Gary Lewis

But you'll probably be pulling the differential so can flush out the tubes into the center. In my case the diff work has been done but they put the new gears back into a housing with dirt and grit in the tubes.

Welcome! Glad you joined, and glad to meet you. But, I'll warn you that you may be the oldest person on here. I'm 72 1/2 and we have a couple a bit older than I am, but you may take the cake. We have other members from Oilburners, I think. I believe Jonathan/Ford F834 is a member there. And, probably others as well. That's quite the truck! And you bought it new? Cool! And I like your drag racing story. On the sender, I agree you have the right part number. But I don't know of a source, although perhaps someone else does. But you could swap the resistance piece from another Bullnose sender onto yours and I'd expect that to fix it. All Bullnose senders have the same resistance range, so they would work. So, where's home? We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a city. Oh, and a signature outlining your truck will help us help you w/o asking lots of questions each time. Welcome!

Looking good! That will be a good father-son project. By the way, if you are using the original distributor and you've eliminated the EGR then you should modify the vacuum advance. That's because with inert gas in the mix, which is done during high vacuum situations, the burn time is quite long. So they had to add a lot of advance via the vacuum advance. But w/o the EGR you'll probably have too much advance at part throttle and have pinging if not detonation.

You are now, quite literally, on the map!

Well, today I thought I might get the axles in, but pulled the tape off that was supposedly keeping the inside of the axle tubes clean. And, I was a bit surprised by what I found. Here's the driver's side: And, while that looked bad, here's the passenger's side: So I spent quite a bit of time cleaning things up, gently so nothing was kicked back down the tube into the differential. Turned out that the stuff was hard, and it took a really long screwdriver to reach in and break the stuff loose. Then I fashioned a loop out of wire and reached in and pulled the debris out. Then I broke more loose pulled it out. Next I used a brass wire brush saturated in brake cleaner, with a stiff wire taped to it, and reached in and made sure I was pulling it out so anything kicked up would come out rather than in. And finally I wrapped a piece of a paper towel around the brush and wiped the tube down. Here's the driver's side after Not perfect, but a bit better. And here's the passenger's side, although I ran out of time today and will clean it up a bit more tomorrow before I put the axles in.

Yes, but when using the frame of the vehicle as the ground then I'd think you would only have to account for the wire from the battery to the frame and then the frame to the load. Bob - I haven't found those connectors. But, the ones below are the ones I bought. And they came from Grainger.

Well, I just ordered a 25' 1/0 red cable from amazon. Might not be enough. But I might mount the box in the truck bed. That way I have nothing to lose on the trailer if it gets stolen. The winch will be mounted on the truck anyway. If the battery is in the truck bed you don’t need the connector in that run. But you may want it to the winch so you can permanently connect the winch’s wire to the connector and another connector to the battery.

Yes, whatever wire size you run to the battery you’ll also run that size wire from the battery, through the connector, to the truck’s frame.

Amen, brother!

There are two differences. The easy one is that some of the cheaper relays aren’t rated at the amount of current you may be pushing. But the bigger difference is what I explained before - the cheaper ones just parallel the batteries when the key is on - assuming that is the way you wire it. But the smart one parallels them when the main battery gets up to 13.2 volts, if I remember correctly, and disconnects them if they get down to 12.7 volts. And that means that with the cheaper ones you can kill both batteries as well as the engine and be stuck in the back of beyond. But not so with the smart one. So, are you willing to bet that you nor anyone that uses the truck and trailer will do that?

This is the style of connectors I have on my trailer and on Big Blue: https://www.wiringproducts.com/high-power-connectors. I bought mine at Graybar if I remember correctly and didn’t pay that much. But, these connectors are expensive and you will need two of them as well as the terminals. I’ll see if I can find the exact ones I bought, but that will have to wait until I get home. You MIGHT get by with the 50 amp ones, but I’d be afraid of them myself. Yes, this is getting expensive, but it is the way to do it.

Wire size. I used the calculator here (https://www.wirebarn.com/Wire-Calculator-_ep_41.html) and arbitrarily chose 20’ and 100 amps and got the results shown below. The length is assuming you run the ground to the frame of the truck and don’t run a ground wire from the battery, in which case the wire run would be longer. But you will run from the frame, through a new HD connector, and then to the battery. Do not try to use the trailer’s ground in the 7-pin as those terminals cannon handle the current. And the current of 100 amps is just a guess. It is less than the alternator can throw, but you have resistance in the circuit with all the wiring that will limit the current flow. And that says 1 gauge wire will work with a 2% voltage drop. But you could probably get by with 2 gauge. I’d go buy welding cable as Jim suggested. Now to find a connector.....

Ray - That diagram is good, except I think that is a diode-type isolator as it doesn’t show a trigger wire that a relay would need. I don’t particularly care for diode isolators. That’s because they have a significant voltage drop across them - up to .7 volt. That means that your vehicle battery can be at 14.4 volts and the trailer battery at 13.7, so it won’t be getting a good charge and it’ll take a lot more time to charge it. Instead I’d use a continuous-duty relay that can handle the full output of your alternator. And trigger it with a key-on source so the batteries are only paralleled when the key is on - and hopefully the engine is running. And yes, you need a heavy gauge wire to run back to the trailer. And no, you can’t use the 7-pin as it’s terminals can’t handle that much current. And yes, it is ok to leave that terminal unused. As for the wire size as well as the connector to use, I need to do some searching in order to answer those questions. But I’m sitting in Starbucks (Christmas Blend) in Owasso so am on the phone and it isn’t as easy as on the computer. I’ll be back....

Nice truck, if something that small can be considered a truck. I like the $1 price over the $27,750 one. 😎

I'm very sure you will need a 2nd battery. Look at the info you posted on the winch - #6 wires a max of 6' long to the battery. You can't do that with the battery in the truck unless the winch is on the front of the truck. And the trailer wiring in a vehicle is not capable of handling the draw that winch will have. No way. As for the alternator, I wouldn't worry about which one you have. With a 2nd battery what you have will work. The isolator isn't a requirement. In fact, if you are going to charge the 2nd battery via the vehicle's existing wiring then the vehicle probably has a relay of some sort built in. So check it out.

Good to know, Jonathan. Thanks.

I'd be surprised if the winch came with the relay I'm talking about, which parallels the vehicle's battery with the trailer or winch's battery. From the diagram and instructions you posted the relay that came with the winch is the one that is in the "solenoid box". That's just the one the light-duty switches turn off/on to control the winch. The one I'm talking about connects the two batteries, but only when the vehicle is running. Here's how Cole Hersee's smart battery isolator is to be wired. The main difference in that and the way Ford did it are that Ford triggers the relay with the Accessory or Run power where the CH unit is triggered by the electronics in it to parallel the batteries when the main battery is above 13.2v for two minutes. But both use a continuous-duty relay that is capable of carrying the full current of the alternator. Oh yes, there's another difference between Ford's way and the CH way. With the Ford wiring if you have the truck running and use the winch a bunch it is possible to pull both batteries down to the point where the engine dies for lack of ignition. And then both batteries are so low you can't start the truck again. But the CH system disconnects the two batteries from each other if they get down to 12.7 volts for a minute. That way the engine will still run and charge the main battery and you won't be stuck. Personally, the ~$100 for the CH smart isolator is money well spent for the peace of mind knowing you won't be stuck in the back of beyond because you drained the batteries. And you'll probably pay 1/2 of that just to get a continuous-duty solenoid capable of handling the full output of the truck's alternator.

Thanks, Shaun. I neglected to say that I'm following Ford's instructions here for the installation procedure and torque values: Documentation/Driveline/Axles & Differentials, and then click on these tabs: Front Axles & Differentials, then Instructions, then Dana 60, then Ball Joint. The instructions there are from the 1995 factory shop manual and match the axle I'm using. And it is important to use those instructions as using the ones in the Kingpin tab will have you confused and worried. Confused because several things are different between the two. And worried because there are things shown on the kingpin axle that aren't on the ball joint axle. For instance in the illustration of parts on the axle shaft the kingpin version has a bronze spacer and an axle seal that the ball joint version doesn't have. So if you are servicing a D60 axle you need to pay attention to which set of instructions you use. Also, while this site doesn't yet have the instructions for the tie rods, the tightening torque for the stud nuts is 50 - 75 lb-ft.

You need some kind of continuous-duty relay to connect your trailer battery to the truck's charging system. It doesn't have to be the fancy Cole Heresee, but you need something rated for at least the output of the biggest alternator it will be used with. It is possible your dad's truck has a relay built in. But it sounds like you are going to build a box that will go with the trailer. If your dad's truck has the relay built in then you don't want or need to put one in your trailer's electrical box. So if you are going to use that arrangement with Little Blue you could put the relay on the truck.

Randy - Are you asking for help to replace the adapter that you broke? Like Bill, I haven't found the wiring in the EVTM for that device. But, you aren't running a feedback system, right? No computer? If not, then you don't need that device. I'd go to the hardware store and get the right pipe fittings to replace what you need of the broken piece and leave off that device.

Welcome! Glad to meet you. Where in VA? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a town. That's a nice looking truck. But why not post your pics here rather than just share a link? Just start a new thread in the main section and post them. Instructions on how to do that are in Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's. And, in that thread you can keep track of your progress, ask questions, etc. And, by the way, you'll get lots better sound out of those speakers if you put them in an enclosure. The waves off the back side of the cone are currently coming around and canceling the waves off the front side. And is the copper tubing splice part of your fuel system?

I've always thought the same when it comes up since there are at least 3 trucks with it in the local jy. None with the thin black though. Speaking of trim - is some of the later black bottom trim with the black removed the same as the bright option? I say 'some' because I know some pieces had slots for the black to hook into so those obviously aren't. Saw a jy truck the other day where all the black was removed and it looked a lot like the bright on an 80 a few rows over but with some residue lines. Didn't pull a piece off to compare side by side. Rick - Big Blue was built in 5/85, so is actually a mid-to-late 1985 model. And he's sporting much of his original paint, although it appears the front clip has been repainted. I'm guessing that it was in an accident that bent the front frame horn and damaged the front clip. Scott - Prior to 4/81 there was lower trim w/o the black vinyl. And it may have been the same basic trim. Is that what you are asking about?

I hope you find them, Frank. Good luck!

That's funny! Hope you get it done. They are going to love the truck.

That's ingenious! It might even work.