Just drove my 1981 for the first time since September 2022.

[81-F150-Explorer]

For the most part it ran ok.  I've got 1/2 tank of crappy gas to burn through though.

I plan on changing the fuel filter after using the fuel up.

It was really good to get behind the wheel again.

Any suggestions to watch for after sitting for a few months?

Already checked the oil, lubed moving parts, charged the battery, checked for rusted brake linings etc.


.

[Gary Lewis]

Was the park/emergency brake set during that time?  If so, watch the brake fluid level as the piston bores may have rusted at that point, and the rust will ruin the pistons and cause a leak.

Other than that, you should be good.

[81-F150-Explorer]

Good point.  The front calipers haven't been worked on in at least a decade. The rear wheel cylinders were changed more recent though.

Good advice.

The parking brake cables are working as they should. But a good lubing wouldn't hurt them.

Another thing to do is the Speedometer is now bouncing. Time to repack the cable to fix that as well.

[Gary Lewis]

I couldn't get Big Blue's speedo to settle down, even with a new cable, until I packed the cable with synthetic wheel bearing grease.  That helped a bunch.

[ratdude747]

Mine bounces a bit during low speed acceleration when the truck hasn't been driven in a while, but settles after a while. Usually at speeds where I don't care about it so much; hence why I haven't done anything about it other than note it as a quirk.

[Dorsai]

Does anybody's speedometer NOT bounce?

Mine does it as well at low speeds.  I've got a new cable standing by, but I'm not going to install it until I'm ready to do other work inside the dash.  The bouncing mostly goes away after 35MPH, so it's not a huge issue.

[Gary Lewis]

Mine bounced so I put a new cable on, but it bounced about the same.  It was supposed to be lubed but I lubed it heavily with Teflon spray as well as graphite.  Still bounced.  Finally put Mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease on it, liberally, and that calmed it down a bunch.  Still bounces a bit, but not nearly as much.

[81-F150-Explorer]

Mine bounces between 40-60 mph, in 10 mph bounces. . .  It started calming down after about 2 hours.

So lube cable first, replace cable second, if the first doesn't work, is the plan.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, I’d lube the old one and see. However, as you lube it check for rough spots.

[grumpin]

Mine was making a noise also, at lower speeds it was annoying.

I hit the speedo at the cluster with some spray lube and that helped.