Gary Lewis

Danny - Just FYI, you appear to be responding via email. While that is an option, it is a messy one as it copies in the previous person's post. I've taken a screenshot of your response and circled the stuff that was copied in by the email system. There are two ways around that. The best is to click on the link below the line that says "If you reply to this email, your message will be added to the discussion below." That will take you to the forum itself and you can post there, with or without quoting the post to which you are replying. And, you can use the emoticons on the site so everyone will see the same thing, rather than emoticons on your device which may not be standard and will come across like the one at the end of the "Gotta love an IDI" string in your post. Another way is to click on what is usually three little dots at the bottom of your email window and then delete the extra text and emoticons. That works, but you still have the issue of your emoticons being potentially different than those on the forum. It is your call how you reply on your threads, but bear in mind that if the thread gets hard to read with all the extra "stuff" being copied in you may not get as many people helping you. Most of us have limited time and chose to help in areas where we can quickly grasp the issue, and we tend to pass on ones where we can't easily get our heads around it.

Jim - Thanks for the video. I watched it out to 20 minutes. You are right that his his crimper is yellow and black like mine. But I believe his is the smaller version, probably a 5 ton, while mine is a 16 ton. Here's his on the left and mine on the right and you can see the difference in the heads. As he said, his is cast. And you can see that it has a reinforcement rib because it is open, where mine is closed and doesn't need the rib. What I find interesting is the comparison of his crimper to the 5 ton one from TEMco that I'm considering, which is shown in the picture below. They appear to be the same save for the return spring on the TEMco unit, which addresses what he mentioned - the need for a 3rd hand. I have the same problem with my crimper and have found the same solution - put it on the bench. But he did get nice crimps, and I'd bet he has metric die. I don't know that for sure, but his crimper isn't the TEMco unit and theirs is the only one I'm finding that states that it has AWG die - and half sizes to boot. But he has found the right die/terminal/wire combination to get the right crimp w/o wings. And I've not found that. The closest I can come is by using MagnaLugs, which have significantly thicker sides, and that makes them work fairly well with the metric die and AWG wire. Again, I believe the key is finding the right die/terminal/wire combo, and he has done it and I haven't.

Yep, very similar in everything, inc price at the moment.

I think the EFI installation is for old guys. I'll be doing mine this winter and I'll then be 74.

We probably were close as Janey and I were in Owasso running errands and came back through Collinsville.

I missed the bit about soldering. Hadn't seen the Fusion Connectors. Your link takes you to battery connectors, but there are also Fusion® Solder MagnaLugs®. And those are game changers. Hmmmm, maybe I don't need to crimp?

Come on up, John! Seriously, I do plan to replace this crimper as it is leaking and I don't want to repair it 'cause I don't like it anyway. But right now the TEMco crimper isn't available until April, so we'd have to make do with Old Yeller.

Congrat's, Alan!

You and I, John, are doing very different things. In your case you are replacing factory cables, and the lengths aren't critical. Plus, you can usually turn to the factory lit to find the length they used. But the majority of the cables I've made have needed to be custom lengths. The first use of my crimper was on the boat where I made 2/0 cables to go from the battery selector switch on the starboard side to the batteries on the port side. And, from the switch to the alternator. For Big Blue the first use was installing the 3G alternator, and I needed a cable from the alternator to the megafuse on the power distribution box. Then one from the megafuse to the battery. And neither of those were standard lengths. Then on the driver's side I made cables to go from the aux battery to the battery isolator, from the isolator to the megafuse, and from the megafuse to the aux power relay. All of that was in about a 3' run, and with #2 cable you'd best get the length and clocking correct as there isn't much twist to that cable in those short runs. Then I had a ~10' run from the aux power relay to the inverter, down the fender liner, under the rocker panel, up into the cab in the corner, across the cab under the "step" that the carpeted trucks have, and up into the storage unit and the inverter. That length was critical but it wasn't going to be easy to measure at all as getting a tape to conform the way #2 wire does wasn't going to be easy. So I decided that starting with a terminal on the end at the inverter and just running the wire where it needed to go was the best way. Got it run from the inverter up to the relay, marked it, fished it back, and installed the connector. Plus, 10 different ground cables, as shown below. True, two of them are what you are doing, but the other 8 weren't. Oh yes, there were 6 cables for the winch: power & ground from the battery to the connector; from the connector to the winch; and the 10' jumper that goes between the two connectors to allow the winch to be on the trailer. All in all, I just counted 23 cables I made for Big Blue. (I forgot to tell you about the ground from the inverter to the frame.) With the 3 cables I made for the boat, that makes 52 terminals I've crimped - successfully. And a few more that didn't pass muster. I think maybe I see why the o-ring gave up the ghost on this crimper.

That's a really nice truck! It is going to go for a bunch!

Jim - Maybe he knows something I don't, but I'd sure like to know it. So if you can find that video I'll happily watch it.

Bill - So far I've not been able to find any specs on crimp sizes. In fact, I just spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Amy at QuickCable, who make the MagnaLugs, trying to find that info. She asked around and no one seemed to have it, so she sent a note to Engineering. But what she suggested was to test the pull-out. Yes, I'm sure that's the best way to test, but obviously we don't have the equipment with which to do that. One thing I've read is that there is a volume for a successful crimp of a given size of wire. And since each terminal manufacturer knows the the thickness of the walls on their terminals, they should then know the outside dimensions of a successful crimp. But I'm sure not finding that info. One thing that the TEMco page touts about their crimpers is that they are truly hex shaped - as you can see on the page below. That got me to wondering about the die on my crimper, so I measured a couple of them. The one marked 300 is 21.86 mm high and 23.86 mm wide. The one marked 70 is 12.36 mm high and 13.82 wide. In other words, as you crimp they are pushing more to the side, which probably contributes to the "wings".

Welcome! Glad you found us. I assume you are the L.R.D. that said this on FTE? "oh man, well, don't want to wade into troubled waters there. I did find a bunch of useful info on Gary's site which confirms my suspicion that the problem lies once again with this fuel selector valve." As for the E-Series, while we don't really consider them a Bullnose, they sure share a lot of parts with them, so we should be able to embrace you. (Besides, we have several members who don't have a Bullnose truck.) Where is home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and could add you if we had a zip or city. Who knows, you might be a neighbor? And starting a new thread in the main section would be the best way to ask your questions.

I fold the wings back on the terminal with the crimper by turning it such that the wings catch in the corners of the die and then lightly crimping them. But I get wings on all the crimps using this crimper, which is why I'm hoping the AWG-sized die make the difference. However, I'm learning a bit about crimping, wire sizes, terminals, etc. And apparently there is a correct crimped "size" for each terminal. Still reading and searching...

Mine didn't come with a repair kit. Looks like it needs an o-ring. But I'm not really wanting to take it apart and go find the right o-ring as I'm not all that happy with it anyway. So I'm seriously considering just replacing it and maybe giving it to my nephew if he doesn't have one. Obviously he will need to replace the o-ring. And, he'll need to use Magnalugs. But even then it doesn't really do the job as it leaves "wings".

Scott - Just to make sure I understand, the Chinese yellow-colored one. Right? Not the TEMco ones? Speaking of TEMco, I had several questions for them about their crimpers so called this morning at 10:00 and had to leave a message to call me back. As of 2:00 they hadn't called so I called back and spent 30 minutes on hold. At the end of that time they booted me off hold and had me leave another message. Not too pleased, but I'll give them a chance.

Well, someone on here keeps saying "These trucks are like onions. We keep peeling and crying. But eventually we have a Bloomin' Onion."

Les - You are right! Since my last post in this thread I’ve removed two leaves from the rear spring pack and it really helped with the bump steer. Turned out someone had installed a spring pack with far more capacity than needed and there was NO flex. So on bumps the rear end was apparently stepping sideways. So now the bump steer is pretty much gone, and I forgot to say that here. Thanks!

Nice find, i am liking what i see Don’t miss the smaller, 5 ton TEMco crimpers. I’m going to call them in a bit to make sure I understand, but I think the die are narrower and that probably makes the PSI adequate for up to 2/0 wire. And I don’t need to go larger than that, so I think the smaller device is what I want.

Yes, there are apparently differences I’d not thought about. Like the glow plug light and switch. But if no diesel harness is available then those differences could be accommodated.

It is pushing the boundaries... but not nearly as bad as you often see in my area. My door jamb sticker says 6,100 lb GVWR. At the landfill scale my truck weighs in at 4,200 lbs with a full tank of gas and me in it. So my payload is about 1,900 lbs. 275 gallons of water is 2,200 plus another 100 lbs for the tote. That puts me at 400 lbs over the GVWR. Also note my rims are 16” and I run load range E 235/85R16’s like I did on my F250’s and F350. I keep my speed down and stay off any main roads with that amount of weight, mostly because of braking power and handling. Gary, the F Superduty should finally be at the top of the short list in about another month. As I have shared with you via email, all of my efforts have been going into our house plans, and the research and engineering footwork is extremely intense. I want to get this wrapped up and blueprints submitted ASAP so I can (hopefully) get the foundation dug before it gets truly hot. After many, many hours on the phone with my dad and brother in law I think I have a good path forward with my unusual crawl space and load bearing wall headers that have been confounding me. I’m headed to the county office this morning with some final questions before committing the plans to the 18x24 architectural sheets that I ordered. I’m going to want the big F for both water hauling and building materials. The little F150 is capable but just not the right tool for the job. Jonathan - I understand the need to finalize the plans first. Glad you are essentially there. Hope that goes well. And I hope getting the SuperDuty going is easier than you think.

Bill - I think that is 14401 and, as shown below, there is one specific to the diesel. And I do not know what the differences are.

Bill - I understand that E6 means 1986. But he said “ For a 1996 f150 5.0.” That’s why I’m asking the question. I’d bet it is a typo, but want to make sure before he goes looking for an expensive needle in a haystack.

Danny - Thanks for the intro. Well done, by the way. On your harnii, there are several harnesses in a truck, not just one. But I don't think you will find a new one. And certainly one one harness bumper to bumper as there wasn't one. Go look at the page at Documentation/Electrical/Wiring Harnesses. That lists the individual harnesses that were available, and those in bold print are then listed below, showing the options from the Master Parts Catalog. Perhaps someone else knows what the differences are between the diesel and gas trucks, but I think that was limited to the harnii under the hood. Everything else was the same - I think. So, what we might be able to do is to find the appropriate part numbers for the harness(es) you need and you might find one of them as New Old Stock.

Welcome, Danny! Glad you joined. And thanks for the intro. By the way, we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we'd be happy to add you if you'd like. Saying "Atlanta" is close enough as we don't want street addresses.