Gary Lewis

That's good to know. Are the two colors pretty close to each other? I sprayed SEM's blue over my black panels and they came out great. So if at some point you have to repaint that's what I'd recommend.

Excellent! Let us know, please.

Jim - You have a very valid point about pulling the relay in with the stator! I hadn't thought of that, but it is a bad idea. Thanks! And, I think I agree with you on the voltmeter wiring being a personal decision. My problem is how to show that on the page that we have? If I could figure that out I'd happily address it on the Voltmeter tab and give the people several options. That way we won't have to address it in each of the scenarios. As for the ammeter, I had roughly the same situation you described. Drove Dad's truck from here up to see him about 100 miles and we went out to eat that evening before I was to head home. That's when I realized that the lights were dim, and then the engine started to miss. Yep, the alternator had died early in the trip but there wasn't enough pull through the ammeter to see it without anything on in the cab. So while the ammeter idea is good, the fact that you can't see small discharges isn't workable. If I'd had a voltmeter I'm sure I'd have seen it.

Thanks, Bill. But on the voltage being measured, we are recommending that they measure battery voltage not ignition switch voltage. If you look at the schematic the voltmeter has its positive leg tied to the fuse link that drops onto the starter relay's battery post. Jim, Scott, and I had a discussion about it a few days ago. Scott had a good idea that we could use the LG/R wire that is coming from the ignition switch to run the voltmeter, and while that will work Jim and I convinced him that it is better to know the voltage at the battery rather than in the cab since the latter will vary by what is turned on. I've enjoyed watching the voltage on Big Blue now that I have the 3G. There are times when I've had the lights on in the cab and the underhood light on for days working on it and the battery is down a bit. When I start it the voltage goes to a bit over the top line on the Rocketman voltmeter, which is about 14.4v. But as the day goes on I can see the regulator cut that back to just under 14v. So I know the battery is fully charged. And, I can see the same thing on the aux battery voltmeter, which has a 270 degree sweep and has numbers on the scale. So I know that both batteries are getting fully charged and all is well with the charging system.

I'm in: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/3g-conversion---in-development.html

It looks to be rosin from the wave soldering, from what I've seen. But it wouldn't have to drop the input down. There are other circuits in that system that might stop it.

Ah! Ok. Thanks for the explanation. Still, I'm looking for any input I can get on what is out there. Hello?

Glad it works, Matt. But if you pull it again see if there's "yuk" on the PCB. I've read that it can cause problems.

Well done, CORY! Getting to drive it must be such a high! Such a wonderful feeling.

Could you explain that, please? I understand that your truck came with a voltmeter, but why can't you have an opinion? And what's this about balancing a battery?

OK guys, time for me to quit as my head hurts. Not sure how much is the COVID shot and how much is due to beating it against the proverbial brick wall of Weebly. But, please review what I've done, and remind me later that the Choosing An Alternator tab needs lots of work, especially re clocking. Anyway, I think these things may be done: Wiring It tab and then the 3G Harness tab. Pretty much a carry over from the previous page, but may need some formatting. Wiring It/Circuit Protection: Ditto above, a carryover Wiring It/2G Wiring Changes/Keep Shunt: This is John's scenario and I think it is pretty close. However, it certainly isn't done with respect to the voltmeter. And here's my problem - there are two ways to solve this. One is to leave the R/O wire connected to the shunt @ S203 and then ground the Y/LG wire with a relay pulled in by the stator wire or the LG/R wire. This would serve all situations. Or, we could suggest that those that have the 351HO use the choke relay. So, do we have two scenarios? I'm inclined to say we forget the choke relay and recommend everyone use a relay to ground the voltmeter. Thoughts, please!

I think we are together if by "stages" you mean the following for each scenario: Here's a pic of your harness, what each of the wires are, and where you can cut them Here's the original schematic Here's what to cut on the schematic Here's the to-be schematic inc where you should splice what wires together. And as an example of the harness pic, here's what I'm working on at present - at John's request:

Since the documentation side is hosted on Weebly there are different rules there than here on the forum. So being an admin on the forum doesn't get you editing rights on Weebly, and vice versa. I can give editing rights to individual pages on Weebly to whomever, so I could set Bob up as an editor of the Rear Axles & Differentials page. But then he has to learn how to edit and that's not the easiest thing to do, as I've remembered today while working on the site.

Just curious about the mechanics of how I would change things from the starting point. Would it be essentially like a thread where I'd be able to edit it? Or something else? Regardless of the answer to that, I'm thinking that I'd want to make enough changes to what I wrote 5 years ago that it might be better if I wrote something new up and we (you?) just posted that. I could either e-mail it to you or even just post it in a thread that you could pull it from. We can do it one of two ways. You can write something up, maybe in Word, and email it to me. Or I can give you editor access to that page and you can modify it as you see fit. I suspect that Word will be easier for you as you won't have to learn anything about layout on Weebly, so suggest we do that. And it will be a page where there's no ability to comment. Not a thread. Please take a look now at Documentation/Driveline/Axles & Differentials, then the Bob's Thoughts On Differentials tab. As said in there, the title of that tab is TBD, and that is just a place-holder.

I still cant find any information on how the dummy 1G regulator is supposed to work. It some how is supposed to reroute the wiring to make a 3G internal regulator plug and play but you still have to change the connectors on the OE harness that plugged into the 1G alternator. I looked at it as I am trying to find a way to make my change but have it plug and play over cutting and splicing the wiring. Big reason why I am looking for a OE harness either original or reproduction that I can cut apart and reroute the wires to make my connections. Rusty - I don't know anything about a dummy 1G regulator, but I suspect it is just a wiring trick to allow you to use a 3G where a 1G was. And if it does what I think it does and puts the output of the alternator right back into the shunt to charge the battery you'd better not put a 130A 3G in there as the shunt won't take it. Anyway, I'll let others address that as I'm trying to get something going on the new 3G page

You are way ahead of my game, Jim. Or maybe I'm way behind my game? I'm working right now on the 2G conversion 'cause that's what John is doing, and I thought that would be a really good test. But as I put things in there unless I hit PUBLISH you won't see them. So while there's more to see than you are seeing, we are FAR from having content. So the real question to y'all is does the new layout work? And disregard the 1996 3G page that's floating around at the bottom. Haven't decided whether to use it or delete it yet, so it is just hanging around. You should be able to go to Documentation/Electrical/3G Upgrades/3G Upgrades - In Development and see the layout.

Well, it isn't just an inverter. Here's what Forbes says:

But since you have a transfer case on the truck doesnt it have a PTO spot where you could throw in a PTO driven air compressor? This would remove the electrical load youd need for running a electric air compressor and you can be airing up the tank while you are wheeling off road. That is what I was thinking of doing if I did the 4wd conversion, running a PTO driven aircompressor so all I would have to mount to the truck would be an air tank. The transfer cases don't have PTO options, but my ZF5 does. However, there's not much room beside the tranny and I'm not familiar with PTO. This option came up and I went with it. But I can easily top up the tank while on the trail by pushing buttons in Mission Control. If Aux Power is on, which it would be normally when the key is on but can be brought on when the key is off, the inverter will be running. And then just turn the Air Compressor switch on and it'll top up the tank - to 200 PSI. However, that also means I have power for all sorts of accessories, like charging this tablet, and my battery-powered tools, and ... Apparently Ford thinks this is a good idea as their new 2021 trucks have serious AC power as an option, with levels of 2.0, 2.4, and 7.2 KW. My 3.0KW fits right in there.

Chad - I've noticed on both my F150's and F250 that with the truck on the lift the driveshaft is really hard to get in. In fact, the other day when I reinstalled the rear shaft on Big Blue I had to use a small pry bar to get it in. So I think I'd jack the rear up and measure in that condition and make the shaft slightly less than that. Doing so will give you the maximum extension when the weight comes down on the truck, ensuring the shaft won't come apart.

Is there a reason you are installing a power inverter? Im kinda curious on that. I know when I was looking at the 4wd conversion I was looking at throwing a PTO driven airpump on mine so I can have a airhorn without the stupid electric pump but I have to limit myself I am adding way too much to what I want to add to my truck and its going to be more like a cluttered new truck than it is an old truck thats easy to work on. Yes, there is a reason - to power the air compressor below. And the main need is to air the tires back up at the end of a trail. I'll air down to ~15 psi before hitting a trail, but the end of many of the trails in Colorado is back on the blacktop, so I'll have to air back up if I'm going very far/fast. The compressor will be split up, with the tank going below the bed in front of the right rear tire. The compressor itself will go in the tool box in the bed. If I'm just topping the tank up, like towards the end of the trail, I can run it with the lid closed. But when I get to the end of the trail I'll open the lid, get the air hose and plug it in, and air the tires up. With the lid open the compressor will get plenty of air as it cycles on and off while I'm airing up.

Go look at Documentation/Electrical/3G Conversion/3G Conversion - In Development. So, yes. But Bible class starts in 8 minutes and then church, so I'll pick it up after lunch. Comments on what's there would be appreciated! Very VERY much a work in progress.

I could probably do something like that. I've already written up an overview in this thread on FTE. I'd want to rewrite some of it because I've learned more since then, but it gives me an easy starting place. I'm not sure that I can promise much on pictures, diagrams, links, videos etc. though. I have a few links to other people's videos and explanations that I think are pretty good, so I can use those. But that's not a lot, and I'm not promising that I'll dig enough to find a lot more. The FTE thread is a very good start. In fact, we could use most of that just the way it is. I'm thinking of something like this: Intro: Tells who you are and why you are qualified to write this - exactly as you've done Rear Diff tab: Type 1 Type 2 tab Type 3 tab Types 4 - n tabs Front Diff tab: Maybe everything you have in that post on the one tab? If you want I could create a page and use the info from the posts in that thread to give you a starting point. Thoughts?

When I first got the truck on the road the pinging was worst and I adjusted the vacuum back a good amount to stop most of the pinging. I did think about adjusting it again as it is easy to do and as said would keep the timing earlier. It did start with just a tap of the key when it was up pretty high, still not bad where its at. Before the adjusting yesterday it would ping at about 1800 RPM @ 45 MPH in 4th gear -back roads. After I got a little pinging at about 1400 /1500 RPM @ 68 MPH in 4th over drive - high way, did not ping at the 1800 RPM/45 MPH so going in the right direction. Do you remember when working on David/1986F150Six's what octane was used and if it had ethanol? I am using regular so low octane and it does have ethanol. I have run a tank(s) of mid grade octane and had no pinging before I did the adjusting yesterday so octane dose make a difference in my truck. I am also guessing the blow by has to be making pass the rings and a part cause of the pinging also even if I don't get any oil smoke out the tail pipe. A little more time and a good timing light we will get her dialed in Dave ---- David was running 87 octane pure gas. No ethanol. On yours, you may be getting carbon deposits from the oil. Or maybe running way rich.

That's not so much timing that I'd expect pinging on a 300 six. If I remember correctly, we had David/1986F150Six's up to about that at one point but didn't have pinging. But if you are still getting it at 12 - 14 then I'd suggest you change the vacuum advance and not the initial timing. If your vacuum advance can has the adjustment most do just take a turn or two out and see if that doesn't help. That way you'll still have the earlier timing everywhere but at part throttle in a tall gear, which is where I'm guessing you are getting the pinging.

I would ask for a pic, but I'm guessing you can't tell if from a stock ammeter. Right? But did you take any pics along the way of the internals? And how you mounted it? If so those might be helpful for others. Thanks.