Gary Lewis

Man, that is a bunch of problems! Glad you got through them, and glad the carb now seems to work well. Good job!

Thanks, Jim.

Fixed it for you.

Sounds great, Ty! I'll look forward to it.

Oh, my bad. I actually don't know where the end is supposed to go on the front. The illustration below is all the info I have. But on BB, knowing I'm likely to ford a stream or two, I put the filter under the master cylinder and turned the hose down from there.

That looks GREAT! I love the seats and the console/buddy seat. You'll have to tell us how comfortable they are after you get to spend several hours in them.

Yes, that's probably the rear axle vent tube, and it is supposed to have one of the little caps in the end and go up on the frame, right under the bed. But I normally put a fuel filter on it and then a short piece of hose turned down. That way dirt isn't falling in it, but can't get through if it did. Anyway, it is really taking shape, Cory! That is a lot of work in a short period of time.

Got the microphone for the Sony radio installed. And then made a couple of calls to test it out. The party to which I was calling said it sounded loud and clear. But it wasn't as clear on my end as I'd expected, so I after the calls I did some checking. Turns out there is a feature to set which speakers the phone's sound comes through. It was set to "Front" and I set it to "Rear" so the sound will be from the speakers in the Highliner that are much closer to the ears. But for whatever reason that feature isn't available when the unit is being used. Only when no audio source is selected and the clock is being displayed. So at this point I think the radio installation is done, with the exception of the rear mount, and I got a notification today that it is on its way. As is the OX shifter cable. So later this week I may be able to install both of those. And the Molex connectors came in today. Yep, Sunday via USPS. They seem to be trying to outdo the others as the connectors weren't due until tomorrow. And the shoulder harness bolt I sent John went out on Friday and was received on Saturday. Go USPS! So tomorrow I can connect up the Mission Control switches and put the dash pad/cover back on and the interior will be done. Well, there are few little things, like changing out the blue LEDs on the aftermarket gauges for white ones and lining the storage unit with foam or somesuch to keep rattles down. And then there are the hooks I want to put in the Highliner for the GMRS radio's microphone cord. But, at least "essentially done". Maybe Tuesday I can start installing relays for the fog and backup lights. Then we have some errands to run on Wednesday so plan to take Big Blue on them to test things out. Last, here's the mic for the phone:

My cousin Vinny! Where you been? Anyway, probably time for an update for y'all. Pedro, the admin that's been working to get the Nabble software running on our AWS servers has been hung up doing other things and still hasn't gotten the email notifications working yet. But he knows he won't get paid until he does, so it'll happen. And that is about all that is keeping us from going live on the new servers. Hopefully soon!

Didn't know that. So with 300 RPM of slip in the torque converter and 33" tires WOT will be 71 MPH @ 3300 RPM.

I looked at something like that for Big Blue, Chris, as it seemed a good way to get a screen for a backup camera. But my use of the medium-duty bezel for the switches precluded having a slide out screen as it wouldn't clear. However for your truck it should work well, and with the kits you should be able to bolt it in and plug it in.

You could do as you said and buy carpet and cut it to fit. But I think the panels that go in the back have a finished edge. Not sure of that, but that's my remembrance. And there's no backer board. I think it just hangs there and is trapped by the corner trim.

That was my point, exactly. But, there's another aspect to the "slow" I mentioned. With 4.10 gears and the ~300 RPM slippage in the C6 coupled with the limited RPM of the engine you aren't going anywhere very fast. With 33" tires it'll be taching 3000 RPM at 65 MPH. As said, I've not had a diesel, but my reading says that RPM is pushing it.

It is a nice looking truck. But isn't the price a bit high? It doesn't have a turbo and has a C6 with 4.10 gears, so it is going to be thirsty. And maybe slow? I don't know, I'm just thinking it will be from what I've read. But I've not had a diesel, much less that combo.

You seem to be collecting things, why not an odd flatbed? But you are right, it is odd. Probably a good use for an old motorhome if the "home" part was toast. Those things would probably be really hard to repair as they weren't very stout to begin with. So just removing it might be a good idea. That bed looks like you could land an airplane on it! Man, it sure looks loooooong.

Wow, it really looks good! Well done. And the gauge looks good as well. But while you may remember your wife's inability to see the difference the next time she gets a haircut, I suggest you keep the memory to yourself. That actuator looks badly worn. Wow! I'll bet that did make a difference. But are you having problems where the key doesn't come fully back to Run each time and some circuits don't come on? That usually is the switch adjustment. But if you are going to play with the switch you might want to take it off so you can clean and lube it. And while you have it out put the alignment pin in it before you put it back on. Cleaning up old leaks is par for the course on these trucks. At least someone replaced the part. And apparently they changed the diff lube. So someone did care for the truck. All in all, you've peeled a lot of layers on the onion. One of these days you can have a mess of onion rings!

A quick overview of how it works: Power goes through the ballast resistor in the wiring to the + side of the coil. The DS-II module is connected to the - side of the coil exactly like points would have been in the old days. The module turns "on" as directed by the pickup in the distributor and effectively grounds the - side of the coil, causing current to flow. And when it is time to fire the plug the distributor says "now" and the DS-II module quits grounding the coil, just like points would have done. The EMF stored in the coil collapses and causes the spark. But a low ohm/high output coil causes more current to flow than the module was designed to handle and it gets hot and eventually fails. So that is why it isn't a good idea. As for the miss, how long has it been since you put new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor on? If they are all new then how much throttle do you have on it at the time? Perhaps the mix is too lean? Rich isn't likely to cause a miss, but lean might. Another thought - pull the distributor cap and check out the wiring going to the pickup inside it. I've seen situations where the wire's insulation was failing and it would short to the side of the distributor at certain points in the vacuum advance's movement. Make sure those wires are good!

The obedient husband - with a truck. Well done!

Like Jim said, it isn't recommended to use low ohm coils with a DS-II system. They just can't handle the extra load and could leave you on the side of the road at the worst possible time. I wouldn't do it.

Cool, or COLD! Yes, beautiful scenery, and probably lots of fun.

I'm assuming you mean a selectable locker, like an ARB or an OX. For winter driving it may well be the best. Open diff stability almost all of the time, spool traction the few times you need it. And from what I've heard from people who do much mountain snow 'wheeling it's all they'll use (driving sidehill with anything other than two open diffs can do downhill in a hurry, pun intended). The main downside to selectable lockers in the cost. They are the most expensive diffs out there. But you're only talking a few hundred bucks, so it's not an overwhelming thing. Another downside is needing to do something to use them. Not saying that should be a big factor, but for instance when trail riding it's kind of nice to not have to think about when to engage the locker. Another way to look at it is that a selectable CAN provide the WORST of both worlds, spool binding and lack of stability when you don't need it, open diff lack of traction traction when you need it. Obviously it doesn't have to be that way, it just depends on how much you're staying on top of it. And for the scenario of winter daily driving it wouldn't be much hassle. One more thing I guess is that a lot of selectables are air-actuated, so if you didn't have your compressor running before needing it you might need to wait a bit while the pressure builds up before you can use it. Something to consider. Of course there are also electrically actuated selectables, including most (all?) of the factory-offered lockers. I don't know much about them, but I do hear of people replacing a factory locker with something from the aftermarket (I suspect that's due to factory lockers being more cost-conscious and less over-built than some aftermarket, but that's just a guess). And I've heard a few people less than entirely pleased with some aftermarket selectables (slightly flaky operation at times). There's also the OX locker that is mechanically actuated. You can also put an air cylinder on the cover (like I have) and make it air-actuated, or put an electric actuator on the end of the mechanical cable (like Gary is doing) and make it electrical. The biggest hassle with mechanical is routing the cable (it can't bend as sharply as an air line or wire) and mounting the hand lever (bulkier than a switch or valve). Bottom line is that nothing's perfect, but there are a lot of good options. Yes, I meant selectable lockers like OX or ARB. Or the one that came from Ford on Blue's rear axle. Here's what the owner's manual says about it: I'm surprised it'll stay locked up to those speeds. Further, I didn't know you could get the truck above 56 MPH in 4Lo. Anyway, you are right that I'm installing an electric actuator on the OX for Big Blue's front axle. I like that idea a lot better than using air 'cause I don't have to make sure the pressure is up on the compressor before locking in.

Chad - I don't see any reason you can't do it that way. My reason for going with the later FDM's was because I'm going with 90's EFI later and wanted a "stock" system to make it easier for my offspring to support. But you aren't worried about that, so it should work fine for you.

Got the radio installed today. A dozen wires soldered and heat shrunk, then convolute over them. And it works! However, the old radio only had 11 wires as the LB/R instrument light wire wasn't connected. So I went looking for it since I wanted to have that feature work on this radio and I knew it should have been in the 3-conductor plug going to the original radio. Yep, there it was - along with the plug itself, laying in the middle of the levers for the HVAC controls. No wonder sometimes the controls didn't want to move properly. http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/florida-man-42_orig.jpg strikes again! And again. And again! Anyway, I'm really, REALLY impressed with this radio. Several things are sooooo much better than the old radio. For instance, the settings stay when power is disconnected, and there are a TON of settings. And those settings make a huge difference in the sound, so I didn't want to lose them. Another difference is that the clock sets automagically. Neither Blue nor Janey's Merc does that. Plus, with this one you can have two Bluetoothed phones in the cab and you can answer which ever one rings. Not so with Blue or the Merc, they only let one be "active" - whichever connects first. And I also figured out how to share my iPhone's contact and call info, which wasn't the easiest setting to find. So now I can easily make calls, see who is calling, etc. Speaking of which, I called Janey several times and tested the mic in various places. It isn't all that directional, but it seemed to work very well up here, so I think I'll put it up there tomorrow. Then I'll be ready for the connectors when they come in on Monday, assuming they do.

Ty - Sorry you had that problem. But you appear to have it sorted. John - Check out the page now. I made a few changes to the pic showing where to cut your harness, as shown below. Does that help? Still don't have the "this wire does that" info on it, but let's get the cutting right first.