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Thread: If You’ve Got a “New To You...”

  1. #1

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    1986 Dodge D-50
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    If You’ve Got a “New To You...”

    So, like most of us with these ... “seasoned” trucks, I’ve been spending a lot of time straightening out what the previous owners “fixed.” From sketchy wiring to lack of maintenance, we’ve all seen it before. Today, I got the reverse lights rewired and tidied up some more of the unwanted “spaghetti” of unused vacuum lines under the hood and, on a whim, looked at the fuses.

    Wow.

    Now, none were blown, and the cover to my block is long gone, so I pulled up an image of the cover with the correct size of fuses.

    None were right in my truck. I had 30s, I had 20s, I DID have a couple 15s, but I had NO 10s. Now, the wiring diagram we’ve got here on the site shows “15A” across all the fuses, but looking at several other images, it seems there are a smattering of 10A fuses thrown in (I’d guess it was based on the options of the truck?).

    But no 20A or 30A fuses.

    So if your truck is “new to you” this might be a good time to check and change - or at least make sure the right ones are in place. (It’s also probably smart to give your fuse block a good swipe or three with some emory cloth or even a small wire brush or even a bore brush from a gun cleaning kit.) This will give you good contact when you replace the fuses with the ones the circuit is rated for.

  2. #2

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    1989 Dodge Ram 50
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    Amps are like horsepower, more is always better, so why not!

    Your post is good advice. Cheers~

  3. #3




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    also make sure the clips are tight to the fuses - they lose tension over the years...
    Pennyman1
    The best Dodge that Dodge never made
    Living the D-50 lifestyle since 1980

  4. #4

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    That is great advise. My truck has a broken holder for the high beam fuse and a previous owner just made a short jump wire and twisted it in there in place of a fuse. Not a good idea at all! I plan to fix it correctly and put a fuse back in there.

    My truck also had been a towed vehicle for part of its previous life. So, I had a bunch of wiring that needed to be removed that ran from the front, with house twist on wire nuts connecting the plug, back to the wiring for the tail lights. It was scotch locked into the harness near the front of the bed. Again, not the way that I feel things should be done. I am a solder and shrink tube guy, or at the very least the new heat shrink crimp connections. Twist nuts and come-back clips are garbage for automotive use. Just my 2 cents.

  5. #5




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    If the rest of the fuse clips are weak, consider a fuse block replacement - this way you can upgrade to the newer blade fuses and also add a few circuits for more accessories...
    Pennyman1
    The best Dodge that Dodge never made
    Living the D-50 lifestyle since 1980

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by pennyman1 View Post
    If the rest of the fuse clips are weak, consider a fuse block replacement - this way you can upgrade to the newer blade fuses and also add a few circuits for more accessories...
    I have actually been exploring that option. There are a lot of marine application fuse blocks out there that are pretty inexpensive. I did keep the fuse panel out of the parts pickup that I bought as well, just in case.

  7. #7

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    Adelaide, South Australia
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    1985 Mitsubishi L200
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    The added bonus of upgrading the fuse block assembly is the fuses themselves - glass filament fuses are getting hard to find...
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