So what did you do with your truck today?

Welded up the Passenger side extension to the rear of my super duty's frame. This was a 1/2" thk L Beam with a 1/2" top plate welded over to complete the "C". Full penetration on the root pass all around. Used a chamfered aluminum backer bar to allow for a small fillet to fuse thru and help shield the root. ran at 28V and 600ipm on .035 wire which didnt seem up to the task of handling the amperage. You can see in the weave cap that I was having a helluva time keeping the wire stable. All of these welds will be ground smooth and flush for painting once I finish the driver side this afternoon.

My take is this is a Ford thing. My 88’, 95’, 06’, and now my 07’ are all problematic and finicky. Adding to the issue is the California pumps have the air recovery system. That black accordion hose over the nozzle. My non-Ford vehicles you can insert, turn on, lock, and walk away till the tank is full. But none of my Fords work like that! Sweat spot seams to be a good term for it. Usually it is holding the nozzle up vs resting in the hole. It’s annoying to have to hold the nozzle the whole time or it shuts off every 5 seconds. It makes me wonder if Ford does it on purpose. Perhaps was sued and that was a way to prevent folks walking away and over filling into which can cause a bigger issue. Or are they clueless or don’t care? I have thought several times I should buy a bungy cord and hoist the filler up with a bungy cord. Hook on the inside of the bed lip, run cord through the handle, lifting it up so it’s in the sweet spot. Then I can wash windows, toss the trash, and check my oil while it fills.

Bungy cord is exactly how I handled it at first, on this truck.

Even drilled two holes for each filler, in the top of the bed side rail, to hook the two ends of the bungy cord into.

Even at that, I had to set it at less than full force, or it would constantly kick off.



The only real changes I have made is a whole new rear tank. (Filler is still the same old one. No new parts or alterations in the hose/es, or vent, in any way.) And a replacement sender unit and gutting of the rollover valve on the front tank.

Only other change is that I no longer use the station in the pic. All I can think of is maybe a change in the size of the filler nozzle at the fuel pump. I will attempt to check that out. Going to look strange to the station I used to go to, if I just go in there and use the measuring caliper on their nozzle. This may have to wait until the end of the month, so I can actually USE that nozzle again, to see if it is still a problem. (It will take that long for me to need fuel again.)

If I do that, I'll try to remember to take that flex funnel thingy I showed earlier. So if the other station nozzle still gives me problems, I'll shove that flex thing on the nozzle then shove it in as far as I can to the filler, and see if that helps.

Not sure I am going to be able to take pics of anything. Been thinking it might be nice to have a gopro. Something I could just clip to my hat, take a video, and then get individual pics from that. I dunno. They just seem expensive to me.

I ended my week by cruising some backroads with one of my homies

And this is EXACTLY why I don't let anyone else work on my vehicles. A shop I trust too! I took the truck in a couple years ago for an alignment. They said one of the bearings was a little loose, so they repacked it and tightened it.

I knew there was an issue when the nut was TIGHT. They also just popped the bearings in a packer, pushed new grease in and put them in. The housing and cap were still full of the old grease. Couldn't even wipe then out?



So now instead of repacking and running, I get to go buy new bearings tomorrow! Pretty sure they only did one side, I'm hoping the other side isn't pooched too. I'm not fuming, but I'm not happy either.

Although I'm glad the spindle isn't in any worse shape......

Well I calmed down a little doing the other side. I realized they never did repack it, the grey grease apparently turns green. Odd.

Anywho.... They charged me just to tighten the nut down all the way and ruin the bearings. I'm still not happy about it.

I could probably grease them and run them, but they're yellowed from the heat. I don't know if it'll show up in the pictures or not.



Plus, the brake pads that have plenty of life in them, look like they're only a few stops away from delaminating. Awesome.



So I'm stealing the pads I bought for Diego. I guess that's a win, that I hadn't put them on yet so at least I had them.

I agree. The carriers look a little loose as well. Replace them.

Some of those rollers don't look real healthy. It's best to replace them at this point.

Selahdoor said:

I agree. The carriers look a little loose as well. Replace them.

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IDIBRONCO said:

Some of those rollers don't look real healthy. It's best to replace them at this point.

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Yeah I probably should have replaced the other side too. But as I've said previously, I was expecting to have the other axle in by now. I really wasn't planning on repacking these bearings....

One step forward two steps back!!!

chillman88 said:

Well I calmed down a little doing the other side. I realized they never did repack it, the grey grease apparently turns green. Odd.

Anywho.... They charged me just to tighten the nut down all the way and ruin the bearings. I'm still not happy about it.

I could probably grease them and run them, but they're yellowed from the heat. I don't know if it'll show up in the pictures or not.

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Plus, the brake pads that have plenty of life in them, look like they're only a few stops away from delaminating. Awesome.

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So I'm stealing the pads I bought for Diego. I guess that's a win, that I hadn't put them on yet so at least I had them.

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Are those pads from a model T you found in the mud? Jeez

chillman88 said:

One step forward two steps back!!!

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I think that would have been if you had a bearing go out. I think this is one forward, one back. Wintertime is getting closer. You may end up running this axle until next spring. Better safe than sorry.

Scotty4 said:

Are those pads from a model T you found in the mud? Jeez

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They're probably 5-6 years old. Gotta love salt.

IDIBRONCO said:

I think that would have been if you had a bearing go out. I think this is one forward, one back. Wintertime is getting closer. You may end up running this axle until next spring. Better safe than sorry.

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Well if I'm being honest, I plan to use this frame/axle in another build down the road. It's not so much a bad thing as it is the money. I've lost a lot of overtime over the past two years and every penny that has to be poured into this now is a penny subtracted from the swap.

If I was going to be honest with myself, I probably won't get the swap done next year either. I'm certainly going to try! But I know how things go too.

I'm going to have to force it before too long. The exhaust is getting pretty crusty on the ol tank, and I'm not going to spend the money replacing it until I put the turbo on, which was going to be part of the swap.

I think right now the plan is to pull the donor engine before the end of the year so I can reseal and stud it. I think the cam and stuff will end up waiting until I rebuild the motor that's in the truck now. I don't want to wait, but unless we get a good bonus at work the money just isn't there.

That's why it FEELS like one step forward two back.

There will be more pictures in my thread, but I figured this should go here too.

I got the other wheel bearings packed and installed, along with the new pads and bled the front brakes. I'm going to refill the rear end in a few minutes and go for a test drive.

Here's my brake pedal depressor. Credit goes to someone else, my dad sent a link to me and it's PERFECT. I know at least @Selahdoor will appreciate this ingenuity!



You can test your brake lights, bleed your brakes, test your clutch pedal, you could probably even hold RPM for setting timing, although I haven't tried. Harbor freight special. Pull a roll pin out and flip both pieces around opposite how they came. For less than $10-20 it can't be beat! (I had one here, don't remember the price but it was cheap).

Also, that seat cover wasn't very expensive from Cabela's and it's pretty durable if anyone is looking for one.

I just have an old tropicana jug that is the perfect size for jamming between the front seat and the brake pedal.

Lets me check the brake lights by myself, anyway.

Yeah, I get pissed when someone decides my old jug is trash... "That's a precision instrument there, young-un. Toss that back in the cab of the truck, like I had it!"