Paternity Leave Projects

Scotty4

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Gentleman,

I should have a few weeks here coming up shortly once our first arrives. I have trouble staying home and not tinkering so wanted to get some ideas of easy and inexpensive upgrades/repairs I should look into for Betsy. The wife and I plan on moving cross country later this year too so I want it close to ready for the 3k + trek primarily towing along I-90. It already has new brakes, oil, coolant with filter, belts, I added a manual GP switch, all my gauges work, new tires, new door alarm switch, new bulbs in brake, running, and dash lights, and a new blower. Currently I am planning on:

-Patching holes in floor by driver seat. These aren't too large but moisture gets in for sure.

-I have a new light selector switch for the floor but its wet so I may install a dash switch. Relays?

-Has a Ramsey winch on the front which currently has everything disconnected, I would like to get that hooked up and working.

-Figure out parking brake situation as it has never worked. Don't want to be without if I tow with it.

-Transmission and transfer case fluids. 80/90 in everything? Has a T-19 with BW1345 and Sterling 10
.25 with 3.55 gears.

-Just recently fixed the speedometer situation but she's jumping and clicking. Bound cable or bad speedo?

-Find RED bench seat. If anyone has any leads please get in touch. Current explorer seats are not mounted well and we both bounce everywhere. My wife is 5'6" and her head is on the roof.

-Reverse lights do not work, everything else does. Some funky wiring in this truck for sure I will need to check the switch as well as how they cobbed the trailer connection in there.

-I repacked the wheel bearings when I did the brakes, not sure how much life they have but all looked/felt ok when I had them out. Change?

-My brake pedal is pretty stiff and I can lock up the wheels easily but while at a stop the pedal sinks slightly. I mean, you have to really give it hell to hold the brakes on a hill. @IDIBRONCO recommended I get a vacuum gauge so I am working on that, is there something else I need to look at? Both reservoirs are full and I am not getting any bubbles at the wheels.

-Leaking rear window seal on driver side. I already siliconed around the windshield just need to do the back. Annoying with the cap on though. Also plan to check the cab light for leaks. Haven't even really checked if it works.

-Want to put mesh under the hood cowl that I saw on here, really fun having leaves blow into the cab. Needs new hood gasket too.

-Exhaust leaks terribly at that stupid flange just after the passenger side manifold which I feel is pretty common and the worst design ever.

Edit: Forgot to add that my rear tank doesn't work. Well I switched to it one day and it read empty and then the selector valve stuck so I hit it with a hammer and thankfully it switched back to the front and I haven't touched it since. Not much range with 19 gallons. Thoughts?

As a side, I haven't towed with her yet but what can I expect for speed/rpm with a 4 speed/3.55 gears?
 

IDIBRONCO

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80/90 in everything? Has a T-19 with BW1345 and Sterling 10
.25 with 3.55 gears.
Yes Some people run synthetic, but I haven't got excited enough about it to try it yet.
-Just recently fixed the speedometer situation but she's jumping and clicking. Bound cable or bad speedo?
I had an old timer tell me years ago that you can remove the cable itself from the housing and put some fresh grease on it and that will help it if it's a dry cable. I have no idea if it works or eve if it's a good idea. I also have no idea if it works with a speedo cable that new or if it's just older ones that it works on. If you can pull the cable out of the housing, I would try to run some brake cleaner or something similar through the housing to try to remove any old, dry grease that may be in there.
-Reverse lights do not work, everything else does. Some funky wiring in this truck for sure I will need to check the switch as well as how they cobbed the trailer connection in there.
If all else fails, you could use a toggle switch to turn them on manually.
-Want to put mesh under the hood cowl that I saw on here, really fun having leaves blow into the cab. Needs new hood gasket too.
That was me. I've seen it said on here that you can use a lower garage door weatherstrip in place of the "right" seal. It's also a lot cheaper. Of course (darn it!) I told myself that I was going to pick one of these up the next time I was at Menard's. Of course I didn't remember it while I was there today.:frustrate
Not much range with 19 gallons. Thoughts?
You could run a transfer pump to pump the fuel from the rear tank into the front tank like Cubey did on his RV. I'm planning to do this with my truck once I buy my new 38 gallon tank from Wes this summer. My rear tank is bad so I need another tank first.
 

Scotty4

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Thanks @IDIBRONCO that garage door liner is a good idea. Don’t know if a reverse toggle switch is the best for me as I would leave it on and probably get pulled over knowing my luck. I may one day go with a rear tank from @Thewespaul but the wife will kill me if I spend anything over $20 currently.

As far as the speedo goes, that cable will definitely come on out of there. I’ll just grease it with what I’ve got in my gun and call it a day, looks brand new though, the PO left the receipt in the truck and the speedo gear wasn’t installed so it may have sat too long with a bend around the master cylinder.
 

IDIBRONCO

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. Don’t know if a reverse toggle switch is the best for me as I would leave it on and probably get pulled over knowing my luck. I may one day go with a rear tank from @Thewespaul but the wife will kill me if I spend anything over $20 currently.
Some day, I will put a toggle on my reverse lights. The only vehicle that I've owned with working reverse lights (that I can remember) was the 1995 ****** that I bought new. We don't have vehicle inspections here and I would only use them at night. As for the tank, you could still install a transfer pump and use the tank that you have now. A bigger tank could wait for later. I kind of strayed off, but that was supposed to be my point.:dunno
 

Scotty4

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Pulled my Ramsey RE-10,000 tonight to clean it up. Anyone have a recommended brand for the 0W-20 and the grease?

Hopefully one of the winch nuts from the Hydraulic Winch thread can chime in. Maybe recommend a snatch block brand for down the line too?

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Scotty4

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As for the tank, you could still install a transfer pump and use the tank that you have now. A bigger tank could wait for later. I kind of strayed off, but that was supposed to be my point.:dunno

I will probably do this set up. Though, I’m not sure what sort of concoction is in the rear tank currently, that may be the perfect time for new fuel filter.
 

snicklas

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Thanks @IDIBRONCO As far as the speedo goes, that cable will definitely come on out of there. I’ll just grease it with what I’ve got in my gun and call it a day, looks brand new though, the PO left the receipt in the truck and the speedo gear wasn’t installed so it may have sat too long with a bend around the master cylinder.

Don't use grease, like wheel bearing grease. You need something like the powdered graphite that you would use on a lock, or even something like chain lube.......

our 83 would flop and make noise, no matter what we did..... and this was in 86-91.......
 

Scotty4

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Don't use grease, like wheel bearing grease. You need something like the powdered graphite that you would use on a lock, or even something like chain lube.......

our 83 would flop and make noise, no matter what we did..... and this was in 86-91.......

I recall my dad using some graphite with alcohol, pouring it in the cable, then letting it dry. I’m on the hunt for that today.
 

snicklas

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That would work. Hardware store or even Wally World should have it....

Also, not that its a big deal, but that's not the factory issue grille (noticed in the winch picture), it should have a blue oval in the middle..... that's the 80-82 style grille....... BUllnose are my favorite bodystyle
 

chillman88

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Don’t know if a reverse toggle switch is the best for me as I would leave it on and probably get pulled over knowing my luck

Well.... If you're looking to temporarily cob it up you could always build a bracket to hit a momentary push button when the stick is in R. Not an elegant solution but it would work and shut itself off.

-I have a new light selector switch for the floor but its wet so I may install a dash switch. Relays

I would get the relay harness from Bronco Graveyard. As far as switches go, if I wanted mine off the floor I'd just use a toggle like snowplow lights use, the floor switch is just a 2 position toggle anyway. Switches the power feed from the low beams to the high beams and back.
 

MtnHaul

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Personally I like the addition of a mechanical water temp gauge--inexpensive and easy to install.

Although I don't have the same transmission as you(ZF here), I did try running non-synthetic fluid for a while and then switched to Amsoil synthetic and the difference was HUGE!

In regards to your fuel selector valve you could always delete the front tank and install a new 38 gallon rear tank.
 

Scotty4

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@chillman88 I will certainly be looking to buy the relay setup. The reverse switch looks cheap from Ford and parts store, like $15, wouldn’t it be better to go that route or are they prone to failure?

@MtnHaul I will probably go with amsoil anyways, looks like many folks on here use it.
 

chillman88

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The reverse switch looks cheap from Ford and parts store, like $15, wouldn’t it be better to go that route or are they prone to failure?

Absolutely! I just meant if you can't find the problem and need a quick fix!
 

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