The Return of Rusty

Dane, I'm not sure I'll feel a big difference with a stabilizer installed but for $55 and change I'm willing to give it a shot. Plus it gives me a chance to play in the garage. I have read that these stabilizers help to prolong the life of steering components as well as tires and reduce driver fatigue. I'll find out soon enough.

Rusty never had points.
Those were gone in the early/mid '70's
DSII, until TFI for these trucks.

Light load shouldn't be putting pressure on the coil.
The carb may be real lean under cruise.

Do you find its getting scorching hot?
There are ohm values for both the primary and secondary side.

Gary is certainly going to need one with a front locker in Big Blue.

That is a violent combination over rough terrain.

I don't know what Rusty has up front but I'm pretty sure it's open, not even LS

Points weren't used after some time in the 70's, so all the Bullnose trucks came with electronic ignition.  Some, like Rusty, with DS-II and some with TFI.

But let's go back to basics.  Pull the vacuum advance hose and plug it.  Then set the base timing to 12 degrees BTDC.  Then check the vacuum advance hose.  It should be connected to the "timed" vacuum port which is on the passenger's side of the front of the carb.  Hook it back up to the distributor.

Then check your idle air/fuel mix.  Not knowing what your mechanic did, I would turn the idle mixture screws out slightly to see if the idle needs a bit more gas, or in to see if it needs less.  You want the idle fuel mix to max out the idle RPM, so turn them in/out about 1/4 turn at a time until you get max RPM - but keep them balanced.  Then, as a last step, adjust the idle to a nice 600 - 650 RPM.

As for the coil, it could be going but stumbling under light load isn't where it would fail.  Instead, it would fail under heavy load.  So I doubt it is the coil.

Have you checked to see that the choke is opening fully?  If I remember correctly there's a relay on the passenger's fender that is pulled in by the stator wire from the alternator and gives the choke battery voltage when the engine is running.  Make sure that is working and the choke is coming off fully - before you adjust the idle fuel/air mix.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Gary is certainly going to need one with a front locker in Big Blue.

That is a violent combination over rough terrain.

I don't know what Rusty has up front but I'm pretty sure it's open, not even LS

Yes, Rusty's diff is open up front.  And, I think it is an open diff in the rear, although I'm not sure.

ClayJ wrote

Dane, I'm not sure I'll feel a big difference with a stabilizer installed but for $55 and change I'm willing to give it a shot. Plus it gives me a chance to play in the garage. I have read that these stabilizers help to prolong the life of steering components as well as tires and reduce driver fatigue. I'll find out soon enough.

I’m interested in what you think. I’ve had long wheelbase trucks for so long that I think they’re great on the road.

The Bronco is different. I’ve said they are aptly named. Feel like I'm bouncing all over the place sometimes!

So on this Memorial Day I pray that we as a community take a few moments and remember those who died fighting for our freedom.
I had planned to do some work on Rusty this morning, by installing the steering stabilizer and Checking out the electric choke. Unfortunately I received a phone call that one of my buddies whom I served with for over 10 years and two deployments overseas, died in a motorcycle crash in the early hours of the day.

I was able to get to Rusty this afternoon though and get to work installing the Monroe Steering Stabilizer kit I had ordered from Amazon. The kit came with the shock as well as a hardware kit with multiple brackets and a single sheet of instructions in 3 languages. The instructions were a complete joke and I couldn't find a specific good set of instructions online either.

The instructions have you start out by attaching the long bracket to the passenger side outboard portion of the frame. I had to remove this existing bracket which was on the inboard side.
Once I had removed the existing bracket I had to run a 3/8 drill bit through an existing hole in the frame in order to allow the 1 1/2" 3/8 bolt to fit. There is a 2nd existing  hole in the frame just below the 1st but it does not line up with the kit bracket holes so you are required to drill a 3/8 hole for the 2nd bolt through the frame. The hardware included with this kit was absolutely garbage. Both bolts for the long passenger side bracket ended up stripping even when using hand tools. If you decided to purchase this kit just save yourself some time and throw the included hardware in the trash. The rest of the install went without issue as you use another included bracket with 2 u-bolts to connect to the drag link. A quick travel check in the driveway and I was off for a test drive. The stabilizer definitely tightened up the feel of the steering wheel. While going over cattle guards the wheel barely moved when before it would almost jerk out of my hand. Got up to 65mph on our little country road and the steering felt great! I would definitely recommend a Stabilizer, just maybe not the Monroe kit.

As for the slight stumble under a light load, I did check the choke to see if it was working. I started by pressing the gas pedal 3 times to set the choke. Looking at the top of the carb it didn't appear that the choke was fully closed. So i cranked Rusty and he fired right up. Letting the engine warm up I could see the choke valve slowly opening until it was finally fully open. I did notice that the PCV port rubber plug which sits between the two air/fuel adjustment screws was dry rotted so I replaced it and the air cleaner and took another drive. No stumble. I'm thinking the stumble was simply the engine not being warm. I do however think I need to do the credit card adjustment on the choke that Edelbrock recommends seasonally. Any thoughts on that adjustment?

First, I'm sorry for your loss.

As for Memorial Day, we did decorate graves twice over the weekend, and plan to watch some appropriate movie tonite to help us remember.

Credit card adjustment?  Is that to use a credit card as a gauge to position the choke?

I do think it is likely you will need to adjust the choke slightly from season to season to get the best performance.  But it won't be required to drive the truck, just helpful to get the best starting and warm-up.

But on the stumble, you may have solved it with the replacement of the rubber plug.  That could have leaned the mix just enough to cause the air/fuel mix to be a bit too lean for good performance.  Well done!

On the stabilizer, I'm disappointed in Monroe.  Shame on them for such poor fasteners.  But, I am glad the stabilizer helped the steering.  I'll probably wind up installing one, but it won't be that one!

Thanks Gary. Yes, a quick YouTube search for Edelbrock 1406 adjustment pulled up this video from JEGS. In the video they use a credit card like you said as a gauge for setting the choke plate. Rusty's choke plate doesn't come close to closing as much as this one in the video.
 https://youtu.be/wR_AfQjyT-A

Interesting, I have never had the truck do that to me, try to jerk the steering wheel out of my hand.

Big wins for Rusty today. Tachometer, warning lights, and aftermarket voltmeter are now working! Finally got around to looking up what fuse these operate on and sure enough, a brand new 15 amp fuse in position 18 and I'm good to go. Also decided to set the electric choke now that the tach is working. This is as far as the choke would close prior to the adjustment. No wonder it would take 2 to 3 crank attempts to start when cold before. After setting the choke he fired first time! Pretty simple to do, just needed to remove 2 of the screws on the housing and loosen the 3rd and I had access to the linkage.
After setting it like shown in this handy video https://youtu.be/wR_AfQjyT-A  I warmed Rusty up and set the idle to 600rpm. Sounds great! Love that magnaflow!

Cool!

But, why did you have to pull the choke cover?  Was something wrong with the linkage?  

And, I love the Magnaflow sound as well.  Can't wait to have a pair on Big Blue.  

I've actually never had one of these apart before so I wanted to make sure the coil was positioned correctly on the link. In the video they only rotate the cover but I wanted to better understand the internal parts as well.

And this is what makes these trucks great!  

You can see what's happening, and rig it if you need to.

If your engine management computer decides your engine is up to temp it's not going to hold the injectors open longer.
And if it doesn't like X input, it may decide to give up entirely.
Nothing you can do about pulsing the injectors to get you home.

Glad you're taking the time to investigate how it works!  

Jim you're absolutely right. These trucks were built when you could actually work on them and not need thousands of dollars of diagnostic equipment. Perfect for work on the farm!

Good for you!  Glad you are learning how it all works.  

Which is why you still find them parked out on farms (sometimes by the dozen)

You don't need twin turbos, active suspension and leather seating to haul water or fix a gate.
You need a truck you can fix with a sharp mind, a hammer and bailing wire.

Gary, did you by any chance do any troubleshooting with Rusty's AC system? Any knowledge you'd be willing to pass on would be appreciated. I'm sure it's a factory installed system and I believe it's been converted over to R134 at some point.

No, I don't think I ever tried to get it going.

And, I'm not the most conversant guy on here re A/C systems.  But, if it was me I'd either put some gauges on it, assuming I had some, or take it to someone to put gauges on.  It is remotely possible that it is just down on freon.

If not then they'll probably suggest pulling a vacuum on it.  That will determine if it has a major leak.

Ok so I did some surveying of the AC equipment under the hood and I don't think Rusty has been converted to R134. Everything that has markings says R12 and I believe that R134 fittings are quick disconnect not externally threaded. Is that correct? I did however find a fitting loose on what I believe is the low side line coming off the compressor, marked in red on the pic. I did go ahead and snug that fitting. Also, looks like the compressor was manufactured January of 1980. Probably a safe bet it's the original.