Just bought a 84 F350 6.9 Diesel got some questions

[DieselHilux]

Hey so I just bought a 1984 F350 6.9 Diesel, its got a steel flatbed on it with a goose neck ball in the bed.

Anyway I got a few questions:

What are the best glow plugs to use in the old IDI motors??? I have read that some swell and can get stuck in the Cyl Head.

The GP are wired to a push button, how can I fix this so they work correctly again?? Do these have a controler or just a bi-metalic switch that controlls them??

Its got a 4 speed manual trans in it, I think its a T19, if so what transfer cases bolt to it?? Its 2wd and I wanna make it 4wd at some point.

What front axle setup did the 4x4 version of the f350's come with?? At the moment its got a TTB with king pins on the ends.

Also the water seperator/fuel heater is dis-connected, is there some common problem with these as to why someone would dis-connect it??

Thing has ZERO blowby and that is what sealed the deal, its a minnesota truck but all it needs is rockers and cab corners which I already ordered.

Drive great once it starts but I think he burned out some of the GP's from holding that damn push button too long, which is why i wanna fix it so its automatic again.

 

[RLDSL]

Beru/motorcraft glow plugs only. Anything else will likely end badly.
Since it's out , you might want to consider going with the later style GP controller ( and the later style plugs) It will give better control , once you get it all setup, you won't have any more fuss getting started.

 

[franklin2]

It has a manual switch for the glowplugs because the original system, both old a newer are problematic. Leave the manual switch on there if you want it to start reliably without a lot of wiring headaches.

Most any transfer case will bolt to a 4x4 tranny. You will need to change the tranny out for a 4x4 version, and if you get a donor truck f350 85.5-up, you can get the tranny, transfer case, and dana 60 frontend to convert it over, with the front leaf springs and all the other little bits that will be required. Your model year f350 came with a dana 50 ttb front axle in the 4x4 version.

 

[bike-maker]

I too have an 84 F350. The only remaining original piece of my drivetrain is the BW 1345 transfer case. But if you're converting it to 4wd anyway, the newer BW 1356 will bolt in just as easy. These things came with a Dana 50 TTB front end until 85.5, at which point they switched to a Dana 60 straight axle; way better front end but you have to pay for it. Dana 60's are about $1000 around these parts, Dana TTB front ends are cheap to free.

 

[magusjinx]

As for the gp's there are two schools of thought ... Stay with oem or go with heat regulating ... The old style can burn up if something happens and they get power for an extended length of time ... No matter which you choose I would suggest heating them up for a short cycle before installing ... That will drive any moisture out of them and be a good heat test to see if they are all good before use ... Even "new" parts can be broke ...

 

[1994IDI]

All good information, but not warranted without pictures of your truck. We like pictures around here.

 

[DieselHilux]

I will get lots of pics here shortly, I did not get the truck yet.

I got my other truck for sale right now and when it sells I will go get the F350.

 

[damac]

We are kind of new to diesels ourselves but I witnessed crappy autolite plugs and the controller problem on our truck. If you care about getting stuck at the worst time and wasting $$, honestly I would just buy the ford beru glowplugs and keep the manual switch.

We are going almost 6 months with ours and all is well. One thing I suggest is to hit the switch for 8-10 seconds every time so you don't have to do it again, reguardless of temp. Sometimes I have tried it for 5 seconds in warmer weather and it might not be enough so I find myself wasting a starting attempt.