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'78 F350 Dually Project

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RivennHewn

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Good Day, Bad Day.....


Brought the truck to work today to help with cleaning out 2 levels of parking garage. Hauled a number of loads to the recycling plant.

Took a minute to pose for a picture
Nrmr


But then I clipped the very corner of a metal pallet. The sharp edge dug into the sidewall of my back tire. Ouch.
SFhY


There's a couple hundred I wasn't planning on spending today:(
 
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RivennHewn

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Toolfool said:
Gotta be more careful .
Click to expand...

Ya think:lol:

I got a big ouch from the tire store. I had them check into the parking brake that wasn't working, and things kinda snowballed from there.

One thing leads to another, and the next thing you know I'm out about a grand.

All stuff I should have done myself, but it was up in the air on a lift and they had the parts in hand. And, my truck will be ready for work on Monday.

Having to pull the axles to get the hubs off, with all the bearings and such seemed a bit more of a project than I wanted to tackle this weekend.

Sometimes just writing a check makes more sense.
 
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C_F

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I like that black & white photo.:drool:

RivennHewn said:
Sometimes just writing a check makes more sense.
Click to expand...

True, plus the older I get, the more often that thought crosses my mind. I recently had a shop rebuild the trans in my Townie, instead of me doing it myself. I don't have a lift, and the thought of doing another ****** with the car on jack stands was not appealing to me this time...so I bit the bullet & paid someone to do it.
I think that's maybe the third time in my life I've paid someone to fix one of my vehicles.

This is my Townie, in case you're wondering what the hell a Townie is.:D Sitting there all happy, with it's brand new trans.:thumbup:

GTHGRnBt.jpg
 
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kbs2244

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This an OBTW.
You may want to not mention to your insurance agent anything about any dump addition to the truck.
For some reason insurance co.s will hit a dump much harder than a non-dump, all things being equal otherwise.

A buddy of mine put a dump conversion on his PU.
When at the gas station ne day he had the bed up about a foot so he could get to the filler easier.
His agent came in and noticed the bed angle.
The next qutr. his insurance bill for that truck was 80% higher and the description had been changed from "PU" to "dump,"

I went through the same thing.
There is no "causal" or "hobby" category for a dump truck.
They assume only full-blown dawn to dusk, overloaded, commercial use.
 
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RivennHewn

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Circa What?????

Is this a '77 work truck, or a '52 Bomber?

2_Ho


A couple switches for work lights.

The rear facing lights will have the protected switch and a indicator/warning light.

The sheet metal is original finish from a 1948 Heil oil burning furnace.



Kbs2244,

Funny, the whole dump thing didn't come up at the insurance office:dunno:
 
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RivennHewn

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Illuminating.....

As a kid in Jr. High, my friends dad had a bad *** F250 4X4. It had the tires, wheels, winch, and up front it had the coolest lights. They had internal louvers.

I knew then(1977) that I would own a pair of those awesomely cool lights.
So much cooler than KC lights, even if you had the smiley face covers.

Cibie lights were cool, if you had a euro rally car, but not for an American truck.

The Per Lux 200's had internal louvers, and that was all that mattered to me.

Tonight, I mounted my internally louvered lights. And they are still awesome.
64Iv


But, I didn't stop there.

I added a Cree LED light under the bed of my truck. Why? Why? Why? would anybody do that?

Murphy's law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong"

Which means, if it's going to break, it will probably break at night.

Bed goes up, light goes on.
eVTI


My little way of giving Murphy the middle finger.
 
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RivennHewn

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HOTFR8 said:
The light is a great idea.
Click to expand...

I bought a pair of the little Cree lights. One under the bed, the other will go under the hood.

C_F,

Maybe not the best lights, but I've always liked them and they're period correct.
 
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RivennHewn

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Cree is a name brand.

They do a wide range of LED lighting, from flashlights, automotive, residential and commercial/industrial.
 
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RivennHewn

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Running a little bit hot tonight....
(Van Halen reference)

Started to run a bit hot the last few times I drove the old truck.
Bought and installed a new coolant temp sending unit and got it installed tonight.

I let it idle in my driveway for about 10 minutes, and it came up to temp.
The gauge was right at the high end of the Normal range.

Temp at the coolant temp sending unit: 177.9 F
NvTp


Temp at the top of the radiator: 173.1 F
8TWO


This is where things get a little weird.
Temp at the lower radiator: 59.2 F
Q-qv


A 114 degree temp difference between the top hose and the bottom hose.

With the hood up and engine idling, I just started hearing what is most likely water pump bearings starting to fail.

And, the temp sending unit quit/failed after about 10 minutes. Any ideas why a new sending unit would fail?


Looks like I'm in for a new water pump, T-stat, and sending unit.

Not really looking forward to tearing into it.
 
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RivennHewn

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Felt the need for another 3 day weekend. Took today off, mostly to work on the truck.

Got started tearing things apart to change the water pump.

Water pump removal:
L5pc


Is this normal?
Can't tell if it's a rough casting, or has been eaten through.
Any 460 experts here today?
Dj2l


You'd like to see cleaner bolts being removed from your block.
Z5Um
 
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RivennHewn

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Ya, me neither:(

Ripped a pic from an eBay seller:

There ain't no F'n hole in the cover.
MDdt


I guess it's time for a beer.
 
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RivennHewn

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Ran when parked.....

No, really. It ran when I parked it there. My son and I were just talking about how good it sounded when I was letting it idle in my driveway to warm up.

What a ****** turn of events. Almost everything I've done in the last few months has been undone.

Fuel pump - removed
Radiator - removed
Alternator - removed
Batteries - removed
steering pump - removed
water pump - removed
fan - removed
T-stat - removed

I'll probably pull the distributor at some point to. Just to clean up the block and gain a little more access.

3rWU



I did find a couple of labels on the block that I don't recognize
uBhR

esww
 
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tslater1989

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Look at the bright side, you will know your cooling system is in good working order. Plus, now is the prime opportunity to clean, paint, and restore parts and pieces. The only part that *****, is the unexpected financial hit. You'll be fine, time spent with your son working on it, something that you cant put a price on.
 
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C_F

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Yeah, that hole isn't supposed to be there.
Regarding the labels on the block, I would bet that it was a remanufactured engine at some point & those labels are from the rebuilder.

On the bright side, after you remove the timing cover, you will get to see what shape the timing chain & gears are in (potentially more worms in the can). :D
 
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WoodsTruck

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Since the dizzy is still in, you can check how many degrees of play the chain allows. I was told on a SBF that 7° is max before a new chain is needed. Not sure on the 7.5. Never had mine open when I owned it.
 
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RivennHewn

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Feels like the 1st time....

Only just not as fun. No sense whining about it though. Like I tell my kids, "Ain't nothing to it but to do it".

Q4bg


It's pretty cool that O'Riely's has loaner tools. I didn't really want to spend money on a puller for the harmonic balancer. It's not like I'll ever need one again (knock on wood)
6mdu



And then under the cheap tools that don't want to die topic:



Left my HF parts washer out under a tree behind my shed for about 2.5 years. totally abandoned and neglected. Completely full of Cedar droppings.
5KIj

Dumped it out, blew it off, plugged it in, and started washing parts!
 
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RivennHewn

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tslater, C_F, kbs2244, WoodsTruck,

Thanks for your input.

I'm going to hold off pulling the cover until I have all the parts in hand and ready to go back on.

I don't want to pull the cover, get busy elsewhere, and have rats make a nest in my oil pan before I get back to it.

Sourcing parts now, should be early next week.

Then we'll see what condition the chain is in.

I've never done a timing chain before. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.

I'll be sure to watch some YouTube vids, and maybe even stay at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.

I wonder if Sylvan has a program for that?
 
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C_F

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RivennHewn said:
It's pretty cool that O'Riely's has loaner tools. I didn't really want to spend money on a puller for the harmonic balancer. It's not like I'll ever need one again (knock on wood)
Click to expand...
Those pullers also double as a good steering wheel puller, or at least mine does.:D Does O'Reilly's rent the installer also?
460 timing chains are a snap to do, don't be intimidated.:)
 
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kbs2244

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A T C is actually pretty easy.
Line up the dots and R&R.
More work getting to the job then the job itself.
 
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RivennHewn

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Thanks again C_F and kbs2244.

Every opportunity to try something new is an opportunity to learn something new.



I do have questions about brands.

For things like the timing cover, water pump, ect. is there any real difference between brand names, Or all of them just rebadged off the same assembly line?
 
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