Gary Lewis Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 . Gary, tirelessly going the extra mile for everyone here on the forum! I may not do it often enough, but I really want to express my heartfelt appreciation for all you do, Gary. A heartfelt second to that statement. Your generosity with your time and effort to help others is genuinely amazing. Jonathan - If you need the '96 EVTM then let me know. But I hope things work when you get a battery in it. As for my efforts, guys, I just like helping. But it is WE or US that do the work around here. I just set up the environment, but you do the bulk of the helping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salans7 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 . Gary, tirelessly going the extra mile for everyone here on the forum! I may not do it often enough, but I really want to express my heartfelt appreciation for all you do, Gary. A heartfelt second to that statement. Your generosity with your time and effort to help others is genuinely amazing. Johnathan, I hope this helps give you some ideas. The first two pictures show the driver's side lower mount. This is where I made a bracket that attaches to the bullnose dash, and then allows me to mount it to the bricknose location. It's hard to tell, but that area is recessed which is why the bullnose dash won't bolt there. This picture shows how I did the upper mounts. Both sides are the same. They are only tacked in place and held with a single bolt until I can pull the windshield and final weld. My windshield is shattered, hence why I'm just gonna weld the whole thing with it out. You could probably get away with just tac welding the under side and doing a bolt or plug weld like I did. The sections were cut out of my old cab, they're very small. The next two pictures show the lower mount on the passenger side. You can see it's bolted just like a bullnose, as I took measurements and drilled the holes in the same place. You can see in the second picture the recess where the bricknose dash would mount. And finally, this is the center speaker bracket. To get it to fit I had to cut and bend down the sections where the bricknose dash clips into, and once they were flat the speaker bracket slipped right over. You can see that there are two holes on the ends of the speaker bracket, and you can see which one was used to mount it to the bullnose cab. There is no meat there on a bricknose or aeronose, so I just used the other hole behind it after drilling through the lip near the windshield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Johnathan, I hope this helps give you some ideas. The first two pictures show the driver's side lower mount. This is where I made a bracket that attaches to the bullnose dash, and then allows me to mount it to the bricknose location. It's hard to tell, but that area is recessed which is why the bullnose dash won't bolt there. This picture shows how I did the upper mounts. Both sides are the same. They are only tacked in place and held with a single bolt until I can pull the windshield and final weld. My windshield is shattered, hence why I'm just gonna weld the whole thing with it out. You could probably get away with just tac welding the under side and doing a bolt or plug weld like I did. The sections were cut out of my old cab, they're very small. The next two pictures show the lower mount on the passenger side. You can see it's bolted just like a bullnose, as I took measurements and drilled the holes in the same place. You can see in the second picture the recess where the bricknose dash would mount. And finally, this is the center speaker bracket. To get it to fit I had to cut and bend down the sections where the bricknose dash clips into, and once they were flat the speaker bracket slipped right over. You can see that there are two holes on the ends of the speaker bracket, and you can see which one was used to mount it to the bullnose cab. There is no meat there on a bricknose or aeronose, so I just used the other hole behind it after drilling through the lip near the windshield. Good info, Shaun! Even I understood that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 Johnathan, I hope this helps give you some ideas. The first two pictures show the driver's side lower mount. This is where I made a bracket that attaches to the bullnose dash, and then allows me to mount it to the bricknose location. It's hard to tell, but that area is recessed which is why the bullnose dash won't bolt there. This picture shows how I did the upper mounts. Both sides are the same. They are only tacked in place and held with a single bolt until I can pull the windshield and final weld. My windshield is shattered, hence why I'm just gonna weld the whole thing with it out. You could probably get away with just tac welding the under side and doing a bolt or plug weld like I did. The sections were cut out of my old cab, they're very small. The next two pictures show the lower mount on the passenger side. You can see it's bolted just like a bullnose, as I took measurements and drilled the holes in the same place. You can see in the second picture the recess where the bricknose dash would mount. And finally, this is the center speaker bracket. To get it to fit I had to cut and bend down the sections where the bricknose dash clips into, and once they were flat the speaker bracket slipped right over. You can see that there are two holes on the ends of the speaker bracket, and you can see which one was used to mount it to the bullnose cab. There is no meat there on a bricknose or aeronose, so I just used the other hole behind it after drilling through the lip near the windshield. Awesome!!! Thank you for the pictures Shaun. This helps a lot to understand what you did to make this work. I’m not going to say it looks easy because I know how tricky it is just to reach those fasteners on the correct (Bullnose) cab structure. However it does take some of the mystery out of it and it seems less intimidating. I wonder though if the the two corners by the windshield could be supported with L brackets instead of welding a flange like the original cab? As I mentioned, I do not have a donor cab to cut things from. I can probably obtain the upper pedal box support from the junkyard if I bring some chisels and a small sledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salans7 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Awesome!!! Thank you for the pictures Shaun. This helps a lot to understand what you did to make this work. I’m not going to say it looks easy because I know how tricky it is just to reach those fasteners on the correct (Bullnose) cab structure. However it does take some of the mystery out of it and it seems less intimidating. I wonder though if the the two corners by the windshield could be supported with L brackets instead of welding a flange like the original cab? As I mentioned, I do not have a donor cab to cut things from. I can probably obtain the upper pedal box support from the junkyard if I bring some chisels and a small sledge. I'm sure that is definitely a possibility as long as the brackets are thick enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Awesome!!! Thank you for the pictures Shaun. This helps a lot to understand what you did to make this work. I’m not going to say it looks easy because I know how tricky it is just to reach those fasteners on the correct (Bullnose) cab structure. However it does take some of the mystery out of it and it seems less intimidating. I wonder though if the the two corners by the windshield could be supported with L brackets instead of welding a flange like the original cab? As I mentioned, I do not have a donor cab to cut things from. I can probably obtain the upper pedal box support from the junkyard if I bring some chisels and a small sledge. So I am realizing that the Aeronose wire harness is modular. The big plug at the firewall separates a substantial loom that includes an under-hood fuse and relay box. The cab harness for sale on eBay is only half of what I need at best. I found the other half for sale, as well as a diesel instrument cluster, but the total shipped price for these three items would be $869.77 I realize these are eBay “gotcha where we wantcha” prices, but it’s starting to make a dash swap seem more and more reasonable since I have the wiring and parts for older trucks ready to go. I would like to check the Flagstaff and Prescott junkyards, but they are a 3.5 hr. drive from me. Seven hours of driving just to go check would put quite a dent in the labor time if I just stayed home and started the dash swap, no? And another thing I discovered... the instrument clusters varied in how they were wired. 92/93 are the same 94/95 are the same and 96/97HD are the same. I’m guessing I would be okay as long as the cluster matched the cab and engine bay harnii, but using the wrong cluster can result in gauge issues and RABS problems. I don’t know if the F450’s had RABS? From what I am reading I would likely have to re-pin and/or re-wire some things to get everything functioning correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Johnathan, I hope this helps give you some ideas. The first two pictures show the driver's side lower mount. This is where I made a bracket that attaches to the bullnose dash, and then allows me to mount it to the bricknose location. It's hard to tell, but that area is recessed which is why the bullnose dash won't bolt there. This picture shows how I did the upper mounts. Both sides are the same. They are only tacked in place and held with a single bolt until I can pull the windshield and final weld. My windshield is shattered, hence why I'm just gonna weld the whole thing with it out. You could probably get away with just tac welding the under side and doing a bolt or plug weld like I did. The sections were cut out of my old cab, they're very small. The next two pictures show the lower mount on the passenger side. You can see it's bolted just like a bullnose, as I took measurements and drilled the holes in the same place. You can see in the second picture the recess where the bricknose dash would mount. And finally, this is the center speaker bracket. To get it to fit I had to cut and bend down the sections where the bricknose dash clips into, and once they were flat the speaker bracket slipped right over. You can see that there are two holes on the ends of the speaker bracket, and you can see which one was used to mount it to the bullnose cab. There is no meat there on a bricknose or aeronose, so I just used the other hole behind it after drilling through the lip near the windshield. Jonathan, Just to switch gears that truck looks to be a CC truck yes? You are looking at pick up truck beds and you did say that the bed would be shorter but I thought the frame widths were different between the 2 frames? I guess if the CC truck was skinnier you could just drill new holes in the bed but you would need to add a spacer (pipe?) between the bed and the bed cross member so you would not crush the bed floor when the bolts were tightened. Good luck on the project Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Jonathan, Just to switch gears that truck looks to be a CC truck yes? You are looking at pick up truck beds and you did say that the bed would be shorter but I thought the frame widths were different between the 2 frames? I guess if the CC truck was skinnier you could just drill new holes in the bed but you would need to add a spacer (pipe?) between the bed and the bed cross member so you would not crush the bed floor when the bolts were tightened. Good luck on the project Dave ---- I think I already pointed this out. Yes, all C&C trucks had straight rails at (33"???) wide. You could purchase an F-350 as an incomplete vehicle, and still have pickup truck frame. But a 450 is not a pickup, and it does have beefy rails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 So I am realizing that the Aeronose wire harness is modular. The big plug at the firewall separates a substantial loom that includes an under-hood fuse and relay box. The cab harness for sale on eBay is only half of what I need at best. I found the other half for sale, as well as a diesel instrument cluster, but the total shipped price for these three items would be $869.77 I realize these are eBay “gotcha where we wantcha” prices, but it’s starting to make a dash swap seem more and more reasonable since I have the wiring and parts for older trucks ready to go. I would like to check the Flagstaff and Prescott junkyards, but they are a 3.5 hr. drive from me. Seven hours of driving just to go check would put quite a dent in the labor time if I just stayed home and started the dash swap, no? And another thing I discovered... the instrument clusters varied in how they were wired. 92/93 are the same 94/95 are the same and 96/97HD are the same. I’m guessing I would be okay as long as the cluster matched the cab and engine bay harnii, but using the wrong cluster can result in gauge issues and RABS problems. I don’t know if the F450’s had RABS? From what I am reading I would likely have to re-pin and/or re-wire some things to get everything functioning correctly. There are at least two things working at the same time - cost and experience. And it looks to me like the earlier wiring & dash wins on both of those. Looking at it another way, I think you have three scenarios: 1: Forget replacing the wiring and go with the earlier dash and wiring, which you have. The cost will be next to nothing, but how much time will it take? 2: Decide to keep with the later dash and wiring and hope a salvage has the parts you need. You know that'll take a day to find out if they do and some amount of fuel. Then there's the cost to get it from the salvage. Did that spreadsheet you sent me some time ago have prices on harnii and gauges? Can you come up with a cost? Can you call the salvages? 3: Go with the ebay stuff, which you said will cost ~$900. Is that all? Does that give you everything? Not sure that helps, but I'm just trying to get my head around things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I think I already pointed this out. Yes, all C&C trucks had straight rails at (33"???) wide. You could purchase an F-350 as an incomplete vehicle, and still have pickup truck frame. But a 450 is not a pickup, and it does have beefy rails. I must have missed it Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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