1020 fuel gauge

I bought a 1020 diesel a few years ago. The fuel gauge never worked. I put a new sending unit it and still nothing. What is the proper way to diagnose if the gauge itself is bad?
 

Remove wire from sender and ground against frame. Gauge should go to full when ign switch is turned on. You can test gauge with a VOM but I can't remember the corret ohm readings.
 
Same here. Ours has a new sending unit which the last owner installed but the gauge doesn't budge. I am going to go try the grounding trick and see what I get as well.
 
As Tex Jim said remove the sender wire. With key on
the gauge should peg to one side. With the wire grounded
the needle should peg the other way.
 
If you have an ohm meter hook one lead to the stud for the wire and the other lead to the base of the sender, now move the float arm back and forth and ohm reading should change from 0 to 30 for example. Also the senders for 4020 and others have to be a matched set like a sender that only changes from 0-30 ohms won't do much for a gauge that needs 0-90 ohms. chris
 
Not trying to hijack your post, John e.c. MI. I grounded the sending unit end of the gauge lead, it went to full when switched on. I then put the VOM in the circuit and read 90.5 ohms. Since the sending unit is still in the tank, I couldn't move the float arm. Rocking the tractor from side to side, I could hear the fuel sloshing around, resulting in minimal change in the VOM reading. I'm guessing I originally had a couple of problems. The original gauge was rusted up pretty bad, and in all probability the sending unit was bad as well. If the gauge and sending unit need to be matched, when I replaced the gauge with an aftermarket item, it didn't like what the original sending unit was sending. I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and order the gauge and sending unit from JD. Only $152.00, if available. Mark
 


I did find the $152 gauge & sender from my JD dealer but I did see where gauge is a 30 ohm unit.

32570.jpg
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I found this sender on Ebay
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Well there is one additional thing you can do to match what you have with the original sending unit. Put in a rheostat in line with the sending unit - to the guage. You can use a potentiometer as well - just hook up the center post and ONE of the end connections. Then adjust the pot rod to bring the gauge up to full or to empty - depending on what is in your tank. I would do it with the tank full first.
 

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