Geoff Weeks

If you have a rectifier like in the picture, they are the weak point in the system and can be bad for your health if they "pop", and also can be a shorting hazard. The alternator is self is very robust. A lot depends on how "period correct" you want to keep it. On mine you can see the two jumper bands on the bridge and the positive and Negative output wires at either end, as well as the 3 A/C input phases to the rectifier. Because they are external and exposed, there is a full current relay in the regulator that only connects the rest of the truck (and battery voltage) to the rectifier when the ign is on. There are modern replacement external rectifier assemblies to replace these in function (fan cooled external "boxes") or you could rig up an insulated set of diodes from a JB series on the rear of the alternator, but you must have the mount also duct the cooling air for the alternator over the cooling fins on the JB diode packs. unless "period correct" is paramount, I would use modern components for the rectifiers.

No, the square finned thing is the old selinium (SP?) rectifier. Old L/N alternators of that period had the rectifiers external from the alternator, and they were quite large. I have a similar unit that is 100 amps @ 6 (7) volt. The good news is the rectifier should be isolated from ground and can be used on either ground. Unlike modern alternators, the regulator looks like a generator regulator and, like such, disconnects the rectifier from the battery when not charging.

I'll try and state this simply: the turn signal switch has two inputs and two outputs PER SIDE! the inputs are the turnsignal flasher and the brake light switch. in the neutral position both rear lights are connected to the input from the brake light switch and nothing is connected to the output that goes to the front turn signals. the input from the flasher is not connected to anything. when you move the switch for left turn, the left rear output is disconnected from the right and brake light feed and connected to the front turn signal wire and fed from the flasher input. when you move the switch to the right, the right rear is disconnected from the brake feed and connected to the front and the flasher. In this way you always have a brake while indicating for a turn. The wires to the front turn light also feed the trailer turn. the brake light switch in addition to feeding the turn signal switch also feeds a separate wire for the trailer brake lights, which are separate from the trailer turn. In this way the truck can have two lamps at the rear that have both brake and turn function and yet the truck can feed a trailer with 4 lights, two for brake and one each for left and right turn. As JC says either someone messed up the wiring or the switch is defective.

One side pushes the limit of their authority, the other side counter with law suits. It is what happened with Biden trying to forgive student loans and what Trump is trying to do with E/O's Project 2025 was going to push the limits of the boundaries, and the other side prepared for that.

Yeah, and how long was "project 2025" in the works also? Both sides are play from the same playbook.

There are a lot of good electronic ign components from which to make a good system. I personally, don't like electronics "under the cap" in a HV environment. So far, my stuff that came with point remain so, they don't get driven enough to justify the change. I like the Ford or Chry pick-up better than GM's. Once the signal is outside the distributor, any ign box is fine.

Counter rotation counter acts "prop walk" where the back end of the boat will walk sideways when power is applied. With a single prop not much you can do, but with twin, each counters the other, like a twin countershaft tranmission.

I think the cab is widened out so you get enough sleeper birth width, no point having a 5' birth and a 5'11" driver.

And 13.2 "float voltage".

yes, or 2.2 volt per cell when fully charged.

That is a late/Euro spec. I have an '84 5 spd 16v turbo, and before someone say they didn't have the 16v in 84, yeah I know previous owner swapped it in. Scoots fast enough for me.

Crankcase scavenged 2 strokes (where you mix oil and gas) will run backwards for as long as you want with no damage. Spark is retarded (ATDC). In the 60's Saab made a 3 cyl 2 stroke, it would run backwards and could be driven, esp if you set the timing to close to TDC.

2 stroke Detroit's were known to start on their own, spontaneously. Rack goes full fuel when stationary and if they come in from the cold, warming air in the cyl can "bump" the crank, with multiple powerstrokes, it doesn't take much to bump one in to firing then it is "off to the races. Mostly V8's but I guess some 6's would also.

In most cases it will not run long, or have much power. For it to run, it must have fuel pressure to the injection pump or injectors.

Yes, it can happen, 2 stroke Detroits were the most common to do this, because of the multiple powerstrokes/rev. Cummins with a gear fuel pump are less likely Cats and others with inline pumps can. In all cases, the oil pump is a gear pump so the engine will see no lube, and is why Cummins don't maintain pressure in the fuel system to run for very long. Most can be starved of fuel and shut off. Detroits "flapper valve" will be useless as they are now on the pressure side of the blower.

Line set ticket shows it was originally a Ryder unit.

This sums up my take on it.

I've heard that for years with no citation of where it is on paper. Rust occurs between air around (or moisture in the ground if buried) and the item in question Galvanic protection works if you can provide a current between the two mediums. With a vehicle, the current would have to be between the air and the vehicle not its components. If it were the electrical polarity that was the cause, it would be simple to end rust by keeping the electrical system isolated from the vehicle chassie. This is done in ships (2 wires to everything) and they still rust! In ships two wires are use BECAUSE they rust. imagine trying to chase a bad connection between plates of steel over the length of the ship. Most mfg made the shift to negative ground when the switched from 6 volt to 12 volt. Some never were positive ground and some remained positive ground. GM for a company that was supposed to have strong armed, produced components in both polarities, the whole time. When transistors came around it is cheaper/easier to make them in the NPN format than the PNP, so having a negative chassie meant you could use the surrounding metal as a heat sink,cheaper than if it was positive. That said Delco (a GM company) produced positive ground alternators, with the positive diodes grounded to the case. Since the beginning Delco produced regulators optimized for each polarity, So Delco "didn't get the memo" from GM! It was semiconductors that really made the switch to negative ground ubiquitous. Once they started be common, positive grounds days were mostly over.

SQHD and SSHD both have 8 bolt 7" bolt circle axles SLHD has 12 bolt 5.25" bolt circle. SQHD is 38K SSHD is 46K SLHD is 34K SSHD the PDL goes in to the front case on the side of the case, SQHD and SQ100 along with SLHD the PDL attaches front the front of the input case. SQHD and SLHD have an idler gear "bump" on the side of the front case SQHP and SQ100 do not , front case is somewhat rounded off, SSHD has a more squared off case. I would stick to SQ100 or SSHD, I wouldn't buy a SLHD or SQHD. SSHD has a pinion bearing cover on the front case below the input/PowerDivider. http://www.canadawideparts.com/downloads/catalogs/meritor_outOfProductionSingleReductionAxles.pdf

Fairly dated but still mostly accurate. Not many "bulb rectifiers" in use any more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUoU_battery_charging

White was, and "White Western Stars" sold here also were (No surprise). I know Mack did for a while also. I have no opinion on the subject, they both work equally well. In the old days you could flip-flop without changing much if anything. Once more "electronics" radios and the like, started showing up, then which polarity became more important. Paul and my disagreement has nothing to due with polarity, but with series and parallel circuits

Put a small motorcycle battery in series with a gp 31 and the current @24 volts will be limited to what the motorcycle battery can pass, Put them in parallel, and the current will be the sum of what the 31 and motorcycle battery can pass, but at 12 volts. Charging and discharging are the same. just which side is at a higher potential, determines whether current flow into or out of the battery. Just as in the above discharge experiment, the charge to the gp 31 will be limited to what the motorcycle battery can pass when in series and when in parallel the charge current will be the sum of the current to each battery. Ohm's law doesn't change. BTW, I could say the same about you and me.

No, not the case in charging either. Othewise you could just pull 12 volts off the middle of a 24 volt stack. In a series stack the weakest link controls the stack, charging or discharging. So loading one battery in a series string and trying to recharge through the whole string will fail, the unloaded battery will over charge and the loaded batter will undercharge. Any current to one in a series string must pass through all. That is not the case in a parallel, where a common voltage is applied to all, and internal resistance will determine the current though each. As I said, all battery systems in trucks have both series and parallel connections. When there is one dead cell in a battery, the battery is trash, you can't use the other cells. That is series in a nutshell. Parallel connections, all in the string "see" the same load or input. Any loss of one does not effect the rest, you could cut one battery out of a string and the rest will continue on. Li battery packs have to be very tightly controlled (as does the capacitor pack in a Maxwell starting system) to be sure all cells are brought up equally even though they are charged in series. Failure in series connection will show itself in that no power gets through, failure in a parallel connection will show reduced current, and may be missed by those who don't know what to look for. I understand battery systems, IUoU charging protocol and DC and AC circuits. You can believe what you like, but it doesn't change the facts. Neither is "good" or "bad" they just are, what they are. Internally batteries have both series and parallel connections, Each cell has multiple pairs of plates, all the + plates are in parallel in that cell and all the negative plates are also in parallel, the cells them selves are in series with rest of the cells in the battery to make a 6 (3 cells) or 12 (6 cell) volt battery.

The main reason for 4 six volts, was at that time there were no 12 volt batteries with enough cranking amps to start a big bore diesel. It had to do with plate construction techniques. You need between 1600 to over 2000 cranking amps @ 12 volt (1/2 that at 24 volt) to start a big diesel. It wasn't until new construction methods made thin plates (and therefor more plates in the same container) that allowed for the 900-1000 cranking amp 12 volt batteries. Gp 31 As to series vs parallel, it makes no difference, all batteries are made up of 2.2 volt cells in series. paralleling just makes the plate area bigger. Inside each cell in the single battery are multiple plates all in parallel to make more surface area. So a single battery is made up of cells with both series and parallel connections. anything in series is limited to its weakest link, so a bad cell or connection at one battery takes the whole string down. If the total area of cells are spread among differing cell containers (batteries) then one cell bad will take that series string out but another series path still remains. 4 twelve volts in parallel, have 4 sets of parallel connection for 12 volt start. 4 six volts for 24 volt start has 8 series connections, so any one of them is bad and you have no cranking. In the 12 volt parallel, and one bad connection reduces the cranking amps by 1/4. No one system is better than the other, all do a good job, the one with more connections need more maintenance to keep it working correctly. High amp connections are harder to maintain than lower amp connections. Which is why 24 cranking was used for many years, and is still used in many applications. It is why I like the Maxwell, it reduces the number of connections, and if a 24 volt unit is used, the current is low as well when compared to 12 volt cranking. It has only 4 high current connections 2 at the starter and 2 at the unit itself.

Here are mine.