[BikerPepe`]

OK...
1. I'm in here because this rig isn't a Bronco, it's my '73 F250 Plow Beast.
2. I've searched around a bit and come up blank. 79F150 did an awesome writeup to try and help me ahead of time, but here I am in the thick of it and his pics are pretty tight and I can't find what I'm looking for.
3. I still haven't located a Chilton book for the 73... :banghead


So I got this setup for the 3G from RJM Injection, our good buddy Ryan. Great deal for the 3G alt, with support wiring, monster fuse and extra sidewall "hot" stud. As recommended by the man. Scoring the whole gig for less than $200.

First problem I had was removing the old one. Didn't expect it... but guess I should have. Plow rigs seem to eat all the road crap and my beast is no exception. Over the years the corrosion "welded" the mounting bolt to the alt. casing. Thank god for the spacer or I might have never got that bitch off after I busted the bolt head clean off.

It was another adventure altogether trying to find another spacer. Hitting all the auto places in my area... made me feel like I was shopping for a unicorn horn. So I finally hit the local fab guy to have a piece of aluminum cut to size (1 5/8"). Bastard charged me $5 for it but i have no idea what the bar he cut off is worth... whatever.



So I've got it mounted up and trying to match the wiring has left me in a total state of confusion... and yes, apparently I'm mentally challenged. :toothless

The 3G installation instructions are simple and to the point but my setup doesn't match the instructions, at all.
Instructions say that you should find the Red/Green wire that Ford's been using for 50 years. Well... I have one, but it's not the one that the old alternator was connected too. Instead, there's an orange one that went to the old alt... that goes up into a small electrical housing that the Red/Green wire comes back out of. In addition to that... the charge wire is spliced off a few others, so I'm not quite sure where to go with it... and if that wasn't enough, the damn elec. choke on the carb was mounted to the old alt. for some reason, beyond me. That's 3 wires off the old alt... In/Out/Choke. I'm clueless as to how these should go now. I have some idea after going through dale's but not all of these questions are addressed because his setup was no where as mucked up as my wiring is. :banghead

Pics are worth 1000 words, so here...
Here I am, holding out the wire that should be charging up the batteries (out?) and you can see it's integrated into some other wiring, a fusable link and god knows what... maybe someone else knows, but I sure as hell don't. :brownbag

Here's the wire that came off the electric choke on the carb. Not sure what it needs to do exactly but I'm pretty sure I need to find it a new home so it will work properly. I cleaned it up from the original, just need to know where it should live now.

This one came out blurry as hell... but you can get the idea. The orange wire at my thumb is the one that mounted to the original alt. (in?) I would assume it's the one I should be hooking up to the new alt. setup, instead of the Red/Green the instructions are calling for?!? You can also see the electrical housing I spoke of earlier and the actual Red/Green wire... but if I should use it instead, where is it going now and where would i cut it to run it into the new 3G alt.?

Pretty new 3G Alt. Mounted and waiting to show me how bad-ass it really is, if I can ever get it hooked up right. :tinfoil

Some of the wiring bundle/mess I'm looking at to deal with this. Not much fender-well space left for mounting pretty new stuff too. Key here is... you can see the solenoid and a second similar unit that's setup to run directly to the plow. No battery isolator yet... still not sure what to do on that one, but I'd like to get this setup working and running before I worry about the next phase.

closeup of that strange little solenoid or whatever it actually is, controlling the power routed to the plow...

HELP?
One final question I'm almost afraid to hear an answer too. I noticed when I removed the fan belts, the water pump pulley spins a little off. I considered getting a replacement and then it occurred to me that it could be the water pump shaft and not the pulley that's messed up. Water pump has been working just fine and the pulley is only off a couple hairs. Will it kill me to leave it just a little wobbly (bolted tight, just not perfectly straight anymore)? There's no fan mounted anymore, the rig uses an electric fan... so that's not an issue.

Thanks folks. Don't know what I'd do without this place but after wasting $1200 on the yota just recently to fix some trivial crap and finding I don't have a decent mechanic shop within' 40 minutes of my place... well, I'm realizing that my work and the knowledge I can get here are my best options to fix this and have it setup strong and reliable for working this winter. :beer

 

[Fireguy50]

Take out the older fender mounted regulator an all the wiring between it and the old alternator. There should be a GREEN/RED wire on the old regulator you connect to the new 3G alt. You can also connect the electric choke to this same wire.

Do you have an AMPMETER on the dash?

 

[Fireguy50]

I'm going to assume your 1973 F250 is simular to a 1973 early Bronco :shrug
Here are the wiring diagrams:
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_01.gif
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_02.gif
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_03.gif
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_04.gif
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_05.gif
http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/files/Bronco_1973-74_06.gif

 

[BikerPepe`]

see Ryan... this is why I didn't hit you direct for support bud. just makes me feel stupid. :toothless

OK, so the "regulator"... is that the piece that's mounted next to the radiator in this pic? The one with the green plug-in?

So, I would take out that regulator, clip the GREEN/RED going to it and run that directly to the new 3G Alt.
That leaves 2 yellow wires homeless? Maybe I should take some better pics?

Sorry man. I hate to work on shit like this that I know so little about.

 

[79F150]

This is where I cut the green/red wire from Pepe.

Only other wire you need is this one. It should be tied to the starter relay already. Just cut the goofy 3 way splice the factory put in it. Keep the fusible link and the large black wire going to the harness.

 

[BikerPepe`]

Take out the older fender mounted regulator an all the wiring between it and the old alternator. There should be a GREEN/RED wire on the old regulator you connect to the new 3G alt. You can also connect the electric choke to this same wire.

Do you have an AMPMETER on the dash?

OK. Done!

I got sidetracked though and forgot to add the elec. choke wire in. Does that need to be there or will any power line work? key on/off or direct?
I ask because I've got a blue key on/off hot wire coming out of the cab, dead ending just past the firewall that I could easily double back and connect to that elec. choke wire.

Dash shows the standard "D..|..C" gauge. Not sure if it works though. I pulled and checked the dash because I had no lights working. Tried to test the plastic/wire sheet and let some of the "magic smoke" out. Stopped testing after that. :brownbag Still need to re-assemble and may even need to replace if I toasted it, assuming it wasn't already worthless.

This is where I cut the green/red wire from Pepe.

Perfect! Thank you Dale. Wanted to be certain before I cut that off/out. Soon as it was properly identified and I pulled it... I remembered finding an elect. part in the cab, I had assumed was a spare for a problem part. Turns out it was a big, fat... pretty ford blue regulator. Now I have two... parts for the Bronco's I guess. :toothless

Only other wire you need is this one. It should be tied to the starter relay already. Just cut the goofy 3 way splice the factory put in it. Keep the fusible link and the large black wire going to the harness.

Uh... ok, so I'm holding that plugged/spliced/fused mess you talked about.

so if I understand... the fused link wire stays connected direct to the solenoid + and I run the black/yellow thicker wire right to it and snip off the red and yellow, along with the old alt. power plug, right?

Now... I've got the big fuse block and the "hot" stud/relay mount. I'm confused about this setup... just read through your write up so let me verify I got the order right. You've got great closeups but I can't see the "chain" of order.

Starting at the new 3G, I run the power stud line to the 175A fuse.
From the 175A fuse to the Solenoid+
and... since I've already got a monster positive from the solenoid to the battery... I should be good?

What's the suggestion for the additional power stud? Looks like a cool option but is it just another connection for live power off the battery or off the solenoid or after the isolator or under the spare tire or off the back hitch or... :haha

 

[BikerPepe`]

re-read my original email return from Ryan. That remote distribution stud... got it. thanks. :brownbag

 

[79F150]

Correct! You need to feed this wire back hot. The taped side has the wire from the fusible link spliced to it and the other wire is capped off.

From this wire. This is the wire I used to go to the 2 pin factory connector. The wire from the solenoid should be black down to the splice and tie into a black/yellow wire that came from the old alternator and goes into the wiring harness.

I cut that big ugly splice For put in that wire and used a water proof butt splice.:thumbup

 

[Fireguy50]

the fused link wire stays connected direct to the solenoid + and I run the black/yellow thicker wire right to it and snip off the red and yellow, along with the old alt. power plug, right?

Correct, the BLK/YEL wire will power the ignition switch and fuse box

Starting at the new 3G, I run the power stud line to the 175A fuse.
From the 175A fuse to the Solenoid+
and... since I've already got a monster positive from the solenoid to the battery... I should be good?

Read this http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=59
It should look like this when done. 1/4 lug to Alt and 3/8 lug to Solenoid+

What's the suggestion for the remote distribution stud? Looks like a cool option but is it just another connection for live power off the battery or off the solenoid or after the isolator or under the spare tire or off the back hitch or... :haha

You can use (but it's optional) the remote distribution stud instead of the Solenoid+
The Solenoid+ stud can break off if too many heavy cables are added.
Here is my remote distribution stud

 

[BikerPepe`]

thanks guys. awesome! Feeling good about it and I'm only 1/2 way there. I took this afternoon and ran out to ride for our last hot day of the year. :rockon
Anyway, I got it and knowing where it's going helps (blk/ylw = fuse box & ign.) for some weird reason.

I actually was about to ask you to verify the use of those little metal plugs Ryan... and figured I better look before I made an ass of myself again, so I went to your site and read up on that page. great write-up on that btw. pretty confident it will go smoothly once I place the parts and route/plan the wire cuts.

so... the remote distribution stud, I get the point but not the location in the chain. you run that right off the battery+? I don't see your solenoid in there Ryan. I ask because I've got a mess of connections directly on the battery+ and a few more on the solenoid+ that seriously need cleaned up. If I'm understanding right... I should be able to use the dist. stud for all those connections but not understanding the function of the solenoid is messing me up. Is there a difference between getting the power off the solenoid+ or the batt+? I don't think so... but again, don't want to "ass'u'me". :toothless
I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be, but if I'm going to stick that stud between the solenoid+ and the batt+ in a "T" fashion, I'm going to need more wire and connectors. If I'm just going to run a hot line to it off the batt+ or off the solenoid+, then I can probably finagle things around that I already have in there.


now... one last question/response missed.

I got sidetracked though and forgot to add the elec. choke wire in. Does that need to be there or will any power line work? key on/off or direct?
I ask because I've got a blue key on/off hot wire coming out of the cab, dead ending just past the firewall that I could easily double back and connect to that elec. choke wire.

Dash shows the standard "D..|..C" gauge. Not sure if it works though. I pulled and checked the dash because I had no lights working. Tried to test the plastic/wire sheet and let some of the "magic smoke" out. Stopped testing after that. Still need to re-assemble and may even need to replace if I toasted it, assuming it wasn't already worthless.

 

[79F150]

The choke just needs a hot wire that is controlled by the key. Hot while the key is on/not hot when key is off.

 

[BikerPepe`]

got it, thanks... again. :beer

I hoped to clean up the PO's mess some in the process, but I basically added allot more thick wires for all the little ones I pulled.

Ran from the alt. to the fuse block to the dist. stud... will finish to the solenoid+ tomorrow and that should complete the chain.
I re-mounted the plows "solenoid" next to the starter solenoid and put the dist. stud in that area. mounted the fuse block just below and to the front of it... even with the alt. I thought it would look cleaner than it came out. oh well. will deal with it again next year when I can mount a battery isolator and re-route all the accessory wiring to the second battery.

Going out to NAPA tomorrow for more cable connectors and such. wish I could find that sweet shrink-tube and solder ends that Ryan sends in the kit... but I know I won't find that up here in BFN. Going to have to deal with vice crimpin' and harbor freight shrink wrap. :brownbag Almost every connection, from the second battery, to the main battery, to the plow motor and most any other main power line is corroded, worn, exposed, barely danglin', etc. Think I've got about 7 more main and a few smaller gauge connections to clean up before I'll be happy with the integrity of the power flow, under the hood.
Need to get some other stuff done in the garage, so I can't wait to order more online... already spent much more time digging into this than planned.

I'll get a pic up tomorrow when I get it all wrapped up and try to fire it up... we'll see if I blow myself up or not. :toothless

 

[BikerPepe`]

she's up and running today! Not sure if I got it all right though... guess we'll see if the batteries last for more than a few days. :toothless
Ran to Federated Auto, a few towns over and found a guy with a proper stash in the back room. Didn't sell any off the shelf... but hooked me up with the self-sealing shrink tube, as well as some solder-able battery and power connectors from the back room.

I spent hours to re-wired and refit 90% of all the electrical connections in the system. So many connections rotting out it was ridicules. Used the hell out of the dist. stud and used another little clip I got out of Summit... to add a few clean electrical connections on the solenoid+. Sadly... it's is 100% better than I got it now... but it doesn't look as good as I'd hoped with all the crap I got going on in there.

promised pics...

BEFORE:

AFTER:
the dual batteries, still daisy-chained...

wire setup...

serious use of the distribution stud... and my poor attempt to clean it up...

top view...

Just thought the thread wouldn't be finished without success pics. :toothless
Thanks for the help guys and thanks for the great deal Ryan. Lookin' forward to doing the work ahead without sweating about a battery meltdown or wear out. :thumbup

 

[79F150]

Did you test the set up after you finished? All you do is take a multimeter and with the truck running you should read a around 14 volts from + to - on the battery. That will confirm your wiring. :thumbup

 

[RichG]

Your wiring looks really good to me Pepe, worlds better than what you had!

 

[Fireguy50]

Looks great! but test it with a volt meter.
12.6v with the engine off
14.5v with the engine running

 

[20sNaRanger]

Pepe...hats off to you for going through the headache of all that wiring. I have to tackle this soon. . . .like after work today. I will be making a thread about it. lol

 

[Bronco85]

Looks good. I was amazed how much wire I pulled of my 85 when I did the 3G swap. I think it would just about stretch to the moon...

 

[BikerPepe`]

Did you test the set up after you finished? All you do is take a multimeter and with the truck running you should read a around 14 volts from + to - on the battery. That will confirm your wiring. :thumbup

uh... well... :brownbag

Looks great! but test it with a volt meter.
12.6v with the engine off
14.5v with the engine running

I'll try and get out to test it today. thanks for the stats! :beer


Appreciate the kind words fellas. It doesn't look any better to my OCD, but it does look much stronger and will stand up to this winters abuse much better. :thumbup

20sNaRanger: Good luck on your upgrade... hope these pics and dumming down to a gnats ass will help someone out in the future. :toothless

 

[GetBent4x4]

Now you need to do a saginaw pump swap.