On Monday, on a short trip around the block, my truck stopped running and would not restart. The starter would not turn over, plenty of gas and a charged battery. I called AAA and they brought it home. Thinking that I had an ignition switch problem, I started tearing the steering column apart. I am at the point where I need to press the column out of the bearing to reach the switch. In the process I discovered burned wires in the connector inside the cab from the firewall to the column. Further searching found the hot wire from the starter relay to the firewall connector also burned. I appears that I have a short somewhere, or just 37 year old wiring and connectors.

The first picture is the connector inside the cab from the firewall to the steering column, the second picture is the connector from the steering wheel to the firewall, it connects to the first picture. The third picture is the firewall connector inside the engine compartment and the last picture is the connector from the starter relay.

I found information on the Dodgetalk.com forum which tells me that this is not an uncommon problem because of the way that the amp gauge is wired and the best way to prevent a re-occurrence is to replace the burned wiring, run a wire through the firewall, bypassing the connector and also bypass the amp gauge.

I also found information, courtesy of the Dodgetalk.com forum, which explains the problem and a solution. The information is here: http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml