Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

.... Jobs like this on a tall truck are more work than on a shorter truck.

But it's easier to drain the oil!

Bob - That's for sure!

Ok folks, Janey relented on wrapping the fog lights, so I brought them out to the shop this morning and did a mockup of where they'd go. Turns out there are two plugged holes so I can choose either.

The pics below show where they'd go. The pics are taken at the level of the fog light, and that is with the center 35 1/2" off the ground, so there's little chance that either would block the turn signal.

I can see advantages and disadvantages. The outboard one will be pretty much free of the top of the bumper so if I need to stand there they won't be in the way. And it won't be shaded by the center upright piece of the bumper, like the inboard one would be. On the other hand it isn't quite centered up with the other lights.

Anyway, I need your opinions.

[kramttocs]

Bob - That's for sure!

Ok folks, Janey relented on wrapping the fog lights, so I brought them out to the shop this morning and did a mockup of where they'd go. Turns out there are two plugged holes so I can choose either.

The pics below show where they'd go. The pics are taken at the level of the fog light, and that is with the center 35 1/2" off the ground, so there's little chance that either would block the turn signal.

I can see advantages and disadvantages. The outboard one will be pretty much free of the top of the bumper so if I need to stand there they won't be in the way. And it won't be shaded by the center upright piece of the bumper, like the inboard one would be. On the other hand it isn't quite centered up with the other lights.

Anyway, I need your opinions.

I like the look of the inboard one better.

Those two pros for the outboard are pretty nice though:

Output not impacted by winch upright

Leaves you with a nice step to work from

Can they be rotated out a bit, if inboard, to reduce the upright blockage?

 

[Gary Lewis]

I like the look of the inboard one better.

Those two pros for the outboard are pretty nice though:

Output not impacted by winch upright

Leaves you with a nice step to work from

Can they be rotated out a bit, if inboard, to reduce the upright blockage?

They can be rotated 360, but the upright is still going to block it. Maybe I need to draw this out so we can see what the impact is....

[kramttocs]

They can be rotated 360, but the upright is still going to block it. Maybe I need to draw this out so we can see what the impact is....

Yeah, let me rephrase what I meant by that - is there any reason it can't be rotated to clear it (like it'd take too much)?

Like the classic "can I go to the restroom?" "I don't know, can you?"

[Nothing Special]

They can be rotated 360, but the upright is still going to block it. Maybe I need to draw this out so we can see what the impact is....

I'm with Scott. I like the look of the inboard position better, but the step and not being blocked by the winch is nice.

But on the blockage by the winch, I don't think that's as bad as it might seem. That will only block the light as it angles over to the opposite side. So you'd have a wedged-shaped shadow directly in front of the truck. But your low beams will light that area pretty well anyway. So the only real issue is if you have the fog lights on and head lights off, or fog lights and high beams on.

Fog on / low beam off wouldn't happen in normal driving. But it's something you MIGHT want to do if you get caught out on a trail after dark. Shutting off the low beams might avaid blinding a spotter as bad while the fog lights could still light things up. But with or without that shadow in front, it'll be dark under the bumper where the tires (and diff) are meeting the rocks. So the spotter would still need a good flash light.

Fog on / high beam on is pretty common any time you're driving where you can use high beams. Highs tend to not light up right in front of the truck as well as lows, so it can be nice having the fogs fill in there. But it wouldn't be thsat big a deal anyway.

So I think I'd go with the inner position if it were me. But that's not a very strongly held position.

Do you have to make a final decision soon? Can you try it in one location and move to the other if you decide you want to try that? Or is there anything you'd be doing now that would sort of lock you in?

[kramttocs]

I'm with Scott. I like the look of the inboard position better, but the step and not being blocked by the winch is nice.

But on the blockage by the winch, I don't think that's as bad as it might seem. That will only block the light as it angles over to the opposite side. So you'd have a wedged-shaped shadow directly in front of the truck. But your low beams will light that area pretty well anyway. So the only real issue is if you have the fog lights on and head lights off, or fog lights and high beams on.

Fog on / low beam off wouldn't happen in normal driving. But it's something you MIGHT want to do if you get caught out on a trail after dark. Shutting off the low beams might avaid blinding a spotter as bad while the fog lights could still light things up. But with or without that shadow in front, it'll be dark under the bumper where the tires (and diff) are meeting the rocks. So the spotter would still need a good flash light.

Fog on / high beam on is pretty common any time you're driving where you can use high beams. Highs tend to not light up right in front of the truck as well as lows, so it can be nice having the fogs fill in there. But it wouldn't be thsat big a deal anyway.

So I think I'd go with the inner position if it were me. But that's not a very strongly held position.

Do you have to make a final decision soon? Can you try it in one location and move to the other if you decide you want to try that? Or is there anything you'd be doing now that would sort of lock you in?

Bob brings up a good point - you could always drill two matching holes on the passenger side and try it out. Not that drilling an unnecessary hole is something you might want to do but it would maintain symmetry (that may not matter to you in the least though).

[Sac79]

I'm with Scott. I like the look of the inboard position better, but the step and not being blocked by the winch is nice.

But on the blockage by the winch, I don't think that's as bad as it might seem. That will only block the light as it angles over to the opposite side. So you'd have a wedged-shaped shadow directly in front of the truck. But your low beams will light that area pretty well anyway. So the only real issue is if you have the fog lights on and head lights off, or fog lights and high beams on.

Fog on / low beam off wouldn't happen in normal driving. But it's something you MIGHT want to do if you get caught out on a trail after dark. Shutting off the low beams might avaid blinding a spotter as bad while the fog lights could still light things up. But with or without that shadow in front, it'll be dark under the bumper where the tires (and diff) are meeting the rocks. So the spotter would still need a good flash light.

Fog on / high beam on is pretty common any time you're driving where you can use high beams. Highs tend to not light up right in front of the truck as well as lows, so it can be nice having the fogs fill in there. But it wouldn't be thsat big a deal anyway.

So I think I'd go with the inner position if it were me. But that's not a very strongly held position.

Do you have to make a final decision soon? Can you try it in one location and move to the other if you decide you want to try that? Or is there anything you'd be doing now that would sort of lock you in?

You only have ready-made holes on the driver's side right? If you don't mind the extra hole on the passenger's side trying both positions like Bob suggest is probably your best bet at finding the optimal position. Or just ask Janey for her opinion on the most aesthetic location...

[Gary Lewis]

You only have ready-made holes on the driver's side right? If you don't mind the extra hole on the passenger's side trying both positions like Bob suggest is probably your best bet at finding the optimal position. Or just ask Janey for her opinion on the most aesthetic location...

I'll try to answer some of the questions:

• I do not have to make a decision now as I'm a long way from being ready to mount them

• I'd rather not drill extra holes but surely I can come up with a way to mount them w/a magnet to let me see what they look like

• Asking Janey is probably the best bet! Lunch is SOON so I'll ask

Meanwhile, here's my CAD work using the image out of the Hella catalog for the pattern. It is hard to see but the inboard position is blocked to some extent. However, I see that somehow the patterns for the left three are reversed. The one on the far right is correct. I'll redraw after lunch. And I'll try to make it more obvious what the blockage is.

[Gary Lewis]

I'll try to answer some of the questions:

• I do not have to make a decision now as I'm a long way from being ready to mount them

• I'd rather not drill extra holes but surely I can come up with a way to mount them w/a magnet to let me see what they look like

• Asking Janey is probably the best bet! Lunch is SOON so I'll ask

Meanwhile, here's my CAD work using the image out of the Hella catalog for the pattern. It is hard to see but the inboard position is blocked to some extent. However, I see that somehow the patterns for the left three are reversed. The one on the far right is correct. I'll redraw after lunch. And I'll try to make it more obvious what the blockage is.

Ok, lunch is over and Janey's vote is this:

If there were no other factors I'd go with the inboard position. But you say that it will clip the light pattern, which isn't good. More importantly, you will need to step there and you'll be kicking yourself, and the lights, for placing them there. So put them in the outboard postions.

I do not have to decide right now, but wanted to play with it a bit today and start thinking about it. And I'm still open to any and all comments. Thanks!

And, here are the corrected drawings. I made a change in the light pattern. It was essentially coming from the middle of the light so I increased the size to show it as coming from the whole of the light. I don't know if that is correct, but if so it increases the amount of cutoff in the inboard position.

Thoughts?

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, lunch is over and Janey's vote is this:

If there were no other factors I'd go with the inboard position. But you say that it will clip the light pattern, which isn't good. More importantly, you will need to step there and you'll be kicking yourself, and the lights, for placing them there. So put them in the outboard postions.

I do not have to decide right now, but wanted to play with it a bit today and start thinking about it. And I'm still open to any and all comments. Thanks!

And, here are the corrected drawings. I made a change in the light pattern. It was essentially coming from the middle of the light so I increased the size to show it as coming from the whole of the light. I don't know if that is correct, but if so it increases the amount of cutoff in the inboard position.

Thoughts?

The Saginaw pump is installed. And the return turned out much better than it had been. Here's the original and you can see the big loop that the return takes. The power steering fluid comes up from the cooler on the frame, meets the return from the hydroboost at the top of the loop, and then continues down to the inlet to the pump.

Here's essentially the same picture with the new pump, and if you use your imagination you can see the hose coming up from the cooler on the frame, then the tee where the hydroboost return comes in below the pump, and then the line to the pump.

And here's a closer view if you can't see it in the above pic. I'm not proud of the hose clamps, but I don't have the right fuel injection clamps and couldn't get a tool down there to put the circle clamps on, so chose to go with the screw clamps and installed them after the hose was installed. But, it works and it sure cleaned things up.