Beast - Misc small repairs

[Mopar1973Man]

So you all seen my post about being pulled over twice for a failed driver-side tail light? I pulled the entire pigtail out and the bulbs and found a single wire that folded over and broke the wire but the jacket was undamaged. As I gave a small tug on the wire it separated completely. Sadly the wire itself was oxidized pretty badly. The break was within about 1/2 to 5/8 from the plug. I attempted to solder it back together and shrink tube the repair but the wire just refused to accept solder from being oxidized so badly. I opted to use a standard butt splice and seal the ends the best I could and then taped the repair over. 

 

Then finally I was cleaning out the cab and found the door cam spring in my driver-side door pocket. I went to work to pry that spring back into position in the door. Sadly this is just a band-aid repair for now but I'm going to need to replace both door hinges soon being the pin bushing is shot for the most part. 

 

Being the weather here was warm today I started doing my hinge lubing practice. I grabbed my small oil can and filled it with some 30-weight engine oil and hit all the door hinges, and door latches then moved to the hood and did the pivots on the hinges and the hood latch. Now everything shuts nice and smooth once again and doesn't require much to get a full latch on the doors. While I had the hood open I shot the battery terminals with engine oil as well. 

 

On my trip back from Boise I had a popping noise start as @Honey Badger and I left. I shoved the truck into the shop and got Mark to help out and hunt down the popping noise which we thought was the steering box. I quickly pulled the steering box and open it up and didn't find any problems. Quickly reassembled and started rocking the wheel without the engine and popping started again. Come to find out the track bar on the ball stud was moving again. When I tighten it last I tighten as far as I could and ended up passing the hole for the cotter pin so a barely backed it off to hit the hole but that was the wrong move. I ended up laying a washer down to offset the pinhole on the castle nut. Torqued the heck out of that nut with a 1/2 breaker bar and was really close and struggled to just get a bit more out to line up. Nevertheless, I nailed it. The popping noise was fixed. 

 

Yeah, I didn't do much for the website for the weekend. But I did get repairs done on Beast to keep it going legally on the highways and fix issues before they become big issues. 

[Max Tune]

Our truck are kinda like us. The older they get, the more little issues cause problems. Only positive in the truck aging scenario is we can do our own repairs.  I try to tell the youth around me, there is nothing better than knowing how to use a wrench. If you can do that, someone can tell you what you need to do. Very seldom do I let someone repair anything.........(thanks dad)

[IBMobile]

50 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

I opted to use a standard butt splice and seal the ends the best I could and then taped the repair over. 

Next time I'm in a pic a part yard I'll try to acquire a used right rear tail lamp assembly wiring harness for you.

[Mopar1973Man]

That would be stellar. Let me know what I owe you?

[VMac822]

It's a labor of love keeping these older trucks going on the road.  When I'm tempted to complain about the long list of maintenance and fixit items I remind myself I'm grateful for a truck that's paid for, I can work on myself, and isn't laden with emissions control equipment. And to top it off, take all the road trips you want because racking up the miles has nil effect depreciation.

 

 

[Mopar1973Man]

Absolutely... 

[JAG1]

On 3/19/2023 at 5:49 PM, Max Tune said:

Our truck are kinda like us. The older they get, the more little issues cause problems. Only positive in the truck aging scenario is we can do our own repairs.  I try to tell the youth around me, there is nothing better than knowing how to use a wrench. If you can do that, someone can tell you what you need to do. Very seldom do I let someone repair anything.........(thanks dad)

Try a new truck... in 5 years you may have a rolling nightmare. Ford is even setting up the ability to shut your truck down if you stop making the payments.

[Tractorman]

1 hour ago, JAG1 said:

Ford is even setting up the ability to shut your truck down if you stop making the payments.

 

They must be making better trucks now, 'cause before they just shut down by themselves, even if you made payments.

 

- John

[Mopar1973Man]

You know my acronym for F O R D? For Only Retarded Drivers. If you are dumb enough to buy a Ford you deserve either case...

 

1 hour ago, JAG1 said:

Ford is even setting up the ability to shut your truck down if you stop making the payments.

 

5 minutes ago, Tractorman said:

They must be making better trucks now, 'cause before they just shut down by themselves, even if you made payments.

 

 

[IBMobile]

I have the left rear tail lamp assembly wire harness for your truck.  You can get it at the Mopar1973Man get together this May.   See @JAG1for details.

Edited March 28, 2023 by IBMobile

[IBMobile]

@Mopar1973Man  The left tail lamp wire harness is in the mail.  You should get it on Monday 4/17.

[Mopar1973Man]

Thank you sir. Can I send you a few bucks?

[Threadzy]

I’ve got to take my trailer plug loom apart. When I turn the running lights on the trailer breaks engage.  

[Mopar1973Man]

14 minutes ago, Threadzy said:

I’ve got to take my trailer plug loom apart. When I turn the running lights on the trailer breaks engage.  

Not good. Something is shorted between the blue trailer brake wire and the running lights. Are you using the factory trailer brake connector under the dash?

[Threadzy]

Yes I have a plug adapter that connects my break controller to under the dash to the factory plug. 

[Mopar1973Man]

So now you got to open the rear wiring plug under the driverside fender skirt and ohm from pin to pin to verify if the wiring is the rear or between the dash and this plug. I'm trying to think of ways to isolate where the short is. It would suck to have to rip off the bed and pull the entire wiring apart to find this short. 

[IBMobile]

11 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Can I send you a few bucks?

NO, look at it as a donation to the site.

 

2 hours ago, Threadzy said:

When I turn the running lights on the trailer breaks engage.  

Unplug the connector for the bed wire harness between the cab and bed, like Mike suggested, then test at the end where the trailer plugs into the bed by the license plate. 

 The problem could also be in your trailer wiring.

 

 

[Doubletrouble]

 You can buy a tester for a 7 pin/blade plug on the truck. That would tell you instantly if the short is in the truck wiring. 

 In my experience the issue is usually the trailer wiring. 

[Threadzy]

I started taking the rear loom apart. I decided to stop. I went up to the plug under the drivers fender. Tested there. Nothing seemed out of sorts. Took the plug adapter off my trailer brake controller. With the trailer plugged in and the trailer lights on I got 7.5 volts. Applied the brake 12.3 bolts. Key on truck off. Scratched my head. Unplugged the trailer. Only had 12.3 when applying the break. No voltage with the lights on. Hmmm. Truck must’ve fine. Decided to buy a new trailer plug. Still had power to breaks when the headlights came on. Sooo I started looking at new trailers. 😍. The wife shot that down. So back to diagnosing. Decided to disconnect the green trailer light wire from the trailer . Everything worked like it should. Then I decided to just tie in the trailer marker lights. Everything worked as it should. Tied in the tail light’s problem popped up again. Thought there must be a short in the trailer somewhere. I remembered back in November I put some cheap  , in Presidents Trumps voice  , made in “China “ LED bulbs in. Took them out and put the stock bulbs back in and believe it on not everything 

Is working properly now. Because of those cheap *** bulbs I had to replace all the brakes on the trailer. and  Rewired the trailer breaks. So be careful where you buy parts from. Been trying to figure this out for months. After I replaced the breaks last month everything was good. Heading back up to Roseville halfway there I turned the headlights on and oh crap. Finally just cut the blue wire to get there. For the trip home I wired it back up and left early enough where I wouldn’t need lights. Glad I finally figured it out.