Will after reading the above post I will ask a dum question
About how much does a F4 weight I know differant equipment but just ballpart idea
Thanks

 

The only other bit of advice I can offer is to be careful about the new rear bushing. Test the fit of your old one and new bushings before trying to pull the old one out of the rear cover. I bought a bag of 5 a while back. Test fitting the bushings on armatures I found the new bushings were sloppier than some of the old ones I had (between Dad and myself we have about 20 parts generators).

One last thing, the rear covers originally were painted black like the rest of the generator. Most people (including me before I learned Ford painted them) clean up the aluminum and don't paint it.

 

Joe, if/when you tackle the rear springs I would seriously consider removing the over loads and some leaves from the main springs. It will ride better and reduce a bunch of weight.
Looking forward to your generator rebuild and the pics!

 

Curb weight on an F4 is about 5,200 pounds.

 

Thanks for that. I will check the bushing fit before I replace it. If it's not sloppy, I'll leave it alone. I notice the Shop Manual says if the bushing is sloppy to replace the whole rear cover.

After I clean it up, I may leave the rear cover unpainted if it looks good. I did that with the starter and I like the way it looks. I'm not entering this truck in any competitions...

 

I don't think the overloads have been used since I got the truck, but they would be easy enough to remove (famous last words).

I've read on here about removing leaves. I don't want to lower the truck any, and I wonder if just performing maintenance on the springs would help soften the ride a little. Something about making sure they're not painted and interleaving with strips of mylar or something so the leaves slide instead of sticking to each other. Right now it feels like there's no give at all, and that may be perfectly normal. The suspension movement is the rubber in the tires!

 

One way to maintain your ride height with less leaves is to have the springs re-arched. Even simpler would be to use lift blocks between the spring and axle like 4x4's use. I re-arched my COE springs to get the ride height I wanted.....only 5 leaves now.
All this assumes you won't be hauling heavy loads...

 

Maybe a few bales of hay for seats and a handful of riders in the future parades.

 

But, Joe, those overload springs and dual rear wheels are what make Betsy a real truck................................................ .Did I say that :-

 

Hey Joe,
Here's a guy on ebay selling a NOS generator endplate with brushes. I'm not saying this is for your application, but just thought it was interesting to see how that was serviced by Ford back in the day, and thought I'd share.

OEM FORD NOS GALAXIE FAIRLANE MERCURY GENERATOR BRUSH END PLATE # B9A10050-A

 

Yeah, I'm not home right now (Sea-Tac) to read the book, but I know it says if the bushing is too sloppy, replace the end plate assembly with the bushing and brushes.

I've already been warned to check the "new" bushings for proper fit before removing the old one.

 

Of course I mentioned it several times, but as I was driving Betsy downtown this afternoon, after hitting one of the 48 million bumps in our city streets I heard a loud noise. Actually, I thought the floor jack must have broken loose and hit the uncovered steel floor in the cab. Yes, it was that loud. But it wasn't the jack.

As I was returning home, another normal road divot resulted in another scary noise. I thought I must have broken something in the suspension. Keep in mind, I rarely drive over 35 mph, and today was only going about 30.

I pulled over and checked all the suspension... nothing noticeably out of place.

Then I saw it. The allthread I used instead of u-bolts the hold the bed onto the frame must have been stretching over time (spelled bounces) because there were gaps on both sides. I used Nylocks on every bolt, so I know they weren't loosening. I didn't have any tools with me ( ) so I drove home at under 20 mph with the flashers on the entire way.

I re-tightened all the bolts in the bed. Yes, they were all loose. I'm lucky the bed didn't come off (not really possible). I have four large straps on the corners holding the bed on in addition to the home made u-bolts. So the rear, which was loose, allowed the back of the bed to bounce when I hit a bump.

I will have to revisit my flatbed mount scheme.

 

All-thread is made from ungraded steel, very low strength unless you buy special stuff at a pipe hanger supply house ($$$$). A trip to the spring shop should set you up with some strong custom-bent U-bolts at a reasonable price.

 

No load on the bed, I would suspect the wood drying out as opposed to bolt stretch. I am using much the same set up and have had to draw down on my bolts a bit. The stringers I used had been cut and in the dry for about six months prior to installation on Blue. Note to self: Check bolts again tomorrow.

 

Yeah, my son suggested a place near where he works for the custom u-bolts. I think it's time I check that out.

Hmmm. Hadn't even considered wood shrinkage, but the wood I used was never dried to my knowledge, so that makes more sense than just the extreme bouncing. I got it from a local lumber yard. The bouncing made the problem noticeable. But all the Nylocks were loose! That really surprised me. So I bet the wood did shrink.

And it's a good thing I checked everything too, because the right brake light bracket was also bent and weakened from the bouncing. The left is already reinforced to hold the license plate. Now the right is also reinforced.