Gary Lewis

That's not a part number, it is an ID #, and it doesn't show in the MPC so I don't know what the distributor fits. But the harness is missing several connectors. Buyer beware!

That's exactly what I did - added solder until it showed on the bare wire between the crimp and the insulation, and then stopped. So I'm confident there's no solder way back in the wire. However, I always provide support via the adhesive-lined shrink tubing anyway.

If air or moisture can wick along the strands then crimped-only connections really DO need to be protected. Obviously one way to do that is with a waterproof connector. But another way would be by soldering. Tinning can certainly help, but soldering would offer even more protection. Thinking about it, if the wire was tinned and then crimped into the terminal it would be easy to heat it up and have the tinning flow to the terminal, sealing it tightly. You might not need to add any more solder.

Yes, expensive. But free shipping. That's an odd cannister as it was used as a secondary unit on trucks with CA or high altitude emissions:

Glad it is working. Right on the edge of pinging but w/o pinging is as good as you can do.

Nice price. The MPC says those are part of Parts List #4, and that is for 1980 and later F250's and 350's with the 6.25M, 7.4M, or 8.2M rear axle. However, in PL #4 is says those shoes are for 1982 and later. So I don't know if they'll fit 1980 and '81 trucks.

Cool! But I'm like Dave - tell us more.

Thanks, David. That's similar to what I'm thinking of making.

No pics today, other than the ones I posted in the Weatherproof Connectors thread. And what I was doing there was installing a ring tongue terminal on the PDB's ground wire, which I got done. And I got the PK/BK and Y wires to/from the inertia switch sorted on the driver's side and the old fuel pump relay removed. But I'm going to have to remove the battery on the passenger's side to get to the wires there so I can loop it back. I hope to get that done tomorrow. Then, if the crimper comes in I'll get the connector to the fog and backup lights wired. Plus a one-terminal connector to tie the DG/Y from the EFI fuel pump relay to the Yellow wire going to the inertia switch. Then I can put the on-truck & PDB wiring in convolute using some of the 250' of it I got in today from Amazon. And at that point I can put the PDB in the truck and figure out how long the runs to the computer need to be. Then the "fun" begins.

Yes, Dane, I was surprised the solder went right through. I've always read that a proper crimp is gas-tight, but I wouldn't think something gas-tight would allow solder to wick through. And I used the proper ratcheting crimper. Maybe because the wire was too small? However, it was larger than the standard #12 wire and the terminal was made for #10-12 wire.

I know this doesn't exactly fit under the topic, but we have discussed soldering vs crimping so I thought I'd share here an issue I ran into today. I was installing a ring-tongue terminal on the EFI PDB's ground and discovered that Ford's wire isn't really a standard AWG. The #12 slot on the stripper didn't cut enough of the insulation to allow me to strip it. So I measured the wire at .086-.089" and then looked at the AWG table: Turns out this wire is somewhere between #11 & #12. So I grabbed a #12-10 ring tongue terminal. But it was not a nice tight fit on the wire. And while a #16-14 terminal was a nice fit, the material of the ring was a lot thinner. So I went with the #12-10 terminal and crimped it on. But I wasn't really satisfied with it, so I soldered it in. And I was surprised that the solder, which was applied to the end of the wire wicked through the terminal - as you can see on the pic below on the left. The pic on the right shows the other side of the terminal with the crimp, and the picture below shows how I support soldered joints with adhesive-lined heat shrink.

I think that was a good move. I've heard that there's a good future in IT.

You are probably asking Cory, but I'll reply and let him correct me if I go wrong. Yes, all 1984 and later trucks had hydraulic clutch assemblies. As for telling the difference, go to our page at Documentation/Driveline/Clutches & Linkage and then go to the Clutch Linkage tab. You can then click on the Mechanical and then the Hydraulic tabs to see the differences.

American Auto Wire kits use the open barrel type crimps, you can use the crimper that was posted above. These have no seals but be warned American Auto Wire supplies double width open barrel terminals when you have to crimp two wires into one terminal side by side. These are hard to do with the above crimpers as the terminal doesnt fit properly in the tool. Thats why I am going to hit the web tonight after work and try and find a dedicated crimper for the double width open barrel terminals to make life easier. You can use the crimper above but youll have to start with the largest opening and work your way down to the size your wire is to get a proper crimp. I think I'd change out the connectors on the American Auto Wire harness to ones that take more common connectors and that are sealed.

All I run are closed-end nuts, so that might explain why I’ve not seen that problem. And I do like that steering shaft, although it is very expensive. Jim/ArdWrknTrk posted on here how he made one like that for something like $35.

Thought he’d changed jobs and moved. As have our kids, so we no longer go to that part of the country.

Well, that makes sense. So that does strongly support cleaning the threads frequently.

I understand the pain of having to pry a crimped connection apart. Been there, done that, had the frustration. On the crimpers, one reason I was quick to order the IWISS Quick Change Ratcheting Crimper Tool Kit was because it does five types of terminals, including the exact ones that I'm dealing with. This shows the terminals it crimps, and that A58B row is exactly the terminals in the kit I have. But when you go look at the various kits of terminals on Amazon you find ones that are more specific to the terminals in that connector kit, like this IWISS 1424B crimper, which only does two types of terminals. But something I noticed when looking at that crimper is that they crimp the seal with the insulation. But there's no mention of that for the connector kit that I have, although the seals are exactly like the ones in this picture, so have the nose that looks like it is designed for it. Anyone do this?

Needs a LOT of work, at least in cleaning it up. And even then the price is too high. The first thing I'd do before buying is see how the bucket seats are mounted. If he drilled new holes in the floor and stacked washers to do it I'd turn around and walk away. That mentality will have carried through the whole of the truck and fixing all of that would a big pain.

Yep I might do that. After all I might have to drill a hole in my frame to mount my corvette fuel filter/regulator as I just dont know if there is a existing hole I can use. Plus the Corvette filter has a little folded over ear to fit into a locating hole to keep the filter from twisting when you tighten it into the frame and it has to be tight as the filter has a grounding strap from the filter to the mount. The roll bar lights is a questionable thing cause I dont know if I will even do them. I know my goal is for a 1980s - 1990s look to my truck but the big thing that will determine if I use a roll bar or not is how it attaches in the bed. I have found photos of the bars in styleside trucks but nothing with a flare side. If the bars will sit directly on the wood then that would be great, I can place a rubber insulator between the wood and the bars and then run bolts through the wood with huge fender washers on the back side. Then for the wire I can run it down one of the tubes and out the bottom of the wood. But now if the bars sit atop the bed strips then I probably wont get a roll bar then cause I dont want to drill holes into the bed strip. The wood I can always pull those two to four boards out and replace them if I ever change my mind. But drilling the bed strips out I would have to get another whole set cause I dont think you can buy just one of the polished stainless steel strips. This truck was the only photo I ever could find with a roll bar and an aftermarket one at that I believe. But never a photo of the bed itself and how it sits on the wood in the bed. And the same truck it was posted on here with new KO2 tires like I have. This is basically the look I am going for on my truck just with the addition of a chrome grill guard which I am playing around with if I want to have it rechromed when I pull the bumpers for repaint or if I want to just blast it to bare metal and powder coat it a gloss black. Im even contemplating the whole billboard style bug shield in a transparent blue to go with my truck and then get some lettering painted on it for that full on 80s/90s look. As far as the wire goes, I will be looking into terminals this weekend, need to find some double width terminals for crimping two wires to and I really want to see if I can find gold plated terminals over the tin plated. I know tin plated terminals will be fine but they do degrade over time and gold plated terminals wont. I also dont know if I want to after assembly plug the back side of my box with silicone to weather proof every terminal point. I like the look, but I'm not sure how I'd like it with a grille guard. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't add the bug shield. I think it would be getting too busy. But that's just me. On double terminals, I've see ones that take two wires but the wires come in from the opposite ends. That seems like it would make it awkward to use. I think I'd put two wires into one hole in the terminal and crimp it.

Glad you found the cam timing issue before installing the engine. So much easier to resolve it not.

And no longer lives in Falling Waters?

Wow! That's bad! And I agree that using a thread-chaser would help. But I've not seen that kind of problems on studs around here. It looks to me like that lug nut was loose and let the wheel work against the stud.

With the axles out of the tube check for "stuff" in the tube blocking the oil. For some reason that one side wasn't getting lubed. But if the level was low it might only sling it in one direction.

Yes, I'll blame you. Seriously though, I've needed a good crimper so was just looking for a recommendation. I've used IWISS before with good luck, so was happy that's what you recommended. As for spare pins, that's a big reason I went with the 780-piece kit. It gives me a chance to make some mistakes. So I'll try one and see what happens. Thanks again.