Gary Lewis

Shaun - Thanks! I've measured Big Blue's, as best I can, and drew it up as you did yours. (Not easy, so thanks a bunch!) It looks to me like the middle three springs are the closest to yours, and by taking out the top and bottom I'd essentially have yours. Or, to look at it another way, here's a comparison of overall lengths: Shaun Gary #5 - 53 3/4 #4 50 1/2 49 3/4 #3 46 45 1/2 #2 41 1/2 41 1/2 #1 - 38 Thoughts?

As you probably know, I went with the U-code springs and really like them. Even with the 460, dual heavy batteries, Warn winch bumper, winch, and front receiver they are not overloaded. But for reference purposes, my understanding of the spring codes and weight ratings is:

That sounds COMPLEX! A solenoid to cancel the turn signals? All to be able to put the switches above the column? Well, you've gotten pretty what you were looking for, and it looks great! Well done!

Yes, I'm anxious to see how this works out. And while this is the wrong thread, I'll respond to your question/statement here anyway. I'm very sure the problem isn't vent valves. Of the components in the speed control system I've made these changes or tests: Servo & Valves: I've had three different servos on with essentially no change Throttle Cables: I've had three different cables on from the servo to the throttle (they are removable) and have had no change. However, all the adjustments to the throttle have been as directed by the FSM, so the next time out if the problem isn't fixed I'll try David's suggestion and put a bit of slack in it. Amplifier: Two different ones, and the only difference was the one that picked up ~6 MPH when you hit Set/Accel, and I discovered how to fix that so am still running that one. Speed Sensors: Two different sensors on the end of the speedo cable, and soon to be a transfer-case mounted one that bypasses the speedo cable Speedo Cables: Have pulled and lubed both cables with no change, but am now replacing the two cables with a new one-piece unit. Vacuum: Have tried several different restrictions between the vacuum valves and the servo, and while that has made the back and forth on the throttle less bad, it hasn't fixed it. In addition I added a vacuum reservoir between the engine and the servo, with little if any change. Wiring: Using a DVM I've check out ALL of the wiring associated with the speed control, twisting/turning/pulling on it to see if I could get it to fail. NADA. Everything checked out. But now, with your tester, I'll check again. Not sure if that'll be before I take it for a spin tomorrow or not, but I will certainly test the system. And I'll compare your tester to Scott's. If, as expected, yours works and his doesn't, and assuming he doesn't get his money back from the seller, I'll do as you suggested and merge the two and Scott will have a good tester in a good case.

I thought about that, but the are two different housings - with and without trip odometer. I only have three of those with trip odometers - Big Blue's, Dad's, and the NOS one. I think I'll put a different face plate on the NOS one to make the MPH marks be primary and KPH secondary, and use it in Dad's truck. So I could use the one from Dad's truck in Big Blue. However, I'd then need to paint the needle to match the others. And I'd want to swap or reset the odometer. So for now I think I'll just bump the speed up 5 MPH. And I did lube the bearings. So maybe it'll be better. Btw, the tester arrived today. Thanks!

I'm not sure I want to do that. I say that because I have one problem and one minor issue with the speedo. The problem is that it is off ~5 MPH while the odometer is accurate. At present the thing reads essentially what it is supposed to read with the shaft speed I'm giving it, so I think it is essentially calibrated correctly. So I think I need to adjust it to read another 5 MPH higher and give that a try. The issue is that it bounces or wavers a bit. I think that is probably due to two things - a worn speedo cable and a worn input bearing. I'm replacing the speedo cable so will take away that source of error, but I'm thinking the biggest cause of the bouncing is the input bearing. And while they could replace that, I'm not sure it is worth it. I hope to get the new cable installation as well as the wiring from the t-case mounted VSS to the early harness done today. That leaves adjusting the speedo and then reinstalling the gauges. The plan is to get that done tomorrow morning and then take it out for a spin when I send the brake stuff to John/Machspeed. After that I'll know a lot more about what may need to be done to get the speedo "right".

Asking people to post in NMSH is meant to do two things - give them another opportunity to read the guidelines and promote the sense of "community" through an introduction. Since you've read the guidelines we've accomplished one of those two. If you want to introduce yourself here that will suffice. In your intro you might tell us where you live as we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you if we knew a city or zip. And, signatures are highly encouraged as we can give much better advice if you know what your truck is/has, and some of us are older than dirt and tend to forget easily. As for traction bars, I know nothing. But I know that other do so will await their input. Welcome!

I'm sorry, but you were asked to go to the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then start a new thread to introduce yourself. You've not done that so we don't know that you've had an opportunity to read the guidelines, and we want you to have had that opportunity as we hold everyone to them. So please confirm that you have read the guidelines before we proceed on with the discussion of traction bars. And preferably go to the New Members Start Here folder and introduce yourself. We are a community and want to get to know the members.

Bill - Thanks for that. I didn't go very far in the list of search results, but saw one that called the speedometers "eddy current speedometers". So I Googled "how an eddy current speedometer works" and found this one to be pretty good: Explain That Stuff - Speedometers. And the pertinent parts for a mechanical speedometer are: And that has really helped me understand speedometers. Many thanks to you and Frank.

That's basically what I'm running with the 2" from the RSK and the 3" from the springs. But, is that before you drop that big block in? Or are you thinking that's what you'll end up with? Having gone back over Big Blue's #'s, originally it was -4 3/16" lower on the front left and -5 1/8" on the right vs the rear. And now it is essentially level, front/rear. So, I must have raised the front almost 5".

Thanks!

Wow, 5" is a lot of lift. On the fenders, I wasn't aware that there was a difference. Nor that the '85 and later ones were galvanized. I'll be curious to see what you find.

Well, I went to bed and didn't look any farther. But now that I have I don't see E3TZ 5560-T in the Section 53 size chart. But, even if I did that only provides the thickness of each leaf, not the length. I was hoping to determine which leaves I want to keep by matching the lengths up to yours. So it would be helpful if you could measure yours. Thickness would be an added bonus, but I think the length is the key dimension. However, I'm not in a hurry so it doesn't have to be today. Thanks!

No, there's no E7's in that chart. But in '83 on Page 75 I find that E3TZ 5560-T was replaced by E7TZ 5560-A. And the E3 was used in several vehicles, including an '85 F250 w/an 8600 GVW and a 460. Sounds familiar.

I'm running Serial #1 of Sky's RSK for the SuperDuty springs. Was on a first-name basis with Erik for a while. Read about it here: Sky's Offroad Design Super Duty RSK Install

Yes, I was counting the overload as a 5th spring. Probably not the official way if doing it. And, there's no big hurry. But I would like to compare to mine and see if I have some of the same ones you have. How hard was it to take the pack apart?

Shaun - It looks like you have a 5-leaf spring packs. Do you know the part number of them? And, could you measure the individual springs for me? Big Blue has a 7-leaf pack and I'd like to remove some, so maybe I could make them into copies of yours?

Aaron - Welcome. Glad you joined. But do you really want to put your telephone number out to the whole world? Your call, but..... And, where are you? That might help the guys who know of parts. Plus, if we had a city or a zip we could put you on our map at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu.

Can't wait to see it installed. Well done!

Amazing! I'd not seen those. I'll bet they put the light right where you need it. Give us a report after you've used them?

The wiring differs between six and eight cylinder engines, and the difference is in the ignition wiring. As shown on our page at Documentation/Electrical/Tachometers there's this schematic:

Oh, cool. I didn't know that. Excellent. Sounds like I will be cutting a bezel to install a factory clock then. What are the chances this 41 year old clock will still be operational?...lol. By the way, I didn't know until recently that there were a couple versions of the factory clocks. A guy had a couple different ones for sale on Facebook. The earlier ones had different buttons, etc. Anyway, can they be fixed if not working, or are they a replace only item? Most of the clocks I've tested have been good. However, the switches themselves are frequently a problem. I've had to push hard to get them to start working. And in most cases you can't get to the switches to clean them. There were actually three different clocks, as shown on our page at Documentation/Electrical/Clocks.

Oops, didn't realize I was logged in as my alter ego.

So Frank is right and it IS due to magnetism, even though I can't get my screwdriver to be drawn to the arm? And even though the driven cup is aluminum? Sorry for doubting you, Frank! But you two are certainly teaching me some things.

The thinking is that there are times when we see that a certain person probably knows the answer or needs to see this post, but we aren't sure he will so if we "assign" it to him he'll get an email notification. So the questions to y'all are: Is it workable to have the whole membership list in the dropdown? That's the only way I can see to allow all of you to use this function. See below for more on that. Does it bother you that there are now two additional columns on the main page for Priority and Assignee? We MAY be able to remove those, but aren't sure and it would take some work. And, by the way, having those columns appears to take away the "Views" column, although I doubt that's an issue. I set work groups up on the TEST Forum and then took this screenshot. As you can see, you'd have to use the slider to find the person, but it isn't too onerous. I could turn it on here to all members if we want to have a play with it. THOUGHTS???? Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Scott suggested that we might want to remove the priority and assignee columns from the main page. So that seemed like a challenge to me and I think I did it. And I put the Views column back. So, tell us what you think, please. Do you like the main page the way it is now? And, if you want to know what it looks like with those two work group columns, here 'tis: Or, we could have all three: