I have a 1960 F100 with a 292.
All of my lights appear to work except the turn indicators. They were working and have now quit. Is there a fuse somewhere ? The brakes and running lights are still working fine.
The engine appears to be leaking from the rear seal. Is ther a solution to fixing this with out tearing the engine out and apart? Thicker oil possibly?
The last is the steering. It has about 1/4 turn of play in the steering wheel and the truck waunders all over the road. it has 275/60 tires all around . How do I go about fixing this problem?
Thanks in advance.

 

I'm not sure what year Ford started using fuses instead of a couple circuit breakers. Likely culprits in order: fuse (If used), broken wire, bad ground, burnt out flasher.
If she doesn't pop up soon, PM Julie, shes the resident wiring guru.
Sorry to say there is no real quick and easy fix for a leaking seal short of replacement, although a number of aftermarket companies made their fortunes convincing people otherwise. If it only leaking enough to leave a couple drops and be annoying when parked overnight and has an automatic you could just live with it while you save your pennies for a rebuild or swap, If it is leaking heavily to the point of leaving a puddle in a couple hours and requiring oil to be added more than once between oil changes, might be time to ask for an advance on your allowance.
First find out where exactly the steering freeplay is located. Lock the pitman arm with a c clamp on each side so it can't move, then check the steering gearbox freeplay by turning the steering wheel. If it still has the same amount of freeplay, you might try adjusting the gearbox. DON'T overtighten, that will destroy what's left of the gears in short order. You might check out the article on swaping your gearbox for a Toyota power steering box located under "Articles/Specs" tab in the grey band across the top of the page. If the gearbox is not the problem, check for other worn steering components and repair as needed. Adding some more caster and toe in to the front alignment may also help. Tou didn't indicate f the tires are radials or bias ply. Bias ply have more wandering tendency than radials, try swapping your tires to see if the wandering improves.

 

POP!

WELCOME TO FTE!!!!

Your signal lights recieve power from two sources: The first is through the brake light circuit, and the second is through a seperate power wire that flows through the flasher unit.

The signal lights utilize the brake light portion of the tail lights to flash (in the back. In the front it's the parking light - different circuit). So, the light bulbs are good, the grounds back there are good, and the wires going back there are good. And because it's all of the lights, the switch is good (if it weren't only one side would work, or only the fronts, etc)

So, that leaves you with the power supply leading up to the signal switch that DOESN'T flow up from the brake light switch (which I believe is still located on the back of your master cylinder).

On that one wire, check your flasher (just going to have to buy another one) check your wires and connections for a break or parting, and look for either a fuse in your fuse box, or an inline fuse holder. It's gotta be on that wire from power up to the signal switch. USUALLY if the flasher is bad, the signal lights will come on, but not flash - but not always.

As AX mentioned, if it is your rear main seal, your kind of stuck with the work. However I have a 390 that had a leak that looked like a rear seal and it turned out to be a pin hole in the rear intake manifold gasket.

Before I go tearing out the engine, I'd double check the rear intake manifold gasket, AND the valve cover gaskets in the back. As you drive oil leaking through those will "blow" toward the back of the engine and appear to be leaking from the rear. Also (and you should be able to tell the difference by the smell - seriously) if you have a manual transmission it could be the front transmission seal. But in that case it would b eleaking SAE90 oil and you can easily tell that by the pungent odor of the oil.

WRT the steering, there could be a number of things - seperately or independently - causing that slop.

There is a steering lash adjustment procedure in the Shop Manual for many years of Ford Trucks - I'm not sure if the 60 had the adjustment capability, but I'd look.

The three top causes of wander are: tight spindle bearings; improper tire pressure, and low camber angel. Take the wheels off and repack the bearings, check the tire pressure at 28-35 pounds, then drive up to the alignment shop and have them check that the camber angle is at spec. If not they just insert wedges to increase it.

You could also have worn drag link fittings, or worn tie rod ends. Both are fairly simple to replace/rebuilt.

Good luck

 

thanks for the advice and quick answers.

 

I forgot to mention that my tach also quit at the same time as the turn indicators , I'm not sure if they use the same power source or not. I finally found the fuse box , all three fuses appear ok. I will start following some wires and look for the source of the problem.

 

Julie, I assume you meant caster angle when you wrote camber angle since the camber angle is usually not adjusted on a beam axle except by bending the axle. caster is the amount the kingpin tips back at the top when viewed from the side of the truck and is easily adjusted with tapered shims between the springs and the axle. The more caster angle the more the wheels want to return to a straight ahead position.
Camber angle is how much the wheels tip in or out at the top from true vertical when viewed from the front.

 

In ref to the wander. I noticed your tire size, 275x60. They are nearly 11 inches wide. Straight axels like skinny tires. 235x70 is virtually the same height, but 1.5 inches narrower. That alone would help a lot. Narrower would be better, but watch the rim width.

 

You are correct as usual AX.

Actually I did mean Camber though. But somehow I dropped an entire sentance out of my response - thanks for the point. (had one of those "Flight Attendant" Batchelorette parties last night- late)

Camber - it's #3. But it should go on to say that "the 4th and 5th causes of wander are improper Castor angle or the Castor is not even...if not they just insert wedges to correct it."

Sorry

 

I've solved the electrical problems thanks everybody.

 

Cool. What was the problem??

 

It was a fuse.