Thanks!

Yeah, you reminded me - that was another thing that they needed to fix - the lights and some other wiring.

The guy I bought the truck from had replaced all the marker lights (except the ones on the roof of the cab) and the brake lights with LEDs - which is great, since they're much brighter, use less power, and pretty much never burn out - but in doing so, he screwed up something and none of them worked right.

Also, the horn was utterly dead.

So they had to fix all that nonsense - they got all the lights working properly and installed a new horn with a button on the dash, to get it to pass inspection.

Someday I'll replace the cheap little basic car horn they stuck in there with something more truck-like.

I started the process of taking stuff off the top of the engine yesterday to replace the intake manifold gasket - the distributor is stuck. Can't get the sucker out of the block. That will be my first project this morning. And it also looks like the vacuum advance mechanism in the distributor is frozen, which likely explains at least part of the reason it doesn't idle well. I'm going to see if I can't get a new distributor - I figure I'll just keep replacing whatever I find that looks worn out or otherwise shot, and eventually all the kinks will be worked out.

As someone said above, what I'm doing is catching up with all the neglect done by others.

 

Yes indeedy, gotta catch up that neglect.

Read up on putting that distributor back in. Hasta be on the right tooth engagement.

Then, next, the carb will need rebuilding.

Just so you know, I blew up a 84 F-700 with a Detroit 8.2L diesel. Currently dismantling it for parts sale and scrap.

Best of luck...Jim

 

I'm in Yorktown, VA so not too far away...Jim

 

Yep. Been there, done that, on my 4-cylinder inboard boat engine, which I completely tore down, every nut, bolt and casting, and completely rebuilt. I should be ok, I think - I made a good note of where the rotor was pointing when I pulled it out.

Fortunately for me, the guy I bought the truck from (in December) had just put a brand new Holley 4-barrel on it. So the carb is squared away, pretty much. I might have to tweak the idle mixture screws a tad, as I tweaked them to counteract the manifold gasket leak. We'll find out when I put it all back together and get it fired up again.

 

Right. Where did you find a distributor for that old of a truck?

 

O'Reilly's auto parts.

An acquaintance recommended I go there instead of the Auto Zone, which is closer. He was right. I went to Auto Zone once to find something (can't remember exactly what), and they had no clue.

I've been to the O'Reilly's several times now, and they've managed to find everything I've asked them to find for this old truck so far, including alternator, lock cylinder, ignition switch, upper and lower radiator hoses, distributor - and even a radiator (which almost nobody else could find). Still waiting to hear what the price for the radiator will be - they found it, but had to send in a request for price.

Fortunately, it turns out that Ford used a lot of the same accessories (alternator, voltage regulator, distributor, etc.) on a lot of their trucks for that time period, including the F150. So the alternator is just the same, standard alternator used on the F150 and lots of other trucks. So not only are these parts actually available, they're not all that expensive. I paid $45 for the alternator and about $40 for the distributor.

 

Yeah, and a lot of the cab parts are the same as the 150s. LMC truck has a lot of parts for the cab under pickup truck headings but the years don't always match up to the 150, 250s. Dennis Carpenter has some cab parts also.

Mine is a '97 F-800 with a Cummins 5.9L (Ford 1060?). O'Reilly's didn't hardly have **** for it. Lot of my parts I hadda search the internet for. E-Bay had a good few.

This is my third Ford s/a dump truck. Had an F-600, F-700, and now F-800. Can feel the difference in the beefiness as I move up in size. This one's gvw is 34700.
I need a s/a to haul dirt outta peoples yards while digging mostly swimming pool holes. Lotta tight yards to get in and out of.

What are you gonna do with your truck after pouring untold hours and dollars into it?

 

Yeah, I'm trying to find new intake manifold bolts and coming up dry. I'm thinking I'm going to have to take one over to the local old-timey hardware store that has everything and just try to match them.

I own a junk removal business - people pay us to haul away whatever they want to get rid of.

It's a franchise, and the franchise agreement requires me to use new Isuzu trucks to do customer jobs with, which is fine - they're actually great little trucks. Here's my first truck, the day I took delivery of it 2 years ago:



I'm going to use the F700 as a trash and scrap hauling truck, and as backup for when the Isuzu is in the shop, or when we get an extra-large job or need heavy hauling. For the most part, we just use it to offload trash when the transfer station is closed and we need to empty the Isuzu to go do more jobs. Once the Ford is full, I can go dump it whenever I have the chance - that way I can keep the Isuzu empty and out running around doing more jobs.

I figured the Ford was a relatively inexpensive way to have a spare truck that could haul just as much (and in fact, more, in terms of weight) as the Isuzu, without having to spend as much as a new Isuzu costs (you don't want to know...).

 

Bill, I am going thru the same thing with the brakes on my 83' F-700, have been bleeding them over and over, we pulled the right rear wheels, and drum off, found new brake shoes, never-seize was used, where needed, and dry wheel cylinders, at this point did not pull drivers rear apart, looking thru the inspection plug on the backing plate, shoes look good, nothing leaking.
I replaced the Brake Booster, with a rebuilt one, come to find out the rebuilt booster was bad also, starting loosing(sucking) brake fluid into the Intake, causing the engine to skip, plugs fouled, have a third Booster arriving Monday, we pulled the bad booster off, installed a short piece of brake line (in place of the booster)to, connect up the brake lines to bleed the whole system, we seem to have the Brakes fairly well bled out today, we used a Craftsman Vacum pump for bleeding the Brakes, plus I was pumping up the pedal, to get as much flow as we could, but still seem spongy on first push of the Brake pedal, we did test the master cylinder, plugged it off, pedal hard as a rock, seemingly meaning the M/C is good, thought this type of system would be easier to maintain, so far it has been interesting . Any tips would be helpful,, and NO, Not bringing it to a shop to get a $$$$$$ bill.,,Mark

 

 

You are responding to a nearly 4 year old thread. Post #25 was typed 4/25/2014.

 

Sorry for the thread necro... but anyone have a part number for a proportioning valve?

 

For what year, make, model, brake system?

 

1980 F700 - Juice brakes.

 

Lucas Girling? Yellow parking brake **** on the dash, big cans with killer springs on the rear backing plates for the PB?