Gary Lewis

Beautiful!! Have you started a thread so we can follow your progress? I sure want to follow along.

Cool! What color are you going to paint it? On the plugs, which ignition system will you run? If that will be the '86 ignition system then you use the recommended gap for it.

Oh, ok. I see what you are saying.

Don't worry about being tech savvy. We don't mind.

It took a long time to sell at $15K. Dunno why they think it'll go for lots more now.

I'm thinking that the upper flange bent down when I pulled that corner of the frame in 3" and then let it go back to 1" from where it was. That flange was probably stretched when the frame went out, and it had to go somewhere when the frame was bent back so it went down. And you could easily see the difference of the upper flanges between the left and right sides. So since the right side was where it should be when I measured down the center, I'm thinking the truck was hit in the left front corner. But since the frame was bent out, not in, I'm a bit confused as to how that happened.

Shaun - An "itch" caused you to pull the whole front clip? Hope you don't get poison ivy! Bill - Glad the new location for the shot is helping. As for the guy that was lost in life, he's even lost in death. Two places claim to have his bones.

Ok, is it working?

Today I got back to work on the RSK install. The first step was to mark the spots for the holes to be drilled in the frame. But, I soon discovered that there was a minor problem on the driver's side - the top flange of the frame was bent down a bit. Apparently when I bent the frame back into alignment the top flange bent down. That caused the "box bracket" to be positioned too low, and the holes in it wouldn't line up with those of the cross member. In the pic below I've put a red arrow where the box bracket is hitting the top flange of the frame, and yellow arrows where the interference is. So off came the cross member and I put a big Crescent wrench with a cheater on the top flange. It was all I could do, but little by little I got the top flange up where it isn't pushing the box bracket down. Then I drilled the holes and put the cross member back in place w/o the box brackets just to check. Yep, it fits! So now I have to figure out how I want to "finish" the various parts. I'll paint the frame with gray POR15. And I'll powder coat the cross member, the rear shackes, and the brackets. But that leaves the box brackets and the frame sleeves to finish. Sky recommends welding the box bracket in to ensure it doesn't rattle, and I'm thinking of at least tacking the frame sleeve in. So the question is what to finish them with. Perhaps weld-through primer? Is that stuff durable enough?

Scheduled injections????? As for the gauge, I like your plan. Always nice to have a real gauge. When's the new engine going in? Who's going to win this race?

I'm sure he'd be happy with any fender, but since Ford moved the placement of the upper trim, if he has it, in '85 IIRC, he might as well have the right one. Plus, some fenders had wheelwell trim 2" above the wheelwell, and if he doesn't have that he won't want the holes/studs there.

Bill - That makes sense. I know the E4OD is loooooong, so I understand the issue with the driveshafts. And placing the t-case where the carrier bearing is a good idea. As for Matt's Excursion, it might be sporting U-code springs, which is what I have. But some of them have the stiffer V-codes. I'm hoping the U's work as that will give better articulation. Speaking of that, I'd not thought about the front driveshaft and how placement of the t-case figures into the angle thereof. Good thinking!

Rooster - If you've posted on a thread, and especially if you started the thread, then you should automatically be signed up for email notifications of posts on the thread. Is that what you are trying to do?

Jan - There were minor differences over the years in where the trim attached as well as due to the level of trim. Your signature doesn't say what year, so maybe you could tell us the year? And, how 'bout a pic of where the trim goes? If there are multiple fenders available you ought to have the right one.

I don't know Bill's specific reason, but generally the "benefit" to divorced transfer cases is that they use a 2WD transmission. I put "benefit" in quotes because it really isn't a benefit if you are sourcing a new trans anyway (just get a 4WD trans to start with). But it is a plus if you have a lot into your current 2WD trans and want to keep it. As to the coil spring TTB Dana 50 being worth 3 grand, it sure isn't to me. But for people who want a prerunner-style suspension that can go fast in the desert, coil spring TTB is about the best you can do in a 4WD. And for that type of use compliant bushings are undesirable. People who are pushing those boundaries are very willing to give up some vibration and harshness for the precision and ruggedness of heim joints. So a number of the Jeeps seen in those videos are probably running Heim joints? Many of them look to have pretty serious suspension systems.

I have several of David Vizard's books, and find them to be some of the best-written and informative ones I've found. I think you are on the right track.

It looks like the Hell's Revenge video "rolls over" (groan) to a NotaRubicon video of a trail called " " in the Johnson Valley OHV area in California. I haven't watched that video recently, but I took a quick look now and it does have the orange Jeep, highlighted, rolling in the background.I've never been to Johnson Valley, but I've read about it in magazines pretty frequently, and have watched videos (but not recently). My impression is that most, if not all of the trails there are well above my pay grade! So no, I'm not recommending that for you!And as I noted, 'most everything after about 5:30 in the Hell's Revenge video shows optional harder lines, or even side trails. I didn't do any of them, and I'm not recommending them to you either! But the first 5 minutes shows mostly what it's really like, and like you, I think you could do it. But right away in the video is the fin that's right at the start of the trail. That's the one that, from my trail report, you thought Janey might veto. I think the video shows that pretty well. It's not difficult, but there's definitely some "pucker factor" to it!Yes, that's the one! (And for anyone else looking, I'm embedding it below and starting it at the point we are talking about.) That stuff is WELL above my or Big Blue's pay grade. As for Hell's Revenge, the fin isn't quite so bad when you see it in the larger context. At least, it doesn't look so bad on a computer screen. But through the windshield.... Perhaps on Day 3 or so of a trip.

Did I miss something? I don't recall a rollover in the video I linked. And I just scanned through it again and didn't see a rollover. At what point in the video did you see it? Or are you thinking back to the " " video I linked earlier? Apparently I let it roll over, pun intended, to Heart Attack Hill as I just watched Hell's Revenge again and it isn't there. What I saw was an orange jeep with a good-sized guy go over in the background of a video. They'd put a bright spot on him in the background so your attention was taken there. And then they used one Jeep below to pull him back over and three above to stead him. So, Hell's Revenge isn't too bad. I think I could do that.

I had to use all the harnesses from the style side parts truck because of duel tanks and I did not have a flare side tail light harness. Someone cut off the frame rail harness plug and use other wire to wire in them cheap boat trailer lights that were not wired & broken. Like Cory did I have to splice on the flare side light plugs to both the new lights and the style side harness so it should all look factory when done like the other things I have added. Dave ---- It will look great! I'd say "professionally done", but we all know that is lurking, and he's apparently paid, which makes him "professional".

You are on the map. That's a pretty area. Used to live in Katy and have been to the Schlitterbahn many times.

Welcome! Nice truck, and a good project. Boy do I understand the need to get your hands dirty. Spent my career in IT, inc networking for Conoco and DuPont, so I can commiserate. Where in The Hill Country is 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 town.

The Top Of The World one is interesting. I see the two routes you are talking about, and why you winched when you did. But I think I'd take the easy road. But the one on Hell's Revenge is scary. No way I'm going to get into that kind of climb - in anything. That rollover was awful to watch. And his position didn't seem that bad until it rolled. So the others may have been close to rolling as well.

I understand the desire to upgrade from the D44HD. The difference in the u-joint sizes between that and the D60 is significant, and I assume the D50's joints are bigger than the 44's. And the axle shafts themselves are bigger. But while I think the advantages of the TTB's ride and articulation would be appreciated, wouldn't you still have the reduced turning radius as opposed to SAS? As for cost, one thing I didn't think about in this is the cost of the D50 front end itself. If you have a truck with a D44HD then you'd have to add the cost of the D50 components to the $2,855 in order to get a fair comparison to the $2,000 for the D60. But Clayton Paul's conversion is interesting as it could be done for either a D44HD or a D50. I think. I don't know what he had to do about shock mounting, but it is really a pretty straight forward conversion. However, I don't like the way he mounted the end of the radius arm to the frame. Ford says not to weld to the flange of the frame as it weakens it. And all of their mounts are fastened to the web as well as the flange. So I wouldn't do it as he did. But otherwise it looks good.

Yes, I used LOTS of heavy duty pop rivets to put a section of floor in Dad's truck, as you can see in the pics in this post. And the reason was that the floor at that point has a whole bunch of contours and the two pieces didn't fit up perfectly. But, I didn't "pop" the rivets until after the epoxy had set, as discussed in this post. That's because you don't want to squeeze all of the adhesive out from between the two panels.

Oh, I missed that you are using a Styleside harness. It looks like in '84 the ground started running all the way back.