pre61-list-digest Friday, June 19 1998 Volume 02 : Number 173



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Ford Truck Enthusiasts - 1960 and Older trucks and vans
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In this issue:

FTE Pre61 - Steering Box Rebuild
FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 12:16:07 -0400
From: ynot80 juno.com (Tony S. Pinzino)
Subject: FTE Pre61 - Steering Box Rebuild

I have a 1955 F-100 with a steering box that is no good and needs to
rebuilt . What I want to know is how hard is to rebuild a steering box
and what is involved in doing this. Any help and information would be
appreciated .

Thank You ,
Tony
ynot80 juno.com

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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 03:45:51 -0400
From: Stephen Silverthorn
Subject: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some trouble
and I noticed that the insulation has rotted off most of the headlight and
parking light pigtails as well as the crossover wire. To buy these pieces
"made up" is going to cost me about $100. Is there any reason why I
wouldn't make these wiring harnesses up myself? I can get all the sockets
for the headlights and parking lights as well as the ends for all the wires
to plug into the harness under the hood. Let me know if there is something
special about this wiring I don't know about.

Thanks


Steve from Canada
Black 56 Ford, F-100
http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.classicar.com/clubs/socp/socp.htm
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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:36:49 -0600
From: "Joe Michels"
Subject: Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

Steve-- I just did mine-- I bought the prewired kit. I don't think that
there is anything special or magic about manufactured ones or homemade
ones. The key if they are homemade is to have big enuf wire to handle the
current, probably 12 ga wire. I have the Sacremento Vintage Ford catalog
in front of me and I find that you can buy the headlight sockets, wires and
crossover wires for about $40-- if you are interested, their number is
1-888- FORD-100. I did use the Sacremento Vintage Ford products with my 52
F1 and found the product superb. I did the complete wiring harness, cowl,
dash, tail lights and headlights-- thought that they had superior products,
however am sure that there are other fine products out there.

Joe

- ----------
> From: Stephen Silverthorn
> To: Majordomo ListService.net
> Subject: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring
> Date: Thursday, June 18, 1998 1:45 AM
>
> I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some
trouble
> and I noticed that the insulation has rotted off most of the headlight
and
> parking light pigtails as well as the crossover wire. To buy these
pieces
> "made up" is going to cost me about $100. Is there any reason why I
> wouldn't make these wiring harnesses up myself? I can get all the
sockets
> for the headlights and parking lights as well as the ends for all the
wires
> to plug into the harness under the hood. Let me know if there is
something
> special about this wiring I don't know about.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Steve from Canada
> Black 56 Ford, F-100
> http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.classicar.com/clubs/socp/socp.htm
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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:15:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott
Subject: Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

- ---Joe Michels wrote:
> > I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some
> trouble
> > and I noticed that the insulation has rotted off most of the
headlight
> and
> > parking light pigtails as well as the crossover wire.
There was a guy on the list here who has a wiring diagram on his page
on how to rewire your lights so they are brighter. I don't remember
the address but I remember his page. I think he was the guy who made
the 12-6v regulators and he also has this cool brewery on his page too
which is worth looking at. So if who ever could post the address that
might help.
Scott
==
1952 Ford Pickup now with Chromed bumper and grill!
Come take a look at my 1952 Ford Pickup Page:
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DO YOU YAHOO!?

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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:39:49 -0700
From: sdelanty sonic.net
Subject: Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

At 03:45 AM 6/18/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some trouble
>and I noticed that the insulation has rotted off most of the headlight and
>parking light pigtails as well as the crossover wire. To buy these pieces
>"made up" is going to cost me about $100. Is there any reason why I
>wouldn't make these wiring harnesses up myself? I can get all the sockets
>for the headlights and parking lights as well as the ends for all the wires
>to plug into the harness under the hood. Let me know if there is something
>special about this wiring I don't know about.

There's nothing special about the circuit or it's wiring. I'd do it
myself and save about $85 over buying a harness...
I dunno about 56, but the 60's/70's trucks use wire that is way to small
and it snakes a very long distance up to the headlight switch, down to the
dimmer switch and back out to the lights. There is a considerable voltage
drop across all that wire and the switches themselves, so by the time the
current gets to the lights You've only got about 10-11 volts instead of the
full 13-14 one might expect with the motor running. Even a small voltage
loss makes the lights quite noticably dimmer so You want to do all You can
to keep the voltage drop to a minimum. Use at least 12 gauge wire will help
quite a bit. The best (altho not easiest) option is to use 2 relays to operate
the lights and mount them so that You can keep the total wire run from the
battery to the headlights as short as possible. I've done a relay conversion
on my '71 F100 and on 2 other old Fords and it made an *immense* difference in
headlight brightness. A couple people on the 61-79 list did it and reported
a great increase in brightness also.
You can find an article on how to do the relay conversion at:

http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.dragonfire.net/~site/relay/?892435835

Steve
Homepage: http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.sonic.net/~sdelanty/

Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation
leans on the doorbell.

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Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:54:04 -0700
From: sdelanty sonic.net
Subject: Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

>> > I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some
>> trouble

>There was a guy on the list here who has a wiring diagram on his page
>on how to rewire your lights so they are brighter. I don't remember
>the address but I remember his page. I think he was the guy who made
>the 12-6v regulators and he also has this cool brewery on his page too
>which is worth looking at. So if who ever could post the address that
>might help.
>Scott

Thanks Scott, that must be me... (-:
The "whiter whites, brighter brights" article is hosted on someone elses
page since I didn't have a page up yet when the article was written...
You can find a link to it (and the brewery stuff) on my home page (see .sig)
or go to the relay article directly at:
http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.dragonfire.net/~site/relay/?892435835
Or goto the FTE home page and look thru the tech articles...
The relay conversion really does make a *big* difference!

Steve
Homepage: http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://www.sonic.net/~sdelanty/

Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation
leans on the doorbell.

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Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 01:00:06 -0500
From: Ray Cardogno
Subject: Re: FTE Pre61 - Headlight Wiring

>I need an opinion. My headlights on my 56 have been giving me some trouble
>and I noticed that the insulation has rotted off most of the headlight and
>parking light pigtails as well as the crossover wire. To buy these pieces
>"made up" is going to cost me about $100. Is there any reason why I
>wouldn't make these wiring harnesses up myself? I can get all the sockets
>for the headlights and parking lights as well as the ends for all the wires
>to plug into the harness under the hood. Let me know if there is something
>special about this wiring I don't know about.
>
>Thanks
>

I totally agree with you, if it's not a resto.

Last fall I bought the headlight sockets with leads at my local parts store
as well as the spring-loaded socket guts for the tail lights. For the
parking lights, I bought those light sockets that pop into a hole about the
size of a half dollar with the little metal spring tabs all around. I bent
the tabs and pushed the new socket in place of the old ones (they were too
corroded) and lightly TIG welded 3 of the tabs for attaching and grounding
it to the old socket bases. I re-painted the bases and bezels and bought
new lenses and gaskets. Like brand new for about 1/4 the cost as long as
you don't mind tinkering. This is sub-standard and I only do this on driver
type trucks. I wouldn't dream of it on my panel.


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