Gary Lewis

The menus at the top of the page were an early attempt at making things easy for the user. But that was when the website had 50 pages. It now has over 550 pages and many, if not most, of those menus are way out of date. I abandoned that approach when I realized that I'd have to edit everyone of those menus each time I added a page. So now I'm deleting them when I edit that page.

Oh! I see what you are saying. The menu you are seeing is on the Ammeter page, and is out of date. Badly out of date. Back when I created it we only have one EVTM so I was able to create a link to it. But now we have several so there's no "EVTM" page. I deleted it. But I really need to spend some time and take those old menus off the pages they are on.

Yes, there's the cool fog light switch. But also the very un-cool routing of wire through the HVAC vent. And it goes to LED's that fire into the driver's eyes???? Then there's the red & orange convolute under the hood. http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/face-with-open-mouth-vomiting-23x23_orig.png

Karl - Welcome! Glad you joined. Nice looking truck. You are lucky to find one that nice. 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. And, what career are you retiring from? Tell us more about you?

I have dual Odyssey Extreme batteries in Big Blue. I like them, but they aren't perfect as they don't fit normal battery hold-downs. The aux battery, shown below, is a 34-PC1500. It is an AGM and they say "up to 400 cycles at 80% depth of discharge". I use it for the winch and the inverter, and I feed both batteries with a 3G alternator.

Good point, Shaun. I missed that.

Welcome back! Yes, things are moving along. I spend most days in my shop working on Big Blue, as well as answering questions for others, and I like to report on what I've done. And the insulation on the air inlet tubing has been a goal since I read an article on tests I guy ran on a Ford truck with EFI. He insulated the intake and that increased the MPG a bit. However, if I remember correctly that was a speed-density system and I don't think the results will be the same on a MAF system. Still, it can't hurt and, as you said, looks space age. As for the mirror, I did get it going. It works well but I sure hope they come out with the waterproof front camera.

Thanks, Dave. But I'm not sure I understand. You said "In documentation if you click on Electrical> Ammeter> (left side menu) EVTM it sends you to the forum." But I don't have a left-side menu when I click on Electrical. Just the right-side menu shown below. And if I click on Ammeter it takes me to a page on them. So, help me understand what you mean?

That's an interesting idea. Projects is currently set up so that anyone can lock their thread, so I could put up a folder in Projects and put your template in. But what would you suggest we call it?

Cool! That's excellent service. I think you are going to like that box, and may do that to Big Blue if your report is as I expect it to be.

Hey Gary, this page (for reg cab) is showing up blank for me and i'm looking for the rear corner panel part numbers - is there a work around to get this to show up ? Thanks! I don't know what happened, but see if it is fixed now.

Thanks for the suggestion. And I did get the same kit, only the 200-piece one.

That's a good suggestion. But it'll have to be in the forum part as not very many can edit the documentation side. Let me think about where to put that, but we need to do that. Oh yes, if I don't get it done by Sunday please remind me. Things are kind of busy right now. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Thanks. I ordered the 200-piece set and will give them a try.

That could be pretty helpful, but it sure is expensive.

I didn't do anything for you. But doesn't that illustration show driving the seal in from inside the cover?

What is it Bill/Numberdummy says? As shown below, there were a myriad of different jacks used during the wide range of years and trucks the seller mentioned. Having said that, the jack in the pic looks like the 2 ton version, so it might work for the other trucks.

That could be a huge help for people as that harness on many trucks has been ruined with insulation-displacement connectors. Wasn't someone looking for that recently?

Could be a big help. Good find, David.

Have you looked at the factory shop manual sections that are on the page at Documentation/Engines/4.9L? I'm looking at it now and see that on the 1981 version they show an illustration on Page 18 of installing the seal.

Nice, but I wouldn't want that engine.

Very nice!

It was a short day, but I got a bit done. First, I added the connectors for Fuse 5 in the PDB. But I didn't connect the feed for that to the R/LG wire that feeds Fuse 22, the only other switched-power fuse. That's 'cause those wires are stiff and I wanted to know which way to feed them - towards the engine or towards the fender. So, that took me to the truck and I quickly realized that I needed to identify all of those pesky connectors, like C321, 3, & 5. Man, those things are hard to ID as the wire colors on BB don't always match perfectly with the EVTM. But I finally got them ID'd and labeled. In fact, I got the fog and backup light relays removed and their wires labeled. But removing wire loom and tie wraps allowed me to move the wires around enough to open up the space where he PDB is going and test-fit the bracket. It fits, sorta, as you can see below. But it is too close to the shiny Cole Hersee relay that parallels the two batteries, so I'm going to turn it 90 degrees and mount it on the fender. That will give me almost 2" of space so I can move the PDB closer to the fender. However, that's something I'll work on Saturday as tomorrow we have things going on at church.

That's an opinionated question. So I'll share my opinion. I'm personally a huge fan of "loom harness tape". It's only slightly more expensive than electrical tape - single rolls can be $5-6 but you can get 5-packs for $10-12 if you buy it that way (like https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RHM81PV). I've had the best luck with Tesa so far but tbh every brand I've tried has seemed pretty much the same. This stuff is MUCH more abrasion resistant than electrical tape. All tapes can dry out and crack, but this seems to last longer IMO (time will tell, I've never had it on something for decades). And it's much more compact and easier to get a nice appearance than plastic loom tubes. One suggestion if you're going to try it. Don't try it to apply it the same way as electrical tape or you'll get frustrated. With electrical tape you usually want to "stretch" the tape a bit as you apply it, so usually you pull out some length of it and pull it firmly as you wrap it. You sort of apply this the same way but it doesn't stretch, so don't pull out a length of it. Just keep the roll very close to your loom as you wrap it around. I'd thought of going with friction tape, but just ordered that loom tape. Thanks! However, I agree with Bill that I don't want things nailed down so tightly that I can't shape it as needed. So my plan is to run the loom tape around a run of wires with spaces between the tape, and then cover that with split-loom. And, I'll tape the ends of the split-loom so it doesn't move the the wires inside can flex a bit.

Man, you can HAVE this weather! I've had all the winter I want, and then some. I just spent a couple of hours shoveling the church sidewalks as we have a funeral there tomorrow, and we had at least an inch and a half of sleet. It was 17F when it was sleeting, for 3 hours, and the stuff piled up like snow. We had drifts 8" deep and when you drove over them they didn't squish AT ALL. Just barely left any tracks. Somehow the stuff bonded and became one solid sheet, kinda like the old white Styrofoam that was made out of little pellets. So the only way to shovel it was to get under it with the shovel and break it free of the sidewalk. Anyway, I'm anxious to see what you come up with. It will really be interesting to compare the output of different sensors when you know they are getting the same flow, regardless of what it is. Interesting about the gold plated pins.