Ford F834 Posted October 23, 2017 Author Share Posted October 23, 2017 The list of possible projects seems to grow exponentially. And, as I’ve told others recently, when I look forward in time I keep seeing a pop up that says “Objects are closer than they appear”. 🙈 That is a very wise plan Gary. As I have said previously I am a bit upset that I let this F150 take up as much time as it has. I never should have bought it and remained focused on the diesel. There are lots of things that I probably *should* be doing "while I'm in there"... but I keep telling myself that I can't get lost in the poppy fields. The potential project embellishments are indeed endless to the detriment of the whole. Yesterday was a very long and frustrating day of fighting with details...the goal was to get all the instrumentation working and I pretty much failed... I did properly mount the mechanical temperature gauge, and the matching oil pressure gauge. I spent an hour in the hardware store in the brass section getting the parts to get both the mechanical and electrical oil pressure units working. I routed the lines through the speedometer cable hole in the firewall since I hate adding holes... About that speedometer... I had a brand new cable that came with the donor truck. It reached, but the hold down did not jive with the BW1345. I did clamp it down, and it felt like the plastic gear engaged (cable would not turn by hand) but when driving the cable does not move. Either I have the wrong cable, the wrong gear, or the T-case drive gear is bad. What am I missing with regards to this hold down? The original cable was removed by the PO so I don't know what should be there. So I struck out with the speedometer and moved on to the fuel gauge. The other three electric gauges work, but I get nothing from the fuel gauge. Someone deleted the fuel selector on the frame rail and bypassed the midship tank. But I read that (except for 460 and diesel) the gauge selection happens at the dash switch. I pulled the plug and I'm thinking about bridging the wires that I need for the rear fuel sender since I removed the midship tank completely. This is the nightmare gauge to deal with, and from what I can tell there are no replacement senders for a 1981. And lastly, (has nothing to do with gauges but relates to the HVAC switches) the heater blower motor is always running as soon as the key is turned. The switch for speed works, but the lower one when "off" is selected does not idle the blower. So it looks like it might be junkyard time to get another HVAC controller. The details on this thing are driving me nuts. It's hard to believe I could spend a whole day at it and get almost nothing accomplished 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Yesterday was a very long and frustrating day of fighting with details...the goal was to get all the instrumentation working and I pretty much failed... I did properly mount the mechanical temperature gauge, and the matching oil pressure gauge. I spent an hour in the hardware store in the brass section getting the parts to get both the mechanical and electrical oil pressure units working. I routed the lines through the speedometer cable hole in the firewall since I hate adding holes... About that speedometer... I had a brand new cable that came with the donor truck. It reached, but the hold down did not jive with the BW1345. I did clamp it down, and it felt like the plastic gear engaged (cable would not turn by hand) but when driving the cable does not move. Either I have the wrong cable, the wrong gear, or the T-case drive gear is bad. What am I missing with regards to this hold down? The original cable was removed by the PO so I don't know what should be there. So I struck out with the speedometer and moved on to the fuel gauge. The other three electric gauges work, but I get nothing from the fuel gauge. Someone deleted the fuel selector on the frame rail and bypassed the midship tank. But I read that (except for 460 and diesel) the gauge selection happens at the dash switch. I pulled the plug and I'm thinking about bridging the wires that I need for the rear fuel sender since I removed the midship tank completely. This is the nightmare gauge to deal with, and from what I can tell there are no replacement senders for a 1981. And lastly, (has nothing to do with gauges but relates to the HVAC switches) the heater blower motor is always running as soon as the key is turned. The switch for speed works, but the lower one when "off" is selected does not idle the blower. So it looks like it might be junkyard time to get another HVAC controller. The details on this thing are driving me nuts. It's hard to believe I could spend a whole day at it and get almost nothing accomplished 🙄 Jonathan - Some days are like that. And then some days go like yesterday when Jim started pulling parts for me and the guy called to say I am getting the ‘90 F250. You just learn to have fun on each and every day. 😉 On the fuel gauge, the pulsing output of the ICVR should be easy to follow. I’d start at the switch on the dash, which does switch the gauge like you said, and see where it goes from there. As for the speedo cable, have you tried spinning it with a drill down at the t-case? That’ll tell you if the cable and speedo itself are working. If so, maybe you have the wrong type of gear? The types are shown here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/speedometer-driven-gears.html. On the blower, is yours integrated A/C? If so I should have an extra control if that is what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted October 23, 2017 Author Share Posted October 23, 2017 Jonathan - Some days are like that. And then some days go like yesterday when Jim started pulling parts for me and the guy called to say I am getting the ‘90 F250. You just learn to have fun on each and every day. 😉 On the fuel gauge, the pulsing output of the ICVR should be easy to follow. I’d start at the switch on the dash, which does switch the gauge like you said, and see where it goes from there. As for the speedo cable, have you tried spinning it with a drill down at the t-case? That’ll tell you if the cable and speedo itself are working. If so, maybe you have the wrong type of gear? The types are shown here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/speedometer-driven-gears.html. On the blower, is yours integrated A/C? If so I should have an extra control if that is what you need. Thanks Gary, that page will be very helpful since I did not get the original cable or gear that went to my transfer case. Perhaps it is a type 2 vs 2a problem? I still don't understand about the cable hold down. It's like I'm missing something that should be held down by the wishbone bracket... The cable itself works. If I pull the gear end out of the transfer case and turn it by hand the speedometer needle moves. The transfer case is not driving the gear. It feels like the driven gear is engaged, (you can't turn the square cable end from the speedometer connecting side) but while driving I can look at the cable and see that it is not turning. The driven gear that I put in is the one from the 2wd T18, so it might be the wrong type for the BW1345. I didn't expect it would be accurate because of the gear ratio change, but I was hoping it would at least work. So one of the wires at the fuel tank selector switch is receiving a pulsing current from the gauge cluster? I will have to spend some time with the EVTM and face the dreaded... electrical stuff is my weakest suit. I did find new sending units which is a relief, should mine turn out to be bad. Thanks for the offer on the HVAC controller. Mine does have integral AC, but I might just see if I can find one from a single tank truck just to clean it up a bit. I have no intention of putting a second tank back in. If I am dissatisfied with the 19 gallon I will go to a Bronco 33 gallon or 38 gallon Spectra tank. I normally do not get too frustrated with my truck progress, but I'm getting anxious to get this one functional because (a) I want to take a trip in it in December while my wife is out of school, and (b) I want to start working on the diesel. It's time for that project to move forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetesPonies Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Thanks Gary, that page will be very helpful since I did not get the original cable or gear that went to my transfer case. Perhaps it is a type 2 vs 2a problem? I still don't understand about the cable hold down. It's like I'm missing something that should be held down by the wishbone bracket... The cable itself works. If I pull the gear end out of the transfer case and turn it by hand the speedometer needle moves. The transfer case is not driving the gear. It feels like the driven gear is engaged, (you can't turn the square cable end from the speedometer connecting side) but while driving I can look at the cable and see that it is not turning. The driven gear that I put in is the one from the 2wd T18, so it might be the wrong type for the BW1345. I didn't expect it would be accurate because of the gear ratio change, but I was hoping it would at least work. So one of the wires at the fuel tank selector switch is receiving a pulsing current from the gauge cluster? I will have to spend some time with the EVTM and face the dreaded... electrical stuff is my weakest suit. I did find new sending units which is a relief, should mine turn out to be bad. Thanks for the offer on the HVAC controller. Mine does have integral AC, but I might just see if I can find one from a single tank truck just to clean it up a bit. I have no intention of putting a second tank back in. If I am dissatisfied with the 19 gallon I will go to a Bronco 33 gallon or 38 gallon Spectra tank. I normally do not get too frustrated with my truck progress, but I'm getting anxious to get this one functional because (a) I want to take a trip in it in December while my wife is out of school, and (b) I want to start working on the diesel. It's time for that project to move forward. There may be enough drag on that drive gear that holding the tiny cable end doesn't give you the torque needed to make the gear spin. I would use a screwdriver or my finger if it fit, to turn the drive gear and see if it is loose of attached to the shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Thanks Gary, that page will be very helpful since I did not get the original cable or gear that went to my transfer case. Perhaps it is a type 2 vs 2a problem? I still don't understand about the cable hold down. It's like I'm missing something that should be held down by the wishbone bracket...The cable itself works. If I pull the gear end out of the transfer case and turn it by hand the speedometer needle moves. The transfer case is not driving the gear. It feels like the driven gear is engaged, (you can't turn the square cable end from the speedometer connecting side) but while driving I can look at the cable and see that it is not turning. The driven gear that I put in is the one from the 2wd T18, so it might be the wrong type for the BW1345. I didn't expect it would be accurate because of the gear ratio change, but I was hoping it would at least work. So one of the wires at the fuel tank selector switch is receiving a pulsing current from the gauge cluster? I will have to spend some time with the EVTM and face the dreaded... electrical stuff is my weakest suit. I did find new sending units which is a relief, should mine turn out to be bad. Thanks for the offer on the HVAC controller. Mine does have integral AC, but I might just see if I can find one from a single tank truck just to clean it up a bit. I have no intention of putting a second tank back in. If I am dissatisfied with the 19 gallon I will go to a Bronco 33 gallon or 38 gallon Spectra tank. I normally do not get too frustrated with my truck progress, but I'm getting anxious to get this one functional because (a) I want to take a trip in it in December while my wife is out of school, and (b) I want to start working on the diesel. It's time for that project to move forward.Jonathan - I understand the urgency to get it ready for an excursion with your wife on her break. Planning to take the trailer? As for the speedo gear, this page (http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/speedometer-drive-gears.html) seems to say that both the 4-speed T-18 and the transfer cases use a right-handed drive gear. So the same driven gear should work, I would think. On the fuel gauge wiring, I'll take a look and post some wires to check. On Sunday, October 22, 2017, Ford F834 [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Jonathan - As shown below, the yellow/white wire comes from the fuel gauge to the selector switch. And from the switch a dark blue/yellow wire goes to the front sender, and a yellow/light blue hash wire goes to the rear sender. And since the ICVR supplies power to the gauges, anything seen on those wires should be pulsing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted October 24, 2017 Author Share Posted October 24, 2017 Jonathan - As shown below, the yellow/white wire comes from the fuel gauge to the selector switch. And from the switch a dark blue/yellow wire goes to the front sender, and a yellow/light blue hash wire goes to the rear sender. And since the ICVR supplies power to the gauges, anything seen on those wires should be pulsing. Thank you Gary! I did not intend to Tom Sawyer you into doing my EVTM homework for me… but I will certainly take the help. From the looks of it I need to check for pulsating power at the Y/W wire, then bridge it to the Y/LB-H wire. Check the tank connector end and the ground. If all that’s good then is has to be a bad sender. What could possibly go wrong! 🙄 I will pull the speedometer cable and try to check the drive gear with a small screw driver to make sure it isn’t spinning in the transfer case. I have twisted pretty good on the cable square end with needle nose and there is resistance and the cable springs back, so it really feels like its engaged… but no telling what happened since the PO was trying to solve the problem with a brand new cable… I still think something is wrong based on the hold down but we shall see. Gary on this trip we will not tow the vintage camper. Unfortunately we have quite a few things stored in it at the moment. It needs some maintenance to be road worthy in itself, and frankly it is a bit much for the straight six. It can do the job, but it is very slow and can cause dangerous situations. That is what the diesel power upgrades are all about. That’s okay, we enjoy tent camping also… but depending on the weather we might come home very motivated to get the F350 running for next time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Thank you Gary! I did not intend to Tom Sawyer you into doing my EVTM homework for me… but I will certainly take the help. From the looks of it I need to check for pulsating power at the Y/W wire, then bridge it to the Y/LB-H wire. Check the tank connector end and the ground. If all that’s good then is has to be a bad sender. What could possibly go wrong! 🙄 I will pull the speedometer cable and try to check the drive gear with a small screw driver to make sure it isn’t spinning in the transfer case. I have twisted pretty good on the cable square end with needle nose and there is resistance and the cable springs back, so it really feels like its engaged… but no telling what happened since the PO was trying to solve the problem with a brand new cable… I still think something is wrong based on the hold down but we shall see. Gary on this trip we will not tow the vintage camper. Unfortunately we have quite a few things stored in it at the moment. It needs some maintenance to be road worthy in itself, and frankly it is a bit much for the straight six. It can do the job, but it is very slow and can cause dangerous situations. That is what the diesel power upgrades are all about. That’s okay, we enjoy tent camping also… but depending on the weather we might come home very motivated to get the F350 running for next time! Makes sense to me. Hope you get things going so you two can take off for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 Thank you Gary! I did not intend to Tom Sawyer you into doing my EVTM homework for me… but I will certainly take the help. From the looks of it I need to check for pulsating power at the Y/W wire, then bridge it to the Y/LB-H wire. Check the tank connector end and the ground. If all that’s good then is has to be a bad sender. What could possibly go wrong! 🙄 I will pull the speedometer cable and try to check the drive gear with a small screw driver to make sure it isn’t spinning in the transfer case. I have twisted pretty good on the cable square end with needle nose and there is resistance and the cable springs back, so it really feels like its engaged… but no telling what happened since the PO was trying to solve the problem with a brand new cable… I still think something is wrong based on the hold down but we shall see. Gary on this trip we will not tow the vintage camper. Unfortunately we have quite a few things stored in it at the moment. It needs some maintenance to be road worthy in itself, and frankly it is a bit much for the straight six. It can do the job, but it is very slow and can cause dangerous situations. That is what the diesel power upgrades are all about. That’s okay, we enjoy tent camping also… but depending on the weather we might come home very motivated to get the F350 running for next time! I am reaching a dead end with the fuel gauge... and it is driving me nuts! - I have pulsing current to the yellow/white stripe wire at the tank switch. - When I bridge that wire to the yellow/blue-dashed wire I get pulsing current to one of the rear tank terminals. - When I use the second terminal as my meter ground it reads the pulsing current so the ground is good. - When I measure the resistance between the two tank terminals I get 40 ohms. That is at least reasonable for a partial tank of gas. - When I turn the key the gauge needle does actually move, but less than a needle width over about 5 seconds. I'm at a loss. All the wiring seems to test out and the sender resistance is reasonable and should show on the gauge. And more than one gauge was tested and they both do the same thing. Two different ICVR's as well... 🤷♂️ I'm no closer with the speedometer hold down mystery, but I did check the drive gear inside the transfer case and it feels slightly apple-core shaped. Perhaps it is just worn. I guess my next move will be new plastic gears (hopefully correct for my ratio and tires) and a new rear transfer case seal which I need anyway... I found a HVAC controller with AC and no tank selector. It was from a motorhome. The vacuum and AC switch itself is a different color and has a different engineering number so I grabbed another truck vacuum electrical switch just in case. Hopefully this will take care of my constantly running blower motor problem. I'm hoping tomorrow I can dig deeper into the dash and replace that and address the blend door issue. I replaced the window glass run felts and the outside belt line felts. The glass run felts turned into quite a job. The old rubber was tightly stuck in the lower channels. It was brittle and came out one tiny chunk at a time. Someone had attempted this job before and gave up. The upper section of felt around the window opening was newer and had been cut where the extensions go down inside the door 🙄. The glass is stiffer to roll up and down now, but nicely sealed 👍 I finally got around to putting in my door locks. I still need to drill holes for the rods/pin locks but at least the rest is put back together and I can lock the truck from the outside. When I was messing with the gauges the other day I noticed the dipstick brace was not secured. I took it upon myself to "fix" it, and now I'm hemorrhaging oil out of the side cover... I guess I'm ordering a gasket set for that now. I just couldn't leave it alone! 🙈 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 I am reaching a dead end with the fuel gauge... and it is driving me nuts! - I have pulsing current to the yellow/white stripe wire at the tank switch. - When I bridge that wire to the yellow/blue-dashed wire I get pulsing current to one of the rear tank terminals. - When I use the second terminal as my meter ground it reads the pulsing current so the ground is good. - When I measure the resistance between the two tank terminals I get 40 ohms. That is at least reasonable for a partial tank of gas. - When I turn the key the gauge needle does actually move, but less than a needle width over about 5 seconds. I'm at a loss. All the wiring seems to test out and the sender resistance is reasonable and should show on the gauge. And more than one gauge was tested and they both do the same thing. Two different ICVR's as well... 🤷♂️ I'm no closer with the speedometer hold down mystery, but I did check the drive gear inside the transfer case and it feels slightly apple-core shaped. Perhaps it is just worn. I guess my next move will be new plastic gears (hopefully correct for my ratio and tires) and a new rear transfer case seal which I need anyway... I found a HVAC controller with AC and no tank selector. It was from a motorhome. The vacuum and AC switch itself is a different color and has a different engineering number so I grabbed another truck vacuum electrical switch just in case. Hopefully this will take care of my constantly running blower motor problem. I'm hoping tomorrow I can dig deeper into the dash and replace that and address the blend door issue. I replaced the window glass run felts and the outside belt line felts. The glass run felts turned into quite a job. The old rubber was tightly stuck in the lower channels. It was brittle and came out one tiny chunk at a time. Someone had attempted this job before and gave up. The upper section of felt around the window opening was newer and had been cut where the extensions go down inside the door 🙄. The glass is stiffer to roll up and down now, but nicely sealed 👍 I finally got around to putting in my door locks. I still need to drill holes for the rods/pin locks but at least the rest is put back together and I can lock the truck from the outside. When I was messing with the gauges the other day I noticed the dipstick brace was not secured. I took it upon myself to "fix" it, and now I'm hemorrhaging oil out of the side cover... I guess I'm ordering a gasket set for that now. I just couldn't leave it alone! 🙈 I had a discussion going on FTE about wheels for this truck. In spite of the fact that David gave me a most beautiful set of stock rims at the GTG, I just have not been able to bring myself to buy more tires that I hate. You can't find tall and skinny in a 15" rim unless you go with bias ply super swampers which are for a very specific use. I was going to give up on the super rare 16" 5 lug Ford rims and run 31x10.5's, but I was trolling the internet and found these... what do you all think? Does anyone know what the OEM rim backspace is? https://www.summitracing.com/parts/usw-69-7755 They are 16" rims, they are only 7" wide (correct for the 235/85R16 that I want to run). They are 5x5.5 bolt circle. The center hole is big enough for my front 4x4 hubs. Do I have a winner? The backspace is 4", offset is zero. They might not be everyone's cup of tea as far as taste but I don't mind them. I usually prefer a steel wheel. And I definitely prefer the load range E truck tires over the lighter 15" tires. I just don't tend to have problems with E's on road or off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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