BigBrother-84

You’re right Ralph, this is logical and needs to be verified. But electrical diagrams do not show where the sending unit ground is located. Any advice?

W-O-W! Beautiful! So nice job, Adam! You made a head turner!

Hi Gentlemen! My road trip is coming soon, so I will limit Big Brother's enhancements for the moment. But there's a new issue that I will probably have to address. The fuel gauge hesitates with the fuel level. Let me explain: Starting the engine, it slowly goes to the good level. But during the drive, it fluctuates with the rpm. I noticed that, when the gauge shows a lower level than the reality, it's when the engine is going to idling (at a stop light or something like that). When the engine goes back to higher rpm, the gauge goes up too, reaching its correct level. It is not constant nor regular. Just from time to time, but it happens too often in my opinion. I did the "ground test" and the gauge goes to the max. So I suppose that my gauge and wiring are ok. Is it possible that the fuel sending unit is sensitive to the "electrical power"?

Yes, I’m CONFUSED! As for Ford spreading things out, perhaps you could create table that brings it all together? LOL! Gentlemen, imagine following your discussion from my newbie situation, what is my own confusion level? So, do I conclude that I have to change my PVS for a 225ºF model (the black NAPA one that Ralph posted)? BTW, I did a road test and Big Bro rides very well, no pinging, good acceleration, all perfect. (Well, success for the engine test I would say... I had another problem that I describe here). I did my first timing today! Thanks so much!

A road test concluded by a majestic fail, scraping my bran new 7 tooth Drive gear and 18 tooth Driven gear... Yep. The problem wasn't any too curvy path for the cable: The problem was the speedometer itself. But this time, the cable stopped and didn't broke. The two gears did. I had a spare shaft seal, a spare 18 tooth Driven Gear, but only a 6 tooth Drive gear on hand. THE GOOD NEWS: 1- Yesterday was my first lifetime Drive gear replacement, it took me about 3 hours. Wasn't too sure how to proceed, didn't want to break anything, wasted a lot of time analyzing every step. Today, I did it in 40 minutes, including my installation. 2- I had in stock a NOS speedometer, but without the Tripometer. I replaced the faulty speedo with it, it works perfectly, absolutely no jumping, completely smooth. So, forget the tripo. 3- With a working speedo, Big Bro's Speed Control works again (great!). THE BAD NEWS: The 6 tooth Drive gear results in a speedo giving about 6mph (10 km/h) less than the real speed. So, I'll have to order replacement and crawl under the truck to do it again. I am wondering if it could be possible to change only the Driven gear in order to compensate the 6 tooth drive gear? Kind of:

Gary, maybe the engine is too cold? I clamped the unrestricted tube (port 3) in order to only have the restricted (port 1) working, I didn’t see any difference… Big Bro is idling for at least 45 minutes…

It was setup at 12, I changed it to 10. It is what happened, the advance jumped by about 20, I would say (gee, how do you do to get and exact reading?). I reduced the idle to around 800rpm (Yeah! I installed a tach for other reason than just “nice in my cluster”! ) Is this a correct idle speed?

Ok, I did a little archeology, soft sand paper and brake cleaner. Found it. There’s a big notch at 0 and a smaller at 8.

Why, oh why everything always seems so simple when done by others? Went under the truck with a marker and… just don’t find any marks down there. Am I supposed to see some marks there?

Why, oh why everything always seems so simple when done by others? Went under the truck with a marker and… just don’t find any marks down there.

Guys, sometimes I have a flash during the night. It just happens like that, boom. This morning I woke up this way. «Eureka! I found it!». Some of my Newbie brain’s neurons (I have one?) connected, and made me realize that this nice symbol, that I reproduced so carefully (without understanding what I was doing), is in fact a nice small 3 port PVS illustrated lying on its side: That said: A- Port 1 (restricted) and 3 (direct), which are connected together on the diagram, are now plugged to the manifold. B- Starting the engine and moving Big Bro, I heard he is pinking a little bit. C- I am a brave little Nooobie, so I bought a strobe light and am willing to learn the timing adjustments skills. If you have time to help me… So, assuming Big Bro’s timing (with no vacuum advance) was correct, how should I proceed?

Job done! Road test tomorrow morning… Gentlemen, thank so much for you nice and kindly support, as usual!

Yep, my Dummy fault, I’m guilty. I found that when I kinked the cable a bit (behind the speedo) this one was more "smooth”. When I installed the Speed Control kit, the Speed Sensor moved the cable jonction closer to the firewall, kinking the cable more than “normal”. And your Dummy King kinked it a bit more. So… everything jammed. For the replacement cable, I made a new hole in the firewall, in order to have the cable running out more “straight”. About the replacement seal: It is not exactly the same than the one I pulled out. It is thicker: How should I install it? Do I push it flush to the TC surface (so deeper inside)? And what side facing the inner TC, the one with the spring?

Thanks Gary. Your Dummy King gathered all his courage and attacked the drive shaft/yoke/transfer case seal dismantlement. Wanna know what happened to Big Brother’s Speedo Drive Gear? The plastic gear sled on the steel shaft… Ever seen something like this?

If the green arrow points to the fill plug and the red one to the drain plug, seems that there’s not a lot of oil in a BW-1345 TC. I’m a bit surprised. Any advice about the oil type and/or quality?

Thanks Jim, one more piece of knowledge for the dummy! Are you referring to this capped port?

Gary, noobie is lost. Sorry. You-Explain-Me. Hope this picture will help to determine what kind of vacuum source it is (ported or manifold). Assuming the location of the connection on the carb side, I suppose this is a “ported” source?

So, there’s alway a bit of vacuum applied to the distributor diaphragm. I suppose that at idle, the succion is really low, so almost no timing advance.

This link points to a 2001 model.

We did go down the Shafer Switchbacks. The main report on it is in this post, with some additional follow-up here. I don't have any video of it. Yes, a full-size truck can do Shafer Switchbacks. It wouldn't be a problem at all in a regular cab long box. A crew cab might have to back up occasionally, but it could definitely be done. I saw a video once of a full size truck with a slide-in camper, and he met a dump truck on the trail! I'm sure the dump truck driver was very familiar with both the truck and the road, so he might not be someone to copy. But it does show that even a BIG truck can do it. That said, it is a narrow, shelfy road, and some people won't like it at all. Those people will like it even less in a big truck. So as we used to tell my kids when they wanted to talk about the movie "Space Balls" with their grandparents, "know your audience!" Thanks Bob for answering! Looking at the maps, I supposed Big Bro couldn’t turn there without moving back each time. The curves look very tight. Anyway, I think to not have time to explore the park deeper than the usual tourists area. LOL! To be honest, even if we have time, not sure my “audience” would appreciate going down there!

Gentlemen, trying to clarify the Ported Vacuum Switch (3 port) behavior. Between the two scenarios below, which one is right? Scenario 1 (3 stages): 1- Engine cold: Completely closed, no vacuum so no ignition advance. 2- Engine warm: Port 1 (with the restrictor) connects to port D (distributor), a little timing advance is allowed. 3- Engine getting hot: The switch flips from Port 1 to Port 2 (unrestricted) and provides full manifold vacuum to port D (distributor), so you get more advance, the water pump and fan run faster, allowing the engine to cool down. Scenario 2 (2 stages): 1- Engine cold and warm: Port 1 (with the restrictor) connected to port D (distributor), allowing little timing advance. 2- Engine getting hot: The switch flips from Port 1 to Port 2 (unrestricted) and provides full manifold vacuum to port D (distributor), so you get more advance, the water pump and fan run faster, allowing the engine to cool down.

Thinking about it more, I think I sold Potash Road short. That, connected with Shafer Switchbacks, is an easy 2WD road that's fun (Shafer Switchbacks) and has some great views (Shafer and the first 5 miles of Potash). You can also take a side trip out on the White Rim Trail (permit required) and see Musselman Arch and who knows what else. We didn't do that, but from the looks of the area I think it would also be pretty easy 2WD driving in a stock full size truck (more clearance than a minivan might be helpful). Potash Road was rough and slow, and at the end of a day with about 5 miles of hiking, Lesley and I didn't care for it. But it was only 10 miles in 1 hour (it felt longer to us). So if you went into it knowing that it's rough and slow, but not really all that long, you likely could better appreciate the views on the first half. Or maybe you'd prefer to go into the park that way. Then the least interesting part of Potash Road would be at the start and you'd have everything to look forward to. Anyway, I'm not saying it's the best trail out there, but I do think I sold it short. It might be a great day for someone looking to get where not everyone else goes without pushing any limits. Bob, about you trip at Moab… Did you drive down the Shafer Trail? If so, I am wondering about the curves radius, going down the canyon… I suppose that a monster like Big Bro cannot turn there.

LOL! I already did it before posting and well, the air seems to flow equally in either direction. Looks that it can be installed in any ways.

Thanks Jim, I too am happy to have find it. Bought it at Greensales, they had more than 40 in stock! They shipped immediately, really happy about their service. There were 3 other stores on Rearcounter claiming they had 1 to 3 in stock, so in fact there’s not a lot available. About installation, I found this on web: « That vacuum restrictor can be installed any direction. It isn't a check valve, it's just a pinhole opening for slowly bleeding air.» Anyone has a comment about this?