to nothing to fix, 1 of these just sold on Epay for $75...

Anyone know what Model this heater is, and what years it may have been used. It has a 6 volt blower motor. The core is in good shape, not sure if I will retrofit a 12 volt blower motor in it, or go with another heater box altogether. It has the 2 ducts for tubes top the defrost vents...

Pics on dirt road near field, near my property. It is very cold out today, as compared to lately, about 0f with windchill. Truck with headlights on, and with park lights on....

No it does not, or I would have accessed through it. What year is your truck??

Thanx Tod, would think a Runtz type volt dropper, should work on ths gauge

Wired in fuel gauge today. Now this was a fun job, but did not take very long either, so 6 of this and 1/2 a dozen of the other. The fuel tank sender unit has not access, so there is a few inches of clearance above the tank under the cab floor. I could not undo the sender unit terminal screw, so cut the old wire, and left a few inches, and ran wire from this point, by using a butt terminal, and shrink tubing. Went to attach wire to back of fuel gauge, and noticed no needle, oh yah, thats why there was some kinda old gas gauge attached to bottom of the dash. I am in luck though, have a parts truck, and grab the cluster, and pull out gas gauge, simple enough right? Well now I have to take fuel gauge out of cluster under truck dash, came out fairly easy, but installing donor gauge was not as easy, so played around for a 1/2 hour, finally all mounted into place, whew, go lucky, this would be a real pain under a P15 or C38 dash, the 55 Dodge truck is much more forgiving. Powered up the truck, and fuel gauge indicated 1/8 of a tank, about right, as there is about 2 gallons of gas in the tank, as I had just poured some in yesterday. So that went well, and no issue was noticed by using 12 volt negative ground, on this gauge, whicih is either from a 1956(12v) or a 1955(6v+), either way it works so far, will see with more fuel in the tank......

Oh okay, something I musta done, well it works for me. I dont think so. Again, inadvertently, wired my 47 to have both park and headlights on the same time....

I know I have the OEM light switch for my 47 Chrysler, and the park and headlights go on together, and the park lights go on by themselves only on the 1st part of the light switch, is that the way it should be, if so, did the upper lines of Chrysler do this specifically.... BTW, just came from a short ride with the 56 Fargo, it is dark here now. The 12 volt 45/55 watt headlights illuminate very well. The 12 volt bulbs in the speedo and instrument panel are working well indeed too. Very pleased with this. Now to wire in the brake light/signal circuit, and gas gauge etc....

Thanx Hank, I may have one of these senders on an engine at my place, i may have been from a 6 volt application, and mine is 12 volts, not sure if it would work on a diet of 12 volts.....

Looking for a part number or availability for the Temp Gauge sender for a 56 with L head 6 engine. Anyone have any ideas?????

47 Chrysler lights, park lights on first pull, the next pull, headlights and park lights , maybe a luxury car thing, fine with me......

Although the prairie region of Western Canada, from the Manitoba/Ontario border, west a 1000 miles to the rockys in Alberta, has had a mild winter. But early spring up here is maybe March 15th to April 1st, heck the trees dont leaf out until May up here. Alberta isa little milder than Manitoba, but our weather is much like Fargo ND, so nothing like Upstate NY, which is like the Niagra region of Ontario, quite a bit milder......

Hi Ed, my 47 Chrysler, think the park light stay on with headlights, maybe I wired it in the wrong way, but like it that way. Gonna go check, and see if that is the case....The truck, has a dimmer switch for the instrument panel, which is kinda neat...

Okay, thanx Tod, other item I noticed that is different, is on the trucks light switch, the park lights go on first as per usual, but they go off, when the headlights are pulled on, not sure if that is correct, on this application or not, I personally like the park lights on with the head lights.....

I just re-wired the headlight/park light circuit. I did use the OEM switch with a 30 amp circuit breaker rated at 12 volts, but I do believe these work for 6-24 volts. All is well, my set-up is 12 volts, the dash lights, the park lights and headlights all working very well, all have 12 volt bulbs now. The park and headlights have a ll new ground wires too. Because I am not installing a fuse panel, is the 30 amp circuit breaker enough to protect this circuit, or should I install a in-line fuse prior to the circuit breaker, from my hot lead to the light switch. The amperage load should be 1/2 of a 6 volt set-up, and I still used 12/14 gauge wire, for all, I did also use a block terminal under hood to supply the current to the front lights, to use less wire. My next step is to install a 7 wire universal signal switch, for the signal/brake light circuits, plan to use 16 gauge wire and lED bulbs for that, witha n electronic 3 terminal flasher. My alternaotr is rated 55 amp, I do not pkan any heavy loads for juice, but will havea heater motor, stereo, but no AC or power windows.....

Lookin good, nice truck, ......