Gary Lewis

Thanks, Shaun. I assumed it was splined and since pulling on it did nothing I decided to bypass that step. The hose appears to be working fine and was just about the right size because the split has closed up. But the ears of the clamp have closed up as well, so we are as tight as we are going to get. If it slips I may pull it off and put a turn of friction tape on the shifter before placing the hose back on. That will give it a bit more friction (can't come up with a better word), but I don't think I'll have to do that.

Man, I'd melt down in a hurry if I got that little of sleep! I don't see how you do it.

Yes, progress is GOOD! And you are making progress, little by little.

Good progress, Jim. Especially when you were in bed the whole time. Please be careful!

You'll be north of us at Black Canyon. My brother and I saw plenty of it when we went to Ouray with Big Blue a few years ago. They had US 50 closed at one point and routed us through there on the way out. But on the way back we got lucky and 50 was open again. Let's plan to meet up Sunday afternoon in Moab. If we can't get a shake maybe we can get something else. And yes, there isn't a bad route. We aren't in a hurry so will enjoy the drive from Raton to Durango, up over Wolf Creek Pass.

Sounds like fun, Dave!

We took it to Ponca City and back three weeks ago for ~200 miles. Two weeks ago Steve/FoxFord33 and I took it to Stillwater and back to get that Mountaineer that he called an Explorer - again 200+ miles pulling the trailer. (The difference is significant in that the Merc came as AWD and the Ford didn't.) And next week's jaunt will push 500 miles. I think we might qualify for "driving it". But if that doesn't qualify I'll bet the ~1000 miles to Moab surely will. We plan to take the "middle" route, meaning out the Oklahoma panhandle to Clayton, NM for 433 miles and 7 hours and 10 minutes. The next day will be through Raton to Durango, which is 362 miles and 6 hours and 13 minutes, although we'll stop in Raton at the quilt shop. Then from Durango it is 158 miles and 2 hours & 45 minutes to Moab. So we hope to be there around lunch time.

Bob - Pluto is getting warmed up! Not long now! Erik - I applaud your efforts. I farmed my body work out several years ago and it worked out great, but now that guy has retired and there's no one else that I think I can trust. I hope I don't need body work.

Yes, we are! Unless you come up with something else () I think the mod's to the truck are done. There may be an adjustment or two, but now I think it is time to start checking on what tools, recovery gear, etc I have in the truck. Janey and I are taking it to SW OK next Thursday and Friday to drive the Sugar Creek Loop, eat at White Dog Hill restaurant, and then visit the outlet mall in OKC on the way home. It'll be a good shakedown run for the truck after going through the steering, adding the clutch switch bypass and hand throttle, and tightening the power steering connections. Oh yes, I have to also turn the Ewissions light off. It came on, yet again, while putt putting around moving the trailer. I'm sure it is P1506, meaning the engine RPM was higher than the ECU wanted it to be, which usually happens when I'm slowing down in a low gear and the inertia keeps spinning the engine. Haven't figured out how to prevent that.

Doug - You are now on the map. What did you retire from?

Done! And I quit giving it throttle at 3000 RPM, so I think it works. Lots of details to share in case someone is wanting to do this. First, the bushing to go around the t-case shift lever. Theirs has to be drilled out to get it over the lever, but my first attempt wasn't too productive so I cut a piece of 1/2" hose & split it. Worked perfectly. Next, I moved the hand throttle lever to max and wrapped the cable through the ferrule, bead connector, & again through the ferrule and crimped the ferrule with about 1/4" between it and the adjustment piece to ensure that won't limit the travel. Then I cut off the excess cable. Then I backed the hand throttle off to Min and took the slack out of the chain, left an extra bead, and cut the excess off. And with the connector on there's enough slack that it doesn't interfere with the foot throttle. In fact, the hand throttle doesn't start increasing the RPM until the lever is moved quite a ways, so I'm sure that another bead could be taken out. However, since I can get to 3000 RPM I don't see a need to do that. And, here are a couple of shots of the control. I didn't cut any of the outer sheath off so I could relocate it pretty much anywhere if I don't like it there.

I just sent the two of you an email to connect you.

Mid-morning report - it is ready under the hood. Drilled the Nylon end for the speed control cable, found about the right place on the bracket for the knurled piece that the cable sheath goes into, drilled and tapped the bracket for that piece, and put the piece in - from the back so it is ready for the cable. Obviously the chain is too long, but I can pull it out the front and clip it off as needed. And I can use the knurled piece for fine tuning if that's needed by just loosening the lock nut. Now it is time to start inside the cab...

My father would have said "If that's a compliment then I thank you."

I think you have sticking valves. Reading down through the compression test I was going to say you should do a leak-down test as a compression test won't always show bad valves. But reading on I see that those cylinders came to life, and that suggests to me that the valves were sticking open. I would change oil & filter and put in a quart of something like Rislone. I've seen it free valves up and quieten lifters. Can't explain why, but I've seen it work.

Wow, that's good progress! You'll like the TrueTracs, at least you will the one in the back. I've not driven a truck with one in the front so don't know how that will work - maybe you can tell us since you have already used it. Does it come in suddenly and change the steering? As for the 4wd issue, it does sound like a vacuum problem since it drops at high throttle.

Yes, I think the dash plastic was all the same since every year has the same problem. Good luck with the painting. It is all in the prep - do LOTS of it, especially since a dash may have had Armor All on it.

Ok, "closer" threw me off, but I see what you are saying about muscle memory. However the ZF boot is actually two boots that fit very tightly, so I'm not sure I want to take the cable down through that. As for that loop, I left it loose as I don't want to kink it since it might not go through the outer covering then. But yes, the aluminum ferrule will go right near the bead connector. I tried to put the ferrule in the bead connector but it won't go and, as you said, that would put more stress on it, so I'm thinking that a tight loop is the way to go. Thinking about adjustment, my hope is the have just a little slack with the manual throttle all the way down, and it'll take some movement to raise the RPM. The combination of the beaded chain and knurled adjustment you can see at the end of the outer sleeve should let me dial it in. But I have no idea how much I'll be able to raise it - hope it is enough.

Good! Glad to see that.

Bob - How's Lesley? As for being closer, on Big Blue the t-case shift lever is closer. And since there's far less movement of it than the shift lever I'm thinking that the t-case lever would be the best place to put the hand lever. Yes? But I'm wondering about how/where to run the cable. The miserable instructions say to take it through the firewall, but why not go down the lever, through the boot, and up over the transmission and the back of the engine to the throttle body? No holes to drill. And, speaking of throttle body, here's a mockup of how I plan to make the connection. The bottom cable is a spare throttle cable and the one that rides piggyback on it is a spare from the speed control. I've drilled the Nylon bracket that attaches to the throttle cable and run the bead chain from a Bullnose speed control through that hole. The inner cable, having come through the outer cable above, will wrap through the connector on the end and that aluminum ferrule will be crimped to hold it in place. And the connector on the end will let me take the slack out. All of that is to ensure there's no binding of the throttle when not using the hand throttle. Does that make sense? Better ideas, anyone? http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/waving_orig.gif

Ok, it is time to actually start on this project. And the first thing I'm told to do is to remove the knob off the shift lever. But I don't know how to do that, so I'm going to tag Shaun/salans7 'cause I think he knows. Having said that, if it isn't easy then I'll slit the bushing they provide and slip it on that way. Here's the knob and it is on a BW1345:

Just stacked and easily swappable.

Wonderful!!! Sure glad to see that. We, too, try to avoid the oxy after surgery. And glad you are able to work from home. She may not need it, but it'll sure make you feel better.

Don't forget that we have the factory shop manual instructions on the AOD/AOT here.

Bob - Please tell Lesley we praying for her to have a swift and full recovery! I'll bet you were D.O.N.E. That had to have been a long, and worrisome day. Glad things appear to have turned out well. Hope you can stay home with her today.