1981 Ford F100 Revival (Parked for 12 years)

[ArdWrknTrk]

Verify that he has power brakes?
Jonathan is showing a picture of the booster, above.  

[Gary Lewis]

Good point, Jim.  I forgot that.  

[Jonathan]

I also need some tires. I wanted to save money and get some used tires for now and called a used tire shop called KeKe's. They wanted $65 each for a matched set of used Hankook tires for the front. And $55 for a no name one for the rear. So then I called Blue Flame and they had tires for $35. I loaded up the car with the three tires not holding air the worst and went to Blue Flame. After I got there they only had three but they were all old trash not worth putting on the truck. He recommended Walmart. Walmart had tires from Dextero and just four left. I never heard of them but the reviews were good and made in South Carolina not far from me. I will post more information about them below. I got some fresh ones made this month! Walmart sucks but I did it anyway. After waiting two hours for them to mount just three tires I was done. I am returning with another rim today to mount number four. I may buy the display model too because my "good tire" I was planning to use as a spare has a slow leak too. Walmart rolled out the tires to my car and one had an old wheel weight on it! I said shouldn't you remove the old weights? He lied and said it was one he had laying around. LOL No way, the patina was a perfect match to the rim and it was on the front of the rim. All his weights were shiny and new and on the back side of the rim. He took it back, removed the old weight and balanced again adding a weight on the back side.  I really hope they mounted the tires properly. I don't have a lot of confidence in their work. The other strange thing was every tire had a different valve cap. One was black, one chrome, one chrome and green. I asked if they had matching caps and they started walking around looking at the floor. Picked up some old nasty looking cap and gave it to me. Seriously? You pay for new tires and stems and they can't give you new caps? They are something else.

http://www.dexterotires.com/

"Dextero Tires is a Giti Tire brand. Singapore-based Giti Tire Group, one of the largest tire companies in the world, operates eight state-of-the-art manufacturing plants, serving consumers in more than 130 countries worldwide. Giti’s first North American manufacturing facility, located in Chester County, South Carolina, began production in 2017."

"Dextero tires are manufactured by GITI Tire, which traces its roots in the tire industry to 1951."

[ArdWrknTrk]

You've got a roller now!  

Ridiculous the tire shop has new valve stems and no caps to go with them.

I probably would have painted the rims with the old tires on.

[Jonathan]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

You've got a roller now!  

Ridiculous the tire shop has new valve stems and no caps to go with them.

I probably would have painted the rims with the old tires on.

Yeah I probably should have painted them first but you know how I am. It would delay forever because I take so long to prep and paint. I just wanted to get it done ASAP so I can get it on the road. I will revisit it later and will wash them down for now. But knowing Walmart they would of scratched the hell out of the paint. I don't know if they have to try hard to be incompetent or it just comes naturally. I did pick up some paint and I will practice with the spare.

They gave me some new caps when I went back yesterday to get the third tire and the spare. Lots more drama then that but I will save it for its own post.

[Jonathan]

Gary Lewis wrote

The master parts catalog, shown at Documentation/Driveline/Brakes, says that F100's with manual brakes have 11" drums and those with power brakes have 10" drums.  But to verify that you should measure the inside of the drums.  And you probably should verify that.

Thanks, I measured on the outside just for fun because Randy told me that they write on the outside the size. But you are correct they are 10" drums. The parts are on order and I can pick them up this morning.

Is it okay to jack the truck up under the rear differential?

[Jonathan]

So yesterday I went back to Walmart to get the last tire put on and purchase the last display tire for the spare. I told them I wanted the display model tire with the older date code put on the worst condition rim for the spare. So as you can imagine they did the exact opposite and then refused to change it saying it is not a big deal and doesn't matter. Well I guess it probably isn't a big deal to them but it was to me and was a simple request. He was much faster than the guy yesterday but scratched the hell out of the back side of the rims. Big gouges! Of course when I showed them the bright shiny metal scratches in obvious contrast to the old black and rust color rim they claimed that the scratches and deep gouges were there before and old. I think lying comes naturally to Walmart employees. They are trained to lie and be incompetent.  

Then I noticed that there were wheel weights on both sides of the two tires I had done. I asked them why all the tires from yesterday only had wheel weights on the back side of the wheel? This Russian guy that works there that does more complicated things like oil changes that the others can't handle overheard and came up and said they screwed up and to bring it back. So I had to run home and remove all three tires from the truck again and put on jack stands to have them rebalanced from the one person that seemed to know what they were doing while he was still there. He even used these little feather weights I have never seen before. It is just like a sliver of weight.

Did I mention that Walmart sucks?

[FuzzFace2]

The weights should be on both sides as done on the 4th & spare but if someone does not want to see weights on the front side like alum. wheels then the machine can be set up to do just the rear side of the wheels.

If you had a bubble balancer the weight is only placed on 1 side so the rear would be the same.
I think my drag slicks are done on the back side, alum. slots.
The weights are a stick on type and I used duct tape to help hold them in place.
Cant see them from the front side.
Dave ----

[nic55kel]

Regarding jacking the truck at the differential housing.
As a retired professional mechanic I have seen it done many many times and never personally heard of it causing a problem.
Do I do it myself? No. It is actually a controversial subject.
I always jack as close to the spring attachment points as possible (U-bolts) or shock mounts.
Just me - when you put a load on something there is always some deflection.
If using a hoist then obviously I use the frame rails.

[ArdWrknTrk]

If I want both rear wheels off the ground I jack the diff and end up putting stands as far out the tubes as practical for whatever I'm doing.

A tire balance machine will show you which side of the rim (in or out) to put the weight.
It can be set up for decorative wheels to only read inboard. But that often requires more weight and sometimes you can never fully get it balanced.
(At least that's the way Coates machines were a decade ago)

[Jonathan]

FuzzFace2 wrote

The weights should be on both sides as done on the 4th & spare but if someone does not want to see weights on the front side like alum. wheels then the machine can be set up to do just the rear side of the wheels.

If you had a bubble balancer the weight is only placed on 1 side so the rear would be the same.
I think my drag slicks are done on the back side, alum. slots.
The weights are a stick on type and I used duct tape to help hold them in place.
Cant see them from the front side.
Dave ----

I guess that is why the guy said it was done wrong. I didn't have fancy rims that necessitated having the balance only in the rear.  He said I can just drive it back when I am running again but I told him I want to get it done with now. I couldn't imagine trusting them to torque the wheels to spec or at all. They would probably destroy the hubcaps too if they were left on. So I just took them off and drove back in the car.

[Jonathan]

nic55kel wrote

Regarding jacking the truck at the differential housing.
As a retired professional mechanic I have seen it done many many times and never personally heard of it causing a problem.
Do I do it myself? No. It is actually a controversial subject.
I always jack as close to the spring attachment points as possible (U-bolts) or shock mounts.
Just me - when you put a load on something there is always some deflection.
If using a hoist then obviously I use the frame rails.

Thanks for the feedback. I am a cautious after damaging the frame cross member by using it as a lift point. I will lift close to the U-bolts from now on and put the jack stands close to the same spot.

[Jonathan]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

If I want both rear wheels off the ground I jack the diff and end up putting stands as far out the tubes as practical for whatever I'm doing.

A tire balance machine will show you which side of the rim (in or out) to put the weight.
It can be set up for decorative wheels to only read inboard. But that often requires more weight and sometimes you can never fully get it balanced.
(At least that's the way Coates machines were a decade ago)

That is the method I used when I took off the rear wheels. But now I think I will just do one side at a time to be extra safe. My truck does not seem very forgiving of errors.

So do you think he balanced the wheel correctly but just had the machine on the wrong setting? Maybe it wouldn't of wobbled bad but is better to be on both sides. Because I noticed when the Russian guy did it showed numbers for both sides as you mentioned.

[Jonathan]

I want to put the spare under the truck but it looks like I am missing some hardware for the middle. LMC has some of the parts I am missing but the two greyed out in the middle. How important is that bracket? Can I purchase some flat iron and drill a hole in it? Does anyone have a picture of what it looks like in real life? I imagine the nut is just a normal nut I hope.

[Jonathan]

I found the obstruction from when I was trying to bleed the front drivers side was in the "soft" rubber line where I expected to find it. It looked like a clogged artery. After I removed the soft line brake cleaner would flow through the hard line no problem. The clip holding on the line to the frame was rusted on so I had to cut it. I purchased new clips, it was only $1.99 for a two pack.

[Jonathan]

I found the missing wheel nut. It was at AutoZone the whole time.

[Jonathan]

I got the replacement parts ready. So far everything looks like a match.

[Jonathan]

I wanted to replace vacuum hoses when I get to something related I am working on. The brake booster vacuum line was very old and hard.  Amazon has the right one already at the right length of 3' for a good price of $16. Cheaper then $10 a foot local. Here is the link.

https://amzn.to/3p2TOIB

[Gary Lewis]

Looking good!  Things are going well and you are going to be pleased.  

[Jonathan]

When I removed the wire ties to get the brake booster vacuum line off I found out the metal line is not connected to anything. I think it is the choke heater tube after talking to Randy. It was not connected at either end. What is the best way to fix this? That is the exhaust manifold in the second picture. I don't know why after I upload the picture it rotates it.