1981 F150 Blue. Named Walter, for now anyway

[rcarlisle]

That separate thread is a good idea - this is not a high traffic thread and more people need to see it.    Someone on FB was asking about LMC fuel lines fitting and I told them to look up Jonathan's post to see what he went through to get the right ones.

I don't think I've ran into that yet.  

[FuzzFace2]

rcarlisle wrote

That separate thread is a good idea - this is not a high traffic thread and more people need to see it.    Someone on FB was asking about LMC fuel lines fitting and I told them to look up Jonathan's post to see what he went through to get the right ones.

I don't think I've ran into that yet.

To be fare I am sure LMC dose not make the lines but is a seller for the company that dose.
I am sure if he went to either 1 of the 2 that I know make line kits you would get the same thing.

Part of the problem is there are so many different fuel lines for 1 model truck (F150) with different motors, and the number of tanks and where they are put on the truck and long bed & short beds.
Then add 3 more models (F250 / F350 / CC) just for a given year now span that over 6 years and it gets crazy how many different lines there could be!

I think unless going for a 100 point restored truck it would be best to make your own lines. The hard part is the little bubble flare on the ends to hold the hoses but you cant see them so a part flare bubble I think would work.
Dave ----

[Jonathan]

FuzzFace2 wrote

rcarlisle wrote

That separate thread is a good idea - this is not a high traffic thread and more people need to see it.    Someone on FB was asking about LMC fuel lines fitting and I told them to look up Jonathan's post to see what he went through to get the right ones.

I don't think I've ran into that yet.

To be fare I am sure LMC dose not make the lines but is a seller for the company that dose.
I am sure if he went to either 1 of the 2 that I know make line kits you would get the same thing.

Part of the problem is there are so many different fuel lines for 1 model truck (F150) with different motors, and the number of tanks and where they are put on the truck and long bed & short beds.
Then add 3 more models (F250 / F350 / CC) just for a given year now span that over 6 years and it gets crazy how many different lines there could be!

I think unless going for a 100 point restored truck it would be best to make your own lines. The hard part is the little bubble flare on the ends to hold the hoses but you cant see them so a part flare bubble I think would work.
Dave ----

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. I ordered the same line from LMC and Inline Tube which supplies LMC. They both sent me different lines and they were both wrong.

[Jonathan]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I can't speak for anyone else.
I'm just a cranky old man, who refuses to play that game.

Jonathan, you should just be glad that they have parts available.
Most of it matches very well even if quality might not be that of OEM

Yeah I know, I love busting their balls for all their screwups. But they are a needed resource. I wish they would improve though. They don't seem to make any changes based on feedback which I find frustrating.

[rcarlisle]

Update 7-17-2021:. Not many will catch this little jewel, but I replaced some old "road sensing" Monroe's with a new pair of Gabriel Ultra's on the front.  Truck is truly transformed.   If your front feels loose and/or wobbly, this is a place to start.  Best $60 I've spent so far.  Just unbelievable how much difference in stability.  

[grumpin]

Cool! Been thinking about shocks.

I don't know how long the Ranchos have been on there.

[rcarlisle]

Jonathan got the fancy gray Gabriel's with the dust boot.  I compared and decided I didn't need that Nice a spec.  So got the next ones down.  Quite happy.  Wife & I just rode about 30 miles, hitting all we could, railroads, rain, etc.  Much improvement in rice and stability.  

[rcarlisle]

Update: 7-21-2021:. Just a small update for a small part that no one would notice except the owner/driver.  This might have gone too far.  Lol

Before


After

[Gary Lewis]

It now looks "finished", Randy.  Much nicer.  

[rcarlisle]

Gary Lewis wrote

It now looks "finished", Randy.  Much nicer.  

Thanks.    Are we ever really finished?   I still want a rosewood panel for the cluster.   Another thing no one notices but me.   Just don't have extra funding for that right now.   That might make the interior entirely too nice though...  And carpet.  And... and.. and...  does it ever end???  I doubt it.  

When I first got it, driving to work was a big thing.  Will it make it?  What's going to break?  This thing is a pile of crap, etc.   Now I look forward to truck days and am proud of all I have done and where I am with it.   Yeah, it still can use some stuff, but it's mostly done.  Wife even has come around to like it, understand why I want to fix on it.  Instead of a junky junk hauler, we have a nice hauler, worthy of riding to town in.  

[Gary Lewis]

That's why I put "finished" in quotes.  No, we aren't likely to ever be "done".  But your steering column looks "finished".

And I remember the days of "will it make it".  Been there many times on different trucks, and it feels so good when you get to the point where you know it will and start thinking about making it better.  

[rcarlisle]

Our accountant at work has been excited about it since I got it.   But he gives me a hard time for making it "too nice".   He says it's getting to a point where I'll have to worry about something happening to it and too nice to take out in woods.   Well, it's 2wd for one, and I wouldn't hesitate to go anywhere I know it will go successfully.   It's not so nice I have to worry about marring the paint with a tree branch.  It's all in fun though.  

I did have a CAR that I bought with 124K miles.  First few trips I took when I worked and lived 3.5 hours from home were worrisone.   BUT, got to where I trusted it completely.   traded it with 210K miles and only because wife was afraid it would break down on me.  But it would pull 28 mpg fully loaded.  2001 Olds Aurora bought in 2011.   Awesome car.  

Before that had been a pretty long time since I had owned any remotely close to a "project".  And have been fortunate all along, knock on wood.

[rcarlisle]

update 7-26-2021:  headlights were going out other night.  Low beams.   At random.   I have the LMC relay wiring kit.   Turns out that the low beam wire had pushed out the back and was making intermittent contact.  Fixed that - pushed wire back in til it felt like it was in the connector.   Drove Saturday night and all was well.   Just in case you ever have that issue.

[Gary Lewis]

Glad you found it and that it was that easy of a fix.  

[rcarlisle]

I wanted to post on the chance that someone can fix their truck with that little tidbit.  

[Gary Lewis]

 

[FuzzFace2]

rcarlisle wrote

I wanted to post on the chance that someone can fix their truck with that little tidbit.

My son also found one that was not "locked in" but I dont know if it was low or high side and really did not care at the time as I killed 1 of the relays, low side.
It got water inside from when I washed the engine bay down.

Because I have seen it posted they go bad and not your normal relay I was going to change them both out.
I picked up 2 relays & pig tails for this job but my son cheated a little.
Once we figured out the wiring he removed the connectors from the new pig tails and from the relay harness plug and was able to push the relay harness connectors into the new relay plug so no cut & splicing needed!

The hard part the job was  trying to figure the wiring out of the relay harness as there was nothing on the old relay bodies like a normal relay.
Dave ----

[rcarlisle]

These LMC wiring kits are pretty cheaply constructed.   BUT they serve a purpose.   If a relay fails, I think I would do what you did and swap the relays to something readily available at a common parts store.   Wonder how many failures there are with this kit?  Is it something I need to get ahead of or just let ride?

Did you perhaps write down a pinout of the LMC relay that could be used to diagram to a more common replacement relay?  I'll be glad to draw it up so we could have it posted here.    

In my case, that one connector has probably been pushed out somewhat from the beginning and only became noticeable when I actually could see the lights on/off as days begin to get shorter once again.  

When I drove truck Saturday night, the lights were bright and solid.  

[Gary Lewis]

I think the idea of how to re-pin the LMC harness to use common relays.  So if you draw it up we'll put it on the page at Documentation/Electrical/Lighting/Headlight Wiring Harness.

[FuzzFace2]

I will have to check with my son as I know he did take down some notes as he was the one doing the work.
I think if you were to get into doing a relay swap and figure the LMC wires it would show up as being easy.
I do remember my son looking at the LMC relays a bunch of times but not having anything on them of how they got wired I told him to figure the wires out on the harness and then how the new relays get wired.

As for needing to be prepped for when they go out I dont know?
I have seen some posts the relays are not great and being they have a strange plug you cant just run into any parts store to get one and change right then and be on your way.
Remember you can unplug the relay harness and plug the trucks harness plugs back in and have lights again, that is what I did till I could fix the issue.

So it is up to you if you want to pick up the parts to have on hand or not.
I will see how they work tomorrow morning at 4am going to work as I plan to take the truck.
Dave ----