Need 6V gas tank sending unit rebuilt

[FireEngineMike]

The gauge is fine. I now want an OEM style sending unit; do not want to drop the tank to install the old, but better working resistor unit with a new float in place of the "new" worthless Mac's replacement that I installed three years ago. I'll take my ohmmeter to swap meets and avoid any resistance units. From 19Fordy's post in another thread I at least know that the Ford p/n should be on the tank side of the flange. Thanks for all the help. Now I know what I did not know.

[JSeery]

Ok, I don't have a lot of K-S fuel senders to play with, but I did pull one out of a tank this evening and started playing around with it. For starters with no power connected to it the contacts are closed no matter where the float is positioned. The ohms through the contacts to ground is 2-3 ohms. I am going to try some different test procedures and see if anything looks promising.

[FireEngineMike]

Thanks. Would be neat to come up with a small text fixture. Is that a good sending unit that you are playing with? If so, at least we now know that there should be a constant 2-3 ohms. That in itself is a good start.

[rotorwrench]

When checking resistance of a King Seeley sender from the early Ford V8 era, a person it basically checking the heating element circuit inside there. It would be interesting to know what the average values are. Many of them have a wire spool in there that I assume was placed there so that resistance could be adjusted for calibration purposes during manufacture but the units should all be relatively close in the resistance values within a range at least. The bimetallic strips can be made exactly the same way but that doesn't mean that they will bend the same amount when the same heat is applied so this gave the manufacture a way to calibrate things for a consistent reading with all units. There was also another adjustment for positioning. Both adjustments were likely made at initial testing and would basically never change throughout the life of the instrument. If a person is very careful during points cleaning or other service inspections/checks. The unit should not need any adjustments.

[deuce_roadster]

No NON SEELEY sending unit will ever work correctly with the stock gauge. BECAUSE THE SENDER AND GAUGE WORK ON FREQUENCY OF THE POINTS THAT ARE IN THE SENDER. A NOS sender that has been sitting for 90 plus years probably had some corrosion on the points just like your distributor will have if not run for a long time with open points. The float arm changes the "adjustment" of the points and changes the frequency which the gauge is calibrated to read. I think somewhere in the Ford Service Manual there is directions on how you calibrate the gauge to your sender. Of course the sender must be good. Carefully pulling some fine wet dry paper through the points will usually fix the problem. I have done this many times with success.
The gauge does not properly work with varying ohms resistance values sent to it because it is calibrated to the varying FREQUENCY the sender sends.
This keeps coming up because the people selling those sending units have NO IDEA how the gauge works. If you are using an aftermarket sending unit, buy and aftermarket gauge, install that like you would other aftermaket gauges and that will work like it should.

[19Fordy]

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"No NON SEELEY sending unit will ever work correctly with the stock gauge. "

So true. That's the bottom line when using aftermarket sending units.

[Veeder]

This thread has given me my potential winter project.
The issues as I see them

Sealy gauges almost impossible to get
New tanks won’t except the Sealy gauge (unbelievable!!!)
I’m not sure these resistive based gauges can even be installed in a tank without current limiting.
Resistive based tank sending units not compatable with stock fuel gauge

I’m thinking a small interface box under the dash with a microprocessor doing the work
necessary to feed the correct amount of current to the stock fuel gauge

[deuce_roadster]

I have read that some of the newer tanks have mounting holes for original and new sending units. Maybe Drake.

[corvette8n]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

"No NON SEELEY sending unit will ever work correctly with the stock gauge. "

So true. That's the bottom line when using aftermarket sending units.

Is there an aftermarket gauge that could be mounted under dash or glove box, that works with aftermarket senders?

[19Fordy]

corvette8n: This looks like it could be used. You just have to make a bracket to hold the gauge. Call the company first to verify.
https://the-co.com/product/720730fg6vp/

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

corvette8n: This looks like it could be used. You just have to make a bracket to hold the gauge. Call the company first to verify.
https://the-co.com/product/720730fg6vp/

https://the-co.com/product/720730fg6vp/

JD FUEL GAUGE & SENDING UNIT – 6 VOLT POSITIVE GROUND Item #: 720730FG6VP

Price: $59.95 $49.95
Item Details


Weight 1.5 lbs OEM AB5139R, AF2173R, AR1112R
Manufacturers John Deere
John Deere 70D, 720D, 730D, 80, 820, 830

[GB SISSON]

Or if you have converted to 12 v, a fuel gauge from a toyota landcruiser fj 40 will mount in your instrument cluster with little or no modification. It uses an ohm type sender the landcruiser places sell for 30 bucks. Or get one from toyota. Same depth gauge, same mounting to the ford 2 eared, 2 hole circular mount with the cross in the center. Get the stick on gauge face from a vintage ford place to make it look like your year ford.. I started playing with this last winter when I saw how similar the two instruments are. These are made by yazaki meter and I think available from toyota parts. No matter what you think about foreign cars the Japanese know their electrical systems. The gauge is a dead on bolt up to a '40-'47 panel and others that match that. I think I read the gauge has a resistor that turns 12 v to 7v. , but I'm no electrician, I just know what fits in that panel. My plan is to redrill the flange on the toyota sender, And there's nothing hanging under the dash. The toyota gauge is actually a tiny bit smaller on the face than the ford, the perspective shows the opposite.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

Or if you have converted to 12 v, a fuel gauge from a toyota landcruiser fj 40 will mount in your instrument cluster with little or no modification. It uses an ohm type sender the landcruiser places sell for 30 bucks. Or get one from toyota. Same depth gauge, same mounting to the ford 2 eared, 2 hole circular mount with the cross in the center. Get the stick on gauge face from a vintage ford place to make it look like your year ford.. I started playing with this last winter when I saw how similar the two instruments are. These are made by yazaki meter and I think available from toyota parts. No matter what you think about foreign cars the Japanese know their electrical systems. The gauge is a dead on bolt up to a '40-'47 panel and others that match that. I think I read the gauge has a resistor that turns 12 v to 7v. , but I'm no electrician, I just know what fits in that panel. My plan is to redrill the flange on the toyota sender, And there's nothing hanging under the dash. The toyota gauge is actually a tiny bit smaller on the face than the ford, the perspective shows the opposite.