Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

I think you’ve confirmed my thinking - it is messed UP!  Sure glad my brain kicked in and I questioned things. 😳

Eating lunch now and then I’m headed out with jack stands and an impact to retrieve MY wheels and tires from Bruno’s to-be 44HD front clip. ✅

[salans7]

Definitely a mistake there, maybe it's supposed to say in-lb?

[Nothing Special]

I can try to take a look tonight at my '97 shop manual to see what it says.  Unfortunately what it says a little too often is "see the '96 shop manual"

[Gary Lewis]

Kinda doubt it meant in-lb as 100 in-lb is only 8 1/2 ft-lb.  And the 22 - 26 is probably right.

Anyway, this happened today.  (Note that the lift's pad is not touching.)  

The top of the front wheel opening is 43" from the floor, and the back is 41".  Wonder how much the front will drop with an engine, batteries, winch and bumper, etc?  Surely well over 2", so I won't have to lift the back in order to have the front lower than the back.




And here's the status of THE LIST:

[1986F150Six]

And, progress is good!!!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, David.  It sure feels GOOD!

I worked on the pedal assembly this afternoon.  First, I tested the clutch switch and it is bad, so  jumpered the starter circuit somewhere and I have to find it.

Next, here's the hydroboost pedal on the right and the stock F250 pedal on the left.  Notice that the hydroboost pedal's pin where the linkage to the booster goes is higher, meaning that there's less leverage.  That's needed to get the right "feel" in the brake system I'm told.




And here are the pedals back together.  The bushings looked new so I reused them.





But, there's a bit of a problem - the stop that is supposed to open the vacuum dump valve to kill the speed control misses the stem because it fits over the pin, which is higher on the pedal.  So tomorrow I'll see if I can bend the arm that the valve sits on to cause it to hit the stop.

And, I'll look a bit more for the clutch switch that you, David, got me.  It is here somewhere.  

[1986F150Six]

<quote author="Gary Lewis">

And, I'll look a bit more for the clutch switch that you, David, got me.  It is here somewhere.  



That was years ago, Gary!!! Two were found... one for you and the other is on my truck.

[ArdWrknTrk]

1986F150Six wrote

And, progress is good!!!

Hey now!!  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Gary,

You're getting MORE leverage, and LESS travel.

The arm (betwixt pedal pad and pin) is greater.
And the distance between pin and pivot is smaller.

Of course this gives you finer modulation for a given travel as well.

[Gary Lewis]

I think he was quoting a famous person.  

Anyway, going to be watching for a warm day when I can roll the truck back a bit so I can get the shop crane in front of it easily and then put the engine in.  That'll free up a lot of room in front of the truck where the engine currently sits, allowing me to roll it forward enough to get the doors ahead of the lift.  That way I can have easier access to work on installing the firewall brace and find the jumper that is bypassing the clutch switch.

Then I can install the pedals, hydroboost, and master.  

[salans7]

I really can't wait to see what the truck looks like with the engine in it because my springs will be here tomorrow and if yours is that tall without the engine, my truck is going to be massive without the engine.

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - You are right.  I had it backwards.

Shaun - It is supposed to be 56 on Sunday, so maybe I can get the engine in soon.

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

Shaun - It is supposed to be 56 on Sunday, so maybe I can get the engine in soon.

Summit had a deal on both front leaf packs for $220 shipped. The junkyard wanted $150 for OEM leaf packs, so the choice was pretty simple for me. Tomorrow they'll be here, and then we'll see where mine sits. I'm thinking it's gonna be up there for sure.  

[Gary Lewis]

That price makes it a no-brainer.  It will be interesting to see how high yours is w/o an engine.  Ours are pretty much in the same condition, so....

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

That price makes it a no-brainer.  It will be interesting to see how high yours is w/o an engine.  Ours are pretty much in the same condition, so....

They're labeled as 2" leveling springs, but the reviews are saying more like 3" on Super Duty trucks, so we'll have to see. The RSK already puts us both at 2" above stock height. So I'm possibly looking at 5" w/engine.

[Nothing Special]

Gary Lewis wrote

I think you’ve confirmed my thinking - it is messed UP!  Sure glad my brain kicked in and I questioned things. 😳....

So my '97 service manual has the same text and same picture (that shows how to connect the hydraulic hose ).  But not the same torque specs.  Mine says 16-30 lb-ft.

But it does still say the slide pins go through the caliper and spindle.  But they don't.  In fact a couple pages earlier it says the caliper assembly is bolted to an anchor bracket which is bolted to the front wheel spindle.  But there's no way the anchor bracket could be bolted to the spindle either.  It's actually bolted to the knuckle (and the axle section of the service manual agrees with my nomenclature.  The only thing I can figure is that maybe the 2WD knuckle and spindle are one part (they aren't on a 4WD) and they are sloppy with the nomenclature in the brake section (and have no pictures to clarify).

And it's the anchor bracket to knuckle bolts that I needed the 3' bar on.  They are to be torqued to 141 - 190 lb-ft!

I did scan the three pages of the service manual that talk about this.  They're .pdfs so I'll try to attach them here.
Scan0001.pdf
Scan0002.pdf
Scan0003.pdf

[Gary Lewis]

It is good to know that they fixed the "85-100 lb-ft" spec in later years. But, as it turns out, there were two mistakes in the '95 FSM. It says the brake hose block is supposed to be tightened to 10 - 15 lb-ft, and I tightened it to 15 but it didn't feel tight. Yours says 22-30 lb-ft, so I need to go back and tighten them up.

Anyway, I ran my pdf program against your scans, optimizing/straightenin/OCR'ing them and then merged them into one file. Here 'tis so we can easily get back to it: (Thanks!)

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I had a good day.  Torqued the banjo bolts on the front brake lines to 25 lb-ft, and then installed an engine.  

And, by the way, the top of the front wheel opening is now 42" off the floor.  IOW, that beast of an engine only dropped it exactly 1".  So it is possible that the rest of the kit will drop it another inch and the front and back will be level - before I pull leafs out of the rear.

Anyway, installing the engine wasn't nearly as easy as it sounds.  I know I've said before that my shop crane and my engine stands do not play nicely with each other.  But today underscored that, big time.  That's 'cause I started out attaching the crane to the engine the wrong way, like shown below using my load balancer.  And the balancer hit the hood long before the engine got into place.




So back on the stand the engine had to go to remove the balancer and rearrange the chains.  But boy, was there a battle with the stand.  I'll spare you the details, but I had to lift the crane's legs with the floor jack, set the casters on 2x4's, and pick up the stand and twist it to get it below the crane's legs.  

But, that approach looked like this finally, and the engine went in.  Things to note are the ratchet strap to keep the engine from twisting sideways and the floor jack under the axle to get clearance for the crane's legs.




And, here 'tis after getting the crane and jack out of the way - in and the nuts on the mounts are torqued down.  (Note the coffee can.)




So, why the coffee can?  I was finding brake fluid on the fender apron and tracked it down to this rascal.  Note that the back side is wet - the brake fluid was leaking out around that crimp.  Anyone want a free brake pressure switch?  (Was it significant that the radio was playing "Light My Fire" as I took these two pics?  Seriously it was, although it wasn't the long album version, nor even the short version, by Jim & the boys, but was instead by Jose The Fleece.  )

[salans7]

Just imagine if that switch had 12v constant going to it.

Glad you were able to get the engine installed. It's interesting that the truck only dropped an inch with the engine, but we'll see where it's at with the remaining few hundred pounds of accessories added on.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, if that switch had power it could/would be bad.

I really thought the front would drop 2", so was surprised at just 1".  I even rocked it back and forth and pushed down on the fenders checking to see if it would settle.  Nope.

But, the bumper, winch, radiator and support, batteries, flywheel clutch, pressure plate, transmission, t-case, drive shaft, and exhaust surely add up to at least the weight of the engine, so surely it'll come down at least another inch.