Big Blue's Transformation

[Rusty_S85]

Jim - I think Big Blue is going to turn in almost 13 in most conditions, save for serious winds or driving faster. I was hoping for more, but I don't think it is going to happen. Still, that's a significant improvement over the mid-11's he was getting with the carb, and the driveability difference is dramatic. The best of both worlds.

As for the tires, that is the $64,000 question. Concerning size, I think I'll stay with the 33's. Janey has enough trouble as it is getting in so I don't want to raise it another inch by going to 35's. And the 33's seem just about right - big enough to go over 'most anything, but small enough to give a better ride and MPG than 35's.

But on the brand I less decided. We discussed it some in this thread starting here, and I think the vote at that time must have been two for the BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2’s, one for Falken Wild peaks AT3's, and then Bob basically said "anything but KO2's!".

I think I'm going to start a separate thread for the tires and get everyone's input.

I actually like the KO2`s on mine the only thing I hate about them is the aggressive shoulder which doesnt allow me to turn full lock to lock like the KO1`s I had before. I wished they didnt discontinue the KO1`s but they did and forced me to run KO2`s.

Ride quality when aired up as per the door tag provides a smooth soft ride, softer than the Discount brand pathfinders I used to run.

[85lebaront2]

Ah, I didn't know that was her car.

I remember you mentioned that Matt had it one night when someone decided to steal "gas" from it...

And everything that happened after. 😁

That was the 1978 Olds Delta 88 Royale, the one Matt was driving when a drunk sailor made a left turn in front of him. totaled the car but all Matt got was a bruise from the steering wheel. Bonneville essentially replaced it.

[Gary Lewis]

That was the 1978 Olds Delta 88 Royale, the one Matt was driving when a drunk sailor made a left turn in front of him. totaled the car but all Matt got was a bruise from the steering wheel. Bonneville essentially replaced it.

I'm in the process of planning the overlanding trip to New Mexico in October, and I'll start a thread about it in a bit. But part of that is getting Big Blue ready, and one of the things he needs is a mount for the Garmin Montana 750i.

I think I want to mount it as shown below, which will let both the driver and the passenger see it but keep it out of the way of the shift leverl

Toward that end I ordered the two items shown below. The cradle on the left is from Garmin and has connections for power and audio out. I think I'll tie power into always-on power, and the audio will be connected to the aux in on the Sony stereo. Hopefully this will give us turn-by-turn guidance, keep the device charged, and allow easily removing it for close inspection or changing the route.

Thoughts?

[Nothing Special]

I'm in the process of planning the overlanding trip to New Mexico in October, and I'll start a thread about it in a bit. But part of that is getting Big Blue ready, and one of the things he needs is a mount for the Garmin Montana 750i.

I think I want to mount it as shown below, which will let both the driver and the passenger see it but keep it out of the way of the shift leverl

Toward that end I ordered the two items shown below. The cradle on the left is from Garmin and has connections for power and audio out. I think I'll tie power into always-on power, and the audio will be connected to the aux in on the Sony stereo. Hopefully this will give us turn-by-turn guidance, keep the device charged, and allow easily removing it for close inspection or changing the route.

Thoughts?

My only thought is that before you drill any holes I'd suggest making sure you get good satellite reception in that location. It hasn't been much of an issue for me with newer devices, but a decade or two ago I needed to get my GPS out from under the steel roof to get a reliable signal. Sitting on the dash up under the windshield always worked, but sitting on the front seat next to the driver often didn't.

As I said, I don't see that much anymore, but it's something I'd try out before doing anything semi-permanent.

[Gary Lewis]

My only thought is that before you drill any holes I'd suggest making sure you get good satellite reception in that location. It hasn't been much of an issue for me with newer devices, but a decade or two ago I needed to get my GPS out from under the steel roof to get a reliable signal. Sitting on the dash up under the windshield always worked, but sitting on the front seat next to the driver often didn't.

As I said, I don't see that much anymore, but it's something I'd try out before doing anything semi-permanent.

Good idea, Bob. I'll do that - when I get the seats back in.

Right now I have the seats out trying to figure out how the driver's bucket is supposed to be installed. I used the wedges that are used on the passenger's side, but Ford didn't use them on the driver's side. So that explains why the seat is tilted back and the headrest hits the rear window, keeping the seat from going all the way back.

I'd like to get the seat where it should be, and I may even install the buckets from Chad/Little Beefy to see what I think of them.

[Gary Lewis]

Good idea, Bob. I'll do that - when I get the seats back in.

Right now I have the seats out trying to figure out how the driver's bucket is supposed to be installed. I used the wedges that are used on the passenger's side, but Ford didn't use them on the driver's side. So that explains why the seat is tilted back and the headrest hits the rear window, keeping the seat from going all the way back.

I'd like to get the seat where it should be, and I may even install the buckets from Chad/Little Beefy to see what I think of them.

In the illustrations below you can see that the driver's seat uses a pair of "stands" that bolt to the floor - of a Bronco or Supercab. But the Regular cabs don't have the inside set of holes, nor is the shape of the floor such that you can use the inside stands.

Which is why I have the later "base" on which the seats mount. The base fits the Regular cab's floor and has the holes through which to mount the seat slider tracks. But when I installed the captain's chairs I used the wedges you can see intended for the passenger's side on the driver's side also. However that tilts the seat back and causes the seatback to hit the window. Plus, I think it prevents the seat from going all the way back.

So today's thought was to take the wedges out, and maybe put the buckets in that I got from Chad to see how I like them. But, it won't work w/o modification. And I don't really understand why. Here are some measurements, which shows that not only are the seats different, the two sets of tracks that I have are different. This thoroughly confuses me, so if any of y'all see what I'm missing please chime in.

Captain's Buckets

Seat bolt holes: 12 1/2 13"

Track/seat bolt holes: 13" 13 7/8"

Now, there's another difference in the tracks as the adjustment arm on one set of tracks is 1 1/2" longer. But even then it isn't long enough to prevent it from hitting the foam at the front of the captain's chairs.

So here's the plan. Since Chad assured me that the buckets aren't comfortable for long periods of time, and we do plan to put miles on Big Blue, I'm going to stay with the captain's chairs. So I'll re-drill the tracks that I've been using with those seats to allow them to bolt to the seat rather than the wedges. (I still can't figure out why neither set of brackets bolt to the seats since it seems so clear that they should in the illustration.) And I'll cut the release arm and weld a piece it to make it long enough to clear the foam.

By my measurements this will lower the front of the seat by 1 1/4" and the back of the seat by 1/4". And it will also move the seat to the rear 1". We shall see.

[Gary Lewis]

In the illustrations below you can see that the driver's seat uses a pair of "stands" that bolt to the floor - of a Bronco or Supercab. But the Regular cabs don't have the inside set of holes, nor is the shape of the floor such that you can use the inside stands.

Which is why I have the later "base" on which the seats mount. The base fits the Regular cab's floor and has the holes through which to mount the seat slider tracks. But when I installed the captain's chairs I used the wedges you can see intended for the passenger's side on the driver's side also. However that tilts the seat back and causes the seatback to hit the window. Plus, I think it prevents the seat from going all the way back.

So today's thought was to take the wedges out, and maybe put the buckets in that I got from Chad to see how I like them. But, it won't work w/o modification. And I don't really understand why. Here are some measurements, which shows that not only are the seats different, the two sets of tracks that I have are different. This thoroughly confuses me, so if any of y'all see what I'm missing please chime in.

Captain's Buckets

Seat bolt holes: 12 1/2 13"

Track/seat bolt holes: 13" 13 7/8"

Now, there's another difference in the tracks as the adjustment arm on one set of tracks is 1 1/2" longer. But even then it isn't long enough to prevent it from hitting the foam at the front of the captain's chairs.

So here's the plan. Since Chad assured me that the buckets aren't comfortable for long periods of time, and we do plan to put miles on Big Blue, I'm going to stay with the captain's chairs. So I'll re-drill the tracks that I've been using with those seats to allow them to bolt to the seat rather than the wedges. (I still can't figure out why neither set of brackets bolt to the seats since it seems so clear that they should in the illustration.) And I'll cut the release arm and weld a piece it to make it long enough to clear the foam.

By my measurements this will lower the front of the seat by 1 1/4" and the back of the seat by 1/4". And it will also move the seat to the rear 1". We shall see.

Well, I didn't do as I said I would do. Instead I drilled the tracks that are 13 7/8" between seat mounting holes, adding a new rear hole that is 12 1/2" back from the front hole and 1 3/8" forward of the rear hole.

Bolted up nicely, but there is only 4" of travel instead of 6", and the lost 2" are at the back - right where I needed them. I'm sure what is happening is the roller inside the track is hitting the bolt head. I moved the bolt forward that 1 3/8" and then there's the width of the bolt head itself, so ~2".

What I think I'll do is use a piece of 1" square tubing to make a spacer, similar to the wedges but with no taper. With it bolted to the seats and the tracks I've not messed up bolted to the base I can set the seat/spacer combo on the tracks & in the fully rear position, slide the seat to the rear as far as it'll go w/o hitting the window or the organizer, and then mark and drill it.

That will not only give me the full range of that pair of tracks, biased to the rear where I need it, but also raise me up an inch. And I can tell that removing the wedges did drop me that inch. Sorta feels like I'm in a hole now.

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I didn't do as I said I would do. Instead I drilled the tracks that are 13 7/8" between seat mounting holes, adding a new rear hole that is 12 1/2" back from the front hole and 1 3/8" forward of the rear hole.

Bolted up nicely, but there is only 4" of travel instead of 6", and the lost 2" are at the back - right where I needed them. I'm sure what is happening is the roller inside the track is hitting the bolt head. I moved the bolt forward that 1 3/8" and then there's the width of the bolt head itself, so ~2".

What I think I'll do is use a piece of 1" square tubing to make a spacer, similar to the wedges but with no taper. With it bolted to the seats and the tracks I've not messed up bolted to the base I can set the seat/spacer combo on the tracks & in the fully rear position, slide the seat to the rear as far as it'll go w/o hitting the window or the organizer, and then mark and drill it.

That will not only give me the full range of that pair of tracks, biased to the rear where I need it, but also raise me up an inch. And I can tell that removing the wedges did drop me that inch. Sorta feels like I'm in a hole now.

Not a lot to report today as we ran errands. But I did get a stick of 1 1/4" square tubing with which to make the spacer. And here are some pics to 'splain how this is going to go.

In this view we are looking from the center of the vehicle towards the driver's seat and we have the seat track on the bottom and the wedge on the top. The wedge is made out of sheet metal formed into a U with a notch cut out to clear the seat latch mechanism.

And in this pic the wedge is rolled 1/4 turn off the track and you can more easily see the notch cut in it. I'll be using square tubing to make my spacer but will mill a similar notch in it to clear the latch and will weld nuts in to hold it to the track.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Not a lot to report today as we ran errands. But I did get a stick of 1 1/4" square tubing with which to make the spacer. And here are some pics to 'splain how this is going to go.

In this view we are looking from the center of the vehicle towards the driver's seat and we have the seat track on the bottom and the wedge on the top. The wedge is made out of sheet metal formed into a U with a notch cut out to clear the seat latch mechanism.

And in this pic the wedge is rolled 1/4 turn off the track and you can more easily see the notch cut in it. I'll be using square tubing to make my spacer but will mill a similar notch in it to clear the latch and will weld nuts in to hold it to the track.

After the tire discussion (about room in the bed for a spare) I'm wondering if you have any plans to complete the swing away tire and jack carrier for Big Blue?

[Gary Lewis]

After the tire discussion (about room in the bed for a spare) I'm wondering if you have any plans to complete the swing away tire and jack carrier for Big Blue?

I hope to do so, but won't have it done for the trip in October.

I've checked and there's no way to get even a skinny spare on top of the current one and still close the cover. So w/o the fancy bumper the only way to have two spares would be to put the spare tire carrier back on and put it under the rear end. I'm thinking we'll go with one spare for this trip, but will discuss that with my son.