Believe it or not most checks are very simple, but you'd be amazed at what a competent tech can do with even just a test lamp.

Some of it is a matter of fault isolation or dividing the problem into smaller and smaller bites by process of elimination. "Work smarter not harder."

 

Is this the coil pickup?

 

Isnt this where the voltage regulator goes? Where is it?

 

That is your distributer crank trigger.

Voltage regulator is on the radiator core support on the passenger side. Right next to where the radiator bolts down. But I doubt that is your issue.

 

So today after work, I pulled apart and cleaned every connection I thought might have something to do with the ignition. Started it, and it ran just fine, as usual. I had to run to the Home Depot so I took it. About a mile down the road I lost all power again. I hit the clutch so I wouldn't backfire off what's left of the muffler. I coasted to a stop to find it still running, barely. It was idling very rough and lopey. I tried to rev it up, but it had nothing to do with that. Yet it wouldn't die. This went on for a minute until I shut it off. I immediately started it back up, it ran just fine. Got me to HD and back with no problems.

....any further ideas? So I guess I start changing stuff out. Not sure where the coil pickup is. Coil? Ignition module?

Oh and.....I bought a multimeter. Just not sure what to do with it at this point. lol...

 

See if you can find a 197X Ford Truck Shop Manual for a start. Anything that age or a lot of miles is going to have plenty of catching up to do maintenance wise.

For a while it will seem like every single time ya fix one thing, something else will pop up. Eventually though it will be as reliable as anything. Very tough trucks.

Did you buy a DVM or a "voltmeter"? Here's a really good website that will walk you through using your new multimeter. This is the main link but there's good stuff on troubleshooting ignition and voltage drop testing and such.

http://www.aa1car.com/library.htm

 

Same thing happened to me on a 351. Tried pulling it to get it to clear up and that's when it sounded like a double barreled shotgun going off under each side floor boards. That was the front of the mufflers turning inside out. My problem was a dizzy gear spun. Every couple rotations it would line up just right and boom.