Hey there,
This is my first post, so sorry if I breach the forum etiquette anywhere, just looking for some help. I recently bought a 1984 ford f150 4x4 with a 4speed straight drive tranny. I have 3 questions that I will ask first so anyone reading can decide to keep going or not, and explain them more below.

3 questions:
1) Where is my reverse light switch?
2) How would I manually wire a toggle switch in my dash for reverse lights?
3) How does my ebrake setup get put together?


It has been pretty clear to me that whoever owned this truck last didnt love it, and I have replaced a lot of the interior and some stuff on the engine like belts, hoses, plugs, distributor cap and rotor, water pump and thermostat, lots of fluids, carb work, etc. The usual maintenance stuff that clearly just wasnt done for this poor truck. Im on the last leg of repairs I believe, and only have two things left. I need to fix my reverse lights, and get my E brake working again.

Reverse lights:
I was hoping the problem was just burned bulbs. When I pulled them they looked good, but I put new ones in anyway and it didnt help. This makes me think my problem is with the reverse light switch. The problem with that is I have no idea where the reverse light switch is in this thing. So, my first question is where that would be and how to go about fixing it. I dont know for sure, but I believe its going to be cheaper to wire a switch to the dash to manually turn them on and off. I am totally fine with doing this, but also dont know how to go about doing it. So, the second question is how would I go about wiring this up? Does anyone have a diagram of any of this?

E brake:
The second problem with this truck was the ebrake. On inspection, it turned out I didnt have the equalizer bar or any of the other needed parts, and the guy who owned it last had just shoved the cable coming from the pedal into a hole in the frame, and left the other two cables coming from the rear drums hanging. I dont know the setup for how to put this back together, and cant seem to find a diagram anywhere(The truck regrettably came with no manuals or anything). I do know I need an equalizer bar, and the only one I could find was one I pulled off a 90s model f150 that is just a single rectangle of metal with the 3 holes in it, presumably for the 2 drum cables going into the outside two holes and the one cable from the pedal in the middle hole. I dont think this is the entire setup, and since the current ebrake cable from the pedal doesnt reach the equalizer bar, Im sure there is something here I am missing. A friend suggested that I needed a pulling spring, so I do have one of those that should give me the right amount of tension, but I have the feeling that I am still missing a part somewhere. Im not positive, but I think there is supposed to be a nut of some kind as well for the cable from the pedal. So, the third question I have is, what am i missing and how does it all go together? Does anyone happen to have a diagram? I really like diagrams.

Thanks for all the help everyone, and again I am sorry if I have posted in the wrong place or anything, as I said its my first time.

 

The Reverse switch is attached to the transmission; if a Borg Warner T18 or T19 (which is what I'm guessing a "straight drive tranny" is - I'm guessing you mean a non-overdrive) then I believe that switch is located on the top-rear of the unit (black & purple sound like reasonable wire colors but I'm not positive on that).

Parking brake, see if these two threads help you:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ake-cable.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-problems.html

 

My 1981 f250 wire colour is black/pink and it was broken along the driver's side frame. My transmission is automatic but I assume wire colour would be the same.

 

The info and pictures in the link show you how the parking brake was originally setup. If you need some parts, LMC in the link has the parts.

Truck Parts and Truck Accessories

If you have some fabrication skills, you can make all this up yourself. As you can see, the piece with the 3 holes is just a bar of metal with 3 holes. It does have keyhole slots for the ends of the cables to fit inside, but you can get around this by just using cable clamps you can buy at the hardware store like this.



The front cable is short because you are missing the adjusting rod. A piece of all-thread will work for this, just cut it off the right length with a hacksaw. One end goes in the center hole of the 3 hole bar, and the other end goes onto the cable going to the front. The spot on the rod that goes to the front will be the tricky part, i always re-use the factory piece that holds the cable. You may be better off buying the adjusting rod if you do not have this piece.

 

Yes, but it's a U-shaped bar (when viewed from the end) so it has the structural integrity needed to not bend from all the forces being applied to it.

Dave - Did you earlier try to drag-n-drop a picture file onto your post? Boy, it woul dbe cool if that could happen....

 

That's true about the metal, you will have to use your fab skills/judgement as to what will be strong enough. Square tubing, solid square etc. 1/4" thick angle iron would probably work.

I googled cable clamp and got some pictures, and tried to bring the link in right off the google search. I got a mess. I then clicked on the google picture and went apparently to a stage 2 google look at the picture, because when I linked to it I got another mess. I finally clicked on "go to home page" and when I got to the site, I brought that in and it worked.

 

This is a picture of the reverse light switch on my old T-19.
I'd assume T-18 would be similar.

 

1984F150Guy - You said it was your first post and yet no one welcomed you. Let my apologize for these bozos. They are good with technology, just not people.

Anyway, WELCOME TO FTE!


Chris - "Straight drive" is southern-speak for manual tranny.

 

I sent him welcome Rep's!

(need to get out of jail, you know?)

 

Good idea! Did the same.

 

thanks for the help and welcomes everyone! by straight drive I did mean manual tranny, it's a 4speed granny low. I believe it would be a t18 or 19. thank you for those diagrams on the ebrake, you wouldn't believe the trouble I had trying to find one. fabricating advise is solid, I will definitely be trying that as soon as it gets warm enough to work outside without all the snow, hopefully this weekend. thanks so much for the picture of the reverse light position, I had heard it was in the gearbox but didn't know what I was looking for. thank you all.

 

so, finally got time to check out the reverse light switch today. think I found the problem. it had no wiring at all! anybody happen to have a wiring diagram handy for it? also upon inspection I found out the tranny is the np435, not the t18 or 19 I figured it was.

 

Look over on the driver's side frame for a plug or some cut-off wires. One should be purple with a orange dotted line, and the other should be a black with a pink stripe.

Check the purple/orange wire with a testlight or meter, it should have 12v on it with the key in run, engine off. If it does, jump this wire over to the black/pink wire, and with the key on your back-up lamps should be on.

If all that works, then find the two wires coming from the switch on the tranny, hook one to the purple/orange and hook the other to the black/pink. That should be it if the switch is good.

 

thanks so much! should be able to try tomorrow.

 

Here's a illustration of the adjuster.


And so I'm not called a ****, welcome.