Diesel Bombers - Replacing Your Fusable Links With Fuses

So I hate my fusable links... HATE them... If something goes wrong they are a pain to fix and they are getting harder and harder to find, add to that that as time goes on they start to burn up for no reason other then old age and the frustration level goes up another notch.

I finally decided enough was enough and that there were going away one way or another at the truck pull a couple weeks ago when one decided it was gonna burn up and render the truck absolutely useless. Luckily it happened on the way back to the trailer after my pulls.

The biggest problem is that they are rated really high in amps. Like 40-125+ so a standard fuse block and the little fuses wont work. I've been scratching my head and looking for parts for a while trying to figure out the best way for me to get this done.

Well this week I got it figured out... As with all my projects, especially the ones that you need to do alot of head scratching because there is no set way or bolt on kit to do it, I suggest you grab a couple of your favorite adult beverages first. Make life easier, I suggest...

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But that's just me.

So here it goes, I used two distribution blocks for car stereo amps for all the circuits except the alternator, its to high an amperage. The blocks are rated WELL over what I will pull and use standard Maxi fuses, these fuse look just like the spade fuses your used to seeing but are about 2-3 times as big. I used three 40 amp fuses and one 60 amp fuse. Also got a fused power distribution block off a 98-01 Blazer/Jimmy for the alternator circuit. It has a 175 amp fuse now because the parts store was out of both 125amp and 150amp.

I run a dual post Optima Red Top so the factory cable for the starter goes to the top post just like the factory set-up. Then I have a 4ga cable running from the side post to the distribution block/fuse. Then off that I ran two 4ga cables up stream of the fuse to the distribution blocks for the fusible links. you can get these blocks with a one cable in four out which would be better but all the stores around me had were the one in two out so I just bought two. After they go through the fuse I used some 10 gauge wire to connect them to the respected circuit. I needed to solder a terminal ring on the alternator wire to attach it to the distribution block.

Here you can see what I started with, you will notice I removed the grid heater relays. I have not had a grid heater in a long time so they were not needed but they do not have to be removed by any means, you will just have to put your blocks somewhere else. Note the fusable link pigtail that I circled in red, this is what we are removing. It has about a 6 gauge cable coming into it then splits off into 5 fusable links.
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Here is the pigtail for the fusable links and the approximate amp rating for them.
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Here it all wired up. The cable coming in from the left is from the battery. The heavy cable on the right is out to the alternator, The thinner one to my fuel pump relay.
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Here you can see what it looked like all said and done... So far so good! Everything works! I have a little bit more clean up to do to make it pretty. Ran out of gas in my little butane torch so I still need to shrink dome of the connectors and I need some more of the black plastic protection stuff... I also need to add some shrink tubing to the cables going into the first distribution block and out of it. Just need to cover up some of the metal that's outside of the cover, don't want anything falling on it and causing a short.
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