Gary Lewis

I'll bet it tops $15K.

I don't know when we can have an actual get-together. I'd hoped we could this year, but with the extremely slow rollout of the vaccine and the new variants that are apparently causing the spread to ramp up rather than down, I'm not sure.

Nice truck! I could drive that just the way it is.

Staci - Nice looking cars! Feel free to start threads on them. We aren't hidebound to just Bullnose trucks. Bill has a thread on is 85 LeBaron T2, I have a thread somewhere about my boat's battery system, etc. So if you want to track your progress on the cars, have at it. But you said you might want to change out the D50 for a D60. That's basically what I did on Big Blue, although it started with a D44HD instead of a D50. However, I'm curious as to why you'd do that. I did it to get reasonable springing in the front. I believe the TTBs with leaf springs are a very poor design. And I can tell you that changing to the D60 with an RSK made a big difference. But, I also had to lighten up the rear springs to get the maximum effect as the rears still being stiff masked the softness of the new front springs. However, I'm not sure you'd have to do that as you may have a lighter spring pack than I did. Looking at your pic of the trailer behind the truck the rear of the truck is squatting some. But in a similar situation with my car hauler trailer loaded with a '65 Malibu (SS 396) Big Blue didn't squat at all. Check your spring pack to see how many leaves you have. And then check out this post where Shaun and I discuss rear springs. You'll see that Shaun's 1980 F350 has 4 leaves, not counting the bottom overload, and Big Blue had 6 leaves. Both spring packs were used in F250's and F350's, but the heavier pack was usually for the ones with serious GVW's and/or the crewcabs. Big Blue has neither so the heavier spring pack just made the ride brutal.

It is PIP instead of tach that tells the ECA where the engine is in its revolutions, as shown below. And I don't know what happens if it loses PIP and then regains it. I don't see why the engine wouldn't refire, but I don't know.

Yep, you may well have the same problem I had. And I can assure you that it will only fill slowly. Man, that was a pain!

I got this in the mail today! Thanks, Nick/nlongo33!

You are now on the map. We can move you if you'd like, but it isn't supposed to be precise as we aren't wanting drop-in visitors.

Still sounds like it could be a vacuum leak. You may be a good candidate for the smoke test. Read here: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Vacuum-leak-detection-effective-and-inexpensive-td11511.html. That will usually find vacuum leaks that you might not find another way. But you can also spray brake or carb cleaner around in suspect areas. If there's a vacuum leak the cleaner gets sucked in and burned, which speeds the engine up briefly. But be away that the cleaner can melt paint, so be careful. On the EGR, when they work they are good. When they don't they are bad. But you can't just block the EGR valve off and not have other problems. The inert gas slows the combustion process so when the EGR valve is supposed to be open the ignition advanced significantly to get the final combustion to be at the right time. So if you disable the EGR you should re-curve the distributor or you can have pinging.

Tim - Welcome! Yes, lots of us have been on FTE. Some still are. We do have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could add you if you'd like. Truly Atlanta? And Jim is right, we do understand the fuel pump situation. Been there, done that, for sure.

I hope that fixes the problem and that you don't have a cracked head or a cracked block. Those can be 'spensive!

Josh - Have you checked the radius arm bushings? The radius arm run from the axle back to the frame beneath the driver's or passenger's feet. If the bushings are bad the steering will change on bumps.

You know, that would do it. If you lose the tach signal the computer will shut the engine down. Good idea!

Chad - Go to Documentation/Driveline/Driveshafts. Then click on the Application Chart tab and scroll waaaaay down to F-Series 4wd. See the note at the top of the page that says "NOTE 1 - transfer case to front axle NOTE 2 - transfer case to rear axle". There you can see all of the driveshaft lengths and what they were used in.

Shaun - I'll put it together and see before I cut anything. Maybe their nuts and washers take up more room than the ones I have. John - Yes, it was nice for several things to work out so well in one go. It felt REALLY good. Dane - Thanks. I really like making things, and the bracket has been a fun exercise. While waiting for the u-bolts to come in I'm going to go ahead and move the reservoir, rewire the washer pump, and then temporarily mount the air cleaner box. That will let me determine where the EFI PDB should go and then figure out where I can put the battery isolator. But I'll have to implement the EFI PDB to some extent so I can move the trailer and fuel pump relays into it. That will let me clean up the firewall area and properly position the aux power relay, which will then let me make the power cabling. Once that is done I can then add a relay to the EFI PDB for the fog lights and, finally, wire up the switches above the radio. Man, this is a chess game!

I sure don't know. I've had no experience with the later rear brake systems and my catalogs don't go past '89. Sorry.

Nice truck. It says CURRENT BID: $33,300

SOLD FOR $37,500 ON 1/19/21

I doubt it is a wiring problem. Turning the key off and back on shouldn't fix wiring, but it seems to cause the engine to run again. Given that, I think you have an electronics problem. Maybe the TFI? The pickup in the distributor?

Those are great!!!!

The u-bolts are now on order. RuffStuff has 10" and 13" lengths, but not 12". Obviously I went with the 13" length, so I may want to cut them down. And, by the way, RuffStuff gave me a 10% discount and said to pass the word on to y'all. They'll give other first-timers a discount as well. I spoke with Liam.

Ok, I've read more. I'm running the double-cardan front driveshaft from a 90's F350. It is just barely long enough, and if it was any shorter I fear it might come out. But being on the verge of coming out means it has the most travel before bottoming out. And that is critical. What other questions do you have, Chad? Jim?

This post on Big Blue's Transformation thread is probably the place to start reading. I'll read more of this thread and see what else I can contribute.

Boy, do I have news! GOOD news! I finally got the rear seal for the t-case and installed it today, so we were able to take the truck for a test drive. And the first thing to report is that the noise in the front end is much diminished, so the spring sliders and liner really helped. Second, the speedometer works perfectly. I used a GPS app on my phone and the speedo shows within 1 MPH of what we were actually doing. And, it is steady. No more bouncing, just a nice steady readout. Third, the speed control works very well! I'm still running the exact same setup as the last test, meaning the .105" jet between the control valves and the servo, the extra vacuum reservoir, and the same servo and amplifier. So I don't really know what fixed it, but I'm guessing the slipping speedometer driven gear was a big part of it. We took it out west on the same stretch of steep hills we've been testing on, and rarely felt it change the throttle as it was smooth. I will probably still try Bill's red Taurus module, and I'll try pulling the extra reservoir, so there will be more testing. Last, the spring change made a tremendous change in the ride. Bumps that hurt don't any more. And the overall ride is much improved. It really feels like a different truck. In fact, the steering is improved as apparently the back end that was causing some bump-steer. I'm sold and will be ordering the 12" RuffStuff u-bolts in a few minutes. And, not part of the testing but definitely part of today's work, I got the reservoir bracket welded up. Still need to drill a few holes and then blast and powder coat it, but it is gonna work. Here are a couple of shots of it.

I love it! I'm the goofy old grandpa.