Can anyone tell me what this little black electrical box does? It has a fuse on the front that keeps blowing but I'm not sure what it is controlling.

When the fuse is blown I can't find anything out of the usual that isn't working.






Thanks for the help!

 

It's an Overdrive Relay!

Got overdrive on the truck? If not, it used to. Those are getting to be hard to find.

Pic new:

 

Ahh yes, it does have factory overdrive.

So right now I have the the overdrive lever pulled out so it's always in gear.

If I push the lever in and take my foot off the gas the truck will coast.

If this fuse always blows out, how would that affect the OD?

 

That's interesting Julie, I have one on my truck too!

Alex

 

Well, the Borg Werner Overdrive has four components in it's electrical system. Two, the Solenoid and Governor are mounted on the transmission.

The governor is on the back, passenger side of the transmission and is a simple gear driven set of flyweights that when moving fast enough rise up and bridge an electrical contact.

Once that contact is made and electrical signal is sent to the relay which engaged the Solenoid. The Solenoid has two windings in it -one to engage (pushes a rod in that engages the gearing) and one to hold it in place.

The other two components are the Relay (pictured), which handles all the switching, and a Kickdown Switch. The kick down switch made be mounted under the gas pedal proper, or on the firewall behind the throttle linkage. The kickdown switch kicks the transmission out of overdrive for passing when you stomp on the gas.

There is a control cable that mechanically locks out the overdrive gears. When you have the overdrive locked (cable pulled out) out it drives just like a regular three speed transmission. But when you push it in, and the electrical system does not engage the overdrive, it does what we call "free wheeling." In other words if you take your foot off the gas enough to make the wheels push the truck (as opposed to the engine driving the truck) the planetary gears cause the output shaft to disconnect from the rest of the gears in the transmission, the truck will coast as though it were in neutral.

So long story short is that you are not ever in overdrive when you use your truck.

The fuse blows because either you have a short (most probably in the solenoid or wiring) or you have a 12 volt electrical system and this is a 6 volt overdrive. Yes?

If the system were properly configured, electrically, and the fuse were to be intact, you would have another 3 speeds on which to drive - either 20% or 30% higher than you do now. To use these youwould simply push the lock out **** in and gently let up on the gas pedal slightly at abotu 23 mph and allow the transmission to shift into overdrive (much like an automatic transmission).

Might be something worth looking into!

If you are interested in playing with it, I have a number of threads about Overdrive and wiring I can post for you:

 

Awesome! thank you this is enough to get me started. I am running a 12 volt system so that is probably why the fuse keeps poping.

Additionally, there is a switch under the gas pedal as you mentioned.

I wonder if a voltage reducer would work for this system?

 

Yes it will. I had a 6 volt overdrive on my 55 that had a 12 volt system on it.

I used a vol-ta-drop to step it down and it worked fine. However, the solenoids are not supposed to work well in this configuation because the holding winding gets stressed at the lower voltage. I never had any problems though.

I would recommend you check the current solenoid to see if it is 6 or 12 volt and if it is 6 volt try NAPA for a 12 volt. You might also try them for a 12 volt relay. The relays are supposed to be interchangeable from what I've read, but, I'm skeptical. Check all the wires for shorts with a meter! There shouldn't be many of them.

Original engine (272?) and transmission (3 spd on the column with overdrive) in the truck - just converted to 12 volts? (the 55 did have an overdrive transmission as an option)

Good Luck!

 

Julie....you know everything!! I am sure learning alot from you.
Number Dummy and Julie could run Ford single handed back in 1953-TODAY.....LOL

 

Awwwwwh Gosh!

Wow what a compliment to be compared to Bill. But I'm not quite sure it's deserved - that guy is DEDICATED!

I just know how and where to find stuff, and how to store it so we can all use it next time!

A Good Memory Helps! Thanks for the nice compliment Bill !!!!!!

 

Bruce,
Is that the original air cleaner on your truck. It looks like what is on my '54. Mine looks just looks just like yours but I have not seen any like it in the shop manual or dealer brochures....

 

There ya go ... MULTI-TASKING

Thats where WE go wrong

 

I believe it is the original oil bath air cleaner. Based on the casing numbers the motor is a 292 but I think they used the original manifold and carb and other parts. Based on the vin number the truck came with a 239 with 3 on the tree and factory overdrive.

Thanks,

Bruce

 

Hi Abe. Good to be posting on the same threads again after a few years.

I think there are several illustrations in the 1956 dealer brochure here

http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/Re...aterial_1.html

that show oil bath air cleaners just like the one on Bruce's engine. A while back, I was looking for a stock replacement for Earl's as one of the POs apparently thought the air cleaner would work better if he/she ran over it a few times and then tried to bend it back so it would fit on the carburetor.

When all was said and done, I ended up with five different stock oil bath air cleaners, none of which fit my carburetor. I gave up looking when I got sick, but I suppose I should start again.

Various mounting schemes were used on different engine/carburetor combinations during the 1948-1956 period. Some were straight/sleeve type with a clamp, and some were tapered flange with a different clamp. There were also a couple different mounting throat diameters in use as well making for a variety of units with different appearances.

 

she beat me too it... (of course i just read the thread now ). if you can't find a 12v relay (normal cost) you can find a non working 6v relay and gut it. just make a mounting inside for a new heavy duty relay (square plastic or metal) and run the wires to the prongs........then run the wires to it like normal on the outside. on my '64 chevy panel i just used a a/c clutch relay (trucks didn't have o/d).

 

The starter relay out of a '60's - '70's Mopar works pretty good, too.