S110 6 volt or twelve

Hi All,
I am gonna ask some 6 volt questions if that is ok. I recently acquired a S110 for parts. Truck had an inspection registration in the glove box stating it was titled as a 57. Gauges, radio and windshield wiper motor are 6 volt. It had a rebuilt 12 volt starter motor with a main case from a 70"s pontiac I think. My questions are were all 6 volt trucks positive ground ? I was told by a gentleman that in 1957 everything was 12 volt true? I am just confused about the 12 volt starter installation. I suppose any thing is possible.Was there a larger Generator for trucks with more options i.e.. wipers, radio, heater, dome light. I want to keep my S100 6 volt I just want it to perform as well as possible. I am working on 00 gauge battery cables now. I will let you know how much improvement that makes.
Thanks For Your Help
Brett

Yes, there are several generator outputs that were options. In 6 volt there was the std 30 amp and a larger 42 or 45 amp and a still larger (but rare) 50 amp. For 12 volt they start at 25 amp and go as high as 55 amp.
I'm not sure about polarity, I know in the D,K, L they were positive ground, but with a generator, it is very easy to swap to neg ground. I remeber hearing that the last 6 volts may have been - ground but not sure about that.
Its a good bet that if all the accessorys are 6 volt that the 12 volt starter was put on at a later date, and may even have 6 volt field coils installed and no one bothered to re-lable.

So, if I were going test the wiper motor should I start with a polarity of positive ground? I want to make sure to not induce a problem. I normally use the low amp setting of my battery charger for a power supply. This IH stuff is getting harder to come by. I don't want burn any thing up.
Thanks For Your Help
Brett

None of the motors are polarity sensitive, so it doesn't matter. The radio likely is, make sure you wait until you know the polarity before hooking up the radio.
battery chargers aren't the best for testing motors, a battery is much better even if you have to keep a battery charger on the battery.

Thanks for the info.
I will get the radio info before I do any voltage tests and I will start using a battery.
Thanks Again
Brett

My '56 S120 was 6v but negative ground. When I converted it to 12V, I made no change in the starter or wiper motor. The started lasted for 60,000 miles until my wife couldn't get it to start on a sub-zero day and cranked continuously for 10 minutes. A 12V starter would also have died with such treatment. The wiper motor ran faster but was two speed so no problems for the 200,000 miles I put o the vehicle.

57,
Most 6 volts were positive ground, look at the voltage regulator, most of them are stamped 6 volt POS. 6 volt NEG. Also, the 6 volt regulators have rubber grommets to insulate them from the firewall.
I think I have one here, my truck is in storage, if so, I will take a pic and post it.
kevin

I have an operators manual for my S160 and it likely will state if the trucks were neg or pos ground. I am pretty sure the S series could have been either six or twelve volt systems. Mine was a six volt but converted to twelve volts neg ground with a Delco alternator. Origninal six volt starter works just fine with it.

57,
Most 6 volts were positive ground, look at the voltage regulator, most of them are stamped 6 volt POS. 6 volt NEG. Also, the 6 volt regulators have rubber grommets to insulate them from the firewall.
I think I have one here, my truck is in storage, if so, I will take a pic and post it.
kevin

12 volt regulators also could be "shock mount" like the 6 volt ones, so grommets tell nothing about the voltage.

Thanks for the opinions, I have the manuals, just never seen a shock mount, or insulator 12volt regulator, just sold 25 voltage regulators to an old parts house on ebay, 50s, and 60s, all IH 12 volt.
kevin