Gary Lewis

I posted in Silence The SuperDuty Springs! about the installation of the clips/restraints that I got from Eaton as well as the new rear slider pads for the springs. But here are a couple of pics. First is the new front clip/restraint: And then a pic of the rear slider 'cause the ones that had been on those springs at some point were totally gone. Like non-existent, which was surely part of the clatter I was getting. Last, I added a piece of angle to protect the drain valve. And yes, the valve can both be operated as well as removed with the angle on there. In fact, I put the valve on after welding the angle on.

You don't have a signature telling us what your truck is so I can't look it up in the documentation. But you can: Documentation/Driveline/Brakes. Then go to the Rear Brakes tab and then the Rear Brakes Parts List tab. Find your truck in the first table, get the parts list #, and then go to that Parts List. It'll tell you what brakes you have. However, the brake drums usually have the size stamped on them. You'll have to pull a wheel to find it if you want to check.

Where that is coming out is the emergency brake cable. So your wheel cylinder is bad and leaking. It will have to be replaced. And since your brake shoes are now soaked in fluid they need to be replaced. In short, you need at least to have the rear brakes rebuilt.

The retainers came in from Eaton today and I installed them. They aren't on so tight that the leaves can't slide, but they are tight enough that they won't let the ends clang together. Then I inspected the rest of the front springs, and found this at the back. Yep, the plastic slider is gone on both sides, and there's wear into the metal. So I'm sure this was making noise as well. I just happened to have some reasonably new sliders on the leaves I took out of the rear springs, so installed them. But, as the TSB instructions say, I had to shorten the stems to be able to get them in. That left the stem just long enough to come through the spring, so I melted the stem over on the bottom. Not 100% sure they can't come out, but I don't think they will. Haven't driven it yet, but I'm sure this has removed a bunch of the clatter I was hearing going down the road. I'll update you when I get a chance to drive it.

Do you think that was due to the flares or they used the flares to cover up the rust? I ask because I have some rust started and have thought about the flares to hide some of it.

Don't miss the section from the factory shop manual on that here: Documentation/Body/Bronco Rear Window. As for the heat, you might also look at the Noico foam insulation. I used it on the inside of the roof and on the floor and back wall. Seems to have helped.

In my experience if the vent line didn't end higher than the top of the fuel fill hose I had fuel vapor smells. That was apparently because the shut off on the hose nozzle at the petrol station filled part way up into the filler hose. So there was fuel above the level of the vent hose. The valve in the tank is supposed to seal, but while mine was new it didn't seal enough. So I had fumes and in some cases liquid fuel coming out. But by getting the vent higher than the filler I no longer have those problems.

The filler neck is huge compared to the vent line, and it goes up where the vent line goes mainly horizontally. So I think the fumes will tend to go out the cap rather than through the vent line. If the sealed cap works, then you might consider how to keep critters out of your gas tank. Here's how I did it:

Andre - I assume you mean to the "clean air" side of the air cleaner. If so, that might work but there would be very, very little vacuum. So I'm not sure that would pull many fumes from the canister. However, I doubt you'd need a restriction. Having said that, I don't think the vent line is where your fumes in the garage are coming from. I think it is your vented cap. These trucks are supposed to have a sealed cap. So if yours is vented then you have a way for fumes to get into the garage even if you implement the vapor recovery canister. Why not try a sealed cap for a while and see what happens? Make sure the vent line is open, or you'll pull a vacuum on the tank and the engine will stop. But I have sealed caps and an open vent line and I'm not having gas fumes in my shop.

That's a whole lot cheaper than a Highliner!

That looks like a reasonable plan. Good luck!

If you mean Peel & Seal, it does work pretty well. But some people have reported a strong petroleum smell in the vehicle after using it. I've used it and didn't have a smell. However, when I did Big Blue I used Noico products from Amazon. Seem to have worked well.

I ordered mine from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard, but see this post for who carries it: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Big-Blue-s-Transformation-tp28014p77028.html. And it is very sturdy. I like it a bunch.

Not that bad. I've seen worse. Like being able to see the pavement below. What are you going to do to seal it? Sound deaden it?

I installed a Highliner headliner in my truck and mounted my GMRS radio in it:

Are you sure you have the right starter? On a Windsor there are two different starters, one for a mechanical transmission one one for an automatic. The difference is in how far the gear extends to engage the flywheel. And when you say "gear wheel", do you mean the flywheel?

Yes, I was thinking that if the insert is just loose you could use red loctite to keep the insert in. But if the hole is wallowed out very much you'll need to do something else. However, I'm confident that you'll handle that easily given what I've seen you do.

Got the frame drilled to take the tank, and the tank trial fitted. But still have work to do on it. But first, here's the tank with the angle welded on and painted: And here's the tank bolted in. One thing to note here is that while the bottom of the tank is basically even with the bottom of the frame, the tubing hangs down 2". However, the bottom of the tubing is even with the bottom of the nearest muffler. And it is 2" higher than the bottom of the front step bar mount, and 1" higher than the bottom of the rear mount which you can see in the pic. Here's a view from a position that is level with the bottom edge of the bed, which is even with the bottom of the tank, but the tubes hang down a bit more. Last, I think I'm going to weld a piece of angle between the two tubes at the bottom to protect the drain valve. I remember an article that a Facebook friend wrote about an overlanding trip that she and her husband took a couple of years ago, during which a rock hit the drain valve on their air tank, breaking the valve. But a piece of angle where the framing square is would give a lot of protection, assuming I can still get the valve out with the angle in place. Oh, and the ends of the tubing that you see in the pics will be plugged. The ID of the tubing is 7/8" so my 1" plugs won't fit. But the smaller set I've ordered has some 7/8" plugs so we'll be good.

That being the case I think you've had a slow leak that finally got so low that you sucked air into the system for the rear. In other words, I don't think you had a catastrophic failure, but a long slow failure that finally got so bad that you'll now have to fix it. To do that you need to figure out if the wet brake backing plates are due to leaks of the brake lines to the wheel cylinders or, more likely, the wheel cylinders themselves leaking. And then you'll have to fix that, refill the master, and bleed the brakes. So I'd clean off the brake backing plates, add some more fluid to the master, and pump the brakes. Then see if you can tell where the leak is coming from.

You said "brake lines", meaning two lines, which says both sides are leaking. That suggests two failures at one time. Is that true?

Not sure what you mean by "the rears are covered in fluid". Do you mean the brake shoes are covered in fluid? The wheel backing plates are covered in fluid? The rear axle is covered in fluid? Obviously you have a rear brake problem, but giving us more specific descriptions will help us help you.

The plans are coming together. Talked to Derale this morning about their #13309 power steering cooler. It is rated for 250 psi working pressure and 300 burst pressure, so is quite adequate for the 200 psi max this system will see. And it measures 8 1/8" wide, inc fittings, 5 1/4" high, and 3/4" thick. Unfortunately they don't have a similar one with NPT fittings, so I'll have to use AN/NPT conversion fittings. But the cooler is supposed to be here tomorrow from Amazon. As for where it goes, I put the case on and powered the compressor up and found that the flow is left-right in this picture. In fact, there's a good stream of air out of the bottom rear end of the compressor from the opening you can see, which is 5" high and 6" wide. So I'll mount the cooler roughly as shown below. It'll be mounted to the front wall of the toolbox with standoffs that put it pretty close to the compressor. And I'll use some of the padded rubber clamps so it can move a bit to take as much stress out of the copper tubing as possible. Speaking of the copper tubing, it'll go in at the top and the hose to the tank will come off at the bottom. That way any moisture that condenses will be pushed downhill to the tank. Speaking of the tank, I got the welding done and the paint is now drying on it. Hope to get it mounted this afternoon, with pics of that to follow.

I don't know if it will eventually get full and not absorb more fumes, but it won't hurt to try.

Thanks, Bruce. Does that valve stay open until the pressure bleeds off and then closes? Or, what causes it to close? I have a ball valve that goes in the fitting on the bottom for draining the tank. I'm thinking of using a 90 and aiming the valve under the truck. That will keep the valve better protected by the tubes, and it will keep the water coming out of the tank from spraying me.

Happy to help. Let us know what you find.