Gary Lewis

The Free Wheelin' package was a 1980/81 package described on Page 10 here: Literature/1981 Literature/1981 Pickup Brochure. So, if yours is an '82 it should not be a Free Wheelin' truck as that supposedly didn't carry over to '82. But, you might check out the options you have to ensure it isn't. Looks like an ‘82 to me, and a late one at that.

Ok, 2" is what I expected w/a monobeam vs the TTB. Thanks. But I'm going SuperDuty springs and a reverse shackle kit, so will get another 1 1/2" supposedly. And that will level the truck - before I start taking leaves out of the rear springs, so I may have to put the larger spacer blocks in back there. On the track bar, I am spending the bucks and getting an adjustable one. But the big reason is the extra 1 1/2" the SD springs and RSK give. Erik at Sky's Offroad Design said that I will need the adjustable bit with that. But, I believe my cross member is drilled for the track bar bracket already. And if not I can do that while the engine and suspension are out so I should have plenty of room. I have the '95 front clip and its cross member is drilled, so I know where the holes are supposed to be.

I keep hearing Bill Cosby doing his bit about "I-b-b-b cab-b-b-b feeb-b-b-le my-b-b-b feb-b-b-th." Yeah, well maybe the juxtaposition of those two things isn't quite the best. But maybe later today I can talk? Anyway, that was a good skit.

How much lift do you think you got from the monobeam and new springs? I'm not far behind you. And, what's this about hole drilling and the track rod? Please enlighten me.

Yes, that was me. But Jim is right, the vast majority of the lighter-duty F-Series trucks roll on a 5 1/2" bolt circle. Only a few of the F100's used the car bolt pattern of 4 1/2". So, is the 4 1/2" what you have, Mark?

CDC!? I worked with both Control Data and IBM networks while at Conoco. What was the network device's name? NAD, that's it! Yes, social media is a blight. I have my account so I can keep up with my kids and friends at church, where we've found Facebook very helpful. Anyway, so glad you found us!

Can you cut a curve in the bumper? I'd be tempted to replicate the original wheelwell opening on the back of the bumper. So, if you have the piece you cut off the fender maybe you could trace its curve on the bumper.

Congrat's!!! That is a great buy/find!

That's looking good! I didn't realize the fenders were that much different. But with that trimming and some on the bumper it'll look like it was made for it.

Yes I did see that both the tabs and the front cable. But checking on LMC site they do list different cables for the I think it is 83/86 and 87/9? and different cables again for the F250 & F350 trucks. Also checking the brake tabs the larger trucks also have 12" drums where mine should be 11", think my parts truck has the 10" drums. Because of the larger drums I would think the cable end inside the drum would be longer as it now has to reach farther across to the arm. If this is true then the spring would also need to be longer to push the arm back when released. Then again I don't remember seeing different cables for 10" & 11" drums so maybe I am crazy don't answer that guys I will get to the bottom of this as it has to work to pass safety to get plates after that no more checks. Dave ---- Dave - I just realized that I hadn't fully explained which trucks use which columns in the parking brake section. So I upgraded the page a bit. Perhaps that will help?

I think you got old glue. I've not had that problem. On the gearing, 3.50's should work nicely with those tires.

You'll have plenty of paint to do all of that. Another tip - plastic/rubber gloves! Whatever gets on you will wear off in a few weeks. And you can clean things up with lacquer thinner. But you probably won't get it all out of the brush, so use a cheap brush and throw it away. I've been successful pouring less than I think I need into one of those paint cups from the hardware store, painting the first coat out of that, placing the brush in it and covering it with Press & Seal, and then coming back later for the 2nd coat. And I always have paint left over from what I poured out - it goes a looooooong way. Edit: And you can coat the POR with the rattle can paint as long as the POR is still not hard.

The Free Wheelin' package was a 1980/81 package described on Page 10 here: Literature/1981 Literature/1981 Pickup Brochure. So, if yours is an '82 it should not be a Free Wheelin' truck as that supposedly didn't carry over to '82. But, you might check out the options you have to ensure it isn't.

As you know, I chose the integrated air actuator and have been very happy with that choice in the limited time I've had it. If I didn't have on-board air and was installing it in an early Bronco, or Jeep CJ, I think I'd go with the manual cable. But if I was doing that in a more modern vehicle (like an '85 F-250 ) where it would be harder to find a place to mount the lever, then I think I'd go with the electric. I really don't think any of them are bad options. They all have their good and bad points with respect to mounting the valve/lever/switch and routing the cable/air line. Oh, and on the cable question, I don't think there's any way to know how long you need until you're ready to mount stuff up. So I'd look into either not getting the cable at all until you're ready, or else finding out if they will take it back in exchange when you do know what you need. Thanks, Bob. The idea of swapping the cable is what I'm hoping to discuss with them tomorrow.

Dave - I guess you know that all of the brake parts are here: Driveline/Brakes, and the cables are on the Parking Brake tab. It appears they kept the rear cables the same for the various wheelbases, and varied the front cable's length to accommodate.

Interesting - an '82 FreeWheeling with the EEC under the driver's seat, PW, PL, tilt, cruise, F&R sway bars. It looks like there were very few options left off that truck. I think the rear bumper is '87-91. I'd missed that it is a Free Wheeling truck. Well spotted! And, that's where the ECU was on both the 82's I've owned. In fact, since we put an '82 cab on Dad's truck and it has that opening that may be where the EEC-V ECU goes.

POR15 goes a really long ways. A pint will be way more than you need. But heed the instructions. Use a paint can opener to open the can as it is easy to deform the can w/a screwdriver and then it won't seal. Do NOT paint out of the can. Pour a little bit into another container and then cap the can ASAP, but gently or the can folds. BUT, put wax paper or cling film between the cap and the can as ANY little bit of POR in the groove will glue the lid to the can otherwise, and it is really hard to mix it in the can w/o getting some in the groove. And don't use a foam brush as it'll eat the brush. And don't put it in a styrofoam cup as it'll eat right through. Even many plastic cups will get soft. But the paint cups that you can get at Lowes or Home Depot stand up to it well. Don't ask. I've done all of those things - and more.

Yes it does. The bronco was a real beast to get out of the holler. But we got her. It's pretty rough. I will get some good stuff off of her though. I noticed it doesnt have a 9" rear. What was the other rear it would have had? Looks like a typical chevy style rear. 8.8". It was introduced in '83, but the 9" was still in use at least through the rest of the Bullnose era.

That's the right solution! (unfortunately you can't use this solution until you have it apart) In the past year or so I've taken the spindles off both my Bronco and my F-250. In both cases I was the one that put them on and that was 5 - 10 years earlier. Both came off by hand. Good to know, Bob. I watched a Youtube about taking D60 spindles off, and it was obviously not rehearsed. The guy explained that getting them off can be a real bear, and that the first approach is to hit the end of the spindle with a mallet to work it out. So he hit the end of the spindle and it fell off in his hands. Boy, was he surprised! Unfortunately mine didn't quite come off that easily. So, what do you think about the electric shift idea and the cable question?

I was impressed with how well the 3" channel did. I didn't notice any bending. And while it only gives you two stand-offs, that was enough. Three would be better, although I don't think you could get four bolts in contact with the knuckle as the back edge of the knuckle stops 3/8" ahead of the spindle. But, given the way the knuckle falls away from the edge of the spindle's flange, the bolts/stand-offs have a habit of angling out. That's why I suggested nuts welded to both the front and back of the plate, as that would give over an inch of support to the bolt. And fine-threaded Acme bolts would be ideal. I hope to not have to do this again. I'm going to clean the spindles and knuckles up very well and then paint them with anti-seize before re-installing them.

That's a lot of tire for Little Blue. I'm not used to seeing that much on a Flareside, so they look out of place initially. But I think I'm warming up to them. However, they are big enough to change the effective gear ratio significantly. What rear gears do you have? Lots of the Flaresides came geared really tall and those tires may be too much in that case.

Good point, Jim. That pilot bearing can be a bear to get out.

I'm not going to make it out to the shop today as we have things going on at church all day. And with the root canal at 8 in the morning, I'm not sure I'll make it tomorrow. But, hope to on Tuesday and will check the dimensions you asked about. But the flange OD is roughly 6 1/2" and the thread is just less than 2", although I don't know the pitch. Will check it out for you. However, if you found a nut, that could be welded to one of the cheap sockets like I have, you'd have the adapter for the slide hammer. Plus if it didn't work, and I'm not sure it would have in this case, you could still use it as the nut for Bob's puller. And, if the standoffs were actually hardened bolts or all-thread with inside & outside nuts welded to the channel, they could be used as a conventional puller as well as striking point.

The computer's software reads the metadata and knows you took it in portrait mode. The forum doesn't. So save it after opening it on the computer and then post that pic and see what happens. POR, and all similar paints, stick to rust like there's no tomorrow. So you don't really want to wire brush down to bare metal as it won't stick to that as well. But you do want the floor CLEAN. So you do have to wire brush some to ensure that all loose rust is removed. If the rest of the floor's paint is good then there's no real advantage of POR'ing it. But it won't hurt anything either. And, since you are going to cover the POR there's no reason to top-coat it. Just put a heavy coat on and let it set up. (They say to always put two coats on, but if you go really heavy that should do it. And going back over POR with another coat isn't that easy as it is hard to tell where you've painted.) Your plan is good as it is providing sound treatment in three forms: Mass Loading: The GTmat you are talking about is heavy, so loads the floor, thereby lowering the resonant frequency. And since most road noise is at a high frequency, that's a good thing. Absorption & Decoupling: The jute absorbs the sound. And, it effectively decouples whatever is on top of it from the floor itself. So when the floor vibrates the jute doesn't transmit that to the next layer. Flexible Layer: The heavy vinyl on top of the jute is isolated from the floor by the jute, so doesn't vibrate when the floor does. And the fact that it goes all the way back is even better as it helps to stop sound from the back portion of the floor. Yes, it is all necessary. On the holes, there are rubber/plastic plugs. But I don't have part numbers on the site. Let me see what I can do.....

I'm tuned in, keep 'em coming! On the pics, no. This forum's software, nor many forum's software for that matter, doesn't have the smarts to read the metadata in the picture file and rotate it. So you have to do that externally. Open the pic in some pic-editing software and then save it and that might do it. It usually does for me, but sometimes I have to try several times to get it right. What's the plan for the rust? Something like POR15 would kill it, once you get the loose stuff out. It bonds TIGHT to rust and cuts off the oxygen flow so it can't continue to rust. PB Blaster - I smelled like it when I came in this evening. Been using lots of it on the '95 front clip.