My 77 M-880 has no lights working inside or out

Hello,
Im new to the M-880 world. Ive had my truck for about 2 years now. Its been used for odd jobs and tasks up until recently. The ammeter smoked and melted to the instrument cluster. Got another whole gauge cluster that worked. Well now my only gauge that works is the ammeter gauge and nothing else. I replaced the back of the cluster with another back and still nothing. The truck still has the 3 lever blackout switch in the dash that I had to disconnect when I took the dash apart. It still has the harness hooked with the light switch. Would this be dead-heading all my fuel, oil pressure and heat gauges along with dash board and head/taillights. Sorry to all for the long post, just trying to give a good description.

Thanks to all, Jon B.

The 3 lever Military blackout light switch should control power to ALL lights ( inside and outside ) and the Horn. Unless a PO did some modifications to the wiring, It would not effect any other gages.

Can I remove the blackout switch and the harness going to the light switch without any major modification to the original dash harness or will this require some new parts?

JonBinAR said:

Can I remove the blackout switch and the harness going to the light switch without any major modification to the original dash harness or will this require some new parts?

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as the blackout system was added after the truck was built by Dodge, it is easily eliminated.

That being said, check the round connector that attaches to the cluster for missing or broken pins, since the ammeter smoked check for a melt down at the firewall connection block.

Hey Bob H and H1265. I got the lights now. My B/O 3 way switch got turned to off. I still don't have gauges and for some reason my windshield wipers wont turn off...LOL. Im headed to the parts store for some fuses and dielectric grease. I will check the bulkhead connectors and work my way back. Probably knocked something loose in all this dashboard mess. Thanks for the good advice......Jon B.

Do away with the ammeter gauge. There is a how too on madelectrical.com and plenty of information on ramchargercentral.com I did the modifications per the mad electrical how-to and my head lights are super bright now and turn signals work as they should. Best thing i've done to my truck.

Sounds like a good idea on the Ammeter delete and re-wire.....Thanks for the info

dtracy22 said:

Do away with the ammeter gauge. There is a how too on madelectrical.com and plenty of information on ramchargercentral.com I did the modifications per the mad electrical how-to and my head lights are super bright now and turn signals work as they should. Best thing i've done to my truck.

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My truck is modified the same way. Saves on shorts later on down the road.