Gary Lewis

Go to Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's in the menu for how to post pics. BUT, basically the situation is that the forum software isn't smart enough to read the orientation information your phone/camera records in the picture's metadata. So you either have to properly orient the camera when you take the pic or do as I do and rotate it in some photo editing software before uploading it.

It makes sense to me not to use set-up bearings if you have to don it over again. And that puller looks slick. But the case-spreader is ingenious! Brandon/Bruno2 and I talked about how to do that and we didn’t come up with any good ideas. That one is magic!

I've not done an axle setup, so take this with a lot of salt. But I've read about it and from what I've read you are really close. And I don't have a clue what order to do things in. So I'll hang out and see what the others have to say.

If I didn't know better I'd think you guys are telling me not to do it. Seriously though, keep those cards and letters coming in.

Here's hoping it goes together easily and you are done before you know it.

It sounds like it is the starter then. The bushings on starters wear and then the armature touches the field when the starter is hot and expands. That causes them to slow down and to pull extra current. That causes them to get hotter and expand more, which.....

I love those wheels and have a set on Dad's truck. If they are tarnished they polish up nicely, but will need to be clear coated to keep from tarnishing again.

You are now on the map.

Not a bad price at all. Shame it isn't an '86 as then it would have the solid front axle instead of the TTB's.

Dane - Good point. It would be easy to take the base off and put it in the toolbox. Not only will that reduce the weight, it'll stop a rattle as the base is somewhat loose on the jack. Jim - Yes, I have the pad that goes under the base for soft ground. And I have a piece of 1" thick flooring that can be used to further spread the load. And that's a good find on the lifting eyes. I'll check tomorrow to see that they'll fit. And yes, I could drill the center one out, but let's wait and see how the other two go in. I may learn something there that can be used on the center one as well. I'm thinking of welding a nut to a piece of strap and gluing it to the backside of the inner bedside. As for the bumper, I don't have time to get that done before the trip in October. And, I don't have all of the parts yet either. Welder Scott has been gathering the pieces that are needed as he comes across them at his work, and I don't know where he stands on that at the moment. But he's supposed to come over in the near future and we are going to rebuild the 2150 on his '79 and I'll find out then. So hopefully we can do that this winter.

I'm guessing that your ICM isn't one of the ones with the retard function for starting, and that you have a lot of initial advance dialed in. You said "she won't start until it cools off for about 20 mins". But what does it do? Spin and no fire? Or kick back when you try to spin it?

Welcome! Glad you joined. How 'bout some pics? And you'll probably want to start a thread in the main section to document your restoration. Also, you would like to be on our map? You can see it at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu.

Thanks, Jim. Yes, Hi-Lift does show some neat nuts on their website, like the ones shown below. I'll call tomorrow and see what thread size/pitch they come in. But I'm using 10mm x 1.50 so that limits it a bit. Tomorrow I'll spend some time seeing what will actually fit.

Looks good! (But how are you going to keep the brake fluid in when you pull the cap to check:nabble_smiley_evil:)?

I think that's a good plan.

Yes, I'd get rid of the diode. But I'd be surprised if it is blowing the fuse several seconds after the clutch comes in. I'd have thought it would blow immediately. So I'm with Jim that you need to check out that clutch. It may be the culprit.

I agree that a backing plate would have been a good idea. Wish I'd done that on that center one. But I still can on the end ones, and the one at the head of the jack is the one that will carry the most load. So instead of a nutsert I could weld a nut to the plate - assuming I can get it up there, and I think I can. However I doubt we'd fix the mount on the trail if it were to break loose. Instead I'd put it back on top of the spare tire or put it under something in the bed until we get home. As for the nuts, I thought of something like the ones below. Yes, they are actually lifting points, but they would work as large wing nuts. But most wing nuts are too big to get down into the recesses of the rack. However, the one at the head is recessed to the point I don't think even these will work. Do you have better ideas?

Dane - I'm not sure I understand. First the head itself won't be held to the bed. Instead the rack will be secured to the bed and the head is latched to the rack - and very tightly I might add. But tell me more about the "U's"? And here's a sketch of my plan. You can see that the nut on the spacer is recess, which means the jack won't touch it and will only touch the spacer.

I called Tulsa Plastics and they are checking to see if they have any scrap acetal. If they do I may go down there tomorrow, and I doubt it'll be very expensive.. Otherwise I'll start making spacers out of wood. And yes, there are lots of holders, but I've looked at a bunch of them and haven't found one that would work for this. So I came up with this plan. But I didn't really think about the nutserts pulling out. However, that's why I'll put a large spacer on and cinch it up tight with a nut so the load is spread and the nutsert is in tension. (If the cover's track wasn't in the way I might have slipped a plate in the stake pocket with a nut welded to it.) As for the head bouncing around, I hope not. There will be a support right at the head, and I'll look to see if I can slip a plate between the inner and outer panels of the bed for that one to ensure it won't pull out. And that is why I want washers and nyloc nuts to hold the jack tightly to the spacers and make sure they won't back off. I'm afraid thumb nuts could back off and let the jack do as you said - bounce around.

Had some success. Here's the "finished" product, meaning how far I got today. The middle nutsert is in and I have a 3/4" spacer back there and a 2 1/2 block on the end. The thing is lined up in/out and up/down and it'll take another 2 1/2" block to hold the front. And on the left, below, is the stud and nutsert, and on the right is the spacer and nut. When I make the real spacer I'll recess the nut so the jack is held against the spacer and not the nut. Speaking of nuts, I'm wondering what to use to hold the jack itself on. I ordered some stainless nyloc nuts and I'm thinking that those with washers behind them are the way to go as I'll have a wrench handy to get the jack out, but wondered what y'all think. There are thumb nuts available, but I'm afraid they'd back off. Oh yes, I also ordered some 10mm x 1.5 stainless all-thread. The "stud" you see is actually a bolt that I threaded to the end and then cut the head off. But I didn't check to start with and later discovered it was a 10.8 bolt. Man, it did NOT want to be threaded. However, it was all I had to test the thing out and the all-thread won't be here until Wednesday so I finally won the battle. On the spacers, I'm still thinking about using acetal, but wood sure would be cheaper. Thoughts?

Good questions and comments, Shaun. I'm on several FB pages for trucks, some of which aren't just Bullnose. And while they collectively seem active, I honestly haven't been looking to see if some are dead and some are carrying the load. I guess I should as some of those may well have folded up. As for what our page would have that others don't, I'd say knowledge and backed up with documentation.

Thanks! I'm just about to drill the first nutsert hole and I'm a bit nervous. The jack weighs 28.16 lbs according to the Hi-Lift website, so there will be some force on the mounts. But my plan is to put the mount in tension with a nut on the stud on the outside of the mount, and then the stud will protrude to catch the jack. That should help to overcome the weight, and using the stake pocket helps given its curve fore/aft of where the 3/8" nutsert will be, so it is stiffer than the bedsides themselves. Speaking of the stake pocket, I marked where I thought I wanted the nutsert and it was down where the pocket starts to curve. So I moved it up 3/4" so the spacer/mount will be on the straight part. But that gets the jack really close to the cover's mount, so I may need to space it out a bit more than the 1/2" I'd planned. We shall see...

I've been fortunate. We've had a wire chewed on a boat motor once, and we've cleaned a lot of nests out of various vehicles. But this is the first time I've had significant rodental damage to a vehicle. And it wasn't really that significant once we knew what we were dealing with. Eastern and northern Minnesota has a lot of this. Woods, rivers and lakes. It really is a beautiful area. Western and southern Minnesota is more prairie / farm land. Beautiful in it's own way I suppose, but not a place that tends to be a destination. Definitely a nice break. But now back to work! How long to the Bronco's outing? And what is left to do?

Well, on a positive note I've been playing with the idea of mounting the Hi-Lift jack on the side of the bed and I think I have it worked out. Here are my notes so I can get back to them: Mounts: One on the stake pocket above the wheel well, and one in the rear centered 17 1/2" forward of the rear stake pocket's forward edge. The one for the front will be ~8" back of the back edge of the cover's canister, but may only be able to contact the beam in the center. Vertical Position: Top edge of jack's beam is 4 1/2" below the inside edge of the bed's top, and it is paralleling the bottom of the rib that runs along the side of the bed. Horizontal Position: Inside edge of the top flange of the beam is 1/2" off the center stake pocket. But in the pic below the rear is 1 1/2" and the front is 2" from the beside, so I'll need to figure out exactly how thick the front and rear mounts need to be to have it parallel to the bed by using the straightedge. I think I'll try making some test mounts out of wood to see if it'll work. But in the pic below the yellow arrows so the position of the mounts.

Well, thanks to both Bill and David. Bill took the time to take the pics and David searched for the "air dams" shown below on the left. But the picture on the right may show why it is a lost cause to try to seal things up. Bill mentioned that he sealed the gap to the bumper so the air couldn't come out there. But yesterday when I was helping the young man bring the Honda back I glanced at that gap and realized that it is so huge that it may be a lost cause. So I think I'm going to be happy with what I have.