So what did you do with your truck today?

[IDIBRONCO]

Today, I got to have "fun". Yesterday evening, as I was driving back into town on the dirt road bypass for the bridge that's under construction, along the very washboarded part, all of a sudden, I heard a really loud clacking?, banging? sound. I knew right away that it was my arch nemesis brake caliper. AGAIN! That was ok because I was smart the last time and I ordered two of the retainers that like to disappear on me. After work, I jacked up the front of the truck and removed the tire. I got out the new retainer sand opened them up only to find out that they wouldn't slide between the caliper and mounting bracket. Apparently, Rock Auto sent me some for a 1/2 ton. So now what? Well I decided to put the tire back on and drive the two block to work to try to fab up something. Long story short, two hours later, I had cut both apart, widened them ( they were too narrow), welded them together in a very ugly way, and got the contraption to work. No pictures because I was too focused on cobbling together a bracket. Maybe I'll remember when I replace it with the right parts again.

In addition, last night, I ordered the right parts from Bronco graveyard. They only come in sets of two and I ordered two sets. As long as the parts match the pictures, I will have the right parts.
Over lunch today, I went for a short test drive to make sure that there was still enough room for the caliper to move. I went 5 miles west of town, got out, didn't smell any brake smoke, so I drove back. After parking in my driveway, I crawled far enough under the truck to feel the caliper. It was barely warmer than the air temperature so I think it will be ok for now.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

In addition, last night, I ordered the right parts from Bronco graveyard. They only come in sets of two and I ordered two sets. As long as the parts match the pictures, I will have the right parts.
Over lunch today, I went for a short test drive to make sure that there was still enough room for the caliper to move. I went 5 miles west of town, got out, didn't smell any brake smoke, so I drove back. After parking in my driveway, I crawled far enough under the truck to feel the caliper. It was barely warmer than the air temperature so I think it will be ok for now.

To sum this all up, this evening, I went on a 80 mile round trip to get a new-to-me 1998 Craftsman GT 3000 (so Jesus Freak won't have to ask). After I got home and backed into the driveway, I touched the brake caliper again to see if it had been hanging up and it was still barely above air temperature so I think that my cobbled up bracket must be working just fine.
Now for the rest of the story. I was probably 37 or 38 miles into the 40 mile drive to get the mower when, all of a sudden, the light bulb came on. I had thrown the original caliper retaining bracket onto the dash after I picked it up off of the highway a couple of years back. I reached into the black hole known as the (not working) dash speaker and, sure enough, there it was! I could have used that and one of the spring metal pieces that came with the 1/2 ton retainers and saved myself A LOT of headache yesterday!

 

[XOLATEM]

tried jumping the 2 large posts on the fender mounted solenoid when it doesn't start?

I know that I can't be the only one here that has a chunk of Buck or Schrade knife blade missing from an arc burn of trying to figure out why the car or truck won't start....

Or at least a funny-looking craftsman screw driver...

 

[Nero]

I have always jumped the small terminal to the large one. No arc burns!

 

[Rdnck84_03]

I know that I can't be the only one here that has a chunk of Buck or Schrade knife blade missing from an arc burn of trying to figure out why the car or truck won't start....

Or at least a funny-looking craftsman screw driver...

I always use the handles of my pliers that are always on my side.

I have always jumped the small terminal to the large one. No arc burns!

That only works if the solenoid isn't what's bad.

James

 

[Nero]

That is correct, but usually its pretty evident if its bad or not.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

Agreed. There are still times that it either has to be done or you call for a tow. I usually tend to be the type that if it's possible I will find a way to limp it home and then figure out how to fix it correctly.

James

 

[Old Goat]

I use a section of, maybe 8ga wire about a foot long with
the ends stripped, to jump across the Starter Solenoid.
I keep it under all the wires on the inner fender, then
if/when I need it, it`s there.

Worked good when I was cranking the engine over to purge
air out of the fuel lines with the Injection Pump swap.


Goat

 

[rreegg]

I know that I can't be the only one here that has a chunk of Buck or Schrade knife blade missing from an arc burn of trying to figure out why the car or truck won't start....

Or at least a funny-looking craftsman screw driver...

My 14mm (13?) wrench is burned from accidentally touching terminals when trying to connect two 12v batteries. Definitely will never make that mistake again, it's a good reminder every time it's used, less of an issue on the truck since the batteries are on either side of the engine bay.
Just get some sparks when bridging the solenoid terminals though. I just use whatever is easily on hand that has a coated handle

 

[rreegg]

The worst part of these trucks... are when you need to shut off the engine!

Gf picked up a new starter couple days ago, was outside in the rain couple nights ago at like 1am trying to swap it out before work the next day. Then the hood was jammed and wouldn't open (to disconnect batteries)! Figured I'd get one more start in the morning (typically the no-start condition happens after driving for a while) before heading out so just decided it wasn't in the cards to change the starter at that time. Sure enough it fired up yesterday and then the hood popped open after driving a few blocks

Long story short ended up keeping the engine running from about 5:30am to about 7pm yesterday, my service job ended up being canceled when I arrived at customers house so luckily never had to worry about turning off the engine. Longest periods of idling wer about 20 mins but had to clock like 250 miles total.

Now have the weekend to swap out the starter and very glad all worked out, except the canceled job.

Tfrucking love this truck

 

[Nero]

Picked up these four bad boys for $150, also came with a single steel rim. Crazy how much lighter they are! And yes I did take a spare wheel hub with me to make sure it fit, dont want to make that mistake again

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[Old Goat]

Good score, now you need to buff them out and put a shine to them.

No self respecting truck Driver is going to be driving around with
grungy looking wheels.

Goat

 

[Nero]

Thats my plan, when I bought them I went straight to the tire store to have the old rubber from 2003 taken off

 

[KansasIDI]

I intercooled my service truck. Within the first 12 miles of test drive, 2 month old AC compressor locked up and held the water pump stopped, immediately blew up my radiator.

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So I put in a new one, I keep one in stock for myself. Had a bit of a hard time getting all the air out, it got kinda hot a couple times messing with it, it’ll probably be alright though, and I had other obligations 50 miles away this evening so I drove my Dodge. I will resume fighting/dancing with my Ford in the morning.

And will hopefully remember to get pictures of the intercooler install.

The short bit I got to drive my service truck, well, wow, just wow. 550-600* cruising EGTs, and 1050* max on a 100* day. Plenty of power, and so quiet that I kept wrapping it out and wondering why it stopped accelerating. Hit my max speed of 84 very easily, didn’t seem to mind holding that either. Runs real good, just gotta sort out the air in my cooling system and should be good to go.

I had a shop in town fix my AC, has a warranty so this will be rectified. They didn’t really do what they were supposed to, but I am confident they will own up to it, so it’ll probably be down for a little while… but I am gonna be on vacation late this coming week, they should have a chance to fix it then.

When it was there last it was naturally aspirated and pretty easy to work on, now being turbo intercooled it will be a good bit more difficult. That’s what they get for not doing it right the first time though…

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Dad gum... I've never seen that before! Think NAPA will honor the warranty on that Spectra?

That's wild. I guess one advantage to never having working A/C in my pickup. That's super lame to have a new pump fail like that.
Glad to hear the good news of the CAC though. It's wonderful!