Jumping a 6v positive ground truck from a 12v battery:

Connect both the + and - leads to the 12v source. Connect the other - lead to the starter post of the starter relay. Touch the remaing + to a convienent ground on the truck to engage the starter. Of course, make sure the parking brake is on, the key is truned on, and that the truck is out of gear.

If you cannot get the starter to turn over, you can try these tricks:

1) Tap with a hammer. This may be all that os required to free it up.
2) Remove the starter, simply to reinstall it after a quick visual instpection of the gears. (the two long bolts, and possibly an oil pan mount). Just note that the two long bolts also hold the starter together. This may be enough to line everything back up again when the hammer dosn't do the trick.
3) Replace the starter/battery cables. Gauge 2 for the battery cables and Gauge 4 for the starter cable. Tractor Supply Company seems to have these at reasonable prices.
4) Replace/rebuild the starter. Napa has the rebuild parts as well as new or rebuilt starters.


As for your amp gauge, a rev in RPMs should show charge unless the battery is heavily drained and taxed. Here are some things to check:

1) That your amp gauge isn't wired backwards.
2) That your Voltage Regulator is wired correctly and properly adjusted.
3) Check your generator function and wiring - maybe repoalrize it?

If you have specific questions about any of the above, you've got lots of resources here!

 

Looking at the picture of your battery, I can't tell if you have the positive (+) post of the battery hooked to ground and the negative (-) hooked to the starter solenoid. It has to be that way or it won't charge. Check that. Also you should buy a battery charger if you don't have one. Don't leave home without a good charge.
Patrick

 

A quick up date for those of you that tried helping out of a jam yesterday. A quick review..undersized positive bat cable heated and melted a few wires nearby. Replaced them..tightened all related connections and engine cranked faster than before but would not start. Finally found a wire (remember I've got a mix of spaghetti wiring mostly badly frayed cloth spliced with newer (vinyl?) wiring..a real mess.
Finally found a cloth wire spliced that became disconnected when I was tracing things. Went from the BAT side of the starter relay to the ignition switch. Hooked them back together and BINGO!! started right up..drove around for a while I noticed battery gauge discharging. Now What? Got home turned off wouldn't start just clicking. Next morning started right up off to home depot 1 mile away back to start it..dead again. After a few failed attempts to start with a friends 12v battery and with the help and safe instructions from one of our FTE members..finally got it to start with a push. Got home..dead..this morning again started right up. Drove around.
Bottom line here for me..another wire dropped out of now here from under the dash hit the metal foot clutch bar and started sparking while I was driving.
Up to now I have replaced the battery, cables (undersized), coil, starter relay..checked the spark at the points & plugs. If the starter was bad why would it start in the morning?? Gotta be a charging issue. In the meantime went looking for a new 6 volt wiring harness and saw that they run around $300 bucks..Please somebody put me out of misery and shoot me before my wife gets to me first..lol
and sorry..but by now most of you know I'm a long winded fellow.

 

It's really not reasonable to expect 60+ yr old wiring to be in roadworthy shape, especially after god-knows-how-many PO's have cobbled on it. If you want reliability, you'll need to re-wire it, one way or another. Better than it catching fire and burning to the ground, too.

 

I spoke of poalrizing the generator earlier. here is an article that brings that down to laymans terms: How to test the generator

 

You probably do have a charging issue with all the bad wiring. Sparks are not good under the dash or any where in the cab. Rewire it before it burns to the ground. You do carry a fire extinguisher, do you not?
If you jumpered the starter direct as we discussed a few links back and the starter failed to spin, you probably have a starter issue. You put voltage to one side of the starter direct and the frame of the starter is the other side of the circuit. The starter is a pretty simple motor and a good starter will run with that proceedure. Bad brushes or armature in the starter will give the exact problems you are having.
BTW, any vibration to the starter can shake up these marginally worn components mentioned and it may work for a while.
A meter is valuable when troubleshooting this old stuff.

 

Have you checked that the + cable goes to ground? You can't just go by the color of the cable or which one fits best on the battery? I know this is pretty basic but it has to be correct first then you can chase your other gremlins.
Patrick

 

The positive + cable hooked up to the BAT side of solenoid and negative - to ground bolt on the the engine. Was hooked up that way when I got the truck. Never had a problem??
I've seen guys refer to this hookup but just figured it was optional depending on other factors and mine was set up negative to ground positive to starter solenoid.
I'm confused. Please help me understand better.
Thanks

 

Ford used positive ground 6 volt through 1955. Perhaps you switched it with replacing battery and cables. Patrick
OOps I just fixed the last statement to say 6 volt.

 

Standard original configuration was positive cable to ground, positive ground electrical system. Some where, someone changed yours. It will run that way as you know. That was not an option but modification, usually by some uninformed person.

 

My truck (stock 6 volt system) was wired negative ground by the PO when I got it. I noticed early on that my ammeter was pegging backward. I changed the battery cables to positive ground and polarized my generator. The ammeter worked fine after that, and my battery was charged by the generator.

 

Just thoughts on the subject of reversed polarity. I've seen a few. What was the person who first reversed the battery hook up thinking? What efforts did it take to make that small cable terminal go over the large battery post and what effort did it take to make the large terminal clamp down on the small battery post?

 

Just for my knowledge (and that of the OP), if the battery is the only thing that is inadvertently reversed, we would see the stock AMP/BATT gauge operate backwards.

My real question is would the generator actually be fighting the battery, wearing it down even more than if it simply wasn't charging the battery?

 

I was trying to figure that out on the guy with the 12v battery hooked up (-) ground but with (apparently) a 6v (+) ground generator. Would the VR see that as a really, really discharged battery and try to pump ever more electrons the wrong way thru the battery?! Or would it just not do a thing?

 

Interesting. My swag is the generator would do nothing. The field coils need some residual magnetic field for the generator to charge. Now that everything is reversed, is the field still charged? Yet, we have reports of the ammeter showing discharge movement. I'll have to think on this one tonight when I have more time.