Project F-Superduty...

weareweird69 said:

Throw it at the naysayers.

Got the truck unloaded and put somewhere out of the way.

Now, granted, the F-SD Doesn't have an engine... But it sits about the same height as my F350...

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weareweird69 said:

Had some free time today. So I gutted the Quigley truck for the most part.

Trying to get it to where I can save whats good, scrap whats junk, and start tearing down the frame.

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weareweird69 said:

Had some time to mess with the mirrors some more.

Got them on the truck, leveled, wires ran inside, and all tested. Need to hook them all up though. Power movement is hooked up and working, and so is the heat, but that is because the old mirrors used the same stuff so It was already in there.

Hoping to have the wiring totally completed by Monday.

These new mirrors are a little bigger, and are a little more awkward than the older style. Not sure if its because the puddle mirror is larger and wider, or what. It doesn't seem like they extend out AS FAR as the old ones did.

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weareweird69 said:

So, I had time today to finish hooking up the mirrors. They are fully wired in, and functional. Left my dremel at home so I couldn't finish the mirror hinge caps and install them.

Marker lights

Hazards/Turn Signals

Courtesy Lamps

The Courtesy lamps are on in this photo, you can not see them inside the truck.

Also put a switch plate in, mimics the same plate thats in the other trucks. And mounted the TS Chip there as well.

I have to head into work tomorrow, may only be a day, but Ill be ordering some small items for this thing in the near future.

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weareweird69 said:

Finally got the mirror hinge caps on.

So they are 100% ON.

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weareweird69 said:

Got some photos of the setup.

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weareweird69 said:

I got the Quigley Truck all cut up finally.

Ordered a new E-Brake cable, and Axle Vent tube for it as well.

And I cut up the F350 that had the central Hydraulics on it finally too.

I am going to work on getting the Black/Silver truck torn down so I can get some of the southern parts put on it and off the ground. Then Ill be working on refurbishing the Dana 70 front axle for the dump truck... It will then go in the truck, and Ill start mocking up all the brackets, and doing the modifications to accept the Quigley conversion.

The silver 95 decided to eat the oil cooler last week, and it needs new battery cables, so thats first on the list.

The Blue 96 needed a rear driveshaft, and a new starter wire last week too.

Too much going on!

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weareweird69 said:

Ive got TWO F250's to do next... LOL Both OBS'

So, an actual update on the F-SD....

Got a weekend to work on stuff finally, transition from night shift to day shift gave me 3 days off in a row!

Got the front axle stripped down a little, wanted to leave it mostly whole to keep the internals safe.

And.... AFTER.

Had it sand blasted, and put in primer. I am going to replace all the brake rotors, and calipers. Universal joints, and all the steering. I may replace the king pins as well. Not sure yet because Im sure they are still in good working order, but I don't know their actual condition.

Trying to get everything lined up so I can get working on it when lay off hits. Im trying to get it done so I can get the Supercab Short bed truck on its way to whole. Get the engine and transmission in, along with the driveshafts, and get a body on it. At that point I can start assembling the interior, and possibly get it to where it can start and drive under its own power. Because pushing a rolling frame around SUCKS.

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weareweird69 said:

So, I MADE time to work on this front axle.

Started to remove the steering, and lock out hubs. Only to find out they used the old style HEX spindle nuts.... So I had to order that socket.

But, Found that the lock out hubs are trash, and started to eat themselves.

Also found the tag on the diff, cleaned it, and reinstalled it.

I did find out that the differential holds a tiny bit over 3 whole quarts of oil. Which was surprising.

Ive got all the new steering here, just need to get it cleaned, and painted. Once the socket gets here, I can tear the hubs and rotors off, get new bearings, and U-Joints. Then also inspect the King Pins to see if they are in good shape. Clean all the parts, and re-install them. Im hoping to get this under the truck fairly quick. But I need to find spring bushings for the front leaf springs. I have two options to choose from, and neither of them make sense to me lol

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weareweird69 said:

Got the new universal joint in the passenger side axle shaft, along with new bearings, and new rotor.

Slowly working on it. Planning on having this truck DONE this winter.

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weareweird69 said:

Got the other side done.

Not without some mishaps.

So, luckily I had some connections, and found a good used one that was actually in better shape than the one I screwed up. ha!

Also had to replace the 6 pinion mounting nuts since they were pretty rusted.

So, All new bearings, new Spicer universals, new rotors, new grease. I have new Ford 3 bolt lock out hubs coming for it.

Leaf Spring bushings should be here this week, the steering is getting machined, and should hopefully be done this week.

I also put a new seal in the transfer case/E-brake mount housing.

Once the axle goes in, I have a few holes to drill, and then I need to have the rear driveshaft shortened, and it'll be 4x4!

Not to mention the shifter linkage for the 4x4 needs done too... ugh.

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weareweird69 said:

This Black/Silver truck currently looks like this...

So, that took up all my time last winter. It should be mobile under its own power this winter I HOPE!

The Leaf Spring bushings will be here tomorrow, and the new hubs will be here tomorrow as well. If I have Saturday off, I will be doing those items. Im going to attempt to get some paint on the axle this weekend as well.

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weareweird69 said:

Had some parts show up today.

Against my better judgement, I purchased Poly Leaf Spring bushings. Only because I couldn't justify 200 dollars for decent rubber ones since I don't know the condition of the Leaf Springs I am installing in the truck. After I get them in, and settled, that will tell me what I need to do. Be it, new springs, re-arch, or something else.

The Hubs on the 70 are junk. One decided to grenade itself internally, and I don't like the way the Warns look, premium ones, or standard, so that kept me from spending the 200+ on buying a set of those.

I had a friend that had a nice set of the 3 bolt Ford ones, just like whats on my 96 F350. I like them, they take a beating, and they turn easily. So I opted to go that route.

And, since the chrome caps are kinda beat up, I mean, they are from 1997....

I found TWO new ones on the old inter webs. Im glad I keep a list of 97 and older part numbers hanging around. One was a kit, with all the lock rings, and internal hub, and one was just a cap. The Cap will be here next week sometime. These will likely go on the shelf for now.

The steering is also complete, but I haven't picked it up yet. Hopefully I will have some more progress by next week.

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weareweird69 said:

It may, but Ive never been impressed with it, so I try to avoid it.

Anyway,

I got some paint on the axle yesterday, and started installing my "new" hubs.

I had a heck of a time getting the old snap ring out when I was disassembling the lock out hubs for the first time, and now I can't get the snap ring back in. In the new, or old hubs, with the new or old snap ring. Guess I need to make a phone call and see if I am supposed to use something special or different to hold these lock outs in. These all use the solid metal snap ring. I am curious if the newer style spiral snap ring would work better. I bent the one snap ring pretty bad trying to get it in. Feels like the hub is bottoming out somewhere, but I don't know where.

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weareweird69 said:

Well, the spiral retaining ring did the trick. I found a warn rebuild kit that I purchased well over 10 years ago for my F250. I used just the O-ring's out of it way back when. It still had the stub snap rings, and spiral retaining rings.

Still sucked to get them in, but they are in. I also got all of the steering installed, and the steering stabilizer as well.

Getting there, hopefully I can get the leaf springs cleaned up quickly, and get this turd under the truck.

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weareweird69 said:

Hopefully it ends up under the truck on Thursday...

Leaf Springs cleaned, painted, with new bushings installed. U-Bolt plates, cleaned, painted, new bump stops installed. New U-Bolts installed. Put a set of roller tires on it for now.

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weareweird69 said:

Yesterday was the day of the axle swap. Have some photos to share.

I also picked up an adjustable track bar for it, since the OEM one was pretty rough. Just waiting on the 9/16" Inserts so I can bolt it up.

Got the truck in the garage, and the axle out of the bed.

About an hour and half later, I had the old Monobeam out. Everything unbolted rather easily. Had to heat up one leaf spring nut to get it to break free. The Torque spec on the leaf springs is astronomical from my memory.

Removed the OE track bar bracket, and bump stops. Loosened up the power steering cooler, and cleaned the crossmember. I was in shock to see it this shiny under all the grime. I had to make templates, and trim the front of the crossmember, so I wanted to clean the grime off it so I didn't start any fires. Then I had to drill the holes for the track bar mount on the back of the crossmember.

A friend of mine stopped over and gave me a hand rolling the axle under the truck, and getting it lined up.

Also took the opportunity while I had all the free space to paint the froward part of the frame rails.

So, After about 8 hours of work. I wasn't rushing myself, did a lot of it by myself. Had to get lunch, pick up my wife, and make a parts run or two in there as well, it was sitting on its own weight again.

I made some measurements from the fender to the ground running through the axle centerline.

The before measurement was 37" on the passenger side, and 37.5" on the driver side.

The after measurement was 39.25" on the passenger side, and 40.5" on the driver side.

The springs have been unloaded for 2 years. So I am assuming they will settle down an inch after having weight on them.

The truck sits nicely though I think, its PRETTY close to level. If the springs settle like I am hoping, it'll sit perfect.

Next week is time to mess with transfer case install. And modify another crossmember.

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weareweird69 said:

Some more updates, and photos for whomever may still be interested.

Took some photos of it outside the other day.

Got some more stuff in the mail... NOS Ford shifter linkage.

Still had to go junkyard surfing and find the rest of the linkage, and mounting bolts. Nothing a sawzall couldn't find haha

I had to get this plate...

Off of the floor, which turned out to be glued on with some serious stuff. It took a while to get that off.

But, after that, I got the linkage all mounted up.

Then got the shifter boot, and lever installed.

Much better than the Quigley option, which was cut a random hole in the plate, and use their own lever and knob and boot on the floor. Looked like garbage in my opinion.

Also, I have some comparison photos of the OLD track bar, and the NEW fabricated one. I am still waiting on the bushings for the track bar to arrive so I can install it. The new one is adjustable.

In my experience, the replacement track bar bushings don't fit, and require modifications to fit the original track bar. PLUS, the original one looked pretty rough, so I was going to replace it anyway.

In other news, the driveshafts are at the driveline shop getting rebuilt, and sized accordingly for the rear. Hopefully those are done tomorrow. Wanting to have the 4x4 working 100% by the end of the week.

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weareweird69 said:

Got a late start, but I got the truck in, and got the crossmember heated up and flattened out where the tank would go if the tank used that crossmember. It needed to be flat so I could use the braces I fabricated. Instead of welding a piece of flat steel into the crossmember poorly.

Took a piece of square stock, and cut it to the appropriate lengths and bent it into shape.

Then, welded it all together so it was true. Drilled holes in the ends, and welded sleeves into it so I can bolt it to the crossmember.

After I bolt it in, I will cut out the section of crossmember that will need to be removed. And add any additional bracing that is needed. But I doubt it'll need anything.

This is how Quigley did theirs.

As you can see, it rotted, badly.... They cut the crossmember, and welded in the shaped piece of flat steel. It created a double wall, which rotted the crossmember badly. I feel that my square tube will be just as strong.

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weareweird69 said:

See, alcoa's lol I took them off since the truck was just sitting. No use having the wheels get weathered up and nasty looking. Ive got 10 steel wheels with tires on them that fit this truck, plus the 4 alcoa's with tires, plus 2 more alcoa's without tires.

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weareweird69 said:

LOL I am ALWAYS home

Got the crossmember braced, and cut. I ended up having to redo the one because it was too tall. The crossmember cut looks wavy, but thats because there are indents in the crossmember. The cut is straight, and I had to end up using a torch due to space not being available for the grinder.

Also got the track bar painted, and installed.

Don't mind the brake line, wasn't my doing.

After installing the track bar, I got the steering wheel all lined up because I had to pull the axle to the passenger side a little.

Tomorrow, I plan on installing the transfer case, and driveshafts. Then I get to modify and install the transfer case cross member.

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weareweird69 said:

Well, the truck is officially four wheel drive!

So, The pictures commence.

Started by taking off the parking brake, and removing the rear drive shaft, then installing the transfer case.

I then discovered, that for some reason, the output shaft of the transfer case was too long by almost an inch. The parking brake would NOT go on all the way because the shaft bottomed out inside the parking brake. I don't have the "original" transfer case that came with my converted truck because it was trash.... I tossed it.

While I pondered on that, I continued moving forward and installed the front driveshaft.

I went back to the parking brake and did some measuring and figured out that I could remove the inch off the output shaft and still have more than enough splines to engage in the parking brake.

Now that I had that figured out, I was able to slip the parking brake on totally.

I went ahead and installed the link bar, after painting it of course.

And also installed the short pigtail harness for the 4x4 indicator light that I picked up at the junkyard this morning.

Then it was onto the transfer case crossmember... Pretty simple, drilled three holes, and mounted it.

Then the rear driveshaft went on... Here are some other pictures.

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weareweird69 said:

CONTINUED:

Then the rear driveshaft went on... Here are some other pictures.

I moved it outside, and checked out the 4x4 indicator, and hey, it works!

On a side note, the lights I whipped up for the mirrors are stupid bright.

Well, thats all for today. But it was a lot. The driveshafts are all new, the rear one got a new tube, and the front one got a new piece of the double cardan. Both shafts received spicer u-joints, so they will last a long time for sure.

I just need to get the E-Brake cable routed, and the splash shields on the front axle for the brakes.

I also ordered a turbo rebuild kit, along with a WW2, and new intake plenum boots. Thats next on the list for the truck.

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weareweird69 said:

This cold weather is really messing me up right now.

Dump wasn't having it today, so for the next week, its going to be stupid cold. Im going to try and get some stuff done inside, that doesn't require the truck to be in the shop.

I pulled the 95 7.3 that I had sitting at my place out of its corner, and got it loaded up in the truck to take down and tear apart.

I will be robbing the injectors out of it for the dump, since the ones in it are of unknown miles, and bad condition. Then also tearing it down to a short block, checking it out, bagging it, and placing it in storage if its good. Then stocking all the parts on the shelf.

With only 100K on it, its had enough... Plow truck life...

On a side note, all the parts for the turbo rebuild should be here this week, so I can work on that too. I also need to get the F350 back in the shop for the steps to get put back on, and I need to re-gap the plugs, and check the exhaust for a leak. So, Ive got some stuff to keep me busy until this cold weather passes hopefully. If not, Ill be dragging out the battery charger, and block heater cord. lol

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weareweird69 said:

Parts showing up... Waiting on some other things to arrive, and then I have some other items that popped up today as well. Ill be busy lol

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weareweird69 said:

I am glad you like it! Thank you!

This is true, but you have to WANT it. Ive encountered many people who "want" but have no real "want" enough to try to learn how to do it.

On a side note, I got my new, yes new, emblems in the mail yesterday from Quigley.

Along with the Injector O-ring set.

And, my other turbo rebuild kit got here today as well.

I have a transmission to install tomorrow, and some other things to take care of, and I can start building on this turbo... Lots to do, little time to do it in.

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weareweird69 said:

So, I finally got to tear down the Turbo I had laying around. Only to find out it needed a new turbine wheel, which is only available with the shaft, and costs about $200.

I knew the compressor wheel was bad, so I had planned on replacing that anyway.

BUT, I am not spending 200 bucks on the shaft/turbine wheel, when I have three other turbos to tear into. So, after this cold weather goes away on Monday, I am going to take the engine I picked up this past summer for the 1996 Supercab Short bed Truck...

...and rob the turbo off of it. Since Ill be replacing it with a modified D66 anyway.

Since I put the Cowl hood on the dump, it hasn't had a prop rod to hold the hood up. Which can be a real pain to work with. The Fiberglass hood removes the original hood springs that the steel hood was held up by.

I ordered a gas strut setup for it. I wasn't about to try and hold up the hood with a 2x4 and work under it...

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weareweird69 said:

I got the engine for the 96 F250 moved down to the shop, which has the turbo for the dump ON it.

And got it on the harbor freight stand.

AND, now I am waiting for my impact swivel's to get here so I can remove the turbo.... ugh

But, since the turbo is coming off, I am going to put an E-Fuel setup on it. I picked this up from Irate Diesel. And I would HIGHLY suggest using their setup over any other one on the market.

I am still waiting for my hood struts, USPS decided to delay everything in Michigan for some reason.

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weareweird69 said:

The hood struts finally showed up...

The tools I need to remove the turbo have not...

Which angers me.

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weareweird69 said:

Guess patience pays off. The sockets showed up today. Hope they fit.

I also got the hood struts installed. Was slightly unnerving to drill holes in the fiberglass hood...

I don't know WHY I haven't installed those before. They are SO NICE TO USE. lol Im glad I got a set for the other truck too...

Now, to try and get the "spare" turbo off, and rebuild it, then install it on the dump, along with its fuel system.

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weareweird69 said:

Went to start the truck today, to finally put the brake splash shields on, and the starter was toast. Apparently, all the cranking on it the other day did it in. It was a parts store reman, who knows how old it was.

SO, I got to change the starter in the driveway.

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weareweird69 said:

I've been stretched thin lately....

But, still moving forward!

I fitted another set of Irate lines I purchased onto the long block at the garage.

They fit good, Im pleased. I wanted to fit them up out in the open so I could see what I needed to do under the hood when the time comes!

As you can see, the Turbo isn't on that motor any longer. I got it off, and tore it down.

Found out the compressor housing was trash, because there was water in the turbo. Not sure how, or why, but it was there, and also filled up #8 cylinder on that motor as well, so Its due for a Hone, and Re-Ring. But thats another story.

But, I rebuilt that Turbo, it was in good shape otherwise. Put a 360* kit in it, along with the Wicked Wheel 2.

Grabbed the compressor housing off the bad turbo from the last attempted rebuild and put it on this turbo.

And, its done.

I am going to be ordering a Deleted Pedestal, and High-Flow turbo outlet, and getting rid of the EBPV. It's leaking on the 3 pedestals I have, and it makes it a ROYAL pain to get the turbo off the truck, so I am just going to axe it totally. Also ordering up-pipes for it since I am this deep into the project, so I wont be having to worry about those anymore. 409 Stainless bellowed up-pipes are what are getting installed.

I still need to order Filter bases, and a few fittings for the fuel system. Ill be ditching the Fuel Bowl, and Factory Fuel Pump. Don't need that garbage.

Moving along, I finally installed the splash shields on the front axle that I have had sitting around for a few weeks.

But, I had to spend money I had budgeted for this truck, on the F350... The Hedman headers finally gave up the ghost, after a 3 year run. They are trash, rusted out. I wont EVER buy anything hedman again.

So, I ended up buying these...

Which has its own set of issues. Had to buy gaskets, an adapter flange for the rest of the exhaust, a new EGR tube, and EGR gasket, new header bolts. And I purchased a drilling guide JUST IN CASE I snap some bolts, which I have a feeling is likely.

So, Thats the project for the next week or two, as long as the weather holds off...

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weareweird69 said:

Ive had some expenses come up, causing me a delay in parts ordering. But I found this window felt rubber, commonly called an Anti-Rattler, for a good price and scooped it up.

Planning on ordering the deleted pedestal, and high flow outlet next week for the turbo, along with bellowed up pipes, and the rest of the fuel system.

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weareweird69 said:

Took the old girl down the road for some fuel... I REALLY need to get the turbo on, and the new injectors in... lol

Drove nice, little bouncier than before, but stopped good, and didn't wander at all. So I am pleased. I need to tidy up a few things, and get it aligned. But, Ive been remodeling the house, so funds for truck stuff has been moot. lol

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