1957 ranchero
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1957 ranchero
Help I inherited a 1957 ranchero I think it is a positive ground system.....is it possible that this is a 6 volt system. There is no battery in it. The negitive/black cable was hooked up to the voltage regulator red is hooked up to a bolt on the alternator/generator?, we hooked up a 12 volt battery and the negitive/black cable started to smoke but the car wanted to turn over.
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By 57, they had 12 volt systems and negative grounds. Here's a diagram of a six cylinder model.
http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/t...re5765-194.jpg
http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/t...re5765-194.jpg
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Well could you explain this diagram as it does not show 6 or 12 volt as well as positive ground is not clear. this car has a positive ground and hooked up to a 12 volt it smoked the negitive terminal post, but it did crank over
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If this is the case, which is what we had thought at first, I swapped cables so the black - went to ground and there was a loud buzzing sound when the key was turned to acc so I didnt try to turn it over for fear of frying something. But when it was wired red + to ground it cranked over fine only the wire started to smoke on the - terminal. Thanks for the help my uncle who was the owner of this hog has passed away so Im flying by the seat of my pants.
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Your cable could be too heavily deteriorated, causing extremely high resistance, to the point of causing generous amounts of heat and burning your cable. Try using some new wires with the battery.
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You can also see the battery has 6 sections to it. Each section is 2 volts. Plus, I know that the trucks went to 12 volt in 56, so I believe the whole Ford line went to 12 volt in 56.
You could also pull a taillight or a front turnsignal, and if it's a #1157, then that's a 12 volt bulb. The headlights also may have "12v" written on the back of them.
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Im thinking that its harder to turn an engine backwards then the correct way causing the strain on starting system.Power stroke is going up instead of down ect.
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The polarity of the battery does not affect the rotation of a starter motor. The starter motor has windings on the armature that turns in the center, and it also has windings in the fields around the armature that do not turn. These two sets of windings are wired permanetly inside the starter motor. The only way you can change direction of a DC motor is to change the polarity of field windings in relation the armature windings.
So when you changed the polarity of the battery, you changed the polarity of the armature windings in the starter AND the field windings at the same time, so the starter turned the same direction it always did.
So when you changed the polarity of the battery, you changed the polarity of the armature windings in the starter AND the field windings at the same time, so the starter turned the same direction it always did.
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I will try a new battery 12 volt and some new cables, we did try to hook it up this way last weekend and it made I loud buzzing sound in the dash so I didn't try to turn it over. should this sound concern me. Thanks again for the help
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On a old vehicle like that, the only thing you are going to mess up with the battery connected backwards would probably be the radio, and possibly the voltage regulator if someone put a modern solid state reg in it.
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