Arctic Ambulance

[nelstomlinson]

I am really struggling to figure out where to hook up the wires for the neutral safety switch. The EVTM says there is a white/pink wire and a red/light blue wire. The w/pk is coming from the ignition switch to the mlps, the r/lb is running from the mlps to the starter solenoid. According to the EVTM they are both in connector c119, but which is that? I'm thinking it might be the one circled in this picture. The connector seems to be part of the engine harness, and is on top of the engine, just in front of the fuel filter. It's odd that both those would show up there.

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[nelstomlinson]

That connector was indeed C119. It appears to connect engine harness to vehicle harness, in the middle front of the engine.

I unhooked the connector and found that the end connected to the vehicle has continuity to the starter solenoid on the front driver side (R/LB wire). I turned the key to the start position and found that same end of the connector has 12V with the key in the start position (W.P wire). I hooked up the two neutral safety switch wires from the US Shift box to these.

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[nelstomlinson]

I found the wire (gray/black) running from the PSOM to the dash behind the instrument cluster, and spliced the green wire from the controller to it.

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[nelstomlinson]

I ran all the cables except the single green speedo wire through a rubber grommet in a hole I drilled in the firewall(?), high on the passenger side, immediately in front of the removable doghouse cover.
From the engine side:

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From the cab:

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[nelstomlinson]

I needed to connect the shift controller to power that's on during start and run. The terminal on the glow plug relay was the easy button.

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The bright red wire with the yellow ring terminal is the power for the shift controller.

I needed a solid ground. US Shift recommends running their power ground wire straight to the negative terminal of the battery. That's not easily accessible, since the batteries are in that drawer under the box, behind the cab. I ran a 10 gauge THHN wire from the grounding stuf on the front passenger side of the block over the engine and back, and spliced that to the power ground. If I have flaky behavior I'll suspect that the ground isn't good enough.

At this point I don't have any of the nice-to-haves like the OD OFF function, or the backup lights, but I think I'm ready to power it up, and I think I could start the engine and drive it.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Today I was sidetracked a bit, but I did get the machine powered up and auto-calibrated the throttle position sensor. It told me 1.19V at idle, 4.29V at full throttle. Can't remember if those are where it's supposed to be or not, but unlike the factory controller, this one adjusts to the TPS rather than the other way around. I've started putting everything back together now: I put the air cleaner back on with a new filter, I put a new upper clamp on the doghouse cover and wrestled it back into place, I reassembled the dash.

I'll try to start it up and back it out of the shop for a test drive tomorrow. Then I'll park it and pull the radiator for repair or replacement. I still need to contact that shop up in Fairbanks.

 

[nelstomlinson]

I took the ambulance out for a test drive yesterday, and I like the way it shifts. It's firm but not crazy. On flat ground it feels OK, locks up pretty early and stays locked pretty well. I drove a couple of miles on flat ground, saw the trans temp reach 150F, so it was just getting warmed up. The shift controller display gives lock status, PRNDL position, what gear the trans is in, vehicle speed and trans temperature. It's almost big enough for my old eyes.

There's some vibration I didn't notice when I drove it home. Not sure if that's from the front or back. I'll drive it some more, try to get used to it.

I still need to find the wires for the OD OFF light and the button on the end of the shifter, and get those hooked up to the controller. I still need to shorten and repin the wires, which were way too long and are coiled up in a mess.

 

[nelstomlinson]

It turns out that vibration was from the loose lugs on the right rear.

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The wheels and hub are trashed. Three of the damaged stud were flopping loose in the hub, and just fell out. That stinks, just when I'd gotten the radiator fixed and was ready to start driving it!

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Here's the remains of the studs:

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Now, where am I going to find another hub for this old thing?

 

[KansasIDI]

It turns out that vibration was from the loose lugs on the right rear.

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The wheels and hub are trashed. Three of the damaged stud were flopping loose in the hub, and just fell out. That stinks, just when I'd gotten the radiator fixed and was ready to start driving it!

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Here's the remains of the studs:

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Now, where am I going to find another hub for this old thing?

Your truck must have gotten confused and thought it was a Dodge

Good ol self loosening lug nuts

 

[Nero]

At least you found it before your wheel tried to pass you on the road.
Wrecking yard would probably be the easiest bet, I believe thr drw and srw hubs are the same

 

[nelstomlinson]

I've managed to find the BOM. It's 605675-2, which is indeed a Dana 70 with a 4.10 ratio.

For posterity, as you lie under the vehicle facing the differential cover, the BOM is lightly stamped on the right side axle tube. It'll be either 6XXXXX X or perhaps 200XXXX X on newer stuff. You can look it up in the Spicer catalog to find Spicer part numbers for pretty much everything _except_ the hubs.

 

[nelstomlinson]

At least you found it before your wheel tried to pass you on the road.

If they had just come off, they probably wouldn't have trashed the hub.

In that third picture, you can see that two of the ruined studs still have nuts on them. The nuts had backed way off and then rusted in place. Three other studs loosened and were mangled, but the nuts spun off. Two studs broke: they were probably the last two which were tight. Then it started wobbling and wallering out the holes. If those two nuts hadn't been rusted in place, the tires would have passed me and I'd already be back on the road.

I had to squeak a sawzall in between the two tires to cut those two bolts with the nuts rusted on. Had to peel the rubber snout cover off the sawzall to make it fit.

Wrecking yard would probably be the easiest bet, I believe thr drw and srw hubs are the same

I'll try calling around Fairbanks Monday. It looks as if my only real source for these is going to be other won-ton E350s from the '87 to '98 era: they had the Dana 70 and they used the hub-centered wheels. Earlier models apparently used the D70 with wheels centered by the lugs?