Gary Lewis

Makes sense, Jim. I may do a test once I get the radio installed. Go down the road on a call and move the mic around to several places and see what the best spot is for minimum noise and maximum clarity. Would be easy to bring the wire through that rectangular opening above the switches and move it from there to the Highliner and to the visor. Might be very interesting.

David/1986F150Six with his '86 300 six and 3.08 gears and the 4-speed OD transmission said it does really well on the highway. Looking at the calculator his would be turning 1714 and yours 1618 at 70 MPH. So it looks to me like either you are geared just a bit too tall/high or maybe the AOD's TV cable is maladjusted? I don't have any experience at all with the AOD, but just scanned the factory shop manual section on it (Documentation/Driveline/Transmissions/Automatic Transmissions/AOD) and didn't find a symptom listed that describes your problem. But, if it were maladjusted it might come out of OD too early. From what I read any changes to the idle speed or other adjustments to the carb can affect the TV linkage. Have you had work done on the carb? But if the AOD's TV linkage is correctly adjusted, then maybe a gearing change is in order. I've often thought that 3.55 gears coupled with an AOD's .67:1 OD would be a good combo. With 30" tires you'd be turning 1865 R's at 70 MPH, and should be able to handle most hills w/o shifting out.

Thanks, Jim. Glad to see that. If you have a couple of feet tied up and you have it up by the visor's inboard end then there should easily be enough wire to get it to the GMRS radio. And thanks for the tip on the wind sock. By the way, I have the later visors as well.

Thanks, Scott! I need to update the illustrations then. Ford has them wrong, for sure. As for those bolt heads, it looks like Ford changed suppliers and the early ones had the "cylinder" head with the later ones the tapered head. But I'm not sure what the part number is. The snippet below shows the bolts that are supposedly used. We already know where 386274 and 386582 are used, so might it be 386392? I can say that if it is then the MPC is wrong again as the bolts in the pic above are 1 3/8" instead of 2 1/8" as shown below. I think 386392 is probably the bolt used, but can't prove it. On the one hand, the MPC says that it is used on the E-Series vans as well as the F-Series trucks. And yet there is only one illustration in the whole of the MPC that shows it - the E-series van one shown below. So, is this the bolt used on our pickups? Does anyone know of a van they can pull that bolt from to see if it is the one in the pic above?

I agree, I hope we don't have to use it, but having BB as a backup plan for heat sounds pretty good to me. But I'm not sure how balanced that 10' door is in the shop. I've never tried to open it w/o the opener. As for the mic position, I was thinking of Janey. The kids call us when we are traveling and it will be good for them to hear her as well as me. But you have a good point about the readout. Not sure I'll ever get it done, but if I just put the XLT there on a piece of plastic I can easily add the readout. So, if there's enough wire for the mic maybe I should put it in the Highliner. Or, extend the wire. I think I could put it beside the GMRS radio and it would work nicely. And, that would keep it away from noisy things like the transmission, HVAC system, and even the exhaust.

Powerstrokes are. And they have to have an F36 or F37 on the certification label. I guess you got it.

So, regular cab long bed F350's are sought after?

Didn't get much done on Big Blue today, but did some thinking about the storm which is to roll in early tomorrow morning. A couple of days ago we were to get 1 - 3" of snow. A few hours ago it was 4 - 6". And now it is 5 - 8" with blowing and drifting. And temps down to -9F Monday night. So, the possibility of losing electricity exists. But all I'd have to do is to use BB's inverter to power the garage door in the shop and then drive him to the front of the house and use the inverter to power the furnace. I could run the furnace a while and then start the truck and charge the battery. The rear tank is full, so we could do that for quite a while. Also, I did check out the brace in the radio opening. At first blush I was worried that http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/florida-man-42_orig.jpg might have been working on it, but I compared it to another dash I have and they are the same. And it looks like I could cut the brace back a bit if I need to space the bracket away from the radio a bit to clear the microphone plug. But, I can come over the top so it shouldn't be a problem, as Jim said. And, speaking of the microphone, I've been wondering where to put it. And then it dawned on me that I need to fill in the opening above the switches, as seen below. As it turns out the XLT from the original bezel fits in that opening nicely, so what I'm thinking is to fill the opening from the rear with a piece of black plastic and mount both the XLT and the mic to it. I could drill a hole in it and bring the mic through from the back. Thoughts?

I would also love to have seen the pics. Sounds awesome! Dave - I have you beat, I have heat in the shop and a bathroom. But no soft bed.

Ok, I think there is a lot of error in all of this. And part of it is mine. But, in my defense, I was believing the MPC. Silly boy! John was talking about the bolts that hold the shoulder belt reel to the B-pillar and the bottom of the belt to the floor of the cab near the door. Not the seatbelts to the floor behind the seat. I misunderstood that. However, if you look at this illustration from the MPC it clearly shows that the upper and lower bolts are to be a 386582., which have a shoulder on them to allow the seatbelts to swivel. But John pointed out to me that the ones for the belt on the B-pillar do not have that shoulder. So I went looking and, sure enough, the ones in the baggies with the reels that came off Dad's truck don't have the shoulder. Given that I'm sure the MPC is wrong. But can any of you confirm that your truck has bolts without shoulders for the upper and lower attachments on the shoulder harness? And, there were apparently two styles. In the pic below the bolt on top matches the ones John has given the pics he's sent me. And it is now his, although he just doesn't have it yet. But the bottom bolt is from Dad's truck, and I have three others just like it.

If you are willing to go that far I'd suggest you look in the Pacific North West. Oregon and Washington. Several of the guys on here watch the various adverts from there and post the interesting ones on here, and they go much less expensive there than anywhere. And, they are usually in better shape since they don't use salt on the roads.

John - Your bolt doesn't match what the documentation shows. If you go to Documentation/Interior/Seat Belts I think that you'll see that you should have 386582 and 386274. I have one each extra, which you are welcome to. And here's the entry from the Standard & Misc. Parts catalog for those bolts. I am confident that the entry for 386582 is wrong so have marked it up, as shown. And here are my two extra bolts with dimensions.

She wants to meet you 🤣 Stop by sometime for truck talk and a bevy! RIP, Dane!

Sorry to see about your truck and the tree. Bummer!

Jim/ArdWrknTrk put me onto Tabco several years ago and I ordered them. My paint/body man said they are the best he's used. They make them right here in the US and are easy to talk to, very helpful. I highly recommend them.

Ok, was just getting ready to text to understand exactly what you need. Cool! Now I'm off to wire up Mission Control!

Sorry, but the Master Parts Catalog doesn't appear to show any parts for the distributor except the adaptor, cap, diaphragm, and rotor assembly. But, I think that is a standard sized bronze bushing. So I'd use some calipers and determine the ID and OD of a needed bushing and just order one. You might have to cut it to length as they come in standard lengths.

It isn't as easy as you might think. First, it has to be somewhere that won't go away and that will provide an "embed code". My Microsoft OneDrive is used extensively to do just that on the forum and the site, so I downloaded it there. And, you then have to tick the box above entitled "Message is in HTML Format". And having done that you'll quickly discover that formatting isn't the same and you have to click the Formatting button and then click Line Feed to get a blank line between paragraphs. But, having done all that and pasted the embed code in, here 'tis:

Sorry I forgot this yesterday, but here they are: ID # D9TE-10039-BA is part # D9TZ 10A313-A and it was used on a bunch of the Bullnose trucks with the 300 six from 1980 - 84. You can confirm that it fits your truck at Documentation/Electrical/Alternators and the Part Numbers tab. ID # D9TE-9B484-BA is part # D9TZ 9B452-B. HOWEVER, that is not an alternator adjusting arm. Instead it is an ARM (EXHAUST AIR SUPPLY PUMP BELT ADJUSTMENT). An alternator adjusting arm would be base part number 10145, not 9B452.

Welcome, John! Glad you joined. We can help you on your search. Are you willing to travel a ways to buy the truck and drive it home? Are you looking for an F150 or a 250 or 350? (Don't know that I've ever seen a shortbed 250 or 350.) What engine? Also, would you like to be on our map? You can see it at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu.

It is nice and clean, but will it really bring $26.9K? It isn't new, but it isn't old. One thing I noticed is how little wrap there is on the serpentine belt to the alternator. Hard to believe they can keep that belt from chirping when the regulator says DO IT!

Jim - It all adds up, and I've put a lot of "stuff" in and on Big Blue, with more to come like the air compressor. Then there's all the equipment that will go in the storage unit behind the seat. And, the extra 4" in front height from the D60/SD/RSK certainly doesn't help the MPG. But, the ride is sooooo much better I'll happily give up some MPG. Dane - I'll weigh BB one of these days - after I get the compressor installed. I'm going to guess that the Warn bumper, winch, extra battery, inverter, compressor, sound deadening, fancy headliner, and the little bit of extra copper wiring that Jim mentioned it may come in close to 7000 lbs.

Both. You should thank him, but blame him to your wife.

Thanks, Scott. That was my expectation, but I wanted to be sure. Anyway, the $24 one is on order and should be here by next Saturday. Hopefully by then I'll have the switches and radio wired and be ready to install it.

Tim - My comment about the weight limit was on the Northern Tool step, not your unit.