The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts fuel sending unit for big bolt

Anybody know where we can find the right fuel sending unit for a gas tank under the bed of a 1948 gmc fc303. We ordered one, and found it was too tall to fit. Probably was for the smaller 1/2 ton pickups. Ours is a big 1 1/2 ton, 6 volt system.

Hy turpentyne, there are several manufacturers of gauge/sending unit combos, unfortunately your original gauge was made to be used with a 0 - 30 ohms sending unit I believe. Nobody makes a 0 - 30 ohms sending unit anymore, other than the offshore stuff. G.M. even changed to 0 - 90 ohms in 64 I think. I think the new universal kits could be made to work with your tank, but we would still have to solve the ohms problem, the sending unit is not voltage sensitive, hope that helps.

Turpentyne,

As 3B noted, this is probably a hard item to find. The only critical piece of a 0-30 sender is the coil...the float can be bent and shorted as well as the pickup tube.

If you can find one that fits your opening, you should be able to customize it to read properly by bending, tweaking etc.

Stuart

Dang.. ok. Sounds like we're going to have to hunt down a universal that has the same bolt pattern at the opening. I'd tweak the one we have, but the length down to the coil is even too long to go in those under-the-bed gas tanks.

thanks for your help.

try napa.

turpentyne,

I wish you well in your search for a 0-30 ohm universal sending unit. If you are creative, you could move the coil up on the sending unit you have, bend the arm and you would be in business. Drilling and tapping the flange in the tank for the pattern on this unit would be simple provided the tank was on the bench.

Let us know how you make out in your quest.


Stuart

we found a universal fuel sending unit, but when it arrived, we realized it was for a 12 volt system. And we're 6 volt. Does anybody know if this will work on a 6volt? A couple posts above this one, I got that impression, that it doesn't matter, but I want to make sure.

Or does anybody know if there's a 6 volt version of the 0-30 ohm.

turpentyne,

Since the sending unit is a resistance, it doesn't make any difference what the voltage is. 30 ohm is 30 ohms as far as the rest of the circuit is concerned. Your good to go with one you found.

turpentyne,

This post is a bit old so this might be a moot point, but the 0 to 30 ohm deal is what makes the dash gauge accurate...they are a matched setup.

I don't think anyone ever produced or reproduced a universal sending unit that would have said "12 volts" in anything but 0 to 90 ohms or more.

All these old trucks were 6 volts and all these old trucks used a 0 to 30 ohm gauge and sending unit.

I sure would verify exactly what I had before I spent time drilling and tapping or installing something that might not work.


I could be all wet on this too.

Stuart