Gary Lewis

Bob - You have a good point. I'm not against something intended for a vehicle, I just don't want something that is to be permanently mounted in a vehicle. So I'll look at the Garmin offroad offerings, which I really haven't done. However, I do have a navigator. When Janey and I are going she navigates, and when our son and I go whomever is riding shotgun will be the navigator. So I'm not against a handheld if it has a big enough screen, which the Montana 700i and 750i seem to have. So, let me do some high level looking: Tread® - Overland Edition: You have to go to the 8” All-Terrain Navigator version to get inReach, and that takes the price up to $1300. There is a neat bracket that could be put in one of the cup holders and the unit could be placed there when we hit the trail. But I wonder if the navigator could hold it if s/he wanted to? I think so as it has its own built-in battery, so maybe the navigator could hold it if so desired. Overlander®: I'm not seeing any inReach capability with this one, and that is a requirement. Maybe I'm missing it? zūmo® XT: Has to be paired with an inReach device, like the Mini, so doesn't have that feature. Montana Series: The 700i ($700) doesn't have a camera, but the 750i ($800) does. And the "i" designates inReach. The display size is only 5" diagonal, but my iPhone X only has a 5.85" display. I'll do more research on the Tread, but it looks like it is the only one besides the Montana that does what I want - has GPS and inReach. However, the $1300 price tag is offputting, and the main thing I think it has is the larger screen size. Janey and I just talked about it and agreed that the iPhone X display was adequate so we think the Montana's would be as well. But, I am no where near ready to buy so this kind of study will continue. I'll do more reading on the Montana vs the Tread and see what I find. Thanks!

As Jim says, progress is good! And that means ANY progress.

I don't know how many miles the tires had on them when I got the truck. But the tread looked pretty new. However, they were fairly old at that time - at least 5 years old. As for chalking, yes and no. The driveway to the shop doesn't get much traffic and the top layer of concrete chalks. So when I do drive over it I can easily see where the tire hits the pavement. And it has taken 35 psi in the past to get the white all the way across. So that's what I've been running. But your idea of cardboard might provide an even better clue since not only would you see if the tread is touching, you'll see how hard. I like that and will use that tip when I get the new tires, whatever they are. As for the diffs, the Truetrac in back doesn't come into play very often, and only when something slips, so I doubt it makes a difference. And the electrically-operated OX in front is only used in iffy situations, like going through the frozen mud puddles when we didn't know how deep they were. So it can't really have an impact on cupping. So I'm guessing that there was some cupping started early on in the life of the tires that has gotten worse as they've aged and worn. But, when I get new tires I'll be extra careful to rotate often.

His signature says 460. And the 351HO and 460 both used the 4180C, although jetted differently. Strange that I can't get in.

I like those ideas, a lot. But have one question: when you say "My thought is that users can post new threads at will with links..." you are talking about in the other sections, just not in Resources. Or, do you mean in Resources? One issue we have is that people aren't subscribed to the whole of the forum and, therefore, don't see posts in obscure places like Resources. They could if they just clicked Topics View, but they don't seem to know that. So if people post pleas for help in there no one is going to see it. Given that, I like your idea of a Help folder that's pinned. But maybe it is Willing To/Needing Help? Anyway, go for it! I welcome and appreciate your help. You are Resources Czar and can do with it what you will. But I'm happy to help if/when needed. Thanks!

I'll do that, Shaun. If I haven't heard back from my email I'll ping him on FB Messenger.

Light at the end of the tunnel!!!! Yes, you have several things on the punch list, but you have plans for them already, so they aren't surprises. And while there may be some surprises along the way, I'll bet you sort them out easily.

That's cool, Chris! Looks like it'll last forever.

Yes, it is very frustrating when the GPS lags, and it does on my phone with either Gaia or AllTrails. We had several instances of having to stop and wait for it to catch up since we made the wrong turn a couple of times with bad info. And on some of those turns we had to back out 'cause turning around wasn't an option given the narrowness of the road. As for getting the screen wet, no thanks. If it is raining I'll stay inside. One reviewer said the Montanas don't work in the rain and showed it under the faucet in his sink. Another said they work in a light shower. Personally, I'll stay inside as this is supposed to be fun and getting rained on isn't fun to me. (I lived in the UK for a while and got rained on a lot. Liked the place but not the weather.) My Apple watch is fairly basic - the way I have it configured. My iPhone never rings. Instead, the watch buzzes. So I don't worry about going to church and causing a distraction. And I use it for some really quick canned text responses. But nothing more than that, and since I'm not planning to replace it I'm not even thinking about switching to a Garmin watch.

Hex heads are usually hardened. But normally brass screws are used for the off chance that they come out and down into the engine.

Wow! That's COLD!!!! I've never had a frozen battery. But I guess -31F might do it.

So how many of the throttle plate screws are missing? And they weren't either staked or Loctited in? Man, that is a serious error. I think I'd replace the screws and ensure the throttle will close cleanly. That can sometimes be a problem to get just right and takes me trial and error. But if that's all that it takes to make the carb work right again, it would be a cheap fix.

Megiddo - The Garmin i700's come with a lot of maps, but as tcbaklash said, you can get maps of just about anything. But I hadn't heard about Garmin GLO or Bad Elf receivers. One of those might help on the speed issue we've had, but there are so many other issues I'm just ready for a dedicated unit that will, hopefully, solve the many problems. However, I'll read up on those receivers. tcbaklash - Good to see that Garmins have been good for quite some time. I've never owned one but have heard good things about them. But I don't want to mount something in the truck. However I do want to create a place for it to be placed - maybe on the front of the console. As for the Garmin Instinct Solar, I have an Apple watch. And while mine is several generations old I still love it so am not ready to change. But if I did it would be to a later model of the Apple watch so it could connect with other things. (When I fired up Gaia I discovered that if I had a later model watch it would connect and give me turn-by-turn on the watch.) So, I'll be fine with any Garmin? Great! (But the UI isn't intuitive. )

Ok guys, another thought/question along these lines. Bill has pointed out a Youtube about replacing suspension bushings. Is this a how-to? If you look at our Resources & How-To's folder and then the Suspension & Steering folder you'll see that it is just a bunch of links to, hopefully, pages that have information. We could add another link to this Youtube, but it seems like it is getting buried a long ways down. Do we need to rethink Resources & How-to's? Or just How-To's?

Sorry. I still get: Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.autozone.com/fuel-delivery/carburetor/p/national-remanufactured-carburetor-nd4851m/577135_0_0" on this server. Reference #18.9736d517.1643058738.e2736e2

Jeremy - I can't answer your question about the carb as I get "Access Denied" when I click on the link so I don't know what carb it is. As for manual vs automatic, an auto has to have the kickdown or TV linkage and a manual doesn't.

Looks like a beast!

That looks great! Well done! And that's cheap for those locks. Sure glad we are getting support for things like the slide locks.

Good idea! Done. John - Now you see why I told my son "NO!" when he asked if I'd had Big Blue painted.

Ok, it sounds like we are all in agreement. And thanks for taking this on, Scott. You have your first how-to for review. Note that I didn't make folders w/in the How-To folder, like Electrical or whatever. You can do that as you see fit, but there may not be a need for a bit until we get a few how-to's in there. Again, your call.

The following shows how I installed Pormido's PR998 mirror/camera system in my 1985 F250 - aka Big Blue. But first I need to explain why I wanted such a system and why I chose that one. In addition, this is the condensed version. But if you want to read all of my trials and errors you can do so here. Most, if not all, of these trucks need a rear camera as it is really difficult to see behind them. But my truck is built to take off the beaten path, including overlanding and 'wheeling, and on a recent trip to Ouray we discovered that as we crested ridges we couldn't see anything ahead of us. So we'd frequently stop and get out to make sure which way we wanted the wheels pointing. But a friend that was with us had a front camera on his vehicle and he could see what was over the ridge and never had to get out to see the way ahead. So when I got home I started looking for a camera system. Unfortunately most of the systems have the front camera integrated into the mirror itself, and the view from there won't come close to seeing over the ridge when the vehicle is pointed up. But the PR998 has a divorced camera, and while it isn't waterproof so can't be put on the front bumper w/o protection, Pormido has committed to me that they will come out with a waterproof front camera for this unit. Speaking of commitment, I must say that the support I've gotten from Pormido has been fantastic. I have way over 100 messages to/from Melissa of Pormido's support organization and I can't say enough about how helpful she and the people behind her have been. We discussed my need for the waterproof front camera and they promised to come out with one. And then there was the need for longer wiring to the front and they had the 2 meter extensions. And I suggested using a rear camera in front, but one of their engineers pointed out that the cameras are different and cannot be interchanged. The capabilities of the system and the support I got even before the sale was enough for me, so I bought the unit and a waterproof box, and started the installation. The first thing I found was that the way Pormido has you mount the mirror to your existing mirror is less than "clean", with the original mirror peaking out when viewed from the side. So I made the plate shown below and modified the mount from an old mirror and married the two. (Note: Pormido has also committed to me to come up with a much cleaner mounting arrangement so we don't have to make a plate and hack up an old mirror.) Here's how I modified the mount from the old mirror. I tapped it 5mm and drilled and countersunk the plate to take a countersunk/flat-head screw, and ensured the screw would stay in by using Orange Loctite. But, note the extra hole in the plate. It is in the center, but I discovered that the mirror was a bit too high so drilled another hole 3/4" down from the top edge. And that gave me a much cleaner look. Here's the mirror mounted. And while it may not look secure it really is. I've had the truck off the road with some serious bounces and the mirror never moved. Also visible in the picture above is the GPS antenna. I wasn't sure I really needed it but installed it anyway, and boy am I glad I did! I love being able to see the direction and speed on the mirror. The ability to know which way you are headed at a glance is a huge help. And it turns out that the speedometers on these old trucks aren't all that accurate, so I can easily tell exactly how fast I'm going. And the GPS system provides an accurate source of time, which can also be shown on the display. Plus, if you use Pormido's application on your computer you can play back the videos that are taken as you travel, and a map shows exactly where you were. That came in really handy recently as we wanted to know which road we'd taken and the map showed us precisely which one. But we need to talk a bit about how and where I mounted the front camera. As said, I bought a box with a clear cover and mounted it on the front bumper and put the camera in it. But the wire that came with the original system was far too short to get to the front bumper. So I purchased two of Pormido's 2 meter extension cables and that was just enough to reach the front bumper. But the connectors don't look all that weatherproof so I slipped a peace of adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing over the connectors that are outside the cab and shrank it. I'm sure that waterproofed them. So now I have a waterproofed front camera, but it really looks like a wart on the front of the truck. And the cover on the box is not truly optically clear so there's some distortion of the view to the front. Given that, I'm hoping to be Customer #1 of the to-be waterproof front camera. (Note: The front and rear cameras are quite different and you cannot put a rear camera in front and get it to work. Trust me.) Anyway, here's what the front camera installation looks like. The camera is stuck to the top of the box as it needs to be turned down to be able to see the top of the trailer ball and if stuck to the bottom of the box it is then shooting through the thick edge of the "clear" cover and there's a lot of distortion. But by sticking it to the top of the box it works well. And even when turned down enough to see the trailer ball you can still see slightly above level and it works out well. But I did discover that if I tried to mount the camera higher, like on the grille, it had to be turned down enough to see the trailer ball that you couldn't see the horizon. So this position worked out well. As for the rear camera, here's where it is mounted. It is adhered to the back of the bumper using the supplied double-stick tape, and hasn't moved. And like the front camera, this position was chosen to see the trailer ball as well as seeing the horizon, and it is working well. And here's another shot of the mirror itself. I think it turned out well and I'm very pleased with how it works. However, I should point out that initially I had trouble seeing the camera display under some lighting conditions. There was just way too much light in the cab, which is a regular cab, meaning that the rear window is directly behind the occupants' heads. I tried the diffuser sheet that came with the unit, but that made the display sort of milky and fuzzy. So I had tinting installed on the side and rear windows and that did the trick. I went with tint that only allows 30% on the sides and 20% on the rear, and that worked out well. Now there's no need for the diffuser sheet. Last, let's talk about power and wiring. I used the "hardware kit" that Pormido sells instead the power supply that comes with the unit and plugs into the cigarette lighter port, and that's for a couple of reasons. First, on these trucks the cigarette lighter is hot at all times so the system wouldn't know when to shut off. Second, while the system doesn't pull much power it would eventually drain the battery if the truck wasn't driven every once in a while. But the hardware kit connects to both always-hot as well as switched power. That way the system knows when the truck is started and it boots up within 4 seconds, ready to go. Plus, the hardware kit will turn the power off if the battery gets to one of three pre-set voltages (11.3, 11.8, & 12.1V) so it won't drain the battery. I checked the power draw on the unit. At max display brightness it pulls 888 ma, but at a reasonable brightness it pulls 650 ma. And while the truck is off it pulls 7 ma - unless you have it recording snapshots all the time, which I turned off. However, even while the system is "off" the g-force sensor is always active, so if it senses a hit it'll turn the system on and record for 30 seconds, during which time it'll pull the 650 - 888 ma. When I was connecting the system up I found that the hardware kit comes with its own fuses on the ends of the wires. But try as I might I couldn't get those fuses out of the holders. In fact, I'm not sure they are supposed to come out, and the owner's manual doesn't mention them. I came to the conclusion that I'd not be able to change those fuses out if they ever blew, so I cut them off and supplied my own fuses and fuse holders. But while the original fuses appear to be 15 amp units, given the less than 1 amp draw I measured I used 2 amp fuses. And at this point I have probably 20 hours on the unit and haven't blown the fuses. Last, when recording 3 minute videos I'm seeing the front camera's files to be routinely 227 Kb. But the rear camera's files vary from 318 Kb to 677 KB over the same period. But on a drive of about 6 hours we recorded about 60 Gb of video, so about 10 Gb/hour. And supposedly the maximum microSD card the system will handle is a 128 Gb, so in theory you may get 12 hours of recording on one card.

John - Are you saying that the author can't post his/her how-to? That an admin will? If so, would that be the How-To Czar? Scott?

The 1985 master cross reference ends the listings with E5TZ 6A023-G. No -H, so it was apparently a late '85 entry as my book was published in April of '85. And the '91 cross ref doesn't go back that far. So I'll contact Numberdummy and see if he can help.

Here's a report after having the window tinting installed and then taking the truck on a 720 mile trip. First, the window tinting did the trick. No need for the diffuser film on the mirror as it is rare for there to be a problem viewing the display. In fact, about the only time there's a problem is when the sun is reflecting off the toolbox lid that's right behind the rear window. But that's only at certain angles of the sun and truck, and even then you can see through it pretty easily. And, the cameras and display work very well. I'm happy with it and glad that I installed it. For instance, you can see a much wider angle in the rear view than you can with the mirror itself. There's a blind spot where a vehicle can hide on your rear quarter and you can't see them in the side mirror nor by turning your head since the B-pillar blocks your view. But the vehicle shows up in the rear camera's view! Also, the display is very bright even at night - even w/o my nice LED backup lights. In addition, the view through the less-than-optically-clear cover over the front camera isn't as bad as I thought. We watched quite a bit of the front camera video last night of our offroad adventures and you can see pretty well. Yes, I still want the waterproof front camera, but for now this one's working. So now I'm condensing what's in this thread into a how-to which I'll put in the Resources & How-To's/How-To's folder.

John - I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with. That it doesn't work well since the OP doesn't get notified? And who is "you"? I'm ok if we have a designated "you", and since Scott volunteered I'd expect that he would follow up with whomever asks for access. Just don't want all of us to be in a circle pointing left - he'll do it. And I'd assume he'd be the "moderator" to review it. Right? We can't automate it. But we can set it up so only the author and moderators can lock it. Or just moderators. And to answer for John, it has to be unlocked before anyone can post. So having the OP edit it but the moderators unlock is a pain. As for letting anyone post, that will work if we have someone responsible for the section, someone that watches it closely. Frankly I'd not seen some of those posts, several of which do not belong, in spite of being subscribed to everything on the forum. (Yep. ) Ok guys, I'm starting to do my Pormido mirror how-to so I renamed "Resources" to "Resources & How-To's" and within that created a "How-To's" folder. And then I turned on the ability to lock a topic. However, don't miss the description of the How-To folder: Is that what we want? Or, do we want to have some admin in charge and run all how-to's through him?