The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread

Gary Lewis wrote

Let's see if this new page helps: Interior/Seats & Seat Tracks.  And I think you need D1DZ 6261883-A, but see what you think.  Looks to me like it is the same spring both sides.

That and the photos both help immensely...thank you!

And I agree that it's D1DZ 6261883-A, and it sure looks like it requires two, but why would it only indicate quantity 1?  

One per side?

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I should have said 'right here in Connecticut, Walcott to be precise'

I'm in Stamford.... down in the toe.

It's still great to see there's still some manufacturing going on in a State that was renowned for its machine tools, firearms and bearings.

UT has sold off most of its profitable brands like Sikorsky and Norden.
They just merged with Rayethon and are moving corporate to Massachusetts, though plants in Hamden and all the independent suppliers are supposed to stay

Born and raised in Stamford, cove area, till I moved south in 2015.
As a kid walked pass FAG bearing going / come from school.
Yale & Town was one of the big Manfg. back in the day.
I forget what was in the Twin Rinks building before the ice skating?
And then there was Clairol Manfg.

I also did a few shooting matches as a kid at the firearms building.
How come "mad hatter state" never made it to the car plates? LOL
Dave ----

As Matthew said this discussion is for another forum.....

We had the felt mill in Glenville.
The Byram river would run green, red, blue, or whatever they were dyeing that day.
Hat city is Danbury!

Maybe Gary would authorize an off topic thread, or a 'lounge' where us old farts could talk about things back in the day?

Jim - Authorize?  Why do I have to authorize it?  This is our forum.

So, What do we call it?  Back In The Day?  The Lounge?  Whatever?  Off Topic?

It's YOUR forum, that you graciously allow us to participate in.
Every page starts with "Gary's Garagemahal (the Bullnose bible)"

Anyway, it might be nice to have it stickied.
(I know, I know, it's already getting cluttered up there)

I don't want to choose. Maybe a poll?

It would be mighty lonely w/o y'all.  It is OUR forum.

Anyway, we have a new poll: What Do We Call THE HANGOUT? THE LOUNGE?

Dorsai wrote

While it would be nice to have the proper spring in there, if I can find one for a reasonable price, I'm actually not hung up on having the precisely correct part; I can probably find a spring laying around here or at the hardware store that would do the job.

I'm in the middle of a major exam for school so I haven't had much opportunity to make progress on the truck, but I did have enough time between code runs to fiddle with the seat track latch.  I bought a $2 spring from Ace hardware, robbed our holiday closet for a Christmas decoration stake, and voila:



The track on the bottom is the factory-standard one, and the top one is the one I rigged.  Sure, I could have spent $20 on eBay and waited a week for delivery for the correct spring, but what fun is that?  This way whoever owns the truck after me will be able to gripe about the incompetent hack of a PO who came before him.

Well done!  And I doubt the next owner will be casting blame on the PO.  

Way to work it! Good job, looks good and I bet will function good.

grumpin wrote

Way to work it! Good job, looks good and I bet will function good.

Thanks!  Playing with it on the bench, I think it will function just fine; the latch is now held in position with decent tension, but without the spring being overly stretched.

If there's going to be a problem, I think it will be with the spring eventually breaking where it hooks into the track, due to either rust or vibration.  I think I'll hit the spring with some paint to slow down the rust, but vibration I can't do much about.

Dorsai wrote

grumpin wrote

Way to work it! Good job, looks good and I bet will function good.

If there's going to be a problem, I think it will be with the spring eventually breaking where it hooks into the track, due to either rust or vibration.  

You could take a short piece of small diameter vacuum tubing and slip over the end of the spring, where it inserts into the seat track.

1986F150Six wrote

You could take a short piece of small diameter vacuum tubing and slip over the end of the spring, where it inserts into the seat track.

I thought about something similar...the problem is that slot in the rail the spring goes into is actually very small, much smaller than it looks in the photos.  I suppose I could drill it out, but now we're getting into more work than it would take to replace the spring every 10-20 years or so.

Especially considering that as the only driver of the vehicle the only time I move the seat is when I'm cleaning out behind it, or putting something weird back there.  This is one of those things it's just not worth the energy to worry about.

The truck is now reassembled and I just got back from a test run.  I can't say the cabin is substantively quieter overall, although I am noticing some sounds that I hadn't heard before.  So I imagine the additional soundproofing on the floor is helping in some ways, but not in others.

Aside from that, the cab is definitely a nicer place to be - the seat looks and feels great, the floor is nice, plus I polished the gear selector and turn signal lever.  Additionally I gave the dash pad a thorough clean and shine, and finally got around to scrubbing all the grime off the steering wheel.  

Finally, the repaired seat track latch works perfectly.  I'll get the seat belts back in tomorrow, then it'll be ready for Boy Scout duty next month.  After that?  Rear end lubrication, U-joint changes, and transmission fluid drain and refill.  

Yippee!  Glad you got it on the road.  

What kind of sounds are you hearing?  Is it just because some noises are now suppressed and the others are now able to be heard?

Sounds get layered.  I know that when I got Rusty I thought his tires were quiet.  But then I got rid of the Flushmaster muffler and replaced it with a quieter Magnaflow and found that the tires were noisy.

Gary Lewis wrote

Yippee!  Glad you got it on the road.  

Same here!  I scrolled back up, and realized the truck has been down since June 1 - so about twice as long as I'd originally anticipated.

What kind of sounds are you hearing?  Is it just because some noises are now suppressed and the others are now able to be heard?

Sounds get layered.  I know that when I got Rusty I thought his tires were quiet.  But then I got rid of the Flushmaster muffler and replaced it with a quieter Magnaflow and found that the tires were noisy.

I'm pretty sure that's what's happening - formerly suppressed sounds are coming to the fore.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's tire noise.  Not really a big deal, just a new thing to listen to...and I've been through this before, most notably when I replaced the rotted-out exhaust.  I got a whole symphony of squeaks, rattles, and groans that I never knew were there.

My Ranger has sound deadening everywhere in the cab, and some areas like the roof, floor, and back wall are double layered (I have two 12" subwoofers in the back). Although it is MUCH quieter than it was before, there are still a lot of small audible noises that I just tend to live with.

salans7 wrote

My Ranger has sound deadening everywhere in the cab, and some areas like the roof, floor, and back wall are double layered (I have two 12" subwoofers in the back). Although it is MUCH quieter than it was before, there are still a lot of small audible noises that I just tend to live with.

Well, mine's a bare-bones Custom, so I have none of that - no back wall insulation, no headliner, no nothing.  Which suits me fine - it's a throwback to the days when trucks were purely utilitarian, and I like that.  So I'm well-prepared to put up with a few noises.

Meanwhile, today the truck almost didn't start coming out of Lowe's - I had to turn the A/C off in order to get it to turn over.  Not sure what's up with that, there's always something...

Dorsai wrote

Well, mine's a bare-bones Custom, so I have none of that - no back wall insulation, no headliner, no nothing.  Which suits me fine - it's a throwback to the days when trucks were purely utilitarian, and I like that.  So I'm well-prepared to put up with a few noises.

Yea, it would look a little strange to have sound deadening on an area that isn't covered. I've thought about sound deadening my F350 but I have no intention of putting subwoofers in this one and frankly would rather spend that $200 for sound deadening elsewhere. Maybe down the road I'll do a minimal amount like you did.

Gary Lewis wrote

Let's see if this new page helps: Interior/Seats & Seat Tracks.  And I think you need D1DZ 6261883-A, but see what you think.  Looks to me like it is the same spring both sides.

So while I was glovebox spelunking today, guess what I found?



Yes, my very own D1DZ-6261883-A.  I actually vaguely remember tossing it in there when I got the truck, having no idea what it went to or even whether it was part of the truck or not.  

I'm not going to pull my seat out to put it on, either...I think my repair will hold.  But if it doesn't, it's nice to know I've got a fallback.