Well, I got the manual and so I took off work a bit early to test the generator. I found the multimeter but it needs a 9 volt battery and it's a 24 mile round trip to town so I decided to pull the generator to inspect and clean it. At this point I went to start it up so there would be some heat in the engine compartment, but the normally reliable thing wouldn't start. I cranked and cranked.... Last thing I had done was the heater stuff, which at various times spouted all over the engine compartment so everything such as distributor was wet and all coated with antifreeze. I cleaned the dist and cap, got back in the cab and with one crank BOOM!!!!!!!!!. I mean like a 12 guage and my ears were killing me! My 2 week old muffler had exploded from raw gas from earlier cranking. OK, now back to the generator.The field wire either broke on removal or was already broken at the connection, so I thought I had it made. I dissasembled it anyway and maybe a brush had been hung up, but looked real fresh inside. I couldn't make heads or tails of the manual, but the gen was simple like you guys said. I got it all nice and when I put it back on and started the now noisy truck, the generator was making a high pitched sound, maybe I installed one of the brushes backwards? Anyway the gen light is still on. Tried to adjust the regulator a bit, but it's getting cold out there (no heat in my shop). Not sure why I keep doing this stuff. Got my first big ford exactly 40 years ago at 18 yrs old. A 29 AA. I am frustrated. I know the scientific guys and perfectionists pull everything apart and sandblast and rotisserie and rebuild. That would end some of the frustration, but it just isn't me. All of this leads into a question I have about a friend. Ya see he has this old ford and wants to put a gm one wire alternator in it, but he doesn't know what to do about the idiot light.... Should I tell him to just run the wire to the battery and the dash lighting will take care of itself, or does that have to be dealt with under the dash?