then, i let my OCD get the better of me, been chasing wiring gremlins for a long time and for the most part nothing worked anyway. the alternator was pretty weak so that was the first thing to go, and the old heater box was a monstrosity and didn't work either. that opened up a bunch of room under the dash and in the engine bay.


new, 130A "1-wire" on the left, old one on the right with the associated rats nest that went with it.

after a bunch of thinning out and looming, the body harness ended up looking like this:







somehow, I ended up with more working systems than before, yet i gutted at least half the old harness. There was also some really ghetto 1970's stuff going on, and no fuse on the power feed to the cab, just a "fusible link" and flammable tape everywhere.

I also bit the bullet and bought a new billet distributor, has a built in ignition module with multispark discharge, 1 wire hookup and adjustable rev limiter, looking forward to tuning with this thing.



Then i built a console so I could enjoy cup holders and installed the Alpine deck Andrew hooked me up with, the dash speakers were ones that i pulled from the Mini Cooper, the door speakers are 6x8 2 way's in a sealed waterproof box that came out of Cheryls car

 

Mirrors are real sharp looking for that style myself, front grill and head, foglites really smarten up the front end. Looks like you flipped your bottom leaf, the wrap spring is an idea that I think I'm going to borrow. Just need to see if it configures on my dually.

 

the mirrors are the **** Jr's, Summit sells them for $20/ea. truck came with none, and that was the cheapest option. a year old and they have as much rust as the rest of the truck too lol.

most toyotas have an overload setup like this. it doesn't do much like this, mainly just acts as a block for a little extra heigh off the pad. the wrap leaf does wonders, thats something you will see in $1000 leaf springs, it usually has a military style eye around the main leaf as well. i'm eventually going to add some air bags for more weight capacity, but haven't had to haul anything more than a couple thousand pounds lately and this truck handles that juuuuuust fine.

 

Air bags are going to be pretty much a nessecity for me as the 350 is soley for the purpose of pulling a 5th wheel RV. Unfortunately when you uncouple these dedicated 5th wheel pullers they have a tendancy to have no real rear axle traction, it's a lot like running bobtail in a semi. Right now the option is a set of floating ladder bars, which means more mechanical structure between a pair of crowded frame rails. Those mirrors or something similar were a factory option and I really like that set of ribs that they have. Maybe I'm thinking of an older generation of mirror, it's a steel set that I'm looking for so that way I can paint them. Guess it's google time for them. Wish I had your wiring abilities, failed electronics big time due to partial color blindness.

 

This is a Super Awesome Build, lol see what I did there, anyways subscribed- great job thus far

 

thanks for the complements, its been fun so far. been a great project to jump into head first and just replace everything knowing that hardly anything could go wrong/worse than what it already is.

 

more boring updates...been busy trying to get this thing setup for some light duty camping and general purpose truck-ness. got a universal rubber bed liner and cut it up to fit the goofy shape of the 140" wheelbase bed:


I found an expensive shell, then a not so expensive one and put the money saved towards a nice tool chest for the bed. my buddy has been bugging me about all the stuff i kept behind the front seat for ever...


removing the tweaker tint from the shell:

needs a wash, wax and paint in the near future, but not bad for $70 plus a few bucks for nuts, bolts and new weatherstripping.


added a nut-chiller from a non-AC truck


remounted the extinguisher where it won't rattle and bump your knees


and since its a ford, and apparently not a matter of "if" but "when" i'll be stranded on the side of the road in the dark, i added one of those really handy GM retractable flashlights.

 

Ingenuity and elbow grease pays better dividends sometimes than $$ up front. truck box looks a lot better and is a lot more useable now, I'm guessing. Keep it up

 

I added a pre-pump fuel filter, seemed like a good idea. I'll eventually use an old mud flap or something to protect the hoses from snagging on brush.


I also found some factory Saginaw brackets and upgraded my super sad and tired pump. I also made my very first AN line, and it didn't pop so that's a good thing.



I also decided I had waay too many lines running every where for the old steering cooler setup, and didn't like it being up front and exposed to damage so I mounted it in the engine bay. There was actually a hole in the core support too, so it will get decent air flow when moving.

 

amazing truck! looks good! gotta remember that speaker trick for when i get my truck going and get a radio that actually works all the time instead of when it wants to lol!

 

dang nice truck you got there ! not to be a weasel but you ever decide to get rid of your stock steel wheels, i am looking for a set of those for my F-250 build...

 

minor update.
pulled the rear drums off, for what looks to be the first time in at least this decade...


cylinders were leaking, looks like the hub seals had a minor leak too, and the e-brakes would frequently stick on and drag. I always tell myself "I hate drums, you should do discs" but can't seem to give up the emergency brake, and considering I rebuild EVERYthing in the rear drums for ~$80, can't really complain.



i'm pretty stoked on this little piece. There was a hole in the kick on the passenger, which is where the AC box drew its air from (and a great place for rats to nest, leaves to fall and rust out the cab etc). I picked up a second vent unit (my truck had AC originally, and a block off plate on the left) enlarged the hole a tad and got the unit to fit on the right side. One of my favorite things about old iron...flip the vent windows towards you and open up the nut chillers...who needs AC!

 

more progress on the cheap truck...got a little longer set of shocks for the rear, some new shackles and hangers, and cleaned up a bunch of rust and grime that had accumulated back there over the years.


gained about 1" of wheel travel by flipping the shackle and running a longer fully boxed race shackle. The hangers are a Dorman replacement hanger for an 80s F150, the shackles are a universal/older F150 Synergy Race shackle (soon to be disco'd, get them while they're hot!). The longer shocks let me drop the mount down off the axle for a ~15* degree improvement in shock angle and I was also able to move the rod about 1.5" closer to the wheel. All these little things add up to big improvements in shock performance too....ideal shock placement is always straight up and down at the wheel...anything else is just balancing the compromises of "how much crap do you want to cut out of the way and how much intrusion do you want into the vehicle". Ride height, to me, looks largely unchanged...Maybe 1-1.5" taller in the back.

I also painted my trailer hitch and put it back on, just need to run some wires and I'm ready to plug in a trailer and do some real hauling. First project will be to see how much of my present yard can fit into the bed and a small utility trailer when we redo our landscaping to change to something a little more "earth and water friendly".


I personally don't like the complexity of air bags, and adding in over loads to the spring pack doesn't always have the best riding benefits, so I settled on trying out some of the famous TIMBREN AEON rubber springs. from what I gather, it is basically a bumpstop from a dump truck, but they are rated to add 3000 lbs of capacity. From my preliminary speed bump test last night, they are very stiff and should fit the bill perfectly. I'm going to swap some shorter, softer bumps in for most of the time, but nice to know that these can be swapped out in 2 beers time with a floor jack and socket wrench. All my fasteners are either 1/2", 7/16" or 5/8" in back now too, so 3 wrench/socket combos covers EVERY single important bolt behind the cab.

gratuitous driveway shot

 

LOVE the truck! It's a lot of the direction I'm going but with half the cab.

I'm also very jealous of the used parts you guys score down there, trying to get any "pre-runner" style part in western Washington is near impossible. What did you do with the shocks you took off?

What brand is that clear cover fuse box you used?

If you're not going to use the drivers side battery box for it's intended purpose why not get rid of it? Guys are always looking for those and up here a rust free one is unheard of.

 

the fuse block is from K-Four, the company I work for is a dealer, so I got most of my wire and some of the miscellaneous parts for the re-wire from them. Good people, neat little small business, and they make triple sealed toggle switches that are TOP notch.

K4 | Quality Switchesfuse block--19-134 Details

The old shocks are for sale, putting them up on Craigslist this week.