Gary Lewis

No prob on the pic. On the AFR meter, I have an Innovate and apparently missed that statement in the documentation. Don't remember what mine is fused with, but it gets power from the fuse box along with other things, and it works fine. I think most things designed for automotive use have pretty decent filtering on the power input. Otherwise they'd never work correctly due to the fluctuations the power makes as things are switched on or off.

Do you think it is -H? I can look up the ID # for it in the crossref and perhaps you could find it that way.

Thanks, Dane. We certainly did have fun. Here are some more pics. First, here's what Big Blue looked like when we got home. Mud caked everywhere, although it is hard to see due to the sun going down. I got him out and hosed him off yesterday, but he's still not clean. And here he is on a tight trail, but not the tightest spot 'cause I couldn't get out to take a pic on the tightest spots! Here's an example of limbs we had to deal with - this one is ready to hit the truck on the passenger's side: And here I am out clearing limbs away so we can go on. This was typical of this section of the trail.

Hey, that looks good! But, I have to squint to tell 'cause the pic is so small, so in future could you make it bigger? How to do that should be in the Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's page. Interesting that you are told the AFR meter has to have its own power. What brand do you have? Neither of mine have had their own power and seem to work fine, but maybe I'm missing something? You will, of course, fuse that power?

That's really strange. Because the 1986 F350 4wd got the solid axle I thought differences would show in the MPC for the tranny's crossmember. But they don't. Not 'til '87. If you ever find one of those crossmembers get the ID # off of it, please!

Yes, wow! I’m thinking I can make one with the materials I have on hand, meaning essentially zero cost. I have two starting points - the leftover brackets from the bucket seats or those from the bench seat - the bits that bolt to the floor. And since anyone wanting to do this will have a bench seat and it’s brackets available I’m tempted to use them. That way people can weld up the frame and bolt it to the brackets and bypass these people who want big bucks for a simple platform.

It was fun, Bob. And it may have been a scouting trip for the trip with our son. Just checked and the whole of the Ouachita national forest is available for dispersed camping. So, having found some difficult trails...

I hope so too. I'm also hoping that the buckles are the same and then I wont have to, but we'll see on that. I might try and go back to the yard next weekend and poke around some but my 2.5 year old makes it hard to duck out sometimes lol. I was looking at the captains from the 89 F250. The driverside was shot, but the passenger side was nice. I really liked that the newer passenger seat flipped forward and slid instead of folding up like the current one I have does. I was tempted to snag the seat rails and see if they'd work with what I have. Yes, snagging the rails might be a great idea! I'm thinking through how I want to mount low-back buckets in Big Blue and that "ejector seat" bit on the passenger's side is crazy. I did rails for the captain's chairs but the passenger's seat doesn't fold the same way the driver's seat does, so some thinking and experimenting is called for.

Shaun - That F350 crossmember almost looks like the later E4OD crossmember but turned around. I'd never seen that before.

Wow, even $35K was a lot. But $60K????

Good score, Chris. Hope you can get the belts out w/o damaging the plastic.

Absolutely true. They're limited to very short messages, they're not satellite phones. But for a lot of folks like me that's all we really "need" - just enough to send "I'm safe, I'm at these coordinates." Gary, I'm just showing how dated my knowledge is with my earlier response. The Explorer+ was the only model they had the last time I looked at these. And it frankly didn't seem worth the money. I just got the Mini and paired it with my phone. But the Montana is brand new and looks much better. Definitely worth a look if you want a standalone unit. Yes, the satellite comm's are just for text messaging and SOS. But there's another aspect of it that I'm interested in - the ability for others to see where you are. It would be very comforting for Janey to be able to see where we are, compare that with our planned route, and see that things are going well. So I've been planning to get an inReach device for some time and just didn't know what one. Then, after trying first Gaia's iPhone app and then AllTrails I've come to the conclusion that I want a dedicated GPS device. And as I looked at them I realized that I can get both in one device. But, I don't think I want a vehicle-mounted device. I don't need it for driving on the highways as Google Maps on my phone does what I want there and gives me turn-by-turn guidance through my stereo system. But Google Maps doesn't have the forest roads we were on and doesn't have the ability to work offline. So I want the handheld that I can take with me into the house to set up routes, into the tent when we are on a trip so we can discuss tomorrow's route, etc. And as with Gaia and AllTrails, I'll use an on-line app to set up the routes initially and then download that to the device. I think Garmin calls that Base Camp, and it is on there that you create the waypoints and tracks. I think I really like the Montana series. The 750i because it has the camera that allows you to take pictures and know exactly where they were taken. But the camera isn't that great of a unit so the 700i is of interest as well - especially since it is the same price as the older Explorer+. And going back over my "wants", I want something that isn't fiddly such that looking at it crosswise won't send it into a tizzy. Gaia and AllTrails both do that, with Gaia being the worst, by far. And when they go into a tizzie I have to stop and sort them out. Plus, I want something that is quick. Both Gaia and AllTrails lag so much that several times I took the wrong turn because it hadn't caught up with us. In fact, we got to the point where we'd pause at an intersection long enough for it to catch up since we found that turning around on some of those trails was a huge pain. I haven't purchased yet and probably won't for some time, so please keep those suggestions coming in.

That sealant won't make it very difficult to get the bolts out. It is kind of a cream and sets up a bit, but not hard by any stretch. I use it on lots of things and really like it.

Janey and I just got back from a 720 mile trip into Arkansas to drive around in the Ouachita National Forest. Of that we were off the highway right at 150 miles, with 40 miles the first afternoon and 110 the next day. The routes are shown below, but I can give gpx files if someone is interested. Of the route I'd say that 140 of the 150 miles were on fairly easy gravel roads, but those other 10 miles were on some extremely narrow forest service roads with brush hanging in from both sides that had to be cleared. Even then Big Blue has new pin striping. Plus there were many, many mud puddles that were completely frozen over as it was down to 15F overnight. But the puddles were not frozen solid so we broke the ice - not knowing how deep the puddles were. So we were in 4Lo with the front diff locked in on several of those. In addition there was one section that required 4Lo just to go slowly enough to handle the rocks and bumps. And another section that was on the planned route was just too tight and too rough so after walking it a ways we found another route. We had a wonderful time, and the fact that there were sections that challenging means that my son and I may decide to go back. But that will require some route clearing, and we'll have to make sure that doing so is ok with the Forest Service. Anyway, here are some pics from our trip as well as the routes. Here's a shot from the first day showing Janey with the wonderful view of the Ouachita mountains in the background: And here is a shot showing a typical view of the trail ahead. We had many small concrete water crossings like the one you can see in this shot. But, there were also lots of larger bridges to cross as the area has beautiful streams everywhere. But, there were those 10 miles. Here's a shot of a section where I had to clear out limbs above and pull brush from both sides just to get by, and even then the driver's mirror got bumped pretty hard. Last, here are the routes:

In my case the PO wasn't chasing threads. He was drilling out the hole to tap and install a helicoil and somehow went too far. And in that case there isn't anything wrong with the head. But I agree that if it is a crack then the head is bad as it'll probably continue to crack. So I recommend that Tom checks to see if his head has been drilled too far or if it is cracked. I'd think that would be easy to ascertain by sliding a drill bit in to see how far it goes in comparison to the other holes.

You found us, but you've not figured out posting pics yet. Go to Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's in the menu above for some info on that. But welcome! Glad you joined. 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.

Welcome. But it looks like you may have hit "Post" before you were ready. Just click "More" and then "Edit Post" to put some words in that post.

I disagree. As said, I had the same issue on a 351M where someone drilled too far in to install a helicoil. The Loctite PST did the trick. And, as Bill/85lebaront2 pointed out to me back then, the 383 in my SuperBee came from the factory that way.

I wouldn't use RTV. Instead I'd use a thread sealer, like Loctite 56747 PST. Had the same issue on a 351M and that's what I used. Worked well.

Wow! There seems to be a whole lot of interest in this subject given all the posts. NOT! But, I do have a question for y'all. David/1986F150Six found this "92-96 FORD F150 F250 F350 BENCH TO BUCKET oem SEAT FRAME mount bracket w/ track" on ebay and sent me a link. However, that sure doesn't look like the factory one I have, shown in the pic in the first post. Have any of you see one like this? It looks like it is made from some some brackets that fit the floor, a plate on top of them, ~1" square tubing under that, and two more plates for the inside tracks. Do you agree? If so, is that better, in either strength or looks, than what I was talking about with angle?

Well done, Matt!!! So, what was the problem? And is it all fixed?

Seems reasonably priced compared to some others, but the lack of a turbo would be a minus.

Thanks for the suggestions. As said, I do want some form of "inReach", but it doesn't have to be Garmin's. However, from what little bit I've read, like on 2022 Best Satellite Messengers | Garmin inReach, Zoleo & Somewear, Garmin appears to be the best. You carry the inReach Mini for exactly the reasons I want something like that - so others can follow us, so we can tell them "we are there", etc. But please tell me about the pairing it with "their mobile app"? From what I'm seeing: inReach Mini = $357 and has to be paired with a phone to have GPS functionality. And it came out in 2018. Garmin inReach Explorer+ = $700, but still needs to be "paired with mobile devices using the free earthmate app for access to downloadable maps". And it came out at the beginning of 2017. Garmin GPSMAP 66i = $600 and has its own 3" GPS screen. Doesn't say anything about pairing with a phone from what I've seen. And, depending on the model of 66, it first came out in early 2019. Garmin Montana 700i is $700, or $800 with an 8MP camera, and has a 5" screen. And it doesn't seem to need to be paired with a phone either. Plus, it seems to have just come out at the beginning of 2022. So we have the Mini as the entry level but needing to be paired with a phone for navigation. Seems reasonable but now you have two devices. But the Explorer+ and the Montana 700 are both $700 and the latter has its own screen for navigation where the former needs to be paired with a phone. So why go Explorer over Montana? And then there's the 66i, which is $600 but does it all but with a smaller screen than the 700. Thoughts?

Bummer! You'll probably find that's the last they had. But hope not. Good luck!

I'm looking for recommendations on a handheld GPS system, and preferably one with satellite communications, like Garmin inReach. That's 'cause we had a bunch of issues with not knowing where we were nor where we were going, so I am looking for something that solves that problem. Yes, I know that Gaia has an app for smart phones, but it works horribly on my iPhone X, freezing frequently and not allowing zooming or scrolling w/o usually causing problems. In fact, it is so bad that I've given up on it as it has failed us many, many times. And yes, there's Alltrails, which also has an app for smart phones. And it actually works well on my phone w/o freezing. However, there were several instances when we did something wrong and got out of the app and getting back in w/o cellular coverage was iffy and took quite a while. And, it doesn't show altitude nor the ability to take a pic and have it tagged to your location - unless I missed it. So I'm looking for a dedicated unit that does GPS. And, I'd like the satellite bit since much of the time on the trails we are out of cell coverage, and on the trip we just took we spent two days deep in the Ouachita National Forest and didn't see a soul. So if we have a problem we are out of luck. Two units I've found that do GPS and have the satellite comm's are: Garmin Montana 750i: Yes, it is expensive. And from everything I've read Garmin's UI is antiquated - one reviewer likened it to "your mother's flip phone". But it gets the job done w/o freezing. Garmin GPSMAP 66i: Yep, it is also expensive. But the reviews I've read and listened to give it high marks. So, what are you folks aware of?