Road to Rocks
 

I guess this is a better place to start an ongoing thread about my truck than the matching tech section. Most of the questions I have, are already answered with a little searching there.

(having to upload pics with my phone since 1st gen iPad and postimage don't cooperate. Easier to type on the old boat anchor of a device though)

So, here goes nothing.

I have big dreams for this 94 F250. I've owned her for several years now. Bought just in time for a nasty northeast winter. One day I hope to make her into a Truggy!

For now, it's just getting her back into shape so I don't have to drive my Hyundai in the snow. I do have a healthy pile of parts on hand in the meantime though. Might as well improve along the way.

In other posts I may detail some of the many troubles I've had making repairs, or causing troubles by not making repairs. For now, without further ado(except to login with my phone and post a pic...

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This week's project...

The pile of junk before you came out yesterday. It has been a long time coming. Last winter a hub locker grenaded on me and the wheel nearly came off going down the road. Hence the shiny mile markers pictured. Nightmare fix, just glad the spindles survived. All could have been prevented with just a little maintenance that I neglected to do. Happy to answer any questions on that repair...

That was not the first time the Dana 50 had caused me some grief. And who wants one anyway! A balljoint 60 is ready to go in tomorrow. But Will, your sig clearly mentions a kingpin 60, you say?

It's a rust bucket. Which if I had paid any attention to when I got it or for the 2 years it's been sitting in my garage, I might have done something about it before I needed to put it in my truck. So a few weeks ago I found the newer 60 and planned some time off to make some much needed repairs.

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Now when I went to rotate the front driveshaft to remove it, I just couldn't. Thought it odd. But went to shift the transfer case into neutral... Not even considering that the hubs could be locked. Or that 2 high should allow the driveshaft to spin freely anyway. Sitting where it is, hubs unlocked, still can't spin the pinion...

SNAP! Right where the arrow is. Pulling that out tomorrow, and praying a friend can tig it back together in the evening. Never even knew that thing existed and I've been in ford trucks for 18 years.

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The rest of this project up to now has been pretty straightforward, thanks to the numerous swap threads and a couple great write-ups. The exception being the leaf spring bolts wouldn't budge. It's like they were welded to the sleeves in the bushings. Boy do I know how corrosion works though. Another post another day...

I threw the book at these bolts. Didn't want to torch the bushings while they were still in the truck though. So I stopped last night after dark, and after grinding off the threads on 2 of the bolts. Went back at it today thinking hey, sawzall through the bushing, then the bolts, problem solved. Except the brand new blade went through the rubber and didn't even put a shine of the darn sleeve.

But I was further ahead than yesterday. So I put a cutoff wheel on my 4 and a half inch grinder and went in on the newly exposed sleeves. Success! A little bit dangerous, but the springs are out. Couldn't get all the way through all of the bolts. Once I was like 60-70% through the tricky ones, I was able to break the head off with a socket and ratchet though and that's what I feel was, my greatest achievement today. Since not much else took place.

Ran to the hardware store for track bar mount and spring bolts. Washed a dirty spring that came fermunda an IDI. Scraped gunk off the cross member. Still felt good about getting the springs out though. Just don't make me think about how long it took...

Parts on hand for future projects:

MAF conversion. Everything. It's for a 5.0L, but came with smoked front lights/corner/signals, a beautiful washer/coolant reservoir, throttle body, and tach cluster.
Felt like I robbed the kid. But I did pull most of it while making sure he didn't break anything.
$245

New spectra premium rear tank/pump/hangers. Had to drive 65 miles but the car gets 40mpg on highway and a $5 toll each way.
$100!

No name stainless long tubes, not even sure of what grade of stainless. Another similar drive
$160

GT40P heads. 2 sets from the you pull.
$30/pair!

Crane 1.7s with allegedly 8k miles on them, delivered to my nearest convenience store.
$140

Might update this post later cause I know I have more stuff lying around to go on.

I missed one of the JY Exploder intakes but the one I brought home for another $30 I sold online for $130ish picked up.

I also have all but a 2nd 5.8/e4od/1 tons drivetrain on hand. Short a transfer case. Non roller block. Not sure what to do with all that yet. $500 into all of that.

It's in! Need to decide which calipers to use. And bought all new chinese steering parts so I can hopefully drive it tomorrow.

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Can't get the t/case yoke off with my electric impact so I'll be leaving the 1 tont front driveshaft out, for the time being. Once it's aligned I'll drive to a friend's house with a bigger compressor and use that to remove the yoke.

I did get the t/case shifter welded up, although it's ugly and you won't want to have seen the pic if I posted it. Melted a bushing in the vertical tube, knocking out the plunger retainer. Will try to find a replacement, as well as the bushing that goes to the shifter link I had to cut to remove. I may yet end up buying the dorman replacement 600602 if the thing doesn't shape up.

Seriously thought I'd be up a creek, getting the new axle in place. Wasn't that bad though. I used a hoist to get it close. Set it down on a $20 home depot wooden rectangle dolly with a couple 2x6 blocks on passenger side. Slid right in with enough room under to fit my low profile 2.5 ton jack, up it went with some fenagling and the rest is history.

Back at it tomorrow for the finishing touches...

Mo' Problems
 

Driver side knuckle hole is too big for the tre. Hoping I can find a sleeve that appears to not exist, instead of searching and paying for a less abused knuckle.

Stopped into Ford after the local auto parts store to see if I could service the 4wd shifter. They only sell the whole unit, and supposedly you have to buy the install kit as well...

Just $595.

I'll probably be picking up one of the transfer cases locally on Craigslist for $150 if it comes down to it. The linkage bushing isn't available either so it might mean removing it, and nut/bolting the linkage back on.

Found a f-series guru by chance through a Craigslist ad and we've been mulling over this knuckle issue. Every email he sends leads to another idea.

First I had called Ruffstuff after Diesel Brad's recommendation. They sell a 7/8ths o.d. tapered insert for the GM 1 ton tre. No current solution on hand to make my tre work, or to make the GM tre work in a ford adjustment sleeve. Ford rod end o.d is one inch, GM is 7/8ths. Same 18 threads per inch pitch though.

After talking with this nameless CL gold mine, my first plan of action will be to measure my knuckle height, and take my tre to a local machinist. If he can make me an insert to keep Ford parts in it, effing beautiful.

1st backup plan will be to order the GM tre and Ruffstuff insert, as well as a 7/8th drill bit. Once that goes in, clamp the Ford link in the adjustment sleeve, try to position GM tre in the sleeve and heat it up til I can close the sleeve around the GM tre.

More backup plans are in my head but I needed to get these on "paper".

Is anyone else having this sloppy knuckle hole issue? In my search I had seen a few threads that didn't really provide an answer, and was further surprised to not find an off the shelf solution. If my local shop is willing and reasonable I will definitely grab a handful of these inserts.

On to my 4wd shifter. Craigslist man sent pics of his current setup using the simplest ever 80-86 version, which only required slight bending to work in the usual trans tunnel hole. No detent. Just straight front to back 4wd shifting.

His second setup he didn't get pics of yet but it's the 87-91 shifter with detent/gate removed for the same front to back, no nonsense shifting.

Anyway if you all could cross your fingers that the first machinist I can get to before closing time on the first possible day after work can make me this tapered insert, I'll be much obliged.

Update!

I got to 3 machinists and all willing to make the insert, though the first two were too busy. The third fella was interested in helping but I'd gone there empty handed with only some web pics of what I wanted.

After returning to the axle and measuring the knuckle hole, my heart sank. It's already so wallered out I couldn't even use the GM tre insert from Ruffstuff. It still has some taper, but it's over an inch wide at the bottom, and the hole comes within a quarter inch of the inboard edge of the knuckle.

The only real fix here is to remove the knuckle and get it welded and reamed to the right size. Not interested.

So remember the rusty kingpin 60 I mentioned earlier? I bought the HF needle scaler and will be getting to work on that in the next few days.

Today though! I went to the u-pull in search of a 4x4 shifter. Found 2 OBS units, one in perfect shape, and one seized and previously welded. Grabbed the pivot bolt and good boot/o-rings from the bad one, and the complete good unit. Both were only held in by the rubber thing under the floor shifter boot.

Found a brick nose version that was easy to remove due to the floor being rusted away to the trans tunnel, also. I plan to make that work for me and sell the nice one most likely.

I also found a Windsor dipstick tube from a bull nose that a member here had been trying to locate. Have to check my subscribed threads to find him and get it sent off to its new home.

Wish me luck with the kingpin. I need it.

I confuse brick and bull nose trucks. The dipstick tube is 87-91 and the shifter I'll be using is 80-86...

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Best harbor freight purchase of my life. Got friendly with the kingpin today and the top half is all but done. Unfortunately this little guy highlighted how weak my old compressor is. Between its age and former owner's abuse, the poor thing takes about 10 minutes to fill and its only a 15 gallon tank.

So I wound up finding other crap to do while the tank filled numerous times. The lawn looks GREAT with no leaves, dog doo, or weeds, and the summer plants cut back. Hopefully I can get after the axle some more tomorrow.

Aaaaand we're sidetracked:

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Put a couple hundred down on this tonight and should have it wrapped up tomorrow. Just a driver for the time being. No rust above but some below that the new scaler will take care of.

95, speed density 5.8, 4x4 and auto. Did not check the trans code... always forget something.

Quad shocks, that's neat. Electronic transfer case and auto hubs. All seems to work properly.


Ad was up for 2 days, when I saw it today.
Anyway I'm gonna baby it, as the miles are high. Whole thing is more of an insurance plan in case I don't finish everything on the 250. Won't miss work due to snow on the ground.

Round 2

FIGHT!

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And it's in. Pay no attention to the old steering junk. Made it somewhat easier than having the spindles flapping around in the breeze.

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Question about the Warn hub lockers. Hopefully someone can chime in. The kingpin axle had rough rotors and calipers so I swapped them with the ball joint axle's components. In looking over the hub lockers I found one set retained by an outer snap ring and a spindle snap ring. The set on the BJ axle was only retained by the outer ring, and it was more like the spiral locking ring on my Mile Marker lockers, but heavier.

The BJ units also seemed very rebuildable, where the kingpin ones were kind of a one piece basket that held the inner gear/spring with a shim or two.

Both caps have the plastic knob, but I'm wondering if one set is the heavier duty hub locker. These are the first Warn lockers I've had apart that were still useable...

Took it around the block a few times last night and it felt good. Ordered bolts for the driveshaft at t/case yoke today, and they should be in Saturday. And I think I'm going to use the correct 4x4 shifter for the time being, just to get it done.

Anyway, hardest part of the whole "2nd round", was lining up the stupid preload nut and holey washer on the spindle.

On to the drivability issues, and someday the 1 ton rear blocks as there is a slight height advantage in the front now.

You will need to change the pitman arm on the steering box to the f350 one. There is enough difference that you will have what feels like play in the steering when going straight and you will end up with a larger turning radius. I found this out when I converted my 96 250 to a d60

I have one but I can't get a puller over the old arm. I have the nice snap on cone style one. It worked fine to remove the 350 pitman arm from a section of frame that came bolted to my kingpin axle. It was tight but there's enough room on the crossmember. On the 94 it's like a CH less of clearance in the small relief they put there.

Seemed ok on the test ride, but if it's a problem at highway speed, I'll remove the box and do the Saginaw conversion at the same time. I'll find out tomorrow as I'm planning to drive a few towns over to look at some new shoes. Not sure the backspace is quite right but they seem similar to a set of wheels in my garage that were on there previously.

These were on a 2000 Dodge and they're American Racing. Going to bolt one on the front and turn the wheel to see where they get close to rubbing. They have decent 285/75 16s.

I ended up cutting a section out of the 250 Pittman arm to get it off. Puller wouldn't budge it. Do some tight circles, you should see it is a bigger diameter.

Oh there was nothing tight about the circle today haha! I didn't notice the steering play you mentioned but, I've never had particularly tight steering on one of these trucks. Never had all new joints/drag links and tre's either though.

I know there's no way I'll get the puller on with the box and the axle installed. To get the 1 ton arm off took a lot of PB, an impact gun, letting it sit with tension, and a little light dead blow kissing on the puller. And that thing was like it sank with the titanic rusty.

Wheel/tire combo was a bust today, but looking at some newer Alcoas with the terribly reviewed federal couragia m/t 285's in the morning.

I was able to get a puller on mine with the d60 in but didn't matter as it wouldn't budge. I noticed the dead spot in the steering a lot more with the f250 pitman arm. Once changed it was like driving a new truck. Much more enjoyable

It's on the list for sure. I wanted to get it back to being able to drive to work in the snow for now, and that's almost complete.

The Saginaw pump and the pitman arm will probably have to wait til spring. Mostly because it's usually dark when I get home now.

Pics to come of the new wheels. Mounted one on the front and it clears fine with the best 285/75 of the bunch. Need to mount 2 of the tires on the rims yet. They're like 11 inches wide!

Also, grabbed a fuel pressure tester today after work. Not thrilled with the results.

I wanted to get the numbers before I dive into looking for a vacuum leak, in chasing a high idle, and a falling flat on its face condition, whenever I want to accelerate. ***including revving in park as I did for below test***

So the chilton manual says koeo pressure should be 35-45psi.

Well the rear pump got to 35 after priming/cycling ignition 4 times. Starting at 30, then, 33, 34, and I stopped at 35 on 4th prime. After 5 minutes the gauge lost 5psi.

Front tank, same 4 cycles took me from 11 to 20 to 22psi with no change on the 4th prime. After 5 minutes the gauge lost 2psi.

Engine running, front tank pegged at 28psi, remember with a high idle, but no load really. Rear tank, 29/30 psi, pretty steady. Like I couldn't watch it change, but if I looked away for a short time, it would be on the other of 29 or 30psi.

On both pumps, if I stabbed the throttle, I could see the pressure raise to about 40, though it wasn't easy to see from the cab to get exact number. And once the load dropped, even if rpms were still up, (maybe 2k), pressure returned to the respective idle psi.

Not sure what to make of all that except that everything in the fuel system is old as dirt. I will look around in the tech section to figure it out but I do have a new tank and pump for the rear already in the basement. ***both tanks leak now. I can put a solid 5 gallons in rear and about halfway fill the front, and not smell any gas...***

The weird part is after I shut the engine off, the pressure rose 4psi on the front pump, and 7psi on the rear pump, both after 5 minutes.

So yeah, I needed to change the fuel filter. I have some plugs I'll throw in tomorrow. Want to tick off a few maybe(s) before I lose my mind trying to find what I'm guessing is a vacuum leak, or super clogged cat.

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This is in front of a LED bulb, I'm thinking 60 watt equivalent. I couldn't tell because when I unscrewed it, the base was so hot I could barely hold it. That was confusing...

Anyway I dumped this new water bottle seconds before filling it with the inlet side of the fuel filter. A lot foggy and kinda sedimenty. No change to throttle response with new filter but I was not expecting a miracle.

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Sent off for Mr. Paul Conansky's beautifully powder coated typhoon 5.8 efi manifold this week. And picked up this little guy today...

I think it's about an '84.
Miller thunderbolt AC/DC stick welder. 230a AC and 160a DC.

I need to get a 220 line for it, but my friend is an electrician and said yeah whatever, just let me know when. Now, bud. Now is when, haha.

:sniff sniff: Smells like truggy!
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Had a nice early day at work and by noon in 50+ degree temps I was out tinkering.

Measured the rear U-bolts so I can order replacements to use with the 1 ton blocks. I found a site called autoandtrucksprings.com and they ship 4 grade 8 U-bolts with tall nuts and washers in a hefty 5/8ths diameter for $60. $18 less than I paid for the 9/16ths front U-bolts I bought at the local spring shop. Turns out ATS is on the way home from my job, ish. Can be, anyway. I don't know any reason not to use them for the bolts. Has anyone within the sound of my voice heard anything bad? They're grade 8 so, ehh?

Next I finally got the stupid yoke off the front of the T/case. Replaced it with the 1 ton jawn, chased the threads in the double cardamom joint. That was iPad spelling... I've had numerous people tell me it's a double cardigan joint as well. Anyway double cardan joints are a funny thing. Didn't pay it any mind until today and it's just neat is all. Right so, bolted in the front driveshaft after mounting a buttery smooth 4wd shifter. I feel like the driveshaft and t/case yoke should have gotten some blue loctite, but held off for now. I'll climb under and check the shaft bolts in a few miles and see what's what.

With the "axle swap" now complete besides the pitman arm, I switched gears again to the engine bay. I've been looking into diagnosing a bad catalytic converter. Decided to have a look at the plugs due to their age, not mileage. They were all gapped where I left em several years ago, and mostly white, down in the spot where you "read" plugs. In quotes because the reading is pretty much set in the first quarter mile of driving. Some corrosion outside the head and I had a new set ready to go so I screwed em in and set off to heat up the cat. No change in drivability, as expected.

What Ive been seeing is that you should expect about 350 degrees Farenheit, at the weld ring before the cat and like 500 at the weld ring after the cat. I dug around for the laser temp thingy I've had for years and found a 9 volt battery for it. Hopped in, drove about 10 miles and got it to temp. Which brings me to another issue. Normal for my truck is the first line of N in Normal, on the gauge. I think I might have put a cooler thermostat in when I did the water pump and everything that freaking touched it fiasco like 5 years ago. Or, I definitely replaced the rad cap with a 7psi version slightly before that to minimize water loss which was, frequent. I still have that cap because of a weak core plug, and I'm not sure about the thermostat...

Anyway, and sorry for all the words and no pics if you've made it this far...

I got the truck to my normal temp and checked the cat for heat. What I got was like 415 at the front and 500 out the back. The common thing between all the people doing heat readings was about a 150 degree difference, inlet to outlet. I'm not sure what this means for me, as I've said, thermostat/cap could be fiddling with my engine temps, cat could be clogged. Not sure what to use for a back pressure test. Thinking I could just axe the whole system and put the headers and a full exhaust on with a newer, non air injection style cat.

Kind of just putting it all down on paper right now. Certainly open to helpful criticism or direction.

i've been having trouble getting my ipad to load the site again. and its gotten even clumsier on my phone. so glad I paid for premium just in time for that to become a problem. fortunately I got a cheap laptop for my new job and I can stumble my way through using a keyboard again.

anyway the trucks have been back burner for sure. I left for Georgia late in march for some training and have been back home training on the job for about 6 weeks. soon i'll finish training and either have zero time on my hands or zero money.

I did meet a fellow F series guy yesterday who inspired me to check the tps voltages on my 250. I was wondering how important it is for the engine to be warm for those checks. it wasn't... and my readings are far from how a good tps should read according to easyautodiagnostics.com tps test. where I should have the sweeping voltage from .9 to 4.5ish at idle to wfo, I get a reading under .9, which decreases slightly when I open the throttle. assuming that's a good enough place to stop the test, I wish to pretend some gremlin there also prevents a reading where I should have 5 ish volts between the orange wire and battery ground, which I believe is the signal from the ecm. the 11-12 volts between the tps ground/batt pos is present. these are all through freshly poked holes in the insulation with a fluke auto ranging dvom.

ill try again tomorrow after I warm the engine.

upon reading some more threads on the subject of tps, I decided I might do a little more checking. the wire colors described on easyautodiagnostics are not the same in my truck. I did finally find the sweeping voltage between battery ground and I think either the signal or reference wire. I just don't recall which does what, but it was a repeatable sweep and within the prescribed range. I still have battery-ish voltage at the wire from before. but I still get nothing from the third wire where I should have like 4.5v between there and battery positive.

that website tells me I'm either not getting power from the ecm, or theres a short or bad connection.

I took the propane torch out to check for vacuum leaks since that seems like the easiest method. didn't find any, but I did forget to check near the pcv valve, or the vac reservoir. I'm off til Saturday though so I'll get back out and try again tomorrow.

looked a bit at testing the iac, and decided to remove and clean that. saw it should have 7-13 ohms between spades and show offline(on the meter) from each spade to iac body. good test there. before I removed it, I unplugged it while the engine idled high as usual. rpms did drop significantly and it ran rough but never stalled as I've read it should. but I read just today that it should just kind of keep chugging, so I don't know which is correct. anyway, cleaned out the iac as best I could with throttle body cleaner, being careful not to drown the solenoid end. it was gummed up for sure. plunger moves pretty freely now where I think it could have been stuck partly open before. dried it with compressed air, remembered reading I should have unplugged the battery already, did so, reinstalled the iac and let the keep alive memory die.

meanwhile I knew it had been some time(not miles though really) since the k/n replacement air filter had been serviced. took care of that. left it out to test out the iac though as it takes forever to deal with that cleaning/drying/oiling malarkey. and my basement smells like cat piss now from the cleaner which is a mystery.

during the 15 minute idle period where the ecm relearned how to idle, the rpms varied some as expected, but eventually settled at a pretty reasonable sounding level. I havent put the tach cluster in yet but maybe i'll do that tomorrow as well. it is definitely an improvement over a dirty old motorcraft iac so I'm sure we're moving in the right direction. letting it cool off now and i'll run back out in a bit to restart the truck, see if it's still holding that improved, lower idle.

for giggles, after the 15 minutes I whacked the throttle to see if all my problems were magically cured. no such luck. still a mean hesitation with any real amount of go pedal.

oh, yesterday I pulled codes because I haven't in a while. 111's for koeo and continuous memory. 172 for koer. O2 sensor lean. no check engine light, just thought i'd check, and there was one in there. so I'm reading that can be caused by some other issues besides the actual sensor. since my fuel pressures are less than stellar, I think i'll wait to be concerned with that 172, until after the pumps and tanks are replaced.

one day I'll have some pics worth posting. today is not that day.

After conferring with my new Bronco friend I mentioned the other day, explaining how gunky the IAC was, he convinced me to clean the throttle body. I asked if he thought my lack of reference voltage warranted a new TPS or if it could be a different issue. His response was that it'll be easier to do now than to take the throttle body off a 2nd time and replace later. I ordered a Motorcraft unit for tomorrow.

Got down to the throttle body bolts before the bugs became an issue with the worklight and shorts and really, I should have been out there all day instead of screwing around doing nothing. Anyway, I opened the throttle plates to find plenty of gunk inside. and what looks like enough built up, to keep them open just a hair. Like 1.09vdc at closed on the signal wire. I guess I fibbed yesterday about the signal voltage. At closed it's 1.09 and wfo is 4.6+vdc. That may be acceptable, I don't know. I had the meter out to make sure I really couldn't find the reference voltage and wouldn't you know it, 3rd time's a charm! I checked the plug 1st to see if there was a poor connection and maybe that was the problem. Maybe my probe didn't hit the wire before. I could see copper, but I tried in a more accessible spot, and there was my correct reference voltage. I'll keep it around after I replace it tomorrow.

I also didn't, DO NOTHING all day. I finally got around to installing the tach cluster. I have a 93, and a 94 sitting here but couldn't trust that I'd written 93 on the correct one. I did, but I wanted to make sure so I plugged them both in. both do everything except, as I read here before, the 93 cluster somehow prevents the battery from charging. Switched my speedo section into the 94 tach cluster, cleaned it all up, good to go. I would like to find a nicer cluster cover. I had foggy and scratched to choose from. Went with scratched.

1025ish rpms at idle. I'm guessing it had to be at 1250-1300 before cleaning out the IAC.

Picked up 2 felpro TB gaskets and considering reinstalling after cleaning, before picking up the new TPS, just to see if the gunk is my real problem. Almost feel it'd be a disservice to the community if I didn't do that. We'll see how much my feelings affect what actually happens though.

Found and bought a timing light on Craigslist. it came with a remote starter, compression tester, and this whacky box I think its called a scanalyzer. 80's craftsman product. All still in the boxes with instructions and shiny. Guy had used the timing light a few times and the rest is like new. $20

Timing light works as good as the one I borrowed recently and with the thingamajig removed, I was able to confirm base timing is set at 10* btdc. With it installed, and running at the improved 1025ish rpms, but also at the previous higher than that rpms, the timing is at 20*btdc. seems like a lot for just a few hundred rpms over what should be idle. Any thoughts?

Cleaned and reinstalled throttle body today with the new TPS. Did the idle re-learn process. Still sitting at 1000rpms. Still a hesitation when depressing the throttle quickly. At least in park. I might take it for a spin after sundown. Not sure what to do next. Read more, I guess. Block off all the vac ports besides MAP/Fuel Pressure and hope the idle comes down. I don't want it to be a plenum leak haha. Not a big deal to replace the gasket or gaskets, but I was hoping to have all the bugs worked out by the next time the intake comes off so I can install the typhoon intake. On top of the gt40p's. Inside of the longtubes.

I'm wondering if the hesitation is really being caused by the poor fuel pressure.

Limited success. Capped off all the ports at the intake vacuum tree. Left the FPR and MAP sensor hooked up. No change. Remembered the PCV this time, capped off the port at the intake there. Idle settled to about 900 rpms, with a momentary dip to 750 just before settling. Tried a new line for the MAP sensor with no change. Inspected the FPR line and it looks ok, but I put a new elbow on at the tree to ensure a tight fit. No change from 900rpms with the dip to 750. Tried again after capping the port on the EGR, just in case. Same outcome. With everything hooked back up, it sits at 1000ish with a dip to 950 or so. after the dip in any of these scenarios, it settles back to the higher rpm and stays.

I need to find out where I'm really supposed to be idling...

Replaced my rear fuel tank/pump today. What a fiasco. I started late in the afternoon yesterday after charging up my new Ryobi impact wrench's 4ah battery.

Receiver had to come down. 6 bolts, looked nice and easy at a glance. A better look revealed the bolts were of the carriage persuasion, and not a square hole in sight. Not sure who, how, or why someone would use carriage bolts in that manner. But anyone involved, I hope they hurt themselves. 4 of them were easy to reach with the South Philly Grips. Some folks call those vise grips...

5 and 6 were behind the rear most cross member, tucked in a corner. I struggled on both, not wanting to resort to a heavy spark producing tool. Yet. Finally got the passenger side head tightly gripped and spun off its nut. No luck on the driver side. Gave up for the night.

Conferred with a friend and decided, screw it. If working on my truck is the way I go, then at least I died doing something I love. Out came the cut off wheel this morning, and shortly after, so did the bolt. Made it through about 3/4 of the bolt and nut close to the frame, and the bfh handled the rest.

Took a buy wheels for the Flare Side break, over in Jersey. A set of 16x10 American Racing dulled aluminum buncha-holes. I'll try to get a pic up soon. $125, no major rash. Need a polishing bad, but money well spent in my opinion.

Came back and the tank came down pretty easy. Only had about a gallon of fuel in it, as I've known this day would come. Struggled with the fuel line disconnects for an hour, cut the ends on the pump side soon after. No trouble wiring it up, less trouble getting it all back together, went for a food/gas run. Ate, dumped surprisingly ALL of a 5 gallon Enviro can into the new tank, cycled a few times... and it fired up so fast I nearly didn't let go in time before I imagine the starter would have began to cry.

Put a gauge on the fuel rail, 30psi at ignition, idles at 30, jumps to 40 with throttle, holds 30 after shut down. Rechecked the front tank while I was there. 20 at ignition, idles at 29ish, shakily jumps to 40 with throttle, and also holds 30 after shutdown. I noticed the stumble still, on both tanks, but much worse on the front.

Anyway, after watching friends replace pumps on different vehicles, I was dreading having to rewire the harness. So I left it long and still need to weatherize it. Felt like a king when it fired up and the gauge worked and all. Maybe I'll look for a front tank soon. Has to be easier. And I would really think about lifting the bed to do the rear tank if I ever need to in the future. My neck is killing me now.