1948 - 1956 F1, F100 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Fat Fendered and Classic Ford Trucks

49 F1 Negative Ground?

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Old 02-13-2011, 02:45 PM
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49 F1 Negative Ground?

I finally got to mess around with my new truck.
As I was removing the old 6v battery, I noticed that the PO had the positive cable hooked to the starter solenoid and the negative hooked up the block near the coil. I thought these old trucks were positive ground.
What should i do when I get a new battery, what problems would I encounter if it is hooked up wrong?
The PO also said it has a 3 spd but it is obviously a 4 spd.

Thanks for your help.
Randy
 
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:22 PM
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Thru 1955: 6V positive ground / 1956 thru today: 12V negative ground.

If the battery is hooked up bassackwards, the ammeter will show a negative discharge.
 
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Old 02-13-2011, 03:33 PM
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It's possible your po converted to 6v neg ground. Look at the coil and see which terminal the wire is on that connects to the distributor body. (-) terminal means it's neg ground. (+) terminal means it's pos ground.

Otherwise, as Bill said, fire it up and see what the ammeter says. Keep in mind the rpm's need to be up for anything to show. At idle with a stock system should show a discharge, only moving to charge at around 1200 rpm.
 
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