Ignitor And Ballast Question

[Don Cavey]

As you surely know by now, my truck has the stock engine. I recently put a used coil in it instead of the Chinese coil that was in it. Mind did not have a ballast under the coil as shown in the parts manual. Does anyone else have a ballast under their coil? If so, running this coil at full 24 volts will not be conducive to long life!

It is number 4 in the illustration below. Thanks for checking.

[brute4c]

There are 2 kinds of coils for these systems.
1 does need the ballast and is marked on the side that it "Requires External Ballast Resistor"
The other does not need the exteranl resistor and is also marked to reflect that.

At least the American made ones I have seen are...no idea on the Chinese stuff.

[Don Cavey]

Thanks. I remember looking at both coils. Neither mentioned the requirement of or lack of requirement of the ballast. So, who knows.

[militarypotts]

Don, the Chinese coil will be taller and would not fit in the ignitor with an external ballast. The reason it's taller is the ballast is built into it.

[militarypotts]

Also Don, while you had your ignitor apart, did you lube the wick under the rotor. Very important because oil doesn't get up to that part of the distributor shaft.

[brute4c]

I have a pic somewhere of one I saw at Vintage Power Wagons that is the kind that needs the external ballast...see if I can find that to post here...ok...found it...if you blow up the image you can actually read under the CAUTION that it wants an external ballast mounted under the coil.

[Don Cavey]

I have a pic somewhere of one I saw at Vintage Power Wagons that is the kind that needs the external ballast...see if I can find that to post here...ok...found it...if you blow up the image you can actually read under the CAUTION that it wants an external ballast mounted under the coil.

Thanks! Since it is raining (like monsoons) here today, I am going to sit tight. But as soon as it stops, I will open the ignitor and measure the depth of the hole and read the coil again (and post a picture of both).

Thanks for taking the time to look this stuff up.

[Don Cavey]

Final update.

I bought an NOS Ignitor for the M715 this week. It came tonight. Made by Prestolite. I took it apart and it does NOT have a ballast resistor. So, I want to thank each and every one of you guys for taking the time to take pictures, respond and offer suggestions. This new ignitor has zero play in the shaft, points, condenser everything installed. So, I will eventually put that one in the M715 and rebuild the one I have now for a spare.

Thanks again guys...

[brute4c]

Good to know you are on the way to driving again...sounds like you wont need a spare for a while!

[rboltz]

Final update.

So, I will eventually put that one in the M715 and rebuild the one I have now for a spare.

Thanks again guys...

As we discussed, don't forget to check the oil pump gear position while you have the ignitor out. Instructions in the manuals.