WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[Nothing Special]

Today I put a winch on my pickup! Well, not really, but I made it so I can use the Bronco's winch on the pickup. I have a receiver-mount winch for the Bronco and a front (and rear) receiver on the pickup, so I could already mount it. But I didn't have a way to get power to it. Today I put a quick-connect on the truck so now I can plug the winch in! I only put a plug at the front and I don't have a long enough power cable to run it back to the rear receiver. But just a front winch should be nice to have at times, like next weekend when I'm going up to my parents cabin where the driveways haven't been plowed all winter. I need to drive in to pick up some firewood so I'll back in, and if I get stuck I can pull myself back out!

And not "my" or a truck or today. But last fall I did the same thing to my wife's little Jeep Renegade. It doesn't have a receiver so I didn't do it for a winch. But there is no way to hook jumper cables to the battery in that thing! There's a panel mounted on top of the battery that blocks access to the battery posts (see picture below where I took the plastic cover off so you can see the panel). There's a terminal on top of the panel that's connected directly to the positive terminal, but it's not big enough to grab with jumper cables. So I wired a quick-connect on it and then put another quick connect on one end of a set of jumper cables (the cables are laying on top of the engine on the left side of the picture).

Well, I didn't have to use the winch (or should that be "didn't GET to use the winch?"). When my brother and I were getting out of the truck a neighbor drove by and offered to come dig out the plow berm across the end of the driveway with the bucket on his tractor. We told him he didn't need to, but he did anyway. So I didn't get to push through that. (Turned out to be a good thing, because when my parents (in their 80s) got there they could park on that snow rather than on the very icy road. That was a much safer place for them to be getting out of the car).

I still used my truck to try to pack down the snow on the driveway, but this snow wasn't packing. It was just ice pellets and it flowed like dry sand. I backed down the driveway a few times and drove back up (I did get stuck one, but about 30 seconds with a shovel took care of that). But I was just chewing it up. So we hand-shoveled a sidewalk for my parents to walk in.

Then I got to push through the plow berm at the other driveway and drive up the hill to the garage. That was some fun, and although pushing uphill through untracked snow was tough, it was always easy to go back down toward the road, so no more shoveling.

After filling the truck bed with firewood it was easy to push my brothers trailer up the driveway to fill it with wood as well. So I did get to play with the truck a little.

[FuzzFace2]

Well, I didn't have to use the winch (or should that be "didn't GET to use the winch?"). When my brother and I were getting out of the truck a neighbor drove by and offered to come dig out the plow berm across the end of the driveway with the bucket on his tractor. We told him he didn't need to, but he did anyway. So I didn't get to push through that. (Turned out to be a good thing, because when my parents (in their 80s) got there they could park on that snow rather than on the very icy road. That was a much safer place for them to be getting out of the car).

I still used my truck to try to pack down the snow on the driveway, but this snow wasn't packing. It was just ice pellets and it flowed like dry sand. I backed down the driveway a few times and drove back up (I did get stuck one, but about 30 seconds with a shovel took care of that). But I was just chewing it up. So we hand-shoveled a sidewalk for my parents to walk in.

Then I got to push through the plow berm at the other driveway and drive up the hill to the garage. That was some fun, and although pushing uphill through untracked snow was tough, it was always easy to go back down toward the road, so no more shoveling.

After filling the truck bed with firewood it was easy to push my brothers trailer up the driveway to fill it with wood as well. So I did get to play with the truck a little.

Took the truck to work Saturday morning (1:30am) and when I got home took the trash to the dump.

Then got the 4 metal cross braces my truck came with for the bed and took to a buddy's house to see if he could use them for his (83 or 84?) flare side he just picked up.

He also got a parts truck of the same years (does not know either trucks years yet) that has a 90's flare side bed on it.

He would like to sell it and use the best parts from the 2 trucks to make a good one.

Remind you of someone

I also told him I might want the short bed frame and front suspension before he sends them packing but I know he is in no rush and either am I.

Dave ----

[fords4life]

Well, I didn't have to use the winch (or should that be "didn't GET to use the winch?"). When my brother and I were getting out of the truck a neighbor drove by and offered to come dig out the plow berm across the end of the driveway with the bucket on his tractor. We told him he didn't need to, but he did anyway. So I didn't get to push through that. (Turned out to be a good thing, because when my parents (in their 80s) got there they could park on that snow rather than on the very icy road. That was a much safer place for them to be getting out of the car).

I still used my truck to try to pack down the snow on the driveway, but this snow wasn't packing. It was just ice pellets and it flowed like dry sand. I backed down the driveway a few times and drove back up (I did get stuck one, but about 30 seconds with a shovel took care of that). But I was just chewing it up. So we hand-shoveled a sidewalk for my parents to walk in.

Then I got to push through the plow berm at the other driveway and drive up the hill to the garage. That was some fun, and although pushing uphill through untracked snow was tough, it was always easy to go back down toward the road, so no more shoveling.

After filling the truck bed with firewood it was easy to push my brothers trailer up the driveway to fill it with wood as well. So I did get to play with the truck a little.

Only got a couple hours on the truck today, but I got the oil pressure sending unit for the factory harness and the sending unit for the aftermarket gauge installed, pretty steering pump and bracket mounted, swapped out the NOS thermactor bypass valve, continued on working harness teardown and tried to mount the shortened rear sway bar links.

Starting to wonder if the rear sway bar is bent as it's looking like I'm going to have to use a jack to lift the one side into place..... Also found the injector wiring harness to be in pretty bad shape and in need of replacement. I might have to make my own since the only new replacement I've seen is from LMR and they want $335 for it. More research to come..

[85lebaront2]

Only got a couple hours on the truck today, but I got the oil pressure sending unit for the factory harness and the sending unit for the aftermarket gauge installed, pretty steering pump and bracket mounted, swapped out the NOS thermactor bypass valve, continued on working harness teardown and tried to mount the shortened rear sway bar links.

Starting to wonder if the rear sway bar is bent as it's looking like I'm going to have to use a jack to lift the one side into place..... Also found the injector wiring harness to be in pretty bad shape and in need of replacement. I might have to make my own since the only new replacement I've seen is from LMR and they want $335 for it. More research to come..

If I can get a chance to get to Newport News, I have one, maybe two 1985.5/1986 EFI harnesses in a box in the trunk of my 1995 Lincoln Continental.

[Rembrant]

I finally got my new (newer, actually) steering shaft installed tonight. The torn rubber on the upper joint of my old shaft was an engine bay eyesore that was driving me crazy...

The "new" shaft I have is from a 1987-1991 pickup, and was in overall decent condition. It has a dry sealed U-joint on the upper end, and a bonded "rag joint" aka "coupler" at the bottom end.

The newer shaft seemed to fit pretty well. I had to grind a hair off the inside of the upper joint to get it on the column, but I think it was probably just some rough edges from old age, etc. Not sure.

The downside of the newer shaft was that the slip joint (or telescopic joint if you will) was a bit sloppy. I took it apart and found the strip spring inside to be broken in multiple pieces. I tried multiple different pieces of metal...shim stock, metal strapping, etc...and I just could not get it tight. In the end...I welded a couple 5/16" nuts on the outside of the tube and put a couple set screws in it to hold it tight. Now there is zero play in it.

That's it for now. I was going to install a Borgeson shaft, but for the $15 this one cost me, I figured I'd give it a try and see how it stands up. It too is at least 30 years old, so who knows. If it doesn't least, I'll get a new shaft. For now, I really just wanted to get rid of the unsightly torn rubber boot as the truck will be going for it's mechanical fitness test in a couple months.

 

[grumpin]

I finally got my new (newer, actually) steering shaft installed tonight. The torn rubber on the upper joint of my old shaft was an engine bay eyesore that was driving me crazy...

The "new" shaft I have is from a 1987-1991 pickup, and was in overall decent condition. It has a dry sealed U-joint on the upper end, and a bonded "rag joint" aka "coupler" at the bottom end.

The newer shaft seemed to fit pretty well. I had to grind a hair off the inside of the upper joint to get it on the column, but I think it was probably just some rough edges from old age, etc. Not sure.

The downside of the newer shaft was that the slip joint (or telescopic joint if you will) was a bit sloppy. I took it apart and found the strip spring inside to be broken in multiple pieces. I tried multiple different pieces of metal...shim stock, metal strapping, etc...and I just could not get it tight. In the end...I welded a couple 5/16" nuts on the outside of the tube and put a couple set screws in it to hold it tight. Now there is zero play in it.

That's it for now. I was going to install a Borgeson shaft, but for the $15 this one cost me, I figured I'd give it a try and see how it stands up. It too is at least 30 years old, so who knows. If it doesn't least, I'll get a new shaft. For now, I really just wanted to get rid of the unsightly torn rubber boot as the truck will be going for it's mechanical fitness test in a couple months.

Nice! Ingenious on the set screws! Good thinking and good job!

[fords4life]

Nice! Ingenious on the set screws! Good thinking and good job!

No work done, but my nearly impossible to find NOS thermactor control valve arrived today from Dennis Carpenter. Also picked up a replacement washer nozzle that I can't find anywhere else.

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I didn't have to use the winch (or should that be "didn't GET to use the winch?"). When my brother and I were getting out of the truck a neighbor drove by and offered to come dig out the plow berm across the end of the driveway with the bucket on his tractor. We told him he didn't need to, but he did anyway. So I didn't get to push through that. (Turned out to be a good thing, because when my parents (in their 80s) got there they could park on that snow rather than on the very icy road. That was a much safer place for them to be getting out of the car).

I still used my truck to try to pack down the snow on the driveway, but this snow wasn't packing. It was just ice pellets and it flowed like dry sand. I backed down the driveway a few times and drove back up (I did get stuck one, but about 30 seconds with a shovel took care of that). But I was just chewing it up. So we hand-shoveled a sidewalk for my parents to walk in.

Then I got to push through the plow berm at the other driveway and drive up the hill to the garage. That was some fun, and although pushing uphill through untracked snow was tough, it was always easy to go back down toward the road, so no more shoveling.

After filling the truck bed with firewood it was easy to push my brothers trailer up the driveway to fill it with wood as well. So I did get to play with the truck a little.

Bob - Glad you had a good trip. And, glad you are taking care of your parents. But, it is fun busting through the snow. Wish we had enough to do that.

fords4life - Maybe Bill can come through for you. He's told me of lots of things he has there, but I didn't realize he is using the trunk of a Continental for a storage container. Anyway, congrat's on getting the thermactor valve.

Cory - Good fix on that shaft. Ingenious, as Dane said.

 

[Rembrant]

Nice! Ingenious on the set screws! Good thinking and good job!

Well, I guess we will see how ingenious it is when it starts getting used...lol. Right now the truck is collecting dust! I was trying to figure out a way to tighten up that joint, and set-screws seemed to make the most sense to me. I read where other's have simply welded the joint rigid...which certainly works, but then you have to remove the steering box to install the steering shaft, and that's no fun. There is the issue of losing the collapsing joint...but I'd argue that it is barely 3", and that it would probably still move...it is still in a plastic sleeve internally. Another layer of the onion as Gary always says;).

I'd love one of the Borgeson shafts, but boy they are spendy...by the time I'd get one in Canada I'd likely be out the better part of $400, so a $15 part that looks factory was worth the try.

[Rembrant]

http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n50481/IMG_9975.jpg

By the way, has anybody had one of these joints apart before?

I'm thinking that a rubber boot from a shock or a steering rack might be able to be used as a replacement, but wasn't sure if that joint can even be disassembled. I may play with that later on and see what I can find for a replacement solution.