Diary of a Restore (Thread)

[AmericanSavage]

Cool!

But why didn't I think of that?

I will post a bit more about my method here this weekend Gary. There was a little prep involved to minimize the time.

[AmericanSavage]

I will post a bit more about my method here this weekend Gary. There was a little prep involved to minimize the time.

Here is the write-up of how I hung the doors—I posted a pic earlier.

The first thing I did was measure the center top bolt hole of the top hinge on the door to the center top bolt hole of the bottom hinge of the door. This would be my most important measurement. It was about 14” I maintained this distance no matter what changes I made to the hinges.

The next thing I did was level the hinges, and then took a laser from the bottom hinge through the upper bolt hole and leveled it, shot to the striker side of the door where it would approx land if hung. I then measured from there to the center of the striker.

I then strung a line from that bottom bolt hole on the door on level and measure to the center of the latch on the door unit.

This was my baseline.

I could then arrange the hinges and get in the ballpark of hanging the door before I tried my first fitting.

The reason I did this was because, as I am using a hoist, and I am NOT removing the fenders, I wanted to get at the three hinge bolts on the cab easily. The door off allowed this using a socket and u-joint with an extension. I also used an off-set box end wrench. All of this saved the frustration of trying to tighten the bolts with the door on. That in itself saved time and was the price of admission. Highly recommend.

The hoist allowed this ease and relatively quick operation: 4 bolts hold on the door to the hinge. I could easily tighten and release the door using a gearwrench. The door would hang there near me for rapid reattachment. No on/off, lower/lift back up. I could easily lower the hoist and remove the straps and hang them on the door as I tested fit. If it did not, reattch and take up the slack a little, and remove the 4 bolts.

The prep measurements did get me in the ballpark. The pass side took 6 attempts before I got it right, and the door shut with ease—rubber OFF at this point. Pass side door was centered, but needed the hinges to move back. I went slowly here, because even a slight centimeter move could throw off the entire door—I took baby steps here. Patience! I could also then line up the lines of the truck outer, and move the door in and out from the cab—note: My lines are not exactly correct, maybe a 16th off on the low side from the rest of the truck panels.

If I moved one hinge, I measured to make sure I maintained the 14” separation. Once I got one part of the door set, it was only moving one hinge forward or back to line of the rest of the door. Again, remeasured the 14” every time.

Then there’s the inner outer fender clearance. Remember my pass door would NOT open because it was hitting the fender. This was in part because the bushings in all my hinges were shot. I rebuilt them (and bought a new hinge because I was missing a spring on one).

Newbie note: The fender is also an adjustment feature that should not go overlooked. There is a ½” bolt you can access through the door hinges with the door open with an extra long extension to move the lower fender in and out. I had to move mine out on the pass side to get the door to clear. I need to move it back in slightly to make the body align better.

One other tip: chase the threads on the door, and the bolts before doing any of this. It makes screwing in the bolts a breeze.

That’s it! The D side door took 5 attempts before I got it right.

Each door took me 2-3 hours to get right as I went in baby steps with each adjustment, and frequent toweling off—100 degress here every day, and HUMID.

I bought LMC new door seals, and let me tell you, it is TIGHT! I mean really tight. The doors did not want to close to the second latch click. It took some pushing and a little forceful persuasion to move the door to the final click/latch. On the D side, it took me pulling in the upper door to the cab more (loosening the 2 bolts). That helped.

Doors have been shut for two days now for forming of the rubber to the door. Pass side door now closes easier, but seriously, the new seals are bonkers tight. It appears the culprit is on the striker side of the door. I removed the seal to see where the issue was. Both sides shut easier until I left my test piece on the striker side of the door.

There is a tape on seal for the upper part of the doors I need to order. I can see why they are used. There is a lot of opportunity for water to leak and be trapped up there. Almost every Ford for our year at the Pick still has them, if in degraded shape.

The vent window seals, and channel I also got form LMC. They seem to work rather well. Lots of finesse and soapy water to get the vent seal in tightly. I need to find LONG rivets for the cab side rattler (or whatever it is called). Mine are too short especially with adding a washer.

OK that’s it. If anyone has quesitons, let me know.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Here is the write-up of how I hung the doors—I posted a pic earlier.

The first thing I did was measure the center top bolt hole of the top hinge on the door to the center top bolt hole of the bottom hinge of the door. This would be my most important measurement. It was about 14” I maintained this distance no matter what changes I made to the hinges.

The next thing I did was level the hinges, and then took a laser from the bottom hinge through the upper bolt hole and leveled it, shot to the striker side of the door where it would approx land if hung. I then measured from there to the center of the striker.

I then strung a line from that bottom bolt hole on the door on level and measure to the center of the latch on the door unit.

This was my baseline.

I could then arrange the hinges and get in the ballpark of hanging the door before I tried my first fitting.

The reason I did this was because, as I am using a hoist, and I am NOT removing the fenders, I wanted to get at the three hinge bolts on the cab easily. The door off allowed this using a socket and u-joint with an extension. I also used an off-set box end wrench. All of this saved the frustration of trying to tighten the bolts with the door on. That in itself saved time and was the price of admission. Highly recommend.

The hoist allowed this ease and relatively quick operation: 4 bolts hold on the door to the hinge. I could easily tighten and release the door using a gearwrench. The door would hang there near me for rapid reattachment. No on/off, lower/lift back up. I could easily lower the hoist and remove the straps and hang them on the door as I tested fit. If it did not, reattch and take up the slack a little, and remove the 4 bolts.

The prep measurements did get me in the ballpark. The pass side took 6 attempts before I got it right, and the door shut with ease—rubber OFF at this point. Pass side door was centered, but needed the hinges to move back. I went slowly here, because even a slight centimeter move could throw off the entire door—I took baby steps here. Patience! I could also then line up the lines of the truck outer, and move the door in and out from the cab—note: My lines are not exactly correct, maybe a 16th off on the low side from the rest of the truck panels.

If I moved one hinge, I measured to make sure I maintained the 14” separation. Once I got one part of the door set, it was only moving one hinge forward or back to line of the rest of the door. Again, remeasured the 14” every time.

Then there’s the inner outer fender clearance. Remember my pass door would NOT open because it was hitting the fender. This was in part because the bushings in all my hinges were shot. I rebuilt them (and bought a new hinge because I was missing a spring on one).

Newbie note: The fender is also an adjustment feature that should not go overlooked. There is a ½” bolt you can access through the door hinges with the door open with an extra long extension to move the lower fender in and out. I had to move mine out on the pass side to get the door to clear. I need to move it back in slightly to make the body align better.

One other tip: chase the threads on the door, and the bolts before doing any of this. It makes screwing in the bolts a breeze.

That’s it! The D side door took 5 attempts before I got it right.

Each door took me 2-3 hours to get right as I went in baby steps with each adjustment, and frequent toweling off—100 degress here every day, and HUMID.

I bought LMC new door seals, and let me tell you, it is TIGHT! I mean really tight. The doors did not want to close to the second latch click. It took some pushing and a little forceful persuasion to move the door to the final click/latch. On the D side, it took me pulling in the upper door to the cab more (loosening the 2 bolts). That helped.

Doors have been shut for two days now for forming of the rubber to the door. Pass side door now closes easier, but seriously, the new seals are bonkers tight. It appears the culprit is on the striker side of the door. I removed the seal to see where the issue was. Both sides shut easier until I left my test piece on the striker side of the door.

There is a tape on seal for the upper part of the doors I need to order. I can see why they are used. There is a lot of opportunity for water to leak and be trapped up there. Almost every Ford for our year at the Pick still has them, if in degraded shape.

The vent window seals, and channel I also got form LMC. They seem to work rather well. Lots of finesse and soapy water to get the vent seal in tightly. I need to find LONG rivets for the cab side rattler (or whatever it is called). Mine are too short especially with adding a washer.

OK that’s it. If anyone has quesitons, let me know.

Wow! You did do a thorough job - both with hanging the doors as well as writing up the process.

As for how hard it is to close the doors, crack a window open and see what difference that makes. The new weatherstripping has been on Big Blue for probably three years now and it still takes a significant push to get the second door shut - unless you have a window open. The cab is that tight and the air is getting compressed.

[AmericanSavage]

So today, I finished up the door panels, and riveting in the rattle window seal (inner)—used washer on the back side, it helped.

Anyway, one of the persistent problems when I got the truck was, as we drove it back for the first time, the park lights seemed brighter on one side than the other. Same for turn signal. Flasher is fast too in both directions.

I thought I would get to this later. Now is later.

I rewired the rear, putting in deutsch plugs, all sockets and bulbs are new. On D-side, front park light socket is new. All bulbs new on front. Headlights work dreamy BTW.

Here is the problem.

On the D side, both in the front parklight, and the rear tailight, it is bright. It looks to me BOTH filaments are lit up in the front and the rear. Hence, left blinker barely registers.

Pass side: both front and back light are dimmer (small filament is lit up). Blinking is more noticeable.

Has anyone experienced this? I did some searching, and cannot find a particular answer to any of this. Crossed wires? Short circuit someplace? Switch? Flasher issue too?

Maybe I should post this to the general community as well. If anyone has ideas, or can point me in some direction, I am more than happy to do some footwork here. Electrical was easier on the Harley. Motor vehicles, not so much

 

[Gary Lewis]

So today, I finished up the door panels, and riveting in the rattle window seal (inner)—used washer on the back side, it helped.

Anyway, one of the persistent problems when I got the truck was, as we drove it back for the first time, the park lights seemed brighter on one side than the other. Same for turn signal. Flasher is fast too in both directions.

I thought I would get to this later. Now is later.

I rewired the rear, putting in deutsch plugs, all sockets and bulbs are new. On D-side, front park light socket is new. All bulbs new on front. Headlights work dreamy BTW.

Here is the problem.

On the D side, both in the front parklight, and the rear tailight, it is bright. It looks to me BOTH filaments are lit up in the front and the rear. Hence, left blinker barely registers.

Pass side: both front and back light are dimmer (small filament is lit up). Blinking is more noticeable.

Has anyone experienced this? I did some searching, and cannot find a particular answer to any of this. Crossed wires? Short circuit someplace? Switch? Flasher issue too?

Maybe I should post this to the general community as well. If anyone has ideas, or can point me in some direction, I am more than happy to do some footwork here. Electrical was easier on the Harley. Motor vehicles, not so much http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/head-slap-23_orig.gif

The park/turn lights have two separate circuits in them, as do the tail/brake lights. And about the only thing in common is the fuse and the ground. So it seems like there's a short somewhere.

[AmericanSavage]

The park/turn lights have two separate circuits in them, as do the tail/brake lights. And about the only thing in common is the fuse and the ground. So it seems like there's a short somewhere.

Well now this is embarassing….

[FuzzFace2]

Well now this is embarassing….

Are you sure they are ALL HOT with the key off?

Where the lights on when you checked?

I want to say 1 of the wires is to a trailer relay when you have the tow package and that would be hot with lights on.

I would have to look atmy truck to see what I have them going to as I used 1 maybe 2 for different things

like to my fog / driving lights and maybe trailer brake controller?

Dave ----

god job on fixing the dim lights

[Gary Lewis]

Well now this is embarassing….

One wire is probably the Yellow wire to Trailer Power as Dave suggested. Another might be the BK/W for the Camper. See the schematic below.

And the third might be the one for the underhood light, and I don't have the color nor schematic to-hand.

[AmericanSavage]

One wire is probably the Yellow wire to Trailer Power as Dave suggested. Another might be the BK/W for the Camper. See the schematic below.

And the third might be the one for the underhood light, and I don't have the color nor schematic to-hand.

Hey Dave,

Yes, ALL were hot with the key off. I will check this again tomorrow. Could one be like for a throttle position sensor? But that would seem to run off the ignition, so......

I have no under the hood light, and so, if I can find a new unit for that application, that will be added. But the other two? the 12 gauge(?) wire (it is thick) is black yellow (or orange, or some such). The smaller yellow/black has the end of the plug still in it, with the wire ripped out.

Thank you all. I will look at my big schematic again tonight and see if I can see anything. I know it has a section on tow package schematic on a 4th sheet. I have it printed on three 11x17 papers taped together.

Cheers!

[FuzzFace2]

Hey Dave,

Yes, ALL were hot with the key off. I will check this again tomorrow. Could one be like for a throttle position sensor? But that would seem to run off the ignition, so......

I have no under the hood light, and so, if I can find a new unit for that application, that will be added. But the other two? the 12 gauge(?) wire (it is thick) is black yellow (or orange, or some such). The smaller yellow/black has the end of the plug still in it, with the wire ripped out.

Thank you all. I will look at my big schematic again tonight and see if I can see anything. I know it has a section on tow package schematic on a 4th sheet. I have it printed on three 11x17 papers taped together.

Cheers!

After reading what Gary posted I would go with what he posted as I forgot about the under hood light and that would be hot all the time.

I will have to look at my turn, still in vac mode LOL, to see what I am using as I know I used 1 or 2 of them wires. But other wise they dont get hooked to anything.

Dave ----