Mike Burdick Hello

Not going to believe this. Got home and decided to do what I said about changing floats. Tried to heat sink the shaft to keep the heat of welding away from the Ni-chrome wire we were discussing.

Got it welded and feeling good installed it in the tank and NO CONTINUITY. DAMN.

In short, something I did broke the wire in the center of the "resistor". The NAPA unit (unlike the OEM) is put together with screws so I could disassemble it and get the resistor card out. I peeled of enough wire from both directions to twist together and complete the circuit. Doubt that the couple of turns I peeled off will be missed.

Put it all back togethere and reinstalled. Alah. Got continuity. Installed the wire and fired up the tractor (diesel has oil pressure switch to energize inst panel). Gauge was off peg alright, but still right at empty.

Looked in the tank and thought I'd just fill it up. Did and gauge is now working. Not as good as I wanted (range is short on the F end) but it will at least tell me when I'm low on fuel and will keep me from running out (which was the purpose of the venture in the first place).

So, I guess this was a successful adventure after all and it was $36, not the $80 for the OEM sending unit (alone)from the MF dealer. I needed both.

Good luck.

Mark

Glad to see you got it working. My "junkyard" one (read my last post in other section) seems to work electrically with the resistor in series. I got a little variable resistor from Radio Shack and installed it near the gauge. I had to adjusted it for best fit and like yours, had to set it mainly for the "empty" side.

Sheesh...$80.00 for a sending unit from Massey Ferguson - that's just not worth it. I think I'd go with a stick before paying that! (smile)

- Mike

Hear what you said about the resistor to calibrate the gauge. Glad it worked out.

Mark