Hey all.

I'm 16, and just got my first truck. It's a '78 F-100 with a 302.

My problems with it are all minor, because it runs, moves, and it's a Ford.

We can start with the radio. the one in it is a 'Rampage' AM/ FM Cassette unit. I was wondering what CD player options I had here without too much cutting.

The radio antenna is also a joke. It's a flexible rubber thing, maybe 14 inches long. It's a half inch thick. It hardly pick up at all. I've checked all the connections I can get to, and they're good. Therefore, I want to replace the antenna.

Problem is, I cant get to the catch thing that holds the antenna base on. The box part of the glovebox is gone, so I can open that door and see into the dash area. There's a small, maybe 1 1/2 hole in the section of metal there, and I cant get a pair of pliers in there...even if I could, I dont know how that catch frees up. Suggestions?

Next, I need some tires. It's riding on some near- bald 15/215 Goodyear's right now. What's the largest American size (31's, 33's, 35's, etc...) I can fit in the wheelwells without having to lift it?

My father and I recently re-did the entire brake system, bleeding, new pads/ shoes, etc. Now I have a 'ticking' from the front passenger tire area, almost like something (a stick, for example) is hung and is catching on the rim as it passes. I've pulled the wheel, looked everything over, but neith my father or myself can find it. I'm certain it's not engine related, because I can put the truck in neutral and coast down a hill and hear it. It picks up it's pace as my ground speed picks up.

Overall, I'm more than pleased with the truck. Out of curiosity I took it to the drag strip the other night and found out it'll do 0-60 in 3.1 My jaw hit the floor. The guy I bought it from had said he'd built the engine some, but that was more than I expected.

Thanks

 

In the JC Whitney cat. you can get a CD player that looks like the original stereo with no cutting required. If your truck is a 4x4 you can run 33's. if its not I would put 255/60R15's on it, but if you want a truck tire, 31's should fit. I don't have any answers on your other problems.

 

I got a '65 chrysler newport 383 and it has the exact same problem...I thought it was an engine tick at first but did the same thing with nuetral and it was still there...i took it to school with me and worked on it in shop and found out that the frotn drum brake on the passenger side was not even hooked up and there was much dirt in the drum...but if you have just redone the whole brake system and pulled the wheel then i dont know what it could be...you may want to try taking off the drum( if you have not done so yet) and see that there isn't brake dust accumulating or that there isn't a loose cable or spring that is just vibrating or catching something...check that and if it don't work then I'm outta suggestion but i'll talk to some guys about it and see what they say

 

If the noise started after the brake job and is definitely in the front wheel area, it must have happened during the brake job. Place the front on jack stands (safety first) and have someone rotate the wheel while you look for the cause of the noise. Pay attention to the dust cover on the back side of the rotor, the brake hose and check that the pads are installed correctly with the spring retainers in place. It has to be something rubbing the front wheel or rotor, keep looking until you find it... you WILL find it...

Marty

 

I replaced the front brakes on my 76 F100 earlier this year with the same results. I found the problem too. The newer pads for disk brakes are made with a shorter length metal bracket and the pads will float around on the caliper much more than the older ones do. You need to use the little clips they sell to eliminate the ticking noise. Personally I think it is a gimmick making the newer pads like this in order to get people to buy more.
I did check the length of them compared to my old original pads installed by Ford and the difference is obvious. The brackets on the old ones are about 1/8 inch longer than the new ones.