F-Superduty IDI water hauler build

[Ford F834]

One step forward… three steps back?

The good news is that I was successful in lifting the cab enough to get the cross member brace bolts in between the cab and the frame… the bad news is that one of the cab bolts broke off in the lower part of the cab mount during removal. I was able to farmer rig it by drilling through the fixed nut and installing a longer bolt with a second nut… not very pretty but it works.

After that detour I went install the 13” Southbend clutch. I bought it used 10-11 years ago from an IDI guy switching to a Cummins. I trusted him but I shouldn’t have. I never inspected it that closely… and the flywheel side is shot. The wear is very uneven. I put a straight edge on the flywheel and I’m not liking that very much either… so I am back to start with a flywheel and clutch ☹️

Since the pandemic, IDI parts seem to be out of production and/or prices have gone stupid. I don’t want to pay the going rate for a complete solid mass flywheel and clutch set if I don’t have to. The 6.9 flywheel that came out of my crew cab is good except it is for the T19 input shaft. It is 11.75” diameter.

I looked everywhere for a spring dampened 11.75” friction disc with a 1.25” 10 spline hub. They like to be 11” or 12”. I settled for a Sachs SD80227. The only place I found anything about diameter was Walmart of all places… says product dimension is 11.49” and it is spring dampened for SMF. I’m hoping that is good enough for this round. I bought from Summit and is returnable if I don’t like the fit.

It’s not like I am lacking things to do, but unfortunately it looks like (again) the transmission won’t be going in this weekend.

[Gary Lewis]

Bummer!  That's progress, but not as much as you'd hoped.  Maybe next weekend?

Is it getting any cooler?  We are in a cool snap now @ 77F.

[Ford F834]

It is hovering right around the 100*F mark at my house… but the humidity is a lot higher than it has been ~30% instead of the usual 10%-ish. That comes with some intermittent overcast which is nice while it lasts but overall it is still pretty harsh outside. Hence the pause on house building…

There is still plenty else to do on the truck. I plan to work on the core support, radiator, HVAC box etc., later today. I was hoping to do “underneath” stuff to get out of the sun, but I’ll grab my straw hat and see what I can manage 🥵

[Ford F834]

IDI core support is in… it doesn’t look much different but that is a bit of work. I wish I had remembered to leave the corner braces from the old one in place…I had to have known how these come apart since I got the diesel one out of a junkyard… I just forgot 🙄

[ArdWrknTrk]

Looking good!  
I know those drop center radiator supports are hard to find.

Hope the weather cooperates with you Jonathan.
Having that truck working will make things easier.  

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, it is looking good!  And that is, as Jim is wont to say, PROGRESS!  

[Ford F834]

Yes Jim, the core supports are a tough to find item, which is why I considered bullnose or bricknose front clip (until I found an Aeronose one).

Today I wanted to put in the radiator, which meant the AC first. I removed the whole system from the 89 donor without depressurizing it. Now I am finding out just how different the HVAC box and parts are 🥴

The  Bricknose box has a very different seam than the Bullnose or Aeronose boxes:





And then the Aeronose core is about 1” shorter and the lines are spaced closer together… so the bricknose core won’t fit. The bracket that supports the canister is also quite changed between years.



So my choice is to swap the entire box with heater blower from the 89 or keep the Aero cooler core. Since the heater half of the box has some quite inaccessible bolts I think I want to do the latter… but I have not seen this type of line connection… is this removeable/reusable or would I need a new core with a new hose attached? (Mine has a cut line). The Bullnose ones had a nut and O ring connection.





Everything is so much less interchangeable than I anticipated 😵‍💫

[ArdWrknTrk]

Those hoses are just like fuel line.
You push the tubular tongs up in there to release the garter and the line pulls out with the tool.
You might want to spray some junk up in there and work it in and out until it feels free.

I do believe Bill put the entire dash and HVAC system from "The Giving Truck" ('95 450) into Darth, his dually crew cab....

[Gary Lewis]

Right.  I used this set of disconnect tools on both the fuel and A/C lines on Big Blue:

[85lebaront2]

Jim, my dash that is in Darth came from a 1996 F350 Centaurus conversion crew cab DRW truck. A tree fell on the front of the cab roof.


That is also where the Alcoa wheels came from and the power sliding rear cab window.

As for the disconnect tools, I have a much larger set as I also needed Chrysler tools and since GM ones were also included I have a pretty comprehensive set.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Oh!  

I'm glad the tree only got the front of the cab, and the rear held up.  

[Ford F834]

Thank you Gary! The set you bought is not currently available but I ordered one very similar. It was about 10$.

I noticed the engineering number on the HVAC box started with “F4…” so maybe the smaller evaporator core came with the transition to 134 coolant? Anyway, all Aeronose might not be the same either…

I don’t even know if the 89 donor AC system was working, I just wanted to leave it sealed and clean. Looks like I will need to replace at least one line, then vacuum it down and see what I’ve got. But I need it running first!

I put in the radiator and shroud, re-mounted the AC compressor and put the hood on. The hood is a little banged up and not very straight… but it’s a work truck. I’m just happy to see it looking more like a truck than a shell. I am going to paint the grille and light surrounds before I mount everything back… inexpensive aerosol overhaul ha ha ha…

[Gary Lewis]

Looking good, Jonathan!  

[Ford F834]

Here is a little update on my *lack of progress ha ha…
 
My decision to be frugal with the clutch parts bit me in the butt. The Sachs friction disc will NOT work with the 6 bolt 6.9 solid flywheel and pressure plate. It is too big. If there is a disc out there that does work, I am not inclined to find it by trial and error. The Sachs will fit a 7.3 N/A balanced SMF. I have two of them, one has a badly worn surface and the other has a ruined ring gear. So the transmission is still sitting on the ground. So much for saving money by using the parts I already have.


 
I put the front trim and lights back together. This only affirmed by distaste for the Aeronose build quality and fastener engineering. It looks okay from 20’ away, but the new headlights that I bought are not flush with the rest of the lights and trim. They are sunken by almost ½” in places. They are aftermarket (Eagle Eyes brand). Perhaps the fitment is just that awful, or else I need to adjust them. I thought I remembered reading that the mounting screws should only need adjusted to aim the light beam, and I don’t really want to fuss with the factory alignment that much. I will see how they work once I get a battery installed. It is a work truck after all and trim aesthetics isn’t that high on the priority list.


 
While I am not giving up on this truck, I did make the decision to step away and refocus on another way to bring more water. The FSD is going to take time to get everything right… meanwhile I am chasing my tail hauling one IBC tote at a time. I put the large haul tank on my 14’ Big Tex trailer and bought a water transfer pump to get it into the cistern. I reluctantly pulled more shrubs from the front of our property to be able to pull through with the trailer. I am not crazy about this solution because this exceeds the weight rating of, well, everything… but I will be driving very slowly. I still have to clean out the tank and plumb the outlet to the pump but I may be hauling with it as soon as this weekend. I anticipate that I may have to put the NP435 in the ’81 in place of the close ratio T19 for the low 1st gear. I hate going “backwards” like this, but I am tired of the spiral. I can’t fix the water hauler because I am too busy hauling water!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well.... good, and not so good.
I understand your frustration, but a torch would have those ring gears swapped in 10 minutes.  👍

FWIW, a complete flywheel w/ ring gear was $107 delivered for my 460.
I know an SMF for a diesel is going to be $$$, but when I swapped the Sf into my truck it was cheaper to go brand new than to have the new machine shop Blanchard grind the old flywheel.  

[Gary Lewis]

I agree with Jim - good and not so good.  But I disagree with him slightly - replacing the ring gear on the flywheel for Dad's truck took me at least half of a day.  Yes, I'm old and slow.  But part of that was due to only having a MAPP gas torch.  Still, it wasn't hard, just slow and tedious.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The flywheel is a huge heatsink.
Even a plumbing B-tank with only acetylene is heads and shoulders above dealing with a glorified propane torch, and the pencil tip lets you apply heat where you need it and not waste btu's on the surrounding area.

[Ford F834]

Thank you gentlemen, I had heard that the ring gear could be removed by heating the flywheel in an oven. I don’t have an oven that I want car parts / fumes in. And I’m not quite sure that heating the whole thing would work to separate the ring gear?

I do have some oxy acetylene equipment that I got from my dad, but the hoses are north of 50 years old. I would need to replace those at a minimum. Or I might get a MAPP gas torch at harbor freight and do it the tedious way. That might still be faster than the tangent of reviving the old oxy acetylene kit to do this job. 🤷

[Gary Lewis]

You aren't wanting to heat the whole thing 'cause when you do that both the flywheel and ring gear grow the same amount.  You'll need to heat the ring gear to get it bigger and walk it off with a drift.  Go around and around and around, trying to keep just the ring gear hot and walking it off.

Then you turn the flywheel over and reverse the above procedure to walk the new ring gear on.  I think I even had wet rags on the flywheel trying to keep it cool so it didn't grow as much as the ring gear.

[ArdWrknTrk]

100% this.

Heat just the gear (stant the flywheel on a brick or something so the gear drops off, then flip the flywheel over, set the new gear on top and heat it until it has expanded enough to drop all the way on.

Remember that the starter engagement face should not have sharp edges.