Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim A
Whew! You got it to the OR. Hopefully the oil pressure prevented any damage.
It is a scary story about points.
Keep us informed.
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Sorry for the delay in an update, my wife had an accident a few weeks back, she has a TBI and I have been attending to her needs, so it has been slow getting anything done at the homestead.
I love this truck, I will get it done soon to make it a safe drivable vehicle, I have a lot of dirt and stone to get here with it.
I have realized it has a lot more sheet metal issues than I first thought but the cab is good and somewhat solid. A few soft spots on the floor and need to get the doors replaced, and the front sheet metal aligned right. I am not worried about the doors or anything else, with the number of used parts in the area, I won't have any issues finding parts.
It is drivable at this point. The one thing I had to do is work on the brakes, the clevis pins on the brake booster to the pedal were frozen. This prevented the brakes from being applied unless you put both feet on the pedal and it would not return unless you pulled it up. I had everything removed from the pedal forward and it took me three days to get it all loose. I did take it to a machine shop, no fault of theirs but I wasn't going to pay more than $40 for them to just throw it into the press and pop the pins out. Needless to say, I got it all loose and back on the truck. I have to work on the back brakes, which I haven't taken off dualies since 1985. It does stop and stops pretty well.
I am still sorting out the electrical problems, the charging problem (overcharging) has been solved with new grounds and cleaning/adjusting the regulator. the amp gauge works, as does the other two gauges. The other electrical issues have to do with the front-end wiring and turn signals. I am going to build a "bright box" to reduce the current off the headlight switch to preserve the switch. It is going to be plug and play box and I already have the parts (from a "you pull" yard for nothing) and it is simple to do. Amazingly it is a needed thing on Dodge Ram trucks like my 1997.
The problem it had was with the melted wires within the front light harness, most of them are replaced and need to just be wrapped up to make it look good. I have to go through and make sure that all the lights work, I have issues with the turn signal light which I think is a ground issue.
I also have to replace the bearings in the alternator and may just throw in the spare alternator with the transistorized regulator, I had it for 45 years now. The other thing I have to work on is the clearance lights, this is where it leaked, causing header rust so I have to remove them to seal them up. They do work. The rust I am going to hold off on any repairs for a while.
I have realized it has a lot more sheet metal issues than I first thought but the cab is good and somewhat solid. A few soft spots on the floor and need to get the doors replaced, and the front sheet metal aligned right. I am not worried about the doors or anything else, with the number of used parts in the area, I won't have any issues finding parts.
My next step for the engine is to replace the valve cover gaskets, which are leaking oil, and get a power washer to clean the muck off of it (which the local quarter car wash closed so I will use my own). Maybe pull the left manifold, it needs a donut and new studs, but also rebuild the carb or at least convert the divorce choke with an integral electric one (don't feel like removing the intake and cleaning out the heat riser port, not up to it at this point). The other thing is I just need to give it a good tune-up with everything new, I will do this later.
I have cleaned out the fuel system, OMG what crud and crap was in that tank, I put it into a container for my burn barrel, and won't put it into any engine. The tank looks good inside and right now I have three gallons in the tank, going to put in one gallon at a time until it is full so I know what the gauge is at with say 6 gallons.
I've driven it up and down the road a few times and may do that today when I move it to cut the lawn if I get to fixing my lawn tractor carb (it has a stuck float). That said I have to get a 15" (or smaller) steering wheel. I think it has a 17-inch one on it, and it is killing me to get into the truck (I am fat). I missed out on a period 15-inch Pontiac rally wheel for $5 at an estate sale. I have somewhere in my collection a "wood" type wheel from a Corvette that I may put in the truck.
I haven't got to the dump hydraulics yet. I did do some work on the dump box but nothing to cheer about. I need to get the hydraulics done but again I have to figure out where the port is to fill it up with oil, I think it is dry. If it needs seals, I will be pulling it all apart and rebuilding it. with my large tractor down, I can't lift the box up and prop it up to work on it (I have a Ford 3000 industrial tractor with power steering cylinders I can not find the parts for, they are Ford but not anything put on the farm tractors) I've done a lot of lift cylinders so this one will be easy. I can't figure out who made it, I am going to assume that because it is a locally bought, upfitted, and remained a local farm truck, it is a Garwood lift system which I can get some parts but worry about the pump if it needs rebuilding, I may have to get the wear plates (assuming it is a gear pump) made. It looks like it is an integral pump, so I can't use my spares (these were from Greesen).
I'll return to it soon, most of this will be in the morning because I can't take the heat as I could when I was younger.
So that's it right now