That is happening Tom, I just haven't said what other project I have going...first of all, I'm building a new shop and a log home that I have the shell built to the top plates, it needs to be moved to my property, about 3.5 hours from where I built it.

I have a 1946 Chevy 3100 pickup, it is what I want to drive in my retirement. But I need the flatbed to get machines and equipment to the property. This project involves replacing the 3 speed transmission with a 5-speed T5 (World Class) with adapters to bolt to bell housing. I'm ripping out the rear end and drive shaft as it is a torque tube, which in theory is better, but it doesn't work with anything, like a T5, for instance. I'm rebuilding the rear end with everything new, which is from a '55 Chevy pickup. The drive shart is an open driveshaft that I will need to cut/weld to correct length. The truck has a newer 235 (inline 6, from '54-62). The rear axle is getting a 3.38:1 ring/pinion swap. This has been planned out so that the truck will do about 75 mph easy on the highway.

My daily driver is a 2.4L 4cyl 1st Gen Tacoma, it gets about 25 mpg. I've done my first body work on this truck, I rear ended a lady and cracked the front end up pretty bad on the drivers side. I was able to buy a new fender and get it back together. The '46 will keep the patina, it's only going to get boiled linseed oil applied to it. The paint is brushed on Rustoleum. Compared to the 8 mpg the flatbed gets, I can do 3 trips for the cost of one in the flatbed. I can only haul 1000 lbs. in the Tacoma though, and same with the '46 Chevy. I'm ok with that much for most of what I do. After I get all my machines moved, I would prefer an F-250 4WD or a Toyota 4WD. I really would like to get a 7.3L Powerstroke, but people want a lot of money for them. I have a couple things to do still, so not sure I can take a load tomorrow, I may have to wait until next weekend. Thanks for your help Tom.

This is where everything is going. I will die at this property most likely. Check out that rotary parts washer! I bought it at auction for $200, it's a $34,000 machine. I have always wanted to be able to clean old car parts. I need to get the 3 phase going so I can use it. It will hold 1500 lbs inside the rotary carousel. All self contained with heater and skimmer to remove oil and burn it.


And this is what I will drive:

 

Real glad you got it back together and working
The third time is a charm, and I can attest to that
Made so many mistakes over the years
Still find myself learning
It is never over in this business

 

Anywhere those door switches can ground out will turn on that dome light
Make sure it is just not the rheostat before tearing the door jam switches out

 

Where is the rheostat located at?

 

Alan,

not sure if you were being facetious or wanted an answer, if you wanted an answer here it is:
it looks like a solenoid as technically they are both solenoids. one is a magnetic relay solenoid, the other is a magnetic solenoid that moves mechanically, so both have a coil system with a metal center piece that moves when you apply power. one is designed specifically to move an object only, the other to close a set of contacts (relay)

cheers
Ken

 

It's part of the headlight switch
It's the rotating **** that keeps your dome light on, if you turn it all the way

 

Ken,

I was being a bit facetious, I will admit, as they do both look like solenoids. I have the fender relay/solenoid (whatever you want to call it) as I ordered it. I had ordered a rebuilt starter, but the tjc/manic/auora helped me figure out, it wasn't the starter, it was the ignition module. And the one thing I learned out of all of this is that you can adjust the pointer for the transmission with the small plastic nut, which mine is missing, but I can just tape it or secure it some other way.

I 'spose the $64k question here is why Ford did that and/or who started all of this? There are many vehicles that do the same thing, using a relay and a solenoid on the starter. There are a lot of points of failure in this system, IMO, and my '46 Chevy pickup has about a dozen wires total with a starter on the floor to step on. Take me back to those simpler times...but to haul my machines I need something like this more modern flatbed.

Ah, I'm a dolt, so it might actually be working as it should be. I think you could be spot on, I could have turned it accidentally. If you hit this problem also, you and Tom become my main helpers.
I'll keep you posted after I get to the yard today. That would be so sweet.

 

Ok, so here's the deal...although I'm an engineer, I'm not an electrical engineer, in fact, I've always steered away from electrical,
but don't mind 12v and it would be hard to kill myself. This is to say, I wasn't really sure what a rheostat was...

So, I think I understand it now, and you were spot on, it was turned all the way to the left in the "clicked" position to keep the cab
light on. If you think about it, why would you tie the cab light in with the headlights and/or dash? I 'spose in the sense that the cab
and dash light up the interior...the other thing is there is no way to determine where it is set as the **** is the same 360 degrees
around it...I digress...

I am super happy to get everything working, I took a couple boxes down and strapped them on the flatbed with a tarp over them.

I need to jury rig that shifter cable, where the plastic nut is which I've lost. Unfortunately it wasn't in my floor of shame...

To be fair to myself, I got replacement short pieces that go on each side of the steering panel, and I think I can use some of these
small metal tabs that broke to reassemble the long piece (it was already broken, I just removed it so it didn't make noise). There's
a few tabs and such in the floor of shame...

I can't thank all of you enough, I know this thread/saga went on for quite a bit, but I'm happy to get it fixed. It did give me a good
lesson in steering/ignition/interior-assembly-disassembly, however.

Alan

 

That "floor of shame" ain't bad at all.
remember, if you don't have extra pieces when the job is done, you did not do it rite!!

 

Looks like a nice vise
On to your next project

 

Ok, you guys can probably relate to this well...the interior is falling apart, when you try to take stuff apart it breaks tabs and/or plastic,
so you ponder..."self, what if I replace it?". Then you look at used truck prices and people are asking $20k-$25k for anything decent. And
then realize that a new truck to replace it is like $80k. To be honest, I'm not wanting to spend even $25k on a vehicle. I bought a new
Toyota Previa in '92, it costs $28k fully loaded. It was the last new vehicle I ever bought.

I will be building a similar bench to what I have now, except it will be 2'-4' longer. This was the old bench. The new bench will get a patternmaker's vise
in the same spot, only the twin-screw will be replaced with a twin-turbo which is similar but much better in regard to workholding.

 

[QUOTE=97SuperDuty;21239298]Ok, you guys can probably relate to this well...the interior is falling apart, when you try to take stuff apart it breaks tabs and/or plastic,
so you ponder..."self, what if I replace it?". Then you look at used truck prices and people are asking $20k-$25k for anything decent. And
then realize that a new truck to replace it is like $80k. To be honest, I'm not wanting to spend even $25k on a vehicle. I bought a new
Toyota Previa in '92, it costs $28k fully loaded. It was the last new vehicle I ever bought.
QUOTE]

I have never owned a brand new car, The newest car I ever bought was five years old at the time. I have the ability (maybe luck?) to be in the right time with cash available to buy good low mileage cars whenever I need them. Generally i always buy 8-10 year old low mileage vehicles. I just have a knack for finding them at good prices.

I cannot in my mind justify the cost and the immediate devaluation of a new car. does not mean i ride junkers as we do not, but new is such a waste of money, at least in my eyes.

 

first new car i bought was an 86 F250, piece of trash.engine had meltdown at 18,000 miles. paid $9,000 for it.
rolled into a ford dealer and they gave me $11,000 trade in on the 88 diesel F-SuperDuty diesel. they bought 5 of them in Virginia, mine was the only one that made it back to Jersey, as they were selling on the ride home. so i did not get a deal on it. paid $19 for the 88. still have it though. it was on the lot a whole 5 minutes when i rolled in and bought it.
the 88 was also my last new purchase. all others were low mile used cars that like Ken, is was in the rite place at the rite time.

 

Tom,

Still, back in '88 prices were still not too bad. I bought an '87 Honda hatchback new when I moved back from Japan the same year. I only paid about $8k for it. Prior to that, I had a beat up Pinto station wagon.

Fast-forward to '92, I bought the Previa after my son was born in '91. Prices were rising, but not what they are now. Seriously, go look at a Ford Probe, that's going to be $30k easy. New trucks for $65k-$80k...WTF happened? People paying $1,000/mo for their car payment! Extending the payments out for 7 years...soon the vehicles won't last for the loan term...I'd love to have a diesel for towing, but I can't bring myself to pay what they're asking for, even the used ones.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine who lives in Hawaii was telling me, the Government is shipping illegal immigrants to Hawaii to try and fix the problem of so many people leaving. But they're not giving them housing, my friend said they just dump them under the bridges and they become homeless people. Our country is falling apart as we type. I have my '97 flatbed back in action, and hope to finish my house, so I can retire. I may or may not make it out alive...but even so I'll die trying if that's what I have to do...now if I can just make some money so I can afford to drive the flatbed 400 miles round trip. That's about 90 gallons of gas at $6/gallon in California. That's over $300 to haul a load up there.

 

Prices are all relative to wages.

Back in 92, I purchased a house for $162k. I made $50k a year. Now, it's worth $800k, but people here are making $250k. It's all relative.

In 1980, Gas was about $1 a gallon. I made $3 an hour back then. Right now, Washington State is tied with California on who is the biggest idiot running the state. Regular gas is about $5-$5.50 a gallon. Minimum wage is at least $20 an hour. It's cheaper now than in 1980.