can0fspam

Hey guys, Thought I'd put out a feeler here after a mostly unsuccessful search over the past month or two. I'm looking to buy a T19 4 speed. The catch is it's going into a 4wd F150, so I need a 4wd version. I'm looking for the "close ratio" gears - 4.02 first gear - which pretty much limits it to a diesel application (if I'm wrong about this, let me know...) If anyone here has or knows of such an example, I am interested.... Would be perfect if someone with a 4x4 6.9 truck swapped their 4 speed for a 5 speed and wanted to get rid of the old unit. If anyone's curious, this is for a 4x4 shortbed F150 with a 300-6. I had a NP435 stock, I played around with a RTS OD, but I think what this truck really needs is 4 usable ratios and no overdrive. My transfer case has a 2.6 low ratio so I don't need a deep granny gear. My location is Upstate SC... I can travel some but if you're in Oregon, it's not gonna work...

Not considering a 5spd at all? The ones from the 1988-1996 trucks are very easy to swap in, and everything pretty much bolts right up with little or no modifications. I've thought about it before. Aren't you the guy who converted a 3.03 to a Mazda 5 speed? I was considering a five speed, but I think I want to keep this truck more old school. It has a factory mechanical clutch and I know the firewalls in these trucks doesn't hold up to a master cylinder without reinforcement. I also used to own a Ford Ranger with the Mazda 5 speed, and I had nothing but trouble with the internal hydraulic release bearing. The transmission itself was not all that bad -- I've heard of them lasting 250k+ miles in some cases -- but my experience with the hydraulic clutch setup kinda tarnished that box for me. With my tall gears, I don't really need an overdrive anyways -- and I like the old school cool and simple toughness of a toploader.

Hello, I have a 1983 F-150 with a 300-6, NP435 four speed, and NP208 transfer case. Unfortunately, my NP435 is getting worn out. Third gear sounds like shopping cart wheels, first gear sounds a little harsh, and when I sit in neutral and let off the clutch I can hear a main bearing squealing away. The shifter needs a rebuild too. As much as I like the toughness and gear spread of the NP435, this one needs rebuilt or replaced before I manage to break something. I know the bad bearings aren't doing any favors for my gear teeth in the meantime. With my 3:08 rear gears, I can manage highway driving without overdrive. The granny gear in the NP435 is nice for hill starts, but it's way too low to be practical 99% of the time. What would really make my truck more driveable is another gear within my usual speed range -- which makes me wonder if I could pull the NP435, and run a 4 speed toploader! This seems feasible; the 3-speed manual available in these trucks is almost identical to an original 4-speed toploader -- except with only three gears inside the case. The SROD 4-speed overdrive is also closely related to a toploader and was optioned in trucks just like mine. Here's what I'll have to consider: >Will a toploader bolt up to my 300? Would I need to get its bellhousing or use my NP435 bell? >Can I adapt a toploader to mate with my transfer case? The SROD is a modified toploader and was factory optioned with four-wheel drive, so it seems feasible. Can the toploader's tailshaft come off or be switched with whatever's at the end of a SROD? >Transmission mount -- NP435 mount and crossmember compatible? Or would I need to pull a 3 speed or overdrive crossmember/mount? >The driveshaft. I don't expect overall length to be the same. A SROD/4x4 truck's driveshaft might be the right length. Obviously I have a lot of loose ends to tie up if I actually want to do this; this is a speculative idea. Feel free to turn this into a discussion thread -- I'm just throwing ideas and seeing what sticks. Thanks, can0fspam.

This isn't only parts but also some less common tools I always keep with me... Make sure you have jumper cables, not just for jump starting, but in case something electrical stops working. I had to use them in the middle of a long road trip because I pulled into a gas station and the truck wouldn't turn back on! No dash lights, no starter, nothing. I jumped the battery power straight to the starter and got the truck to start right up and get me to the parts store. Turned out to be a shoddy connection from the battery to the starter solenoid -- truck could only run off the alternator till I fixed it. Other than that, I keep some bailing wire in case I need to replace a cotter pin (still have wire in my clutch linkage instead of pins -- I really should replace that) and wire also helps to hang up exhaust or anything hangy if it gets knocked down partially. You could wire your choke in position if that goes out and you have to drive somewhere... or you could use the little wire to poke an obstruction out of the carburetor or clean up an electrical connector on the side of the road. Make sure you have wire cutters too -- otherwise you won't be able to do much with your wire! Keep channel locks in case you need to remove a stripped nut. I had to use channel locks on one of my fuel line nuts because it was unbelievably rounded off. Ended up converting to a soft fuel line with an inline filter. It's always a good idea to keep extra bulbs too -- whether they're the little 194 interior bulbs or the exterior ones. Might even help to have a sealed beam lamp somewhere if you have room. I keep a nice little rubber mallet under the seat. Haven't needed it much but it's sure a whole lot better than using your hand to give something a good whack if you need to mess with a drum brake or a u-joint or the like. My friend borrowed it once when his Ranger blew a u-joint, and it came in handy that day for sure! Last but not least I always swear by zip ties. A pack of 100 is super cheap and they'll fit anywhere in the truck. You can use them to keep wires or hoses out of the way or attach something back together if it's not load-bearing. I keep on using them, usually for "temporary" fixes, but I would not go anywhere without a pack or two under the seat.

That probably wouldn't hurt (or to use a heat sink like Vinny is suggesting). There is a pic of a lifted box in one of threads above. For the few cents is costs, probably not a bad idea. The plastic fender liner isn't dissipating any heat. There was a comment in one of the threads linked above where the guy said he was melting a module every six months until he moved it into the cab somewhere. After that, no more issues. In his particular case, it sounds like the engine bay heat was killing it, OR there was a wiring issue that he inadvertently fixed when he ran new wires into the cab. Interesting stuff none the less. I never have melted a module, but I had problems over the summer where my box would stop working when the temperature outside neared triple digits. I replaced the box, and it happened less often but still was likely to kill the motor if I tried to go up a big hill. I finally put some washers between the box and the inner fender to give it airflow, and that fixed the problem completely. It has never had that problem again, and it fixed it immediately. I would highly recommend it to everyone even if your box hasn't overheated yet. It goes to show, most of my biggest and most important fixes I do on this truck are either free or ridiculously cheap -- and easy. It likes to teach me lessons about working with what I've got.

Went and voltage drop tested the headlight grounds: I found between 0.08 volts and 0.25 volts of voltage drop between the headlight ground pins and the battery terminal, with headlights and high beams running and engine off. On the passenger side, I found that that voltage drop was almost halved if I measured the drop from the pin to the fender rather than from the pin to the battery. So it seems that my headlight and chassis ground cables are all only a little iffy. I might try to clean the contact surfaces a little, but it seems my problem would be fixed more if I did the relay conversion since my voltage drop was below the general 0.4 volts and only slightly above your 0.2 volts spec.

That sounds like fun. I definitely could use brighter headlights! Sounds like redoing the electrical system may be in order. How difficult and time consuming is it to put in relays? I want to do it but I don't want to tear it apart and get lost or stuck somewhere with a truck w/o headlights. Also I'll read up on voltage drop testing and try that out too! -- As for electrical I just remembered I wanted to ask you about this: I was looking at the voltage regulator trying to troubleshoot the charge light the other night. There are four "ports" on the voltage regulator, but there are five wires coming out -- two from the "A" port -- and one of those (orange wire) ends with what looks like a rubber heat shrink connector and nothing on the end of it. Is this supposed to connect to something? The rest of the wires go into a wrapped harness towards the alternator. I think the "I" wire is the idiot light. It showed 12 volts with the key in run but I couldn't make the light turn on by grounding it.

Alrighty, just went and gave it another look! The headlights' positive contacts to ground both returned 10.8 volts with the lights on -- not tooo bad. Same voltage from the high beam contact too. The headlights' negative contacts to battery ground both showed a resistance of 0.01 ohms -- seems like the ground connection is fine. In the meantime, I thought I would investigate the rest of my wiring -- my alternator idiot light works once in a blue moon and my brake idiot light never works. Could be bad bulbs; how hard is it to get to the bulbs in the cluster?

I do appreciate the thorough analysis, but before we get too far along the diagnosis, make sure you understand that I checked the ignition voltages with the engine off since I had to unplug things. The battery shows something like 12.2-12.4 volts when the engine is off, and my 14.0 to 14.2 figure was tested with the engine running. Therefore I don't think there's a big jump in voltage from my test, unless the jump from 12.2 to 11.8 is enough to worry about; my apologies if my wording was unclear.

Just went and tested the voltage at the coil and solid state. With headlights off, both of them showed 12.2 volts. With parking lights on, 12.1 volts. With headlights on, they went down to 11.8 volts. I replaced the solid state over the summer, so it should be good. The coil is of unknown age but the voltage seems alright. Edit: Tested battery positive terminal to the valve cover. 14.2 volts running, no lights; 14.0 with lights, 14.0 with high beams.

Where exactly were each of the meter probes during each of those tests? Did you clean the surfaces down to shiny metal that the probes were touching? Check voltage between the core support & battery (-) post with headlights off & then on. Then check from the engine (near the coil mount) to the battery (-) post: https://supermotors.net/getfile/825495/thumbnail/cont6.jpg I tested it with the voltmeter leads both pointing straight down on the top of the posts, with enough pressure to get a good connection. The posts are pretty clean and free of corrosion. I'll try to check voltage from the rad support and the engine to the negative post next time I have some free time -- maybe that will show something. I will check the voltage to the ignition box and the coil too. Does the coil have a connector I can unplug and test or do people usually just bury the needle lead in the insulation to get a reading? I am new to the art of electrical diagnosis! As for vacuum leaks, I think I have an exhaust leak at the manifold, which means I might also have an intake leak at the manifold since they bolt together. Me and a friend tried to put in a gasket a month ago but it didn't make much of an improvement. I might have to have them planed flat. Thanks all for the ideas! I'll get some results soon, let me know if you think of anything else to look at.

Alright guys, I went and changed the fluid today. I found some valvoline full synthetic limited slip oil at the Advance Auto Parts near me. It looked good on the back, says it's good for all manual transmissions where gl-5 or mt-1 is needed. It seemed like the best option I had near me. I put in 6.5 pints and the new oil looks much cleaner than what came out. It drives pretty much the same as before. I'll keep an eye on it, thanks for all the advice.

Yeah, I don't blame ya, it seems like a really weird issue! My friend commented saying it seemed like a bad ground to him, but I'm not the most electrically fluent guy out there. Idle RPM when hot is around 800 RPM, it does more like 650 cold. I know whatever the problem is, is related to the headlights or general electrical load since the idle changes so immediately. I'll do some more driving tomorrow and see what happens! Also I just remembered: The truck used to erratically, on its own whim, move between a normal idle and a really, really bad idle around 200 RPM. It would die if I let it do it for more than a few seconds without giving it gas. But I -thought- I'd fixed that problem in January when I got rid of some vacuum leaks. This might be related, although it's had a pretty good consistent idle for a long time now until today. What is a bad ignition switch like? I've read that the cold weather can make them act up. But I have a non-tilt column so that's probably less likely to be it. I also have an aftermarket tach. A friend has a 65 mustang and his tach started making his engine cut out when it started going bad, because it would ground the ignition out.

Hey guys, I discovered a new feature tonight on my 1983 f150 inline six. I turned on the headlights and the engine loaded up a bit and started idling about 50 rpm lower (pretty slight but noticeable). I turned them back off and the engine immediately went back to a normal, smooth idle. Didn't think much of it but kept an eye on things. Then I had to drive a friend to the auto parts store and I turned my lights on to drive since it was dark. It idled down again and as I started driving, I definitely felt some subtle hesitations this time. When I was coasting towards a red light the engine decided to stall out completely, but it turned right back on when I turned the key again. I checked things out under the hood but I didn't see anything obvious. Battery tested with the engine running pulls 14.2 volts with the headlights off and 14.0 with them on. Is this a sign of a bad voltage regulator or something? Seems like the headlights are drawing so much power that it's hurting the engine's spark ability. Thanks for any advice, Jake

But it doesn't tell me which ones. It has a table that should tell, but none of the 4.9's, 5.0's, or 5.8's have the little (4) footnote that says they have it. So I cannot answer that question. About the feedback carburetors in '83: I have a 1983 4.9L and it's non-feedback. My knowledge is that all 4.9L engines switched to feedback in 1984, but California 4.9L models already had a unique feedback system. I'm betting you that note is referring to the California trucks.