Gary Lewis

Well, the link takes you to a radio bezel, but the map/dome light does go in the same spot the other, non-map light goes.

Dane - I probably had close to $110 in parts for the front double-cardan shaft. I like your way of doing it.

The war's not quite over, but I think the major battles have been won, so I'm optimistic. I don't know the brand of the U-joints. I've heard Spicer are best, so I'm hoping to find some. Also these were greaseable. I've heard that most people think the lubed-for-life versions are better. And in confession, I forgot that these were greaseable, so I never greased them after installation. I don't know how much greasing would've helped, but I'm sure I didn't do them any favors. Things to avoid? Don't lose your temper and beat on the yokes indiscriminately with the big hammer. I probably am going to have to do some clean-up to get the new caps and retaining rings to fit. Things that help? A few: Soak the retaining rings in penetrating oil before you try to remove them (I'm talking about the "external" style I have that go inside the bore of the yoke so they're really internal retaining rings but they go outside of the caps so people call them external). Days would probably be best, but anything you can do will probably help (for me it was under an hour, and it allowed me to be "successful" on 6 of 8). Take a small, flat-faced punch and rap on the retaining rings, pounding them toward the cap. They can't go anywhere that direction, but it might loosen them up. Try first to pull them out with a pair of pliers. 2 of mine did come out that way (with a little more rapping in the tight places). But when that doesn't work... Use the small punch to try to knock each "tab" in, to pull the ring out of the groove. Chances are that the ring will break somewhere, getting a small piece out. But then do the same on the other "tab". You'll probably be left with a section still stuck in after you've broken the two ends off. Use the punch to try to drive that around the circle. On 4 of mine that eventually made that section pop out, meaning that the entire retaining ring was out. Heat the thin section of the yoke and then soak the cap with penetrating oil before removing the caps. Again, more time is probably better, but any is better than none. It's probably better to use a hydraulic press to push the caps out. But I supported one yoke on a vice and beat on the other with a big hammer. It took a LOT more beating than I expected to get them out (especially with how much anti-seize I used only 4 years ago). But they did all come out. On the caps where the retaining rings wouldn't come out, use a cutoff wheel to cut through the cross. Then use a bigger flat-faced punch to push the cap in through the center of the yoke. Then use a punch to try to knock the retaining ring in to the center. I fought through this same process 4 years ago. It went a lot faster this time because I knew what to do. But it still was no fun. You guys make me glad I don't live up north! I've fought a lot of u-joint battles, but never one that tough. I went with Spicer u-joints and most of them are greasable. The idea being that after a trip where I've used the front driveline I'll grease them and, hopefully, push any water or dirt out with the new grease. We shall see. Anyway, sure glad you have a process that works for you, Bob.

Ray - Having a good seal to the overflow is important as that's how the system keeps full. So I want that $300 radiator to be "right". However, if I can fix it easily enough I may do it. But I'm worried that I'll get far enough into fixing it and learn that won't work and then they won't take it back. I'll take a look at it closely in a bit....

"Contortions" is a euphemism for trying every possible position of the hood, chipping the paint, and thinking "Why didn't I take the hood off to do this?!?!" What I eventually did was to loosen the bolts that hold the hinges to the hood and then slid the hood forward on the hinges. And I loosened the bottom bolts more than the top to angle the hood on the hinges. However, the hood wanted to close in those various positions, and I was worried about the bolts coming out, so I had to prop it up with a piece of wood from the radiator support.

So THAT'S why I do it?!?! Makes sense to me.

Then we've been part way up there as we did ride the bikes up to St Elmo. I remember that quite well. In fact, Janey confuses St Elmo with Animas Forks, which we went to when we rented out of Silverton. When we are talking about the Silverton/Ouray area and I mention "the ghost town" she says "St Elmo?" And speaking of Ouray, we are doing a LOT of documenting our earlier trips as our daughter is asking us to do so. Yesterday I ran across of pic of me wearing a t-shirt that has a red Jeep on it and says Ouray Colorado. Had forgotten about that shirt, but it was surely purchased on the trip where we went over Cinnamon Pass - in a red Jeep.

Nice truck, but seems a bit high. Maybe worth it if rust free. But where did the trim for the bed go?

I gotta admit that I hadn't thought of it either, until I was coming down Mt. Antero in Big Blue's (slightly) older brother. Going up there had been one really challenging switchback to make, but I made it. When I got to that switchback coming down I turned into it, backed up once and realized there was no way I was going to make that corner. The next switchback wasn't that far away, so I just pulled straight into this switchback and backed down to the next. But as I was doing it I was trying to figure out what the difference was, and I realized it was not being able to hang a couple of feet of truck off the cliff. And to try to get you into more trouble , Mt. Antero is another fun trail. No where near Ouray, so probably not the same trip. The bottom part is a long, rough slog, and the upper part has the tight switchbacks (I proved that they were mostly doable in an '85 F-250 which still had TTB). The road dead-ends a little below 14,000 feet. From there it's a very doable scramble to the 14,275' summit. I know where Mt Antero is. We took our '72 F250 w/a 9 1/2' self-contained camper on the back to Cottonwood Creek campground, which is north of Antero, many decades ago. We had our trail bikes on the trailer behind, and we rode all over that country. And, we rode horses on the flanks of Antero. Looks to me like you are talking about CO 277. Right?

Jim - I agree that a leak-down test doesn't tell you boo about the cam. But my experience is that a compression test doesn't either. The '82 Explorer I had tested good on the compression test, but it almost shook the mirrors off when idling. A leak-down test determined that the valves were bad on three adjacent cylinders in the firing order. And when I got it apart I found that the cam was also bad. But the compression test said everything was good.

Well done! You two surely must be proud!

Keep in mind here that my personal preferences lean away from tech most of the time. But I wouldn't worry about pitch and roll readings. For one thing, I don't know (and I'd guess you don't either) what the max number can be. It'd be interesting to see how far my Bronco leans, or how steep the pitch is at times. But it's going to feel pretty bad a while before it actually goes over. So I think trusting the feel is better than looking at a readout. And I think it's better to be looking out the windshield so I can see where the next rock or hole is going to be. One trick that I think I've heard about that switchback (and switchbacks in general) is wait a while until you start the turn. And then wait a little more. Turning earlier MIGHT let you turn farther in the first "point." But then when you turn driver and back up you're going to be right into that rock. Give yourself enough room to manuever. Another trick with a full size truck is to realize that the rear overhang is way worse than the front. As you go down the truck length that matters is front axle to rear bumper. That's a lot longer than when you are going up, where rear axle to front bumper is the limiting factor. So at times it's better to pull straight into the switchback, back down onto the lower trail, turn around going UP the switchback, then back into the switchback and pull forward onto the lower trail. This is why I like a hand throttle. I set the idle up, then keep my feet on the clutch and foot brake. I let out the clutch until the engine starts to lug down, then feather off the brake. That way I keep the ability to reapply the brake RIGHT NOW until I know the vehicle is moving the correct direction under engine power. And with low enough gearing the hand throttle isn't really needed. I did this in my '85 F-250 driving up Mt Antero (another Colorado trail with famously tight switchbacks). Even with my low-altitude-jetted carb (but with the idle mix screws turned in) I could do this just with the engine at idle. (I might have turned in the idle screws a bit, I don't remember for sure. That can be a good trick for going up a trail, but you tend to want a lower idle for better compression braking when going down. Still, adjusting the idle up to where you can start in low-low without hitting the gas might be a better option than getting the best compression braking possible.) And I generally don't trust an e-brake anyway, so I don't ever want to be sitting in a truck on a hill with the clutch disengaged and no foot on the brake. I either want the engine or the foot brakes being the primary control at any time. That's my goal. I keep saying that Black Bear isn't that hard, but it does demand respect. I know you can do it, but I also know that it can kill you. Which will happen is up to you. But if you know what you are getting into you can make the best decisions. I wouldn't worry about that too much, It's definitely faster to only need to get one vehicle through an obstacle. But at least in the Ouray area none of the obstacles are that long, so it's not like you need to walk back a half mile to get the second truck. But do make sure the truck is well secured before you get out of it on Black Bear! Another thing to keep in mind is common courtesy. I said this a couple years ago when you were doing early planning at the same time I was in Ouray, but Big Blue will be one of the slowest vehicles on the trail. No shame in that, my Bronco isn't much faster. But big vehicles on old-school leaf suspensions just can't go as fast as modern JL Wranglers, and they can't keep up with side-by-side ATVs or dirt bikes. So when you get a train behind you, find a place you can pull over and let them by. Believe it or not, there are quite a few places you can pass on Black Bear. On our last trip out a group of about a dozen Toyotas pulled over and let us by all of them at once in the first switchback and the trail from that switchback to the falls. So as much as possible, when you do leave a vehicle, leave it where others can get around it. At Adios Curve you can probably find a wide place a bit above to leave the first vehicle, and then the first switchback is a good place to leave the second. That's a bit of walking, but the second driver can go back for his truck as soon as the first is around the curve, and the first driver only needs to hike back to the curve, not all the way to where the first truck was parked. At the second switchback I don't think that's an option though, so make sure you aren't leaving the falls with a train and just park close to the switchback so you don't have to do a lot of walking. (But do leave enough room for the vehicle that needs to maneuver!) Bob - Those are really good suggestions. Thanks! Hadn't thought about the difference of length going up vs down, but I see what you are saying. And pulling farther into a switchback before turning makes sense. You are going to have to do several iterations anyway, but get away from the inside if possible. On the number of vehicles, it dawned on me today that if we leave the FJ for our wives then they'll have a way to go to Durango and/or Silverton while we take Big Blue on some of the more difficult trails. But I'll have to talk to my brother about that to see what he thinks. And your approach to the brake makes sense. Now I really am liking the hand throttle idea even more. If I get the EFI on I think I could use the PTO signal that increases idle speed, and I have a switch slot in the switch group allotted to that. But if not then I will probably go with a hand throttle.

Progress!

Glad you found us!

I wouldn't do a compression test. Instead I'd do a leak-down test. It will tell you far more than a compression test.

I agree that you want to put the relay on the passenger's side. As for the diode, do something like shown below. Otherwise, if you just tie the high and low beam wires together you'll have both high and low beams on at the same time.

David - We didn't quite overlap. Janey and I lived in Wichita from '69 when we were married to '75 when we moved to Ponca City, OK. But during the summer of '69 I worked literally across the street from McConnell in the Boeing facility.

The Lighting Upgrades thread itself goes back to 2017, but the last post was in March of 2020 so should be fairly well up to date. I'll get back with Daniel Stern tomorrow to see if he has any updates and update that thread if so.

I would wire the headlight connector to another relay's coil and use that relay to power the fog lights. But you want the relay to come in when you have either the highs or lows on, so you'll need to use a diode from one or the other to the relay's coil or you'll have the lows feeding the highs and vice versa. (I can diagram that if you need me to.) Why would I use a relay when you are only pulling 3 amps? Because 12v x 3 amps is 36 watts, each headlight only draws 35 watts on low. So you'll be pulling as much wattage as the low beam wires were originally spec'd to do. And you put the relay harness in because those wires and the switch weren't adequate.

I am NOT a happy camper! Got the brand new Champion radiator installed, pulled the cap and started to fill it up, and found this: You probably think my concern is with the gap 'tween the shroud and the radiator, right? Then you missed "it". Try this pic instead: Yep, the sealing surface is RUINED! I'm now wondering if I really want a Champion.

Good to know! Thanks.

Welcome, Matt! Glad you joined. Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and if we had a city or zip we could put you on it. Maybe you are close to one of us? As for the project, that sounds wonderful. Your father's truck and getting your kids involved. That will be special! Hope you'll start a thread on the restoration. We'll follow along.

Another comment I forgot to make is that with the D60 Big Blue's turning radius is much improved over that with a TTB. So that will help a bunch on the switchbacks. However, another thought I had is that having two vehicles with just a driver each isn't a big help. When a spotter is needed that means a lot of stopping, walking, etc. And that will surely slow things down for everyone. I wonder if when we get to the tough stuff both of us should be in one vehicle. And while the FJ would be quite capable, I sure like it to be Big Blue. That's what I am building it for. Besides, that's where the on-board air will be, and surely we'll want to air down.

I no longer have that truck, and I forget which one it was. So I don't know how long it has been running that way. But the surest way to prevent leaks is to flare the line and use a flare/barb connection. That's what I'd recommend.

Ok, I saved these videos to watch this morning when I'd have no distractions. And I have lots of observations: Telluride: I see what you mean about the town appearing to slope up. Was there 10 days ago and it is on flat ground. Head/Viewing: I also see what you mean about where he was looking. Apparently his truck isn't as highly optioned as Blue as it has a display in the dash that shows pitch and roll, and that is something I'd want to watch. And, I have a Smittybilt app on my iPhone that shows the same thing. So I need to put a holder for the phone in Big Blue. Bending Sheetmetal: Yes! It would have been easy for him at that point to have gotten into that rock, which wasn't going to give at all. The spotter is the key. Narrow: Wow! I wasn't aware that some of the sections were that narrow. E-Brake: I really wish our trucks had a hand-operated emergency brake lever. That would be so much easier and smoother than the foot pedal we have. With the pedal and a manual tranny you have to feather the clutch and then pop the e-brake off with your left hand. But if you then kill the engine you'll have to quickly move a foot to the service brake to prevent moving. With a hand-operated lever you can slowly release the e-brake and, should you kill the engine, quickly re-engage it. Anyway, all of this has given me new-found respect for Black Bear. Thanks!