Gary Lewis

It worked out great and I'm very happy I did it. So thanks for pushing. I never would have been happy with the horrible ride of the TTBs, and now we have a ride we can live with. Janey said just the other day how huge of a difference it made.

So far 4 of us have voted and all have given them 5 stars. I'd set it up so they'd get email each time someone comments but can't find an email address that looks appropriate on their site.

I think the sweet spot is probably what I did in the thread Sky's Offroad Design Super Duty RSK Install. I went with a D60 & front driveshaft from a 1995 F350 and 2005 U-code Superduty springs. As I said, I'd still consider the later coil sprung approach but I think that while it would ride better it causes you to need to change out the rear axle as well to keep the wheel bolt pattern the same.

Good list. Here's where we are on that: Camp chairs: They'll be in. Awning: Already sitting right beside Big Blue to be loaded when the time comes. Lunch: We plan to pack a lunch each day, and had just talked about that yesterday. Not sure if we'll buy a lunch or buy the makings and make our own. But we'll get ice at the hotel to keep the lunch and drinks cold in the small ice chest we are bringing. Drink: We plan to bring water and soft drinks. We'll have water in the cab as well as bottles in the bed, and soft drinks & water in the little ice chest. First aid kit: I have a commercial kit that is part of Big Blue as it is held by Velcro just inside the driver's door behind the seat. It is pretty comprehensive. Clothes: Janey has sun-protective clothing that takes out the vast majority of the sun's rays, as well as a hat and a special umbrella. She may get out when the going gets rough but she will be protected. I'll be in either jeans or cargo shorts and a tee shirt - one of which says Bullnose. But we will probably also bring rain jackets, just in case. Shoes: I have a pair of Merrell hiking shoes that have literally been around the world. They aren't fancy but they get the job done. Not sure what Janey will bring as she left her Merrells in Switzerland last fall as they were worn out. I do have a pair of short boots I wear in the shop, but don't know that I need them on this trip. Thoughts? Fire extinguisher: It is beside the first aid kit. We have company coming tomorrow, a church work day on Tuesday, and class to get ready for on Wednesday. But hopefully on Thursday I'll get the new Sony stereo in and calibrate the AFR meter. If, as I suspect, the calibration doesn't solve that problem I'll order a new O2 sensor. At that point it'll be change plugs, check lubricant levels, grease the various parts, give the truck a bath, and start packing.

So, I have removed the sway bar and both radius arm nuts. The 1-inch ratchet strap is hooked to my Silverado. I am only able to move the axle forward 1-2 inches. I also used the floor jack so the axle wasn't just hanging. What now? You are supporting the truck with a jack stand under the frame, right? And you have the rear wheels blocked so the truck can't possibly move. I think you need a larger strap, meaning one with more capacity and with a larger lever. The one I used was at least 2" wide and much heavier than yours, and it was a hard pull.

Good points! I forgot about the bolt-pattern change, and that would be a deal-breaker for me. And don't use TTB springs on a solid axle! Yes, my D60 came with a double-cardan joint in the front shaft, which does take a different output yoke on the t-case. I'd want to do that to keep the vibrations down. And yes, I'm running U-code Superduty springs. With the D60 plus RSK I think the front of the truck went up 4", so while the rear had been 2" higher it came out level when I put the 4" blocks in the rear in place of the 2" blocks. And yes, that 4" of lift makes a difference - as my wife comments on frequently.

Yes, especially in propaganda. The statement that it could "allow anyone with similar tools to take a photo of a person found online and make them appear to say whatever they want" is scary. However it won't be able to pick up someone's mannerisms from a single picture, so it will be possible to figure out that it is a fake. But it won't be immediately obvious to people who've not watched that person extensively, and before it is labeled a fake the damage will have been done. We watched a movie the other evening that had an actress in it that we saw in a multi-season series several years ago. We'd seen her so much that when she made a particular move in this movie we remembered that move from a specific scene in the series. So if someone took a picture of her and made it into a video we might be able to say it is a fake. But even then it is a subjective call and there's no proof.

Oh no! So sorry! Hope everyone is fine.

I agree, Cory, so one of those 5 stars came from me. I have now ordered 3 things from them over the years, but am kicking myself for not having ordered the Sony DSX-GS80 from them. I found a special deal on one for about 3/4 the going price and I've had fits with it. I'm now thinking it was a return, probably because of exactly the problem I had. It took me 3 years and 2 months to figure out what the problem was, and the warranty is only 3 years. So Sony nor the original vendor would help, but I feel that Crutchfield would have had I purchased from them. As it was, their support tech took a lot of time helping me try to fix the problem - even though she knew I'd not purchased from them. Now I have.

I think I found such a crankshaft pulley for Dad's truck. I say "think" because I've not mounted it yet to find out if the sheaves line up with the alternator's pulley - which I had to make. The issue is that the vast majority of pulley's have different sized grooves for the belt driving the alternator vs the belt driving whatever else was installed. Apparently there are very few crank pulleys with the same sized grooves. Ditto the alternator pulley, but since those are made of aluminum and I have a lathe, I modified one. But that's not possible with the stamped crankshaft pulley. Personally I wouldn't worry about it, at least not initially. If you have a good wrap of the belt on the pulley and an LRC regulator I think you'll be fine.

It is a shame that yours is an 85 as in 86 the F350's got D60s. But those were solid axles, not TTBs. I swapped to a D60 and used Superduty springs and a Sky Offroad reverse shackle kit. Love it. I went from at most 2" of articulation in front to 8". And a MUCH better ride. Plus a bit shorter turning radius. So the question becomes how far you want to go. You can go with a D60 and stock leaf springs. Or stock leaf springs and a reverse shackle kit. Or Superduty springs, which are 6" longer and give a better ride. Or SD springs and a reverse shackle kit. But, there are now kits to adapt the later solid axles and coil springs. So if I were doing it now that's what I'd consider as it'll give you an even better ride.

Good work, Shaun!

Yes, there is: Crutchfield.

What is there to say about Crutchfield, the electronics supplier?

I verified that constant power is being supplied to the keep-alive circuit to the Sony and then spent quite a while with their tech support getting instructions on how to re-boot the system in order to get the Bluetooth to work correctly. And after each re-boot I was to ensure that Auto Pairing was turned off and then manually pair my iPhone and test. I did all of that but the Sony would auto-pair with my phone each time whether Auto Pairing was on or off. But it seemed to work fine and wasn't forgetting my phone - until I turned the Garmin Montana on. The Sony auto paired with it and the problems started with the phone. I rebooted and let the Sony auto pair with the phone and it worked fine. But when I turned the Montana on again the Sony auto-paired with it and the Sony started forgetting the phone. And I did that with Auto Pairing on as well as off. Called Sony back and they said the unit is bad and since I entered it into their system in November of 2021 I was within the 3 year warranty and they'd replace it if I sent them a copy of the purchase receipt. Unfortunately the receipt shows it was purchased 3 years and 2 months ago, so they won't do anything for me. As it turns out I purchased the unit from CarID for $159 instead of the normal $248. So I wonder if it was a return, maybe because of the Bluetooth problem? Anyway, this time I talked with Crutchfield and they said that if I order a new one from them and have the same problem they'll take it back. So it is on order and will be here Wednesday.

Welcome! Glad you joined. Where's home? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you with a city/state or zip. I'll watch for another thread with your problem discussion.

Those were the original Compartment (door trim panel map) as Ford calls them. I think those were used from 1980 through 1984 and then the smaller carpet ones came out in 85.

Cory - As we discussed, the later bed will be a deal-breaker for me. But it is a nice truck. As for Rick's Lucille, it is at $20,100 right now, with 2 days and 3 hours left.

Thanks Gary. Preparing the surgery, I am reading all documents I can find here and there, and I begin to see clear. But sometimes I can fall on irrelevant or old info. Don’t worry, I won’t go on before summarize the process here and get my mentors imprimatur. For the moment, I’m still in the theory, measurements and products analysis. Ok, so this will meet RCCIndustries installation instructions, I mean the LG/R wire coming from the ignition switch is a switched power source? Yes, the LG/R wire comes from the ignition switch and is hot in Start or Run. So you don't need the relay.

On the return trip from Hinton we stopped at the outlet malls in OKC and I had some time on my hands so I made some calls. AFR Meter: The first was to AEM, the ones who make the AFR gauge I have. After explaining the situation the guy said he thinks the O2 sensor just needs to be calibrated, that they need to be calibrated about every three months. But that if I've been running this one a year then it may be time to replace it as they don't last very long. So I'll go through the calibration process, but I doubt that will do it as I'm getting the same symptoms this time as last and it took replacement then. So that sent me researching the situation and I found this article: Why Bosch LSU wide-band air/fuel ratio (or Lambda) sensors fail so often in aftermarket performance applications. And one thing that says is "If using a stand-alone controller without an engine speed input, never let your controller heat the sensor prior to starting the engine. One way to guarantee this is to power the controller off of its own relay which is not turned on until after the engine is started." I'm thinking this may well be part of the problem as my AEM unit comes on in either Run or Accessory, so I've probably turned the key on for a while before starting the engine, which has a hot sensor getting hit by cold condensation. Given that I'm thinking I'll replace the sensor if needed, but be very careful NOT to let it heat before starting the engine. But if it fails again I'll put a relay in the circuit controlled by the oil pressure switch. Sony: The next call was to Crutchfield as I was sure I'd purchased the Sony DSX-GS80 stereo from them. As it turns out I purchased it elsewhere but they gave me good customer support anyway. And their recommendation was to do a system reset and test it to see if it holds radio presents and Bluetooth pairings. I did the reset and re-paired my phone and it then immediately forgot the phone when I turned the key off. So I need to try the radio preset trick, but if it fails then they said I need to make sure the keep-alive voltage isn't going away when I turn the key off.

I have a Blue Top on Big Blue, and love it. It made a huge improvement in the steering, and that was over a high-dollar box from Summit the PO put on in 2012. It cost $300 back then and was never "right". The Blue Top fixed it and for less money.

Jeff - You shouldn't combine what we discussed in the Rethinking The 3G Conversion Pages/Process thread and what's on the 3G Conversion page. The thread is, as its title says, a rethink of how to wire a 3G. The 3G Conversion page is old-think. The reason for the relay was because I wanted to know the actual battery voltage rather than the voltage in the cab - and those are two different things. So I wanted the voltmeter to be connected to the circuitry as close to the battery as is possible, and that required a relay to turn power off to the volt meter when the key was off. But the new-think is that people don't really care exactly what the voltage is, so tap into a source of switched power because then you won't need the relay. (After all, there are no numbers on the Rocketman voltmeters, so they cannot be terribly accurate.) Given that we decided to wire it as shown below, and the LG/R wire comes from the ignition switch and provides both power to the alternator to bootstrap it in but also to the voltmeter. In other words, no relay is needed.

Good luck! 👍

Well, good news and bad. I had saved parts list 258 on my One Drive so was able to look at it here. But 4663 is part of kit 4209 and is not available separately, at least from what this says. Sorry!

Jim - we are traveling and I don’t bring my tablet and just have my phone. And on it I guess I’m seeing what you’ve been seeing - I get “Request is blocked” or “A problem repeatedly occurred”. No matter how many times I try or whether I go landscape or portrait I get one or the other of those messages. We hope to be home this evening and I can do it then. But can you tell me the base part number from the drawing?