Gary Lewis

Ok guys, thanks. There's no big hurry. And, it is from the top of the frame and from the rear of the frame to the center of the holes.

Dyn - Your truck probably has a 9" - unless you've swapped a 10.25 in. But, you can get equivalent gears for a 9" easily, and probably less expensive than these since the 9" is so common.

I don't know how much play is acceptable, but will look in the shop manual tomorrow - if I remember.

Cool! I was hoping he would need that one, but didn't know if he has 4wd or not so couldn't tell. Have you taken one apart? Surely there are seals involved, but can they be cleaned and re-used?

3.08's would work with my T19's 1:1 4th, but I don't think I'd want them with the soon-to-be ZF5. Let's see, 3.55's give me 2500 at 65 MPH with the T19, so 3.08's would give me 2168 at 65 MPH. But, I'll have 1900 at 65 MPH in 5th with the 3.55's, and 1650 with the 3.08's. That's a bit low for an F250, but might be nice with an F150 w/a 300 six.

I'm back! And, I think, and hope, that I have "the answer". But, I'll need several "pics" to 'splain it to you. And, the detail isn't all done, but why get the detail right if I'm going to throw it away - again? First, I have a spring-loaded pin-lock drawn in just ahead of the vertical tube that comes down from the tire carrier to the lower swing arm. It will ride up on a ramp of that UHMW plastic and then drop in a hole in it to secure the arm temporarily, meaning while in camp but not while on the road. And, I have a T-bolt that will go into a tapped hole in the bumper to secure the swing arm for on the road. It will pull the arm down against the ramp mentioned above, and prevent it from swinging back. And both of those are shown here - from the left-front with the bed off: And here's a closer view of that. Note that the T-handle has a spring to retract it so it doesn't hit the bumper when the arm comes home. And, there's a 2" x 3" x 1/4" plate on the back of the swing arm to ensure it doesn't go too far forward. However, this puts metal on metal, so I need to space the tab rearward 1/4" so I can put 1/4" of the UHMW plastic on the front of it and still have the swing arm stop flush with the bumper. And, here's a view from above showing that you can reach both the pin-lock and the T-handle. But, the pin-lock has been changed to a model with a ball for a handle instead of the longer handle as if the handle were left in the fore/aft position it would hit the tailgate when the arm was swung home. And the arms of the T-handle are sized at 3 3/4" total as that will just clear the tire, the tailgate, and the vertical support arm as you tighten it. And, now for the view that had me stumped for a while today. I downloaded the file for Destaco's clamp as I thought I was going to use it. But, I discovered that it is too tall, top-to-bottom, to put the handle on the bottom as it hung below the bumper. And, when I pointed the handle up I realized that it had to be at least 16" left or right of the tire's centerline or a 35" tire would hit it. So, if you put it on the left you have to extend the lower swing arm 18" past the center, and that defeats the purpose. And, if you put it on the right it is now close to the center of the lower arm, and thereby loses its leverage. Plus, while the better clamps are rated at 2000 lbs, I've also read that many people have had the "U" break on them. And that wouldn't be good, at all, when on a trail or the highway. So, I think the old-fashioned bolt idea sounds better. I have a lot of details to work out, like the L-bracket for the T-handle, and how to keep the T-handle in that bracket, and the stop tab needs cushioning, and I need to design the ramp and make sure that will work, etc. But, I wanted to get some feedback before I go to that trouble and then someone points out another major flaw. So, please tell me what you think!

Good! On the wiring diagrams, should you need to use them, click the pop-out icon in the upper right of each page. It is a square with an arrow going up and right. That will open the drawing in a new page and you can zoom in many times to get it legible.

You mean the diagrams in the links don't load large enough to use? What kind of computer are you on? If a Windows machine you can hit Control & Plus at the same time and zoom in. On an Apple there's a zoom as well but I don't remember what it is.

Yes, they certainly are! Please measure them.

Perhaps one of us here in the States can find one for your truck and send it to you? But, we'd need to find it specific to your truck, as shown here (Driveline/Brakes) on the Proportioning Valve tab. Can you tell us which one your truck needs? Or, maybe better, more about your truck, such as GVW and whether 2wd or 4wd?

Jan - For anyone else I'd probably say "Yes, I do have. Thanks for asking." But, with the time difference you'd probably lose another day, so I won't as I realize what you really want is a link to the schematics not to find out if I have them. But, your signature doesn't say which year you have, so I'll take a chance and give you a link to the 1985 wiring. It is in the menu at Electrical/EVTM/1985 EVTM/Start & Glow Plug Control/Run - Diesel. And all the other schematics for your truck are there as well, just follow the links. However, in case yours is an '86: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/start--glow-plug-control---diesel.html. I don't think there are any differences, other than the wire color change, but just in case. And, the wire color change is that in '85 they used dots, hash marks, and stripes on the wires to differentiate between them. But in '86 they did away with the dots and hash marks and just use stripes.

That sounds like a good cam for torque on that engine. On the bumper, could you do me a favor and measure where your mounting holes are in the frame? Measure from the top of the frame down and from the rear of the frame forward. That would help me make sure my understanding of where Ford put those holes on various trucks is correct. Thanks in advance. As for running out, Big Blue's gauge only works every once in a while, so I fill up every 200 miles. But, it isn't a good feeling not knowing, so I intend to fix the problem and understand your desire to do so.

I don't think I have the desired compression reading on the site. I'll get it tomorrow though. As for your list of parts and tools, it looks good. However, you don't need to replace the head and manifold bolts unless they are bad. As for the "Or" list, that is a rabbit hole, lined with dollar bills. A timing chain and sprocket set isn't a bad idea, but you have to pull the water pump and timing cover and then mess with trimming the pan gasket. I'm not sure I would in the midst of this as it is as easy to do that later as now. IOW, nothing you have off now will help get to the timing chain. As for the degree bit, the original timing sets on some of the engines were retarded, which hurt power. An aftermarket rather than a replacement Ford timing set fixes that. It isn't a huge amount of power, but when you replace the timing set you'll get a bit of a bump. I'm not a fan of long-tube headers. But you could go with shorty headers which replace the exhaust manifolds. And, since you have the manifolds off now wouldn't be a bad time. However, you won't get gobs of power out of doing that and you will have more noise through the walls of the headers and perhaps gasket problems. I'm going back with factory exhaust manifolds on Big Blue if that tells you anything.

Yes, there was a little plug, which the catalog calls "390312-S (PP— 102) plug (vent hose end)". I use a clear fuel filter to make sure critters can't get in there. And it goes up to the frame above the axle.

True and important. But only important between the tire and the mounting points (the pivot and the latch). I suppose the beef of the beam will help resist some of the twisting force as the left side arm is resisted by the pivot (on the right). But I think for the most part the left side will be supported by the latch and the right side by the pivot. So yes, you want a tall pivot and a tall latch, and you want the metal that is supported at the pivot and latch to be tall. But I think it's a lot less important between the two side pieces. Although that might not be the case if you go to a center latch and aren't able to make such a beefy latch. In that case you might need all of those twisting forces to go back to the pivot. As I noted, that carrier has strong and weak points. I haven't looked it over all that closely, but I don't think I'd choose to copy it exactly. One usually mis-used term that this brings to mind is "over-engineered." People use it to mean something that's built way stronger than it needs to be. But that's not over-engineering. It's over-building, frequently to try to make up for the lack of engineering that went into it to begin with. And pivot and latch points are usually the weak links in under-engineered but over-built tire carriers. Ok, side-stepping the "how big/thick/strong does the swing-arm material need to be" question for the moment so as to deal with the "how far across does the swing arm need to go" question, I measured my two trailers. And, it is intuitively obvious to the casual observer that the full-width swing arm is NOT going to open with either of my trailers attached. And probably not anyone else's trailer either. But, a half-width swing arm will clear essentially any trailer as the midpoint doesn't quite reach the ball if the ball is 8 1/2" back of the pin in the receiver, which is about where my draw bars would put it. On top of that, the ball is going to be many inches below the swing arm, so there's chance of hitting. So, the question I need to answer is whether I want to be able to open the tail gate, and by necessity the swing arm, when a trailer is connected. And, I think the answer is "yes", assuming I can redesign the latches, rubbing blocks, etc to my satisfaction. So, that's my next quest. And then I'll worry about what material to use. I'll be back!!!! (But, don't let this keep you from commenting, suggesting, or even critiquing.)

With that description I would agree - it is the proportioning valve. What's your plan? How are you going to fix it?

Thanks. On the axle, there's not enough difference between 3.54 and 3.55 to worry about as it won't change the needed driven gear at all. But if I remember correctly 3.54 is the ratio for a larger diff, like a Dana, and 3.55 is the ratio used on an 8.8 or 10.25 Sterling. The ratio has to do with the number of teeth you can get on the ring gear. An 8.8" doesn't have quite as much room as a 9", and since you have to have an integral number of teeth, it limits the ratios you can have.

Several thoughts. But thoughts, not answers or decisions. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to measure my trailers to see if the long swing arm will hit anything on them. That may be a real problem if so, and that will mean I'll have to reduce the length of the lower arm. But, the weight of the extra 36" of lower tubing, assuming I stop it right in the middle, is 20 lbs. And the weight of the extra 23" of the smaller tubing is 14 lbs, assuming I bring it down vertically to the lower tube. So we are talking about a total of 34 lbs. As for the size and thickness of the bottom tube of the swing arm, the 3 1/2" height was chosen to give the maximum resistance to rotation or twisting and still allow it to be welded easily to the 4" tall pivot. That's because the center of the tire sits 14 3/4" above the centerline of the bottom tube, and under rapid deceleration the tube needs to resist twisting or the tire or the jack could hit the tailgate. My limited remembrance of the structural dynamics class I took is that the rigidity goes up as the square of the height, assuming the width stays constant, and that has just been confirmed by my nephew who is a mechanical engineer. So the 3 1/2" tube is almost exactly twice as resistant to twisting as the 2 1/2" tube. And the thickness of the tube walls, 3/16", has been picked to allow fish-mouthing it to properly fit the diameter of the pivot on the spindle. If I stop the lower arm in the center I could put the plastic ramp on the swing arm so it won't be in the way of the tailgate opening. But, there's not room to put the Destaco clamp right in the center due to the receiver being there. So I'd at least have to extend the lower arm a bit to the left of center, or put the clamp to the right of the receiver. That carrier on the early Bronco is interesting. I like how he captured the jack in front of the carrier so that it would be secure if the carrier were somehow locked closed - although I don't think he has that ability. But I don't particularly like the way he seems to be securing the carrier. First, it appears that he only has one way - the handled bolt on the left end. That bothers me as I want both a belt and braces approach because if that carrier gets loose it is going to cause a lot of damage. Second, what I've read says you need a strong clamp in the vertical direction to prevent the whole assembly from moving as you go down the road - or off the road. And while that bolt will keep it from going very far, I wonder if it will allow the two pieces of metal to move in relation to each other, which will remove the finish as well as cause noise when the rust starts there.

Thanks, Bill. I did add: Anyone else? Are the calculators understandable?

Surely you mean you want something for them?

Hmmmm, good ideas. I'll have to think about that one...... Since there's no space above the bumper when the tailgate is down, I put the left stop past the tailgate. And that meant that the arm had to go all the way across. But, if the stop were on the right side, ...... However, one manufacturer of spindles for swing arms such as this was emphatic that you must cinch the swing arm down very firmly as they've had spindles and swing arms damaged when they weren't. And the only way I can see to do that is by placing the clamp a ways away from the spindle. But you can only get 2 1/2" left of the spindle before you are into tailgate territory if the clamp is on the right end of the swing arm. And if you place the clamp there the tire would have about 20:1 leverage advantage on it. However, another option would be to make the swing arm half-length and bring a piece of square tubing straight down to the swing arm, thereby closing the triangle. And, while I can't put the stop on the bumper or it'll hit the tailgate when it opens, I could put the stop on the swing arm. But, it would have to be a piece of plate making a positive stop, and that would give a metal/metal contact which I'm trying to avoid. I'll think about this a bit more as maybe I'm missing something simple. So you if see it please let me know.

Recently someone asked what speedo driven gear he needed in order to correct his speedo's readout. I checked my page on speedometer gears (Driveline/Speedometer Gears) and realized I didn't have anything to easily answer that question. But, I also realized that I had three pages - Speedometer Gears, Driven Gears, and Drive Gears. And it wasn't easy to get from one to the other. Given that, I've revised things significantly. Everything is on one page, just in tabs so it is easy to go from one to the other. And, there are now three calculators using embedded spreadsheets. But I need your input as to how and whether the spreadsheets work for you. PLEASE! If they don't make sense, if the directions aren't helpful enough, if there's a mistake, etc then I need to know.

When you say "the proportioning valve", are you meaning the one on the frame under the master cylinder? That's the one I think it probably is. But, there's the ride-height sensing one in the rear. Might it be malfunctioning or improperly adjusted? That one is supposed to limit rear braking with no load. How about disconnecting the arm from the truck, not the valve as the TSB says do not do that, and tie the arm in another position and try the braking? Perhaps you can figure out from that if it is the rear valve or not.

That ID #, E0TE 9C675-A, appears to be for the 1980 - 82 w/a 300. At least that's the way I interpret what the catalog says, as shown here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/air-cleaner-tube-s.html

Hope you are recovering from the flu. That's no fun. The coolant out of the drain looks perfect, as does the oil. So, apparently the coolant in the leak is mixing with oil outside of the two systems. In other words, you have both a coolant leak as well as an oil leak? I'm sure you are really, REALLY frustrated. I would be - for sure. What a bummer!