Dusting off the old account, I still lurk here just no real time to post... been fixing my old house I got right before covid in 2019.
Tldr; I replaced the old group 31 Duracell battery+ batteries with Costco interstate group 31T batteries, got the truck fired up after sitting a year and found a relay that was sucking power. Costco has them for ~$115 w/15$ core, 950 CCA, 1190 CA, and 195 reserve cap. 18 month warranty, or they had group 65 for like 109 with 36 warranty, closer to 850/1000 rating, 150 RC if you want more warranty and less power. I'm already equipped for stud tops, and have been stuck with too little power so I went for it!
Longer ramblings..:
Old truck is looking real bad; passenger fender ate the door panel up, probably the front clip sagging. Still have the spare tire on the rear, with 3 bald offroad tires on the rest. I'd like to do Alcoa rims with some decent road tires, those mickey Thompsons left me stuck in wet grass enough times that IDGAF about offroad tires now.
Anyway the truck is more rat rod than anything now. But I found the parasitic draw that basically killed my 5 year old group 31 Duracell batteries from batteries+. The relay was drawing power for the electric lift pump i put in back when they were the hot deal around here before peoples' lift pumps started dying. carrier facet or whatever. Anyhow I need to wire it up to a switch, which will help prevent theft anyway. Not that most people know how to glow a plug or drive a stick, but if they get that far it'll drive a block and buck like a horse before dying if the pump is off... if it even goes that far.
Costco has some great deals on batteries here, I got their group 31T, it's damn near 50% more powerful on both CA and CCA. I think 950/1190, versus the old group 31 with 600/850. I swapped them in, moved over my crappy wiring, and the truck started on the first crank! Granted the weather was warm, high 90s, but she's sat around a year. The facet lift pump still has crap in the bottom of the bowl, the rear tank is shot with rust and who knows what. I have a 33gal replacement and fuel line to replace the steel, just no time to drop it.
I'm at a crossroads now I feel like. The drive train is still wicked, running like a top. But that old body and frame have been abused and neglected. I'm stubborn and don't quit but I know I won't have the time to redo it all end to end, when the RABs failed and sent us ass over tea kettle sideways into the curb I lost any faith I had left that this rig was safe to drive. That's what ate the rear tire, I spun out nearly 270 degrees and bounced the back tire off the curb, and rotating me back to face the curb. Between that and driving down a treacherous steep mountain pass near the edge of Oregon by Idaho, around Baker City in the dead of night, and having the lighting controller overheat because I had the brights on because it was so dark and windy, the road doubling back often every stock light in the truck turned off, hazards, headlights, dash, brakes, PITCH BLACK. Yeah I need to do the headlight relay mod, that's another symptom of these 40 year old electronics aging like milk. I hate that lighting controller, it needs to join the glow plug controller in hell.
To get it road ready, right off the top of my head at minimum I'd need to figure out the RABs issue and service the drums, replace the rims and tires, fix or replace my jury-rigged Saginaw power steering pump setup (I need the brackets from an econoline or something, would like to add AC too if I'm dreaming big), and redo all my custom wiring. Drop and replace the rear tank, the fuel switch doesn't always kick over so either the dash switch is bad or the device between tanks sticks, the front clip, cab, and bed rubber all needs replaced, and at this point a new passenger door because the glass is etched to hell, and the door is peeled/bent beyond mending. The frame and body I'd love to POR15 or something. The rest of that dream is cosmetic.
