76 pig help

[nuclearlemon]

ever since i started getting the 76 ready for moab, it's turned evil. latest thing is after wiring up trailer lights, the ammeter shot sky high. figured bad regulator (maybe from touching all the hot wires to figure out the trailer wiring ). look around, no volt regulator...figure the po upgraded to internal and pull alternator, but the alt appears to be externally regulated.

i followed the loom from lower left of engine where alt is, under front of engine to right headlight and under battery tray, where the white/black splits off. a few wires drop down to mid fender and the white/black grounds with a noise suppressor like you'd find on an alternator. there is also a plug with a black/yellow and another plug with a black only. both plugs are just hanging, not hooked up to anything. there are also two oem threaded holes that appear to be about the distance of the mondo regulators toyota uses.

black/yellow and white/black are two of the three colors that should go to the regulator. other, according to schematics should be white/green, not black. white/green goes into cab, behind dash where i will have a heck of a time following it.

so my questions to you 76 owners...what color wires are going to your voltage regulator? where is the regulator? and are the wires on one plug or all seperate at the regulator? ammeter type regulators take the 4 wire vr, not the 6 wire, but some later cruisers only have three wires going to the regulator (e and f, no n), so what do you do with the third wire? for those that have used the vr607, how did you wire to it? does it match the alternator? so do you just ignore the third wire in the plug and the bullet connected wire?

tia and ih8electrical

 

[cruiserbrett]

those wires look like they would go to the coil if it is got the one stock for the 2F.

got a pic of the alternator that's on the truck?

I cant remember where the voltage regulator is on the 76, but if its got an ammeter, it should have a 4 pin connector to hook up the voltage reuglator IIRC( I seem to remember a white with green, white with red, black with ?, etc). Early ones with the charge warning light have a 6 pin connector.

 

[nuclearlemon]

the pic of the alternator in my first post is the one from the cruiser. it's an aftermarket. early wiring diagrams show four wires, but 78 wire diagram only shows three and those three match what i've got at the alt. (large white/blue, smaller white/black and white/green). it is possible that that could be a coil location, it is close to the dizzy. i've never had mid or late model pigs before, and most of mine have been v8,so i've got no clue on where oem electronics are for this this year.

 

[cruiserbrett]

That looks like the back of a stock (reman'ed) toyota alternator(does look like an "F" alternator though-based on the adjuster ear location). That should have a voltage regulator, maybe under the clutch master cylinder??? thats were it is on a 76 FJ40, and I seem to remember it being there, or on the LH front fenderwell on the 76 FJ55's.

MY 73 FJ55 has it mounted just behind the left headlight, on the vertical part of the inside fenderwell.

 

[nuclearlemon]

got it. thanks brett. it was under the horns. i was looking for a big box like the oem regulators. this is a dinky little flat thing.

 

[Gumby]

You know the 80 would be nicer to take any way.

 

[nuclearlemon]

You know the 80 would be nicer to take any way.

cough cough (bull****) cough



electrical...done
clutch....done (i hope)
now down to a side step, rear cargo panels, go through tools, go through camping gear, hook up trailer and make sure all is kosher, tie downs, mount air tank, pack.

well, speaking of packing, i'm off to montrose (i'm taking the 80 for that )

 

[nuclearlemon]

OK, back to this one again. was parked for a couple months while i was waiting on the new tire that was backordered. got the tire in and when to fire it up, battery was dead. put in new battery and seconds after hooking up the positive cable, the alt wire started to smoke.

now...i had gone through around the time i parked it and cleaned the tailgate motor connections, but i couldn't remember if it was before or after i parked the rig for the tire issue.

so, last night, with just a test light since i can't find my meters, i began the trouble shooting. figuring it had to be tailgate wiring, i disconnected the wires at the junction block and put the test light between the alt wire and the hot post. light came on.

next, thinking maybe the wires were pinched in the tailgate when i closed it last, i tried to drop the window, but couldn't get the locks for the glass to channel out (didn't try very hard), so i cut open the harness at the passenger door and cut the wire, then tried the test light again. still lit up.

knowing i'd had issues iwth the dash switch, i disconnected that and pulled the fuse. still lit up.

finally realizing that my tailgate work had nothing to do with it, i put the probe on the hot post of the alternator....light lit up....doh. bad alternator.

while it looks fine outside, i brought it into work and checked ohms between the hot post and the case and there was minimal resistance, leading me to believe that something inside is grounded out. can't get the screws out cause someone jacked the heads, and don't really care to since it's a checker auto special anyways.

been thinking about it today and wondering if the alt was bad back when i started this thread and if it lead to the downfall of the regulator and later the battery, also.

 

[RHINO]

well if ya have a regulator still it be on the fender next to the horn relay. dontcha love wiring?