Gary Lewis

Yes, Big Bro is New Old! And getting newer/less old all the time. Love the gauges and the lighting!

Yes, it is not only possible it is a given that vacuum advance will dramatically help MPG. (Or is that KPL?) In fact, that's exactly why vacuum advance was dreamed up. At high vacuum the engine is not doing a lot of work so can accommodate a lot of advance w/o pinging. But as you open the throttle the vacuum drops and so does the advance - until it eventually gets back to only the initial advance + centrifugal, which is where you were before you started on this quest of getting everything fixed. But when you calculate MPG don't forget that your odometer is probably not reading correctly due to the gear ratio issue with your drive and driven speedo gears. So you might want to figure out what your odometer reads over a 10 mile or kilometer stretch in order to get accurate MPG/KPL readings.

I think that will work nicely. And it'll prove where the leak is - or isn't.

Jeff - I'm pretty sure that there's an o-ring around the hub that's not shown in that illustration. And I'd bet that it is leaking, which is why you are slinging grease. I'd pull the hub off and inspect the o-ring and its recess in the hub.

That's probably the source of the noise. As for being a pain, they aren't terrible. The instructions are on the page at Documentation/Driveline/Axles & Differentials and then the Rear Axles & Differential tabs. I've not done an 8.8" but the instructions appear to show that you remove the rear cover, which can't be done on a 9", remove a keeper, and then slide the axles out. Replace the bearings and seals and slide them back in. But on a 9" you'll pull the axles and then have to break a retainer off. The instructions probably say to drill a hole in them, but I find that using a cutoff wheel is faster. As you get part way through the retainer will pop and you can then remove it, although it may take a press to do so. And it will take a press to put the new bearings and retainer on. As for the brakes, if they aren't working properly that could easily have been why the front ones were overloaded. And when you are replacing rear axle bearings is the perfect time to replace all of the brake components.

Well, you've joined the right place. We love these trucks and can help you restore yours. And along the way you can probably help us as well. So WELCOME! Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and can add you with a city/state or zip. Who knows, you may be a neighbor? Post some pics? You've obviously worked out how to do the avatar, but you may want to read in Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's about pics as they aren't always easy.

Yes, that looks nice. Appears to bolt to the frame with as many bolts as my hitch does.

Me? Eight pages? Surely not! Actually, there are usually other rabbit-hunts in the midst of those. So Scott's is much better - all in one.

Jim - I'm not sure exactly what post you are referring to, but might this one from Scott be it?

Worked well until I installed that Garmin, at which point the Sony appeared to forget the iPhone from time to time. I'd pair it again with the iPhone, although it might have already been paired, and we'd have a connection. Then later it wouldn't work again. That's when I did some sleuthing and found the Garmin appeared to be hogging the Bluetooth. Don't know if it just doesn't play nicely or what, but it would pair with the Sony even when I'd told the Sony to forget it. Somehow the Garmin would convince the Sony they needed to dance and it would automatically pair. Now that I've turned BT off in the Garmin it looks like the Sony connects to the iPhone reliably, but that's only been recently so the jury is still out.

Not THAT much. There's one lay of sound deadening and a layer of foam, but that doesn't kill the road noise of the tires nor the nice sounds that emerge from the headers & Magnaflows. So even with that, listening to the "radio" gets old pretty quickly as you have to crank it up. When I'm by myself on drives I often do crank it up, but when someone else is in with me I don't bother as they either don't appreciate the combined loudness or want to talk - or both. And then there was the issue with the Garmin Montana insisting on hogging the Bluetooth and the Sony couldn't connect to my iPhone. I finally figured out how to turn BT off on the Garmin so now I can use the Sony.

I guess I'm just used to seeing them frequently here so had forgotten that they might be illegal in other places. But I now remember reading an article about the flawed theory behind those laws. The idea was to ensure that drivers hear sirens, but none of the laws prevent either the auto manufacturers nor owners from "sound proofing" the vehicles. Manufacturers have gone a long way towards making the high-end vehicles as "quiet as a tomb", and some have applied active noise cancellation. Which brings me back to the Airpods, which do have noise cancellation. It isn't so effective that I couldn't hear a siren, but I do understand that it could be a problem if I drove with my Airpods in and my 3M Workmate headphones over them, which I do when I'm mowing. That combo makes my JD commercial zero-turn so quiet I can hardly hear it, and would probably render a siren so quiet it would never be heard. So I do understand the reason behind the laws and withdraw my suggestion.

Hope you can make it. Let me know as we get closer as I need to make a count for the Mac's BBQ on Friday night.

Would have been a good project for that price.

Pretty common to do or pretty common to be illegal, Jim? Jeff - It is probably illegal here but is not enforced at all.

Actually, I have that much on me after one bolt. (I started to say "I look like that after one bolt", but I've never looked that good and I'm sure I never will.) I use anti-seize religiously, but it is MESSY!

There are several different kinds of side trim, but getting a full set of any of them isn’t going to be easy. I tried that about 7 years ago and was finding the ones that got passed by for obvious reasons.

9 years!?!?!? Wow! Has it really been that long? Are you bringing the truck to the show on the 16th? Don't forget the dinner the night before for forum members. And yes, you shoulda bought way back then. Those parts aren't being made any more and there are fewer in the wild than earlier.

Welcome! Glad you joined. Getting your grandfather's truck is wonderful! I say that because I'm a grandfather and would want one of my grands to get my truck(s). You'll find the proportioning valve to be both expensive and hard to find. But I've not seen them leak, so maybe it is something else leaking? Anyway, we are here to help and would love to see pics of the truck. But you might want to look at the page at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's to see how to post pics as it isn't the easiest thing to do. And we also have a map, which you can see at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu, and can add you with a city and state or zip.

We all tend to collect more tools as we go. Unfortunately a radio isn't one of the tools I have available in Pluto. Maybe I need to address that??? Cory - You may not be serious, but if I were driving a truck by myself mostly I'd be tempted to use Airpods. Our son got me some recently and I'm finding them quite useful. The bass from them is amazing, they are comfortable, and you'd have music, hands-free, and navigation all in one. But you probably don't drive Pluto by yourself all that much, save for when you are wheeling, and then you'd want to concentrate on the task at hand rather than music. And you need to be able to hear the spotters. So they'd probably not work out well for you.

Clean, but I'm doubting it'll go for $20K. And why aren't there pics of the engine bay? Is there something wrong?

If you want to see what's in an Engine & Emission Diagnosis manual we have the 1986 version here on the site.

Congrat's!

I believe the F-150s and F-250s got OBD2 in '96 when it became mandatory. But most F-250HDs and F-350s didn't get OBD2 until the SuperDuty came out in '99. California trucks might be an exception, but I know my '97 F-250HD is still EEC-IV. In a lot of ways the '92 - '97 are really the best of the '80s and '90s F-series (looks is definitely NOT one of those way as far as I'm concerned). I'm certainly not putting down the earlier versions, but Ford didn't screw anything up too bad in this time frame as they added refinements. You can argue that more electronics is a bad thing. By that argument the early '80s were the best. But if you want EFI and automatic transmissions that have overdrive and a lock-up torque converter I think the later trucks are your best bet (or go to a lot of effort to retrofit and get the best of both worlds). As far as the E4OD goes, I think generally it's considered a very solid trans. I bought my '97 with 161K and it's over 240k now. As far as I know the trans has never had anything more than a fluid/filter change in its life. The 1996 California-spec 460's got EEC-V with MAF & SEFI while the 49-state 460's stayed with EEC-IV that used bank-fire and speed density. The other engines got EEC-V at least by '96. The tip-off when looking is the mass air-flow (MAF) sensor attached to the air cleaner box.

You are now on the map. And I know where Round Rock is 'cause we used to live in Katy and got out that way a few times.