Rembrant

Interesting. The Ford parts listings only show the start dates, not the end dates, so all I have to go by is the LMC listing, which isn't always accurate either. I don't believe I have ever seen a set of the small chrome mirrors on anything 1897-up...but that doesn't mean anything...only that I haven't seen them...lol.

Ha...certainly, move it to wherever it needs to be.

This may already be a widely known and common tool...I have no idea, but a "Refrigeration Wrench" comes in really handy with your tap and die set. https://www.amazon.com/Ratcheting-Refrigeration-Klein-Tools-68310/dp/B0002RI86Y It's not something that you'll use every day, but if you're like me and find yourself trying to tap a hole in a tight location from time to time, one of these wrenches sure is handy. Now...it doesn't fit the square head on all taps, but it does fit many of them.

Yes sir I do believe you are correct. With the lighting in that picture, at a glance the mirror looked like it was black. Now that I look at it again it looks like a regular chrome mirror. While on the topic of exterior mirrors, something just occurred to me last night while leafing through the LMC catalog. They show replacements for the 1985-1986 black exterior mirrors. I have these pictures saved of a Flareside that was on Ebay a while back (I don't remember what year it was). I thought the mirrors on this truck were just some aftermarket things that the owner had installed. Are these the factory Type-14 "Paddle Lock" mirrors? Were these things rare? I honestly don't remember ever seeing them before except on this one particular truck. I didn't occur to me that they might be factory mirrors until I noticed them in the LMC catalog last night.

Yes sir I do believe you are correct. With the lighting in that picture, at a glance the mirror looked like it was black. Now that I look at it again it looks like a regular chrome mirror.

Haha...Steve, the answer to your question of why, is personal preference. Sometimes we prefer things a certain way, and that's OK.

Nice Bullnose story if you haven't seen it already;)> https://lmctrucklife.com/2019/07/1984-ford-f150-gardner-edgerton-high-school/ Truck is from Oklahoma Gary!

Haha...ya, the Gen-Y crowd has gotten a pretty bad rap the past number of years. Born in 1972, I'm a solid Gen-X'er. Nobody pays much attention to us...it's the Boomers and the Millennials that get all the news and editorial coverage...lol.

Well that's something Dave! Seeing shiny coats of paint this past couple weeks has given me all kinds of inspiration and enthusiasm that I had been otherwise struggling to find...

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I was just curious of the dentside Bronco on the front of Carpenter catalog looked as out of place to anybody else as it does to me?...It is after all, a 1980-1996 parts catalog. I assume that is a 1979 Bronco...didn't they have round lights in 1978? Any dentside experts on here?

I've never seen one of these style mirrors in black before. Was this on an XLS or Freewheeler?

Dave...I think it's that they don't want to touch it, not that they don't know how...lol. I guess I better order a removal tool and go do some reading and I'll remove it myself. I should ask are you pulling the trim to get a better paint job and if so you also pulling the glass? I ask because of how it might be re-installed. I will not get into it as there was a few posts in someone's thread don't remember who's now but if you do a search I think you could find it. Dave ---- Dave, Wasn't planning on pulling the glass, no. I only want to pull the trim for a cleaner paint job.

Amen, brother! Gentlemen, Always remember that when traveling, there is more to pack than clean undies and your toothbrush... Hotel reading for this evening. I shall sit back with my notepad and pen and work on my want/need list;). And, while you're here...do you see anything wrong with either of these covers???...lol.

And I'm going to need a set of those soon... I wonder how the aftermarket ones on LMC compare (at a glance to the common man...lol).

Hey Gary, There is a ground wire running all the way to the back of my truck, but it is only for the licence plate illumination lamp. It is interesting that they felt the need to ground that light (by wire), but not the two bulbs in either taillight (by wire). I've decided I'm going to try and run a wire from the frame to the bedside where it can't be seen. That should work just fine. If for any reason it does not, I'll run one from the frame to one of the studs on the taillight housing. I don't want to do that...it would be a last resort, but it is an option. I just want it to look like it did...and that means grounding through the brackets and to the bed sides.

That's kinda neat. Certainly not worth $120 to me...lol, but neat nonetheless.

Dave...I think it's that they don't want to touch it, not that they don't know how...lol. I guess I better order a removal tool and go do some reading and I'll remove it myself.

If anybody is still looking for decent Flareside replacement tail lights, I thought I'd post an update on what I purchased. I ordered Grote part numbers 52802 and 52812 as shown in the link below: https://www.grote.com/family/chevrolet-ford-jeep-stoptailturn-lamp-with-side-marker-lamp-molded-pigtail-termination/?prodcat=stop-tail-turn-lights They are an almost perfect duplicate of the original Flareside lights, and they're inexpensive. I ordered them from a local heavy truck parts shop for $32 CDN each, and they took three days to come in. In the US, that would probably be overnight and more like $25 each. First off...the main difference is that they have different connectors on them. I cut them off and will solder on the old pigtails from my stock tail lights. You also have to transfer over the grommet from the factory lights (where the wires pas through the 3/4" hole in the lower end of the rear stake pockets). The new LH Grote tail light does have a clear lens in the bottom of the housing. I'm going to paint over mine with gloss black. If you mask it off nicely, nobody will ever see it. The RH light has a solid black housing the same as the original. I mounted it on the bed just to test fit it. The bracket is still just in primer and I didn't push the grommet right into the hole. It's all just sitting there.

Ok, I guess I'll run a wire....well, I guess I'll run two ground wires, one for each side. Since I had every single piece completely painted before assembly, if I ground the left bed side, there will be 4 layers of paint to get through to ground the other side panel. Anyway...no big deal. I'm good...just wanted to check. I did look in the 1984 EVTM, and it showed a ground wire...even if it's only a short wire, for the styleside bed tail lights. The C/C trucks and Flareside showed the lights being grounded directly to the bed via the brackets. Thanks for the reply Gary.

Gary, It has been going OK so far. When they get to the cab I imagine I'll be getting a rude awakening...lol. It needs both front fenders, at least one door, and definitely both cab corners. Do you have any experience in removing the windshield trim? The body shop told me to get a glass shop to do it. The glass shop told me not to touch it...lol. This was supposed to be a budget build... The truck was painted around the windshield trim before...I guess it could be again;)>

Hi Folks, I didn't realize this until I started looking at the wiring for my new tail lights, but the Flareside (and C/C trucks) do not have a dedicated ground wire for the tail lights like the Styleside trucks do. Unless I'm missing something, the tail lights are grounded to the mounting bracket which is grounded to the bed, correct? My issue with this is that the bed is only touching the frame (metal to metal) at four points. Left and right frame rails on the front sill, and left and right frame rails on the rear sill. Problem is, I've painted the frame with rust paint and had the front sill powder coated and the rear sill painted. I don't remember there being a ground wire between the bed and the frame. Does anybody know if there was one? Or is it supposed to be grounded through the mounting points? I guess worst case scenario I just grind some paint off underneath and run a ground strap between the frame and the bed. My tail lights were working fine before, but I don't remember there being any ground wires, and my bed and frame were so rusty I can't imagine they were grounded well... Any comments from the pro's?

Bought both from LMC Dave, but the channel rubbers are not the same as the originals, so I chucked 'em in the spare parts bin. My originals channel rubber bumpers are still fine actually, but I was ordering a bunch of stuff and figured I'd order new ones. Too bad they weren't the same. The rubber bumpers for the handles are from LMC and they worked great. I had cut the old ones off before having the chains and handles sand blasted. Bit of hit and miss with LMC unfortunately. Most stuff seems to fit OK, but once in a while you get some dud parts. Picked up a few more pieces of the Blue Mule puzzle today: Some new sticky letters... Stopped by the body shop and got to see my shiny "new" fenders... And picked up the new set of taillights that I had ordered in through a local heavy truck parts shop. I'll post up some info on these lights in a separate thread for the Flareside guys. That's it. If all goes well I should have the old girl on the road next week, and then in a couple weeks hopefully get the cab painted.

Hahaha...you're talking like northern Connecticut is the Bahamas...lol. Understood on the latch, I'll be sure to get the metal one.

Thanks for the feedback kramttocs, Please let us know how it fits when you get around to installing it. I'm hoping to order one soon myself, although I haven't decided which one yet. I'd like to order the OEM fit offering that CRL sells, but it is also quite a bit more money.

If that broken part in the column is aluminum then it is the original 3spd shift collar, and will likely be very hard to find. Just an FYI...a truck with a factory floor shift will have a plastic spacer ring where that aluminum piece is, so if you see one of those it should also work as a filler piece. The lower plastic section was the same on all of them. The columns are not bad to work on...the non-tilt ones at least. Now...finding a Flareside bed...that's a whole different story!