Gary Lewis

Welcome to the forum! Glad you are keeping the truck in the family. Hope you'll start a thread in the main section to chronicle you work on the truck. Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could add you if we had a city or zip.

The single round posts are what are on the front '95 SuperDuty springs as well as the '85 rear springs.

Scott - I'm also using the worm gear hose clamps. I like the look of the others, but I've also had some leaks with them, so have gone to the old standby. On the driving lights, I don't see a problem with how you are wiring it, but will confess that I didn't follow through to check out the alternate as I didn't see a need. As for the carb, I'm not using a spacer or a shield. Not at all saying you shouldn't either, but I am saying that I don't have any experience there. Sorry.

You are really getting a lot done, Scott! Well done! And I agree, you can't let getting the wrong part stop you now. Glad you got the right part. I also agree about taking it to the driveshaft shop. As for downhill, that's 'cause you'll lose lube, right? So, get that trailer done!

Yes, the springs on the TTB's I took off have two holes in them for longer rectangular pads. But the imprint I can see in the SuperDuty springs are from round pads, and there is only one hole on each spring. So I think these take the round ones like on the rear. Yes, no time like the present. I'm anxious to see what difference the spring change made. I planned to take out the top and bottom leaves, but the brackets that hold the spring pack together are attached to the bottom plate, so instead of taking that one out I took the 2nd one out. I removed the brackets and drilled new holes for the bolt and spacer that capture the springs. Didn't know how much space to give the springs, so just measured the thickness of the two leaves I took out and drilled the new holes that far down the bracket from the existing holes. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to put it on the ground and see if the rear squats some. If so I may have to put the taller blocks in as I like the stance it had - level.

The sliders from the back fit on the front - with a little help. There's not quite enough room to get them in between the leaves, even with a whole lot of prying. But I trimmed the bottom of one just a bit and got it in. So now I have softer rear springs and quiet front springs - or will have when I get the whole job done, hopefully tomorrow. I'd planned to take leaves out, but didn't have a time picked out to do it. Today/tomorrow seemed to be the right time.

Thanks, Jim. Was just curious how you do it. As for what I got done today, I got the driver's side rear spring lightened up. I pulled two leaves out, making the spring pack capacity 66% of what it was, assuming that the thickness is the way to measure it. But it wasn't as easy as it sounds. However, I think I learned a lot today that will make tomorrow's work on the passenger's side less hard. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the truck sits with the two leaves out. I'm wondering if I'll have to put the taller blocks in to get it level. And, I now have a source for the sliders so I can fix the banging and clanging in the front.

Yep, I agree. Electrical problems that make no sense, at first blush, are almost always a ground problem.

Hope you get it all together tomorrow.

Welcome! Glad you joined. And, I'm glad you are keeping your father's truck up. There are so few things I have from Dad that I'm really glad I have his truck. Where's home? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu above) and could put you on if we had a city or a zip.

I can't say I've ever checked end-play (even by hand) after backing the inner nut off and then again after tightening the outer nut. But it makes sense that the play would go down. Without the outer nut tightened the inner nut will move out through the thread clearance. With the outer nut pushing on it it would move to the inner side of the thread clearance. So it should reduce the end play by at least the thread clearance. I agree. Apparently the torque takes out quite a bit of slack. And if I wanted to get precise I could check end play. But I think I've found the source of the noise that I was attributing to the wheel bearings. And since I can't get either side to wiggle I'm going to leave the bearings alone and fix the noise caused by the springs.

Yes, but there's a pack of springs on the rear of this truck that have essentially new sliders. And some of those springs are already destined to come out, as described here. And, I have some of the special spring spacer stuff left over from renewing the rear springs on Dad's truck. So.....

Well, with the truck on the lift I couldn't get the wheel bearings to make noise. But I did hear another noise that sounded just like what I was hearing. Turns out that the Nylon insulators between the springs are gone, and allowing the springs to clang into each other on bumps. I'll post later on what I'm going to do about it.

What are your "shadetree ways"? I find it odd that I'm supposed to back the inner nut off 90 degrees and that would seem to loosen things dramatically. But apparently the ~200 lb-ft of torque on the outer nut tightens it back up. Another thing I didn't mention, but should have, is that there is an end-play spec in the book. I'm thinking that I should test them that way before I tighten anything and then again after. I don't believe there are any illustrations showing how to test end play, but I'm sure having the magnetic base on the rotor and the arm on the end of the spindle would be the right approach. I think that's what I'm going to work on today.

351FUN - Those look pretty good. Still not my cup of tea, but far better than many. Jim - I do think that's a Cherokee.

Jim - You are right that he wasn't very explicit on length of life. But it isn't $212 for the bulbs. Instead it is $43 bulbs and $168 for the headlights themselves. I think I'm going to give both of them a try. I don't do much night driving so the bulbs may last plenty long enough for me. 351FUN - I'm glad that the Rigid headlights are working out for you. I don't doubt that at all as Rigid has an excellent reputation. But I don't consider them "normal" or "halogen looking" headlights, and I want my headlights to look like the ones that came out on these trucks. The pic below from the Amazon page shows they don't look like the standard headlights. That's just a personal choice, and that limits me to halogen headlights as Daniel Stern doesn't think anyone is going to come up with approved LED headlights that look like halogen. (Note that LED bulbs in a headlight made for a halogen bulb will not work properly due to the geometry involved.) So you probably have better lighting than I'll have, but I'll have the looks that I want with improved lighting over what I have now.

Jim - We have the test results, but not the chart, on the page at Documentation/Electrical/Alternators. I've now added links to the DB page where they are selling the AFD0028 as well as to that page with the test results to the 3G page so I don't forget again. As for the test results, here is a snippet where I circled the 4.5 second soft start delay and the 2 second load response control:

Time for an update from Daniel Stern on lighting upgrades. (Get a cup of coffee and set back for some reading. ) I've been emailing with him in the background and asked some questions, and he's set the questions out and then answered below them. But I have to fill in a bit of background as he once told me that he is working to get Koito headlamps to sell. However he doesn't yet have them and is currently recommending the Bosch ECE headlamps, which he stocks for $168/pair. And he recommends filling them with +120 60/55w bulbs made by Tungsram (GE of Europe) which he keeps in stock for $43.18/pair. My questions are in bold with his answers indented below. I can wait for the Koitos if they are that much better than the Bosch ECE's. But, are they a lot better or just marginally better? Worth waiting for? And how might the costs compare? On the bulbs, what is the "+120" of which you speak? On the LED issue, one of my degrees is in physics and I can easily see how an LED can't work in a housing designed for a filament light source. I was just wondering if people have come up with "normal", or maybe I should say "halogen", looking LED headlights. Speaking of LEDs, I don't see them for things like brake lights on your site. Do you sell them? Recommend them or against them?

Just don't use carb or brake cleaner to flush it out unless you take it apart. As Jim knows, there are parts in there that don't like the cleaner fluids.

Jim - All I know is what I'm told. But I didn't think what I was told made sense. So I searched and found that you posted about your alternator here, and it is an AFD0028 from DB Electric. If it has LRC then it is the one I'd go with.

I just spoke with DB Electric and I was told that they don't sell a 3G with an LRC regulator. Nor do they have the LRC regulator for sale. It was a long conversation between myself and a very nice lady, who spent a lot of time talking to others at DB. I think she understood what I was asking for but the gurus she was talking to didn't. Finally she talked to a guy that used to build alternators for them and he said the only alternators they sell with LRC regulators are the 6G's, and they won't fit our trucks. So if you want a DB alternator with LRC you'll have to change out the regulator yourself. It isn't hard, but it adds to the cost.

John - I'm not an expert here, but I just measured the 1G I have and I found that it is 7" c/c on the bolts. So I'm confused as I would expect your 2G to fit in the same spot. But our page says "* Trucks that currently have V-Belts use the 8.125” mounts, and trucks that have serpentine belts use the 7” mount spacing. (* Need to verify this info)." So I don't have good answers. Given that, I'm tagging Jim, who seems to have a better handle on this than I do.

Tyler - The 130 amp 3G will be far more than enough for what you want to do. Not only will it put out more than twice what your current unit does, it'll put out as much at idle then the current one will. But I highly recommend that you get one with at least a 2 second delay built in. Even my serpentine belt would chirp on startup as my 3G kicked in to fill the battery up after starting. However, the delayed start regulator fixed that. On yours with v belts you'll probably have more squeal than I did. So you need the delay even more. And, do your best to stay with the dual belt arrangement.

I don't know if anyone here has tried the Chinese 2150, but the Chinese YF's work fine. So I'd try one of their 2150's.

Yes, I'll be able to make some progress and have another form of "power". But I have a question for y'all. I'm hearing a rattle or clunk in the front suspension. I checked ALL of the fasteners and none were loose. But a couple of weeks ago I found that the LF wheel bearings were loose and went back through the process of: Tighten the inner nut to 50 lb ft Backing the inner nut off 90 degrees Installing the lock washer Tightening the outer lock nut to 160 - 205 lb ft The right side didn't seem to be loose then, but now I think it is. And I'm still hearing a clunk or rattle. Or maybe again. Do I just adjust the right side or pull them down and inspect the bearings? I've felt the hubs after long drives and they aren't even warm, so I don't think I have bearing problems.