Another round of projects.

[Gary Lewis]

[IDIBronco]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

^^^ The Farmgenuityis strong with this one, Gary!  

I am taking this as a high compliment...  

I have done a little work today.  I dug through my inventory of rims and tires and found a pair of aluminum ranger rims and good tires to go on the splitter.  

This means I have the splitter currently as far along as I need it to be for now.  So I went ahead and rolled the splitter down into the storage parking area for now.  This meant I was done with the welder/compressor trailer (until the new lights arrive).  I went ahead and parked it out of the work area as well.  

I turned my attention back to the truck.  I had been thinking about the cranking issue I had been having and had decided to test a theory before jumping into pulling any parts.  I carefully marked the crank pulley for an obvious reference point.  I tried cranking the motor over a few dozen times.  What I suspected was confirmed.  The motor stops every time on the same spot due to the starter kicking out.  I am now almost sure the flywheel ring gear must be damaged.  It is possible to get the truck to start, but it is tricky since it only spins about 360 degrees each attempt.  I am starting to wonder if this was the issue that led the truck to end up parked in the weeds.  I currently do not have project funds freed up enough to go buy a bunch of parts for a possible flipping plan for this truck.  (The welder burned up a large part of the current project funds). I need to make the decision and move forward.  I am leaning pretty hard towards no longer attempting to fix the welding truck up and just use it to better the dump/bronco what I can.  So far I haven't robbed any parts.  I am starting to consider the option of swapping the entire cab onto the bronco frame.  I can fix some things up and paint before swapping it on.  The passenger cab corner is the only apparent portion that needs replaced.  It would solve several problems with the bronco.  Right now when it rains the rust around the bronco windshield leaves it raining onto your knee when you drive and the floors, rockers, above wheels, and back of tailgate have some serious cancer.  The broncos frame is in good shape and was coated before the body got dropped on.  I just don't see that repairing everything wrong with the bronco body is an option (for my level of skill and funds).

Hypothetically saying I am going to swap the cab onto the bronco frame, I do have a few questions.

Are the sliding door lock doors the same as normal doors?  Just internal parts are different.  Can I swap interals and door panels around with any other door?

Are the sliding lock parts hard to find?  Something that should be made available to a member here...

I imagine the existing wiring harness in the welding truck (81 300 i6) is incompatible with the bronco (84/85 bronco/f250 6.9 idi) wiring.  Would I just have to swap the entire harness dash to dash with cluster for the idi?

How involved is it to remove dashes and swap all the wiring out and reinstall?  

Issues changing from the lowest level hearer box to heat/ac box?

Are there downsides to keeping the kick panel vents?  The welding truck has kick panel vents on both sides.  I like the idea of them, but I have never had them before.  Any inherent issues?

The swapping of the cab to fix the body issues of the bronco does seem pretty appealing to me.  Other people have already figured out the rear cab mounts.  I would just do something similar.

I don't know where I got them from anymore, but I have these as examples...







http://4x4.forensick.net/88bronco/images/gallery.php?imagedir=cab_swap

I still have this link saved.  

 I had planned to do something similar and had actually left with a trailer in tow to go get 2 complete stepside beds about 2 hours away from home maybe a year ago. That was the day the bronco lost drive in the c6.  FORTUNATELY, it happened about 7 miles into the trip.  I missed the deal on the truck beds, but it would have been a much worse day had I gotten down there and then broke down.  Surprisingly, the bronco was dependable leading up to that day and very dependable since.  The deal was just not meant to be at that time.  

I know doing this would probably disappoint some, but I can always keep the bronco body to redo or replace in the future.

Opinions are appreciated at this time...  I may not listen and go my own way, but appreciate hearing what everyone thinks.  

Been weighing options pretty hard the last several days.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Definitely intended as a compliment.  

The harness goes from one headlight all the way in, across and out to the other.
80 & '81 also have a completely different cluster flex circuit.

Kick vents and slide locks are very desirable.
You can swap whole doors easier than changing out the locking mechanisms.

I have the same issue with a dead spot in my ring gear.
I just filed the burrs off and tightened up the starter by ovaling along the lower hole and shifting it over.
Been working ever since.  🤞

[IDIBronco]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I have the same issue with a dead spot in my ring gear.
I just filed the burrs off and tightened up the starter by ovaling along the lower hole and shifting it over.
Been working ever since.  🤞

That is an idea I can get my head around.

I suspect weather permitting i will pull the starter and try that tomorrow.  Nothing to lose.

I seemed to remember a situation where if you switched clusters inappropriately meant a impending doom of fire...  But I am not familiar enough to know what's what yet.  

The doors themselves on the welding truck are in the best shape of any of the doors I have.  I know one door the lock mechanism is unhooked.  I would be likely to swap to the normal easy to find parts and new door panels unless it is too big a hassel.

[IDIBronco]

Figured out how I wanted to hold the welder down to the trailer grate deck.  

Took some 3x3 angle drilled a couple holes for 1/2 inch bolts and trimmed some angles down to make a clamp on each end that goes through the deck and pulls down against the c channel of the welder frame.

The two orange tape measures represent the channel area as well as where the angle clamps go through the grate.



Installing 2 if these clamp/hold downs on the trailer to keep the welder from moving/tipping in transport.  They are 100 percent non destructive to the trailer and non destructive to the welder frame.  A much better option than what welding anything on would be in my opinion since I am not for sure the welder is staying on the trailer.  

[FuzzFace2]

You have them on the sides what keeps the welder from moving forward or back if it stops short?
Any way to maybe do that same clamp deal F & R?
Dave ----

[IDIBronco]

FuzzFace2 wrote

You have them on the sides what keeps the welder from moving forward or back if it stops short?
Any way to maybe do that same clamp deal F & R?
Dave ----

The bolts and clamp portions go through the grating.  It locks the location of the welder into the 1x3 inch opening of the grate.  The welder is against the front frame of the trailer.  

It cannot slide anywhere the way it is captured on the grating.  And the clamps to the frame should hold it both in position as well as upright.  

Also below the deck is a piece of angle the width of the welder.  It spreads the load over the grating that width and also locks the clamping bolts in place so the clamps cannot come off.

[Gary Lewis]

How many 1/2" bolts do you have holding the welder on?  I think I read that there are two, and that doesn't seem enough for the welder.  

[IDIBronco]

4 bolts total.  2 locations (one at each end) with a set of these clamps.  Each clamping location has a bolt.

* I might bolt a piece of angle behind the welder yet, but it would be more likely a short piece towards one end incorporated into a "battery box" to keep the battery up off the rough grating and protected from vibrational abrasion.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm into overkill, so I'd probably go with more bolts and clamps.  But 4 should work.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Do you have any idea the tension, shear or clamping force of a 1/2-13 grade 5 bolt?

And if you want more clamp, just go to 12-20

[IDIBronco]

I pulled the starter off and the damage was right past the starter location.  So it was easy to see, but I hand cranked the engine around to verify I was looking at the problem.  The issue was substantially less than I had anticipated.  I know it is probably hard to discern from the picture, but I am questioning if that is my issue now.  Not sure I could make the adjustment work to move the starter into the ring gear unless I file the outer locating ring that inserts into the bell housing 1/8 inch or so.  Would have to oval the lower bolt and  clearence the locating nose 1/2 way around on the motor side.

Can the damaged teeth create enough side thrust to kick the starter Bendix out?  The last time I dealt with a ring gear teeth issue the teeth where fully knocked off in an area.  This looks incredibly minor compared to what I had previously...

I pulled the starter, snapped a few pictures, broke the power wire bolt trying to remove it from the starter.  Decided the starting issue was not something I could just quickly rectified so I decided to do the most productive thing I could accomplish...  Take a break.




Pulled the top off the bronco, and drove to town to get some fuel.   It is sunny with not hardly a cloud anywhere, and 75 degrees.  Figured it was a good time to pull the top off.  Plus the local gas chain has a rewards program that my wife gets her morning soda with, but it builds points up to get fuel cheap.  Since the bronco has the only tank in the family over the 20 gallons maximum benefit, it gets the benefits the most.

[IDIBronco]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Do you have any idea the tension, shear or clamping force of a 1/2-13 grade 5 bolt?

And if you want more clamp, just go to 12-20

1/2" x 13

Roughly per bolt.

Clamping force 9000lbs at 75 ft*lbs

Tensile and shear strength in single shear I believe are over 16,000lbs.  I had to look the actual shear area.

But I am pretty rusty on those calculations...

Although I would have to look closely at the grid of the grating on the deck and make a few measurements and calculations to see if the grate would tear out first (very likely).  

I am very inclined to think that the hold down is in the "good enough" category.

[ArdWrknTrk]

That was a rhetorical question directed at Gary. our master of "good enough is never enough.
"
I would have said (off the top of my head) 75 ftlbs, 10k clamp and 17,000 UTS
While I understand 1/2 MV2, reality is that you're going to rip the 'foot' off that welder long before any one of those clamps give up.

[ArdWrknTrk]

A penny a gallon?!?!  

You should check the nosecone bearing in the starter itself.
It doesn't take much radial slop before the involute curve of the gear teeth become a camming motion rather than a driving motion.

Yes, I did take a file to the outside (centering) radius of my starter.
But that 5 minute investment has had me driving for well more than a year without having to pull my engine to swap in the new ring gear I have....
I also got a needle bearing for the nosecone.
It seems to deal better than the plain bushing it replaced.

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

That was a rhetorical question directed at Gary. our master of "good enough is never enough.
"
I would have said (off the top of my head) 75 ftlbs, 10k clamp and 17,000 UTS
While I understand 1/2 MV2, reality is that you're going to rip the 'foot' off that welder long before any one of those clamps give up.

Yes, that was my point.  Not that the bolts themselves won't take it, but will the grate?

And yes, I am the master of "more is better".  

[ArdWrknTrk]

It looks the same as cat walk grate.
I don't think it would fail before the lip being pinched does.

[IDIBronco]

So I tried the starter modifications and it does crank a bit better, but typically only spins around a bit then kicks out.  It is better than it had been.  I need to get my little needle file set out to clean the burrs on the teeth a bit more to see if it improves.  

The condition I currently have trying to start...

The motor cranks, and the engine coughs a bit.  It catches a cylinder and fires a bit too early and spins the motor backwards.  It typically fires 2 cylinders like this and comes to a stop, sometimes only one.  I put a new ignition box on and coil, but everything acts the same.  A head scratcher.  I had it starting and idling pretty well before changing carbs.  I cannot imagine I changed stuff around so much that the timing would act so different...  Maybe I am missing something obvious.  

How quickly does vacuum build on an engine on cranking to adjust distributor via the vacuum lines?  The advance and retard sides of the distributor both have a vacuum line.  Do these both just need to go to the vacuum tree or is there a different location they should be hooked to?  The vacuum lines were disintigrated so badly before I took stuff loose it was hard to tell where everything actually belonged.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I know little about dual vacuum distributors.
Perhaps Bill has some advice?

[IDIBronco]

For fun...



Theoretically I could chop the bed down to fit the bronco frame...  Even could haul the welder in between the boxes, but not much extra room.  

Just threw together a picture with paint.