60Patrol

  Subject : conversion from positive earth to negative ground     Most components will be unaffected.     Affected components include  fan motor , wiper motor , instrument cluster ,   and generator.     Electric motors will run with reverse rotation.. For wiper motor this may not matter   It is possible to electricly isolate/insulate motor then switch wires.      If temp gage reads hot when cold , make sure gage is electricly isolated , then    switch wires.      Alternator re-wiring should be straightforward. Follow manufactures destructions.      Reconnect  components one at a time.      firextinguishershoulbehandy.                                   goodlucked       P.S.  What is the year of yer patrol ?               

Patrols went to a negative ground in mid/late '67, so typically only the earlier ones have this concern. Most of my early Patrols had already been converted by the time I got them. None really seemed to have any issues, so the PO's must have done something right.

A few comments: An alternator rewiring can't be done, unless complete isolation of the body is done. A generator on the other hand, is easily done, with only a momentarily jump between 2 terminals. No rewiring.   Starter motor will run in the same direction. No change needed. Same for gauges, except Amp Meter that needs to be reversed to show current flowing in the right direction.   Esteban

    Esteban , thank yew kindly for correcting me.     Isolating alternator is problematic.     I'm not quite convinced about starter rotation , which I forgot to address.                               thanks ed   

                   Having thot about alternator and starter wiring for a bit , I was wrong when i said    i wuz wrong.      Once you have disconnected every electrical gizmo and then switched battery    cables , nothing should happen.      But ,  now you have a buggy with negative ground.      " Hot wires "  that were previously connected to negative battery terminal are    now connected to positive ternimal of batry.      Electrons will flow backwards thru all gizmos including starter-motor. ( S&M )      It is my contention , Switching a few soldered wires inside S&M  should    provide correct rotation.( Do not attempt at home.Leave to good gizmo rebuild    outfit. )  Some wear items could be looked at  while it's apart.        An alternator  and  regulator stolen from  1967  Jeep Commander , V-6 ,    ( Motorola ) , should drop into any negative ground  buggy.                                            goodlucked              

Ed,   I did convert my Patrol from positive to negative ground some years ago. At that time no one was able to help me, so I did some research and learned all about alternators.   Regarding the Starter Motor, rest assured that it will rotate in the same direction. Only a direct current (DC) motor with permanent magnets (like all toy motors) will run in a reverse direction. In a Starter Motor, when you changed polarity of the battery, both the stator and rotor windings are reversed, so the rotation remains the same.   Regards, Esteban    

Just a silly thought here: if the starter motor rotated the opposite direction after reversing the vehicle polarity - wouldn't the starter then be attempting to turn the flywheel/engine in the opposite direction, too? I would think this would make for some horrible noises down in the starter area. Don't think I've ever heard of that problem...   The only problems I know of when reversing the polarity are: reverse the wires to the amp gauge (I have one that burnt up because someone didn't do this), and change the black/white wire to the coil from the (-) terminal to the (+) terminal.  

On a normal situation the pinion is locked to its shaft by the clutch that unlocks if the engine starts up and the flywheel begins turning the pinion faster than its normal speed. By allowing the pinion to spin freely for a moment, the clutch protects the motor from damage until the drive is retracted.   If for any reason the starter motor tries to turn in the opposite direction, this clutch mechanism on the pinion will prevent it to turn the engine.   Esteban