What did you do to your Dent today v2

[fatherdoug]

Found this when taking off the bumper that came with the truck when we bought it 12 years ago:

Contacted the original owner/builder, which was a father/son build over 8 years (and the amount of detail in our 77 really shows it!) and asked if they wanted me to either send the entire bumper to them to save or cut that piece out and send it. He was SUPER grateful for my offer but told me to keep it and hang it in my garage or man cave, so that's where it's going.

That's a piece of history, Ken.

 

[taxreliever]

How cool is that!

Super cool for sure Roy!

That's a piece of history, Ken.

It really is Doug....super blessed to hang that in my garage. Whatever happens to the truck in the future, it'll stay with it.

Not sure if anyone remembers, but this Father/Son build took 8 years and the reason they got rid of something so sentimental was because it wasn't being used; they felt all their hard work and labor shouldn't just sit and rot away.

When my wife and I pulled out of his driveway 12 years ago, he was weeping. His son was holding on the phone until we were gone to get the final word that the truck in fact had left his possession.

Be hard for me as a dad to let something like that go, but I get it too!

 

[Jasperrc]

I know having that part of the story sure allows you and your boys to appreciate the truck even more.

 

[Jasperrc]

A while back I picked up some used leaf springs for the rear end and I finally got them cleaned up, bushings replaced and springs installed.

The background story was that years ago when we were just trying to get it road worthy, I picked up a set of springs from a gen 7. They worked but weren't exactly right. The truck sat up a little high in the rear end and the driveshaft angle was slightly off. I never liked that the drive shaft angle was off so I've been looking for a replacement set since and finally came across a good pair.

Between the cost of the two sets of everyhting (springs, bushings, ubolts), and drive shaft work(had to have it shortened when I put these on), I probably would have come out even in the cash department if I had broken down and bought a set of new springs back then.

Oh well, another example of how going cheap doesn't necessarily save money in the end.

 

[taxreliever]

I know having that part of the story sure allows you and your boys to appreciate the truck even more.

It really does!

 

[Jasperrc]

Drove it a little bit today. Also adjusted the rear drum brakes and tightened up the parking brake cable.

 

[taxreliever]

Drove it a little bit today. Also adjusted the rear drum brakes and tightened up the parking brake cable.

Jealous.....mine are tucked away sleeping for the winter! Stupid winter!

 

[fatherdoug]

Mine has been sitting in the street with a dead battery for the last 3 months.

 

[Jasperrc]

Took some time to work on the Instrument cluster, put some padding where it contacts the dash and fixed some of the screw hole in the plastic where it had broken over the years. Nice and snug now, no more rattles... from the instrument cluster.

Also continuing to work on some of the dents in the tail gate, you know so it's the only straight piece of steel when I put it on the truck.

 

[Blue-Truck-Nut97]

Jumped in mine yesterday morning to head to the shop and she gave me fits trying to get started. At 3* I really didn't want to go either, but hey that's life. Finally resorted to ether. Got it running, running terrible. Made it to town, wouldn't pull 4th gear, was not happy about 3rd gear. Acted like it jumped time. But it couldn't have jumped time, I used steel timing gears for THAT REASON.

So, a thorough check of the fuel system at 5* in a blizzard shows no problem. But it couldn't have jumped time. I know it couldn't have jumped time.

So I get the timing light out, sure enough, WAY off. Don't know how it's running. Advance the distributor, runs great. Much noggin scratching follows. Try spare ignition module. Timing stays. Put old module back on. Goose throttle to hear that sweet sound of an FE through 12" glass packs. Pops and dies.

Long story short the roll pin in the distributor gear sheared. Re-installed gear with a piece of 7018 welding rod in place of roll pin and peened over the ends, and used 1/2 bottle of loctite. Long cold aggravating morning.

Still not sure why it drove to town.

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[fatherdoug]

BRRRRRR! Troubleshooting in the cold is a PITA!

 

[Jasperrc]

Glad you got it figured out!

Built a snow man on the hood of mine.

 

[fatherdoug]

Glad you got it figured out!

Built a snow man on the hood of mine.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Blue-Truck-Nut97]

Pics or it didn't happen.

You asked for it.

Hopefully they aren't huge.

I know it was a joke about the snowman, but I gotta give you a bad time where I can.

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[fatherdoug]

 

[FirstOnRaceDayAg]

Jumped in mine yesterday morning to head to the shop and she gave me fits trying to get started. At 3* I really didn't want to go either, but hey that's life. Finally resorted to ether. Got it running, running terrible. Made it to town, wouldn't pull 4th gear, was not happy about 3rd gear. Acted like it jumped time. But it couldn't have jumped time, I used steel timing gears for THAT REASON.

So, a thorough check of the fuel system at 5* in a blizzard shows no problem. But it couldn't have jumped time. I know it couldn't have jumped time.

So I get the timing light out, sure enough, WAY off. Don't know how it's running. Advance the distributor, runs great. Much noggin scratching follows. Try spare ignition module. Timing stays. Put old module back on. Goose throttle to hear that sweet sound of an FE through 12" glass packs. Pops and dies.

Long story short the roll pin in the distributor gear sheared. Re-installed gear with a piece of 7018 welding rod in place of roll pin and peened over the ends, and used 1/2 bottle of loctite. Long cold aggravating morning.

Still not sure why it drove to town.

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Same thing happened on my 77 1.5 years ago. Exactly the same head scratching when checking the timing and after the adjustment. Good to get it figured out.

 

[fatherdoug]

Did either of you find the shear pin in the oil pan?

 

[FirstOnRaceDayAg]

Mine was still in the gear (fortunately). Had just sheared and allowed the gear to rotate on the shaft.

 

[dustybumpers]

From the picture Jake sent me his did the same

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[Blue-Truck-Nut97]

Same, most of it was either in the shaft or in the gear. It just weren't hooked together no more.

I'm just thankful it didn't explode the mufflers like our old bronco did.

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