Gary Lewis

Hmmm. What phone do you have? Works good on my iPhone X.

First, before designing it, I need measurements and observations. And what better place to capture them than here. But, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and questions. Current bumper is 76 1/4" wide, 5 1/2" tall, & 7 1/4" front/rear But the bumper is recessed ~2 1/2" into body, as shown below. A 6" tube bumper wouldn't recess into the body, but if a 1/4" gap is left between it and the body it would only project 1" further to the rear than current bumper. Top of current bumper is only 1" below the bottom lip of the tailgate, and is only 1" below the tailgate when it is open. So anything put on top of the bumper would probably require the bumper itself to be placed lower. There is 4 1/2" of space from either edge of the tailgate's opening to the outside end of the current bumper. So, the pivot for the spare tire holder could be put there and clear the tailgate. But, there is 3" between the bottom of the current bumper and the top of the receiver hitch, so the bumper could be lowered or it could be taller. But, I might want to take the hitch off for offroading to get more clearance, so don't go too low. Could put a 2 1/2" angle on the front of the bumper between the body to fill in like the current bumper does, although I'm not sure why other than to reduce gaps. And, if that's desired I could put similar angle on the end of the tube to close that off like the current bumper does. Don't forget the license tag. It is currently recessed into the bumper, but could be on the very back of it. And, it needs to have lighting.

Dave - Good start on documenting things. You are really getting close, and I'm jealous. So many issues to deal with, but you certainly have and are making really good progress.

Well, not quite. Big Blue has the heavy Warn winch bumper, 12,000 lb winch, and auxiliary battery up front. And the bumper and winch are well ahead of the axle so not only add weight to the front, but also leverage some off the rear. So I want my extra weight on the rear. Speaking of which, I talked to a guy at church that not only has a metal fabrication shop but also has a Jeep he takes off road. He very quickly picked up on what I was talking about, and suggested that we use 6" square tubing with a 1/4" wall, which will allow them to weld on the towing eyes they plasma-cut out of 1" thick steel plate. So now I need to get busy and design it.

If you do, please let them know you saw it here. He and I talked about the benefits of preserving the pics here, and having you show up to see it in person would confirm his thoughts.

Man, you do good WORK! But I know there's another shoe to drop, at least about the front end/spindles, so won't comment much more here. However, I can't help but comment about the lengths to which you have gone, like the half-firewall replacement and the outside of the door. Then there's repairing the dash. Wow!

I thought about a front-mounted spare, but with the winch it would put the spare too high. And, I don't really want to add that much weight on the front of a truck that is already very nose heavy.

Bill - Thanks, that makes sense. And I understand what you mean about adding coolant through the small hole in the older reservoirs.

Let's see what others say about what might be in their salvages. And, I'll look to see what I have laying around, although I don't know that I have an extra 3G. Anyway, hang on a bit before deciding to have the 2G rebuilt. It would be a shame to put money into it when maybe the same money will get you a better alternator - and one that doesn't have the potential to catch on fire.

Good summary, Dave. And exactly what my projects do - snowball. Big time! But I know it is coming along more than those pics show, so I'm waiting for the next few posts to say more.......

I've never seen one either. Almost looks like a visor but with the holes on the other side.

Yes, it does look like it would take off. But that fan may not be bigger than ours. We just never see them that way?

Yes, having the spare in the bed, along with the large tool box, does take up a lot of room. So for real use that has to change. As for motivated, I'm not sure that's the case. I just have a lot of grandiose ideas.

Hmmm, I can get all of them to load. However, it does take a while. Justin - Can you try again, please? The info in the towing guide will probably get added to the Specifications/Towing page. It seems to be easier to use than the info from the owner's manuals and also includes 5th wheel info, so I want to add it to the specifications section. And, I came to that conclusion by clicking the pop-out button and then making the brochure the full width of the screen on this tablet. It sure makes reading the detail in those tables easy. In fact, I just tried it on my iPhone X and it works a treat. I can zoom in and easily read anything on any page, which is not true of many of the other brochures I've added in jpg format. Anyway, please keep the cards and letters coming. I need to know if/how it works for you.

It was $900 well spent. It, and the remainder, is an investment in fun and life. As for the forum, I'm certainly glad that I set it up. What a nice group of folks! The kindness toward each other, the offers for help, and the trips to the salvage to help each other is such a blessing.

Bill - Thanks. But you, like Steve, chose to use the later coolant recovery reservoir. Is there a reason?

With the 32" tires on Big Blue there's no way that the spare will fit in the stock place - and especially when I put the Bronco rear tank in. Right now the spare is taking up much of the space in the bed, but when/if I get to go overlanding I'll want it out of there to free up the space for gear. So I've been thinking about how to make a rear bumper that will carry the spare as well as serve as an air tank for the on-board air compressor. But I was having a bit of trouble envisioning how to support the spare since it needs to pivot out of the way to open the tailgate. However, yesterday we were behind a truck in traffic that had a Wilco Offroad Hitchmate Solo on the back. As you can see below, that unit, which runs about $800, slips into the receiver and hinges on the right to swing out when the red pin is pulled. I'm thinking of replacing the rear bumper with a piece of square tubing that is closed on the ends to serve as an air tank. And the arm for the spare would fit up against that, which should move it forward a bit. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Espy is looking really, REALLY good! I'm jealous.

Folks - I've just spent way too long adding 8 brochures to the site, as shown below. That's because the way they were scanned required me to manually crop each and every page - probably a bit over 100 of them. And given the size of the files that taxed my 'puter. But, I need your input regarding how I did the brochures. This time I had them scanned into pdf's at high resolution and put each pdf on its own page. That way you can scroll through the whole brochure w/o having to click on each page. And, you can zoom in up to 12x, and the high res still gives you a good pic. But, there's a downside - the files are large and take a while to load. Some have suggested that I present you with low res jpg pictures, and give you a link via which you can download the high res file. But, many people are reluctant to download things like that, and I don't blame them. Plus, many of the brochures have tables giving specifications that simply cannot be read in low res. And, to me the beauty of a brochure is all the technical info it gives. So, please go look at several of these brochures and let me know what you think. Are the files too big? Do you like the high res? What do you recommend? 1983 Ford Chassis-Cab 1984 Bronco 1984 Ford Trucks 1985 Explorer Program 1985 Bronco 1985 Ford Trucks 1986 Trailer Towing Guide 1986 Ford Trucks

Evening. Over the last couple of days I've done a bit of work on the website adding 8 new brochures. As you'll see on another post I need input on what I've done, but let's just document here what those 8 brochures are: 1983 Ford Chassis-Cab 1984 Bronco 1984 Ford Trucks 1985 Explorer Program 1985 Bronco 1985 Ford Trucks 1986 Trailer Towing Guide 1986 Ford Trucks

Brian - When you say "fix it" do you mean your 2G alternator? Or do you mean the wiring? As for the 3G alternator, you did look at the page on 3G conversions and found these as the recommended donors - right?: And you aren't able to find any of those in the local salvages? If that is the case perhaps others on here may be able to find them?

The behavior has changed today (of course), but it was the menu from the top of every page. Today, it has become minimized to just the big "Gary's Garagemahal / (the Bullnose bible)" with the little menu icon (3 horizontal lines) near the Left side that slides down into view when I'm lower on a page, and I scroll up. Today, I have to click the menu lines to expand it this big: https://supermotors.net/getfile/1140771/thumbnail/garysgmbbmenu.jpg But the previous few days, it was constantly the full (pulled-down) menu with all the other pulldown titles (FAQs, Cooling, Driveline...) that would slide down and block half the page, and the "X" wasn't there to collapse it. A desktop system built by a MicroSoft programmer that I reinstalled Win7Ultx64 onto. I'm using Chrome. I hardly ever browse anything from my phone, and I never post from it. I much prefer a full keyboard, a big mouse (for my big hands) with a wheel & right button, a big monitor, and a real browser. Well, I haven't really done anything that should have fixed it, although I have published the site a few times as I'm adding new pages/documentation. Perhaps that did it? But I live on the site and, like you, use Chrome. But, when out and about I will post from my iPhone X. But, I will say that I'm having problems with Chrome. On my Surface Pro (Win 10) there's a stuck drop-down. But, unlike what you are seeing it is showing on every page, no matter what I look at. Anyway, glad it appears to be fixed. (I say "appears" because things like this tend to come back.)

That's not very much. Oh wait, where are you located? If up around 5000' it isn't too bad.

I haven't actually messed with an Explorer 5.0L, but I was able to get my big hands under the nearly-identical 5.8L plenum to disconnect the injectors. https://supermotors.net/getfile/1133869/thumbnail/wrgeng.jpg Here, you can see all the way through that channel: https://supermotors.net/getfile/1133900/thumbnail/20180522_192136.jpg I didn't have much trouble fitting the '87-95 MAP air filter to my '83. https://supermotors.net/getfile/144063/thumbnail/engine-bay.jpg The '94-96 MAF filter fits identically. https://supermotors.net/getfile/825935/thumbnail/airfilters.jpg I was actually talking about keeping the original stock MAP system. It wasn't changed (other than EEC programming) through '95 (optionally). But I think the 5.0Ls from Explorers are built with truck cams - not Mustang/Mk.VIII cams. Steve - Your pic of the under-hood area on your truck answered a question for me. I was wondering of I'll be able to use the 85/86 coolant recovery bottle in its original location when I convert Big Blue to EEC-V. But you used a later one turned sideways, presumably to get the extra front/rear clearance. Right?

Amen, brother!