Gary Lewis

The above is what we see. You said nothing but responded via email, which brings in all of the other "stuff". What were you wanting to say?

You are responding via email but posting on the forum. To email Jim just click his "handle" and click "Send Email To ArdWrknTrk".

Congrat's!! But keep a close eye on the fuel filter. If you have rust in the tank then the filter may plug. But it'll be a lot easier to replace it than to clean the hot fuel handling system or the carb.

Folks, Ray Cecil has been added to the ranks of administrators on the forum, along with Jonathan/Ford F834, Jim/ArdWrknTrk, and Bill/85lebaront2. Thanks, Ray. The four of you will help take the load off of me so I can work on the documentation part of the site as well as maybe get Big Blue going again.

Don't wait too long. Beds are in demand, so they might sell. And some salvages are closing as there isn't enough money in it to sustain them, and they are crushing their leftover vehicles. So don't assume they'll be there forever.

Thanks! It takes a lot of time and places to put things. I have to keep reminding my self that it is a hobby and is supposed to be fun, so don't rush it. On the other hand, it has to get done as I want to use the truck. So....

My brother is doing something very similar, but with a 60's Chevy pickup. Or, he was. He has the vehicles but I don't think anything's been done. Anyway, my worry is about frame differences, like widths and level spots. Might be easy and might be very difficult. But at least you have Holly's vehicle to measure.

Ok, now I understand. And if you aren't getting power at C190 there's not much else besides the ignition switch and a short bit of wire that it can be.

Since the advert says "351" and only the M was used in '79 I have to assume it is for a 351M or 400. But there's no way to prove that, so caveat emptor.

All I know is that the part listed was used on some of these trucks. But which ones is NOT easy to tell.

Today I added this page: Documentation/Underhood/Vacuum Systems/Vacuum Fittings.

I've never seen one.

Wait! I'm lost. Jumping the fender relay didn't work but energizing the solenoid trigger from the hot stud did? I would have thought that both of those were the same thing. Please explain. And, what is the "safety socket"?

Come on over! (But I suspect you can buy new wheels for the gas it would cost.)

Yes, I'm thinking about an extension. But I was kind of thinking about those that might not have a machine shop with which to make the extensions. My thinking is that I'll take a piece of rod the same diameter as the stop on the end of the link against which the rubber bushing goes. I'll center-drill and tap it on the lathe to screw onto the link on one end and take a piece of all-thread on the other. Screw the extension on the link and screw the all-thread into the other end, both with Loctite. Basically, it just screws on and extends the sway bar link.

Yep. So here's the issue: the sway bar. The pic below shows the sway bar installed on the 1995 front clip. And with no engine the end links fit. But they aren't about to fit on Big Blue. They are about 4" too short. I assume that's because of the "lift" the RSK provides. But I can't find extended links on the Sky site. Am I missing them? I'm not too worried as I don't think I even want to run a sway bar. But, I'll probably drill the holes in the frame to allow it to be installed should I want to do so, and now is the time to do the drilling.

Cool! Do you know if all of those will fit the "pan" and, therefore, bolt into a Bullnose regular cab?

Rick - That's really good info. This is a frequent question on forums and FB pages. We have the Seat Interchangeability page, but this info as well as pictures of the different seats would be helpful. Do you, or does anyone, have pics of those seats?

And, I've realized that the snippet of the FSM I posted earlier didn't have all of the torque specs in it. But this one does, I think.

A couple of things. First, I called Erik at Sky. He has the u-bolts in stock and will get them out this morning, his time. Sure good to do business with him. As for the torque question, he said he doesn't torque the spring or shackle bolt to spec. Instead he tightens them until they start compressing the bushings. After that I bolted the shock into the lower plate and torqued the bolt down to spec to ensure the shock is firmly held in place at the bottom, and shot this video. And, while this shows that the shock goes into the tower perfectly, this is with no weight on it. So I asked Erik, and he suggested that I be patient and wait until I have the engine in and the truck on the ground. So, I guess I'll wait.

fords4life - Well done! I've not rebuilt a tranny in decades, but never did it that cleanly. Jim - I can't get the Eddy manual to load. Like their site is down or they've moved it. Once I find it I'm going to download it and embed it rather than rely on another site. Anyway, the unloader only opens the choke when you floor the throttle. That's so you can get the engine started if you've flooded it. But it shouldn't have anything to do with setting the choke. Setting the choke requires taking the pressure off the fast idle cam, thereby allowing the choke to rotate. That should happen with the throttle opening just slightly to allow the fast idle screw to lift up over the steps in the cam. Then the tension in the bi-metallic spring should rotate the choke closed.

Maybe Prince? Bill/Numberdummy has to be King.

I think the changeover was 4/81:

Tainted? I don't remember singing that. Or maybe I am that? Anyway, Jim is right - we don't have "moderators". There's nothing between "member" and "administrator", and the latter has the same rights I have, meaning they can change anything on the forum or even delete the whole forum. That's a big gap in Nabble's design, but it is what it is. The main task is admitting new members, and we have that down to a science that takes less than a minute - at least for me. Other than that, there's been precious little for a moderator to do since for the most part people are good about adhering to the guidelines. So I'm cautious about adding admins. But you volunteered, so if knowing the above you are still interested let's converse via email or text. As for me being a dynamo, not hardly. But the site, meaning both the forum and the documentation side, have been growing. Last week we had 11 new members sign up to the forum. And traffic to the website overall is up 24% in the last 90 days. (You can see some metrics here: Documentation/Metrics.) So it is a bit of a challenge balancing my time - but I'm having fun!

Yes, now I remember! In fact, as the weight comes onto the suspension when the truck comes down off the lift the axle will move a bit to the rear. That being the case, we want any potential mismatch of the shock to the tower to accommodate the rear movement. Meaning that the shock should naturally fall to the front of the shock tower when the truck is on the lift and then move to the rear as the weight comes on. But, will the axle rotate any when the spring deflects? Won't it rotate such that the pinion comes up a bit as the spring flattens?