So what did you do with your truck today?

[IDIBRONCO]

Yup.

Voltage level is probably fine, but they lost all their oomph.

I agree. Setting for any length of time while discharged like yours were is very ******* automotive type batteries. Deep cycle batteries are made to do that.

 

[Dane Rickford]

I changed my oil this morning. Very exciting I know

 

[Dane Rickford]

Used the lights and hauled saddles in to the fairgrounds to ride colts till the new year grand time. Now I just need to finish my stock trailer so I can haul em myself.

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What do you need to fix on your stock trailer?

 

[1mouse3]

Today was about upgrading past a used jug.

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[1mouse3]

What's everyone's 2021 goals for their trucks?

Well think acoplised getting my truck ready to run for last year. guess this year for the truck would be to find time to make molds of manafolds to send to a founder and if found cheap a spare 7.3. Thinking a iron manifolds set up with T3 twin scroll support would be best for the hx35's. Also getting more the rust to painted serfice done, would not be bad to do either.

 

[JAKRANCH]

What do you need to fix on your stock trailer?

All the steel cross members under the floor arw severely rotted, tubing is rusted away on three sides at rhe joint and bends when you stand on it. been tore apart for several years cuz I havent had the time to finish.

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[Dane Rickford]

All the steel cross members under the floor arw severely rotted, tubing is rusted away on three sides at rhe joint and bends when you stand on it. been tore apart for several years cuz I havent had the time to finish.

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I had to do almost the exact thing on my 79’ stock trailer this summer.

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It got a new frame and new floor and new mats. It was interesting trying to mate the new steel to the rotted stuff. It’s solid now. Good luck on yours!

 

[JAKRANCH]

Thanks, I'm almost to the point where I can start welding. Really excited to get it back on the road

 

[Laine D]

My goals.
I would really like to make it look nicer. Hopefully get it painted one day but I doubt that’s in 2021. I have a 7.3 I’d like to finish putting together and then sell the 6.9. I’ll feel a lot more comfortable with the larger head studs.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I did some more PM to the Blue Truck today. I started out by fixing a leaking tire. The valve stem was leaking. I've been having a lot of new valve stems start leaking after a short time lately for some reason. I'm pretty tired of it so I'm cheating by putting a little bit of RTV on the new one before I install it and then let it sit and cure for a few hours before I reseat the bead on the tire. I let this one sit for about 3 hours and it didn't leak after I aired the tire back up. I got tired of having to put air in it every 3 days so a month or so back, I took it off and put my second spare tire on. It SURE was nice getting the tire with the balance beads back on the truck again. Then I wanted to pack the front wheel bearings so I took the calipers off. The locking slider on the passenger's side didn't want to slide out so I got mean with it and brought out the air hammer. Problem solved. I was fighting and fighting to get the outer snap ring off so I said "forget it" (although the real word was shorter and had a "ck" in it) and put the outer hub back on. It turned nicely so I decided that it will be ok for another couple of months until I dive into the truck deeper. The drover's side wasn't so nice. The I could hear a slight growling sound while I turned the whole hub. After I got it apart, the inner bearing looked really good, but the outer one looked a little bit dry and slightly discolored. At 2:00 on Saturday afternoon, there's no place for less than 60 miles that even may have a bearing and race so I repacked both bearings and put it all back together. I did find out for sure that I have a Dana 50 under the front of the Blue Truck. I also found out that the threads that the two bearing retaining nuts thread onto have a galded spot in the middle of them. The nut that was on the inside didn't want to thread back on at all. It kept trying to cross thread so I put the outer nut on the inside and finally managed to get the second nut back on the threads so that I could put it all back together. I didn't have any time to do anything about ordering anything else new since I'm heading out Wes's way Thursday night. It will be fine until I dive into this truck. Since the driver's side brake caliper had been hanging up, I couldn't put the tires back on until I put some rebuilt calipers on. My Harbor Freight pneumatic brake bleeder won't work on any motorcycle or ATV that I've tried it on, but it made short work of the truck's calipers. It came in very handy today. Now all I have to do tomorrow is to get a few tools and other things ready. That will be a relief. It's not every year around here where you can work on the front end of your truck outside during New Year's weekend without getting frostbite.

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[Dane Rickford]

I picked up a fifth wheel today. Despite it being a 1985 and 28 feet long, it only weighs about 5500 and pulls really well. I’ll be living in it this summer on a ranch I’m managing

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[IDIBRONCO]

That sounds like a very time consuming, but possibly very rewarding job.

 

[Dane Rickford]

That sounds like a very time consuming, but possibly very rewarding job.

It is very rewarding for me. It’s a 600 acre cattle outfit in the mountains. I will be training horses and building saddles part time as well. All stuff I love

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It sounds like fun to me as long as it's good people you'll be working for. I've heard of quite a few around who aren't so nice to work for. I would like to still be doing that kind of work, but I just can't handle the temperature extremes anymore, so I'll stick with my inside job.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I also found out that the threads that the two bearing retaining nuts thread onto have a galded spot in the middle of them. The nut that was on the inside didn't want to thread back on at all. It kept trying to cross thread so I put the outer nut on the inside and finally managed to get the second nut back on the threads so that I could put it all back together.

I've decided that the best way to go with this is to replace the whole knuckle. Good thing that I believe I have a spare sitting under my 1988 Treasure Hunt truck. At this point, I'm assuming/hoping that it also has a Dana 50. I suppose that I needed an excuse to replace the ball joints on the Blue Truck anyway.