I thought I had wiring issues on my '75! Wow!! I salute you for the trip you are taking!

flowney had a good thought about a temp harness to get you going if one was to attempt such a journey that you are making.

At one point I had a remote start with the pull trigger ran into my cab as I had ignition issues. Thinking along those lines, could a loom be made for a 360/390/351M/400 that would have options to plug this or that in using a standard wiring end kit and a crimper for the bare essentials? hmm..

Lights...my issue was bad grounds for the tail and also a hacking in 4 pin trailer wiring debacle. The headlight flickering is solved with a kit someone (forget who) sells that overcomes the factory inadequate wiring.

You were smart with the new fuel tank. Wheel bearing repack, brake check, diff/tran fluid check, new belts/hoses and rebuilt carb, fuel filters, plugs/wires, ignition module, starter solenoid about cover all the things I can think of for replacing before a trip. You covered all those less a new solenoid. I would have tilted that coil as I know it can be an issue when hot and installed level. A quart of Marvel Mystery Oil would also be on my list.

I drove without instrument cluster lights using the WAZE app on my iPhone since it has a speed feature. I could have used a GPS app as well I guess.

Someone on here ran a vacuum gauge up into the cab on a long trip to keep an eye on the engine, and a hard wired temp gauge as well as he did not trust the factory gauge.

 

This reminds me of those travel pictures that had a garden gnome standing by famous sites. You should take that cab around and snap pics of it overlooking famous monuments and whatnot.

 

Heck yeah..... Love that idea!

A Ford gnome.

 

I got the truck home finally and am starting to work on it.
The theme of this truck seems to be wiring issues. The alternator definitely was not charging. Just before I went to take the truck it get safe tires put on the battery died. I put a new one in there and got the new shoes installed.
Today i put the 3g alternator swap in from Left Eye Blind racing. It’s in and charging the battery which is great. I lost the instructions but google helped with the install.
Now the truck won’t crank from the key, but will when I jump the solenoid. I’m glad the new switch and wires will get here before the weekend. This gives me enough time to plan out a simple 6 fuse wiring harness.
All connections will be weather pack or soldered and waterproofed. I will probably start a new thread for this because the road trip home is officially over as of yesterday morning!!

 

Tips the worked great we’re in no particular order:
GLOVES- I don’t enjoy working with gloves but for those “what’s that noise” inspections nitrile and mechanics gloves are an absolute must have! The nitrile will keep from that oil/ grease/ gunk from seeping into your hands while on long legs. The mechanics gloves are for when you need to touch something too warm for bare hands.
ARMY PONCHO LINER- I brought my woobie just Incase I needed to sleep in the truck. It came in handy for that but also for crawling around under the truck. The material on the poncho liner makes clean up easy, all the sand dirt and dust slides right off it and it dried very quick. I would of said bring card board but where would you keep it if it gets wet. I also brought one of those quick pack hammocks which I used a bunch of times. That and small folding chairs/ backpacking chairs.
A basic or good multimeter. That helped me diagnose the no start condition. I’m not good at electrical yet but I was able to see the distributor was not getting signal from the ICM. While I back probed wires and found enough connections broken or resistance where there should be little to none I made the decision to put a 6AL In with its own harness.
Electrical fix it box- there is no one size fits all for this. I had red and black 12GA wire about 25’ of each. I also grabbed some trailer wiring rolls the kind you can get from tractor supply or Walmart. 2 of those at 100’. I used about 30’ of it but with all that wire you could potentially rewire anything in the truck outside of heavy gage. Inside the box had wire nuts (not a fan of them at all they belong in houses not on vehicles) splice connectors, butt connectors, crimp caps, terminals, cheepo crimper/ stripping tool, 2 rolls of quality electrical tape assorted zip ties. Spare 1156/1157/194 bulbs. Jumper cables, Jumpers wires and a test light.
Tools!! I grabbed some tool rolls from Atlas46 and Amazon. I brought wrenches, screw drivers, and sockets with me. Along with pliers, dykes, knife, gerber, vice grips, needle nose pliers. If I could have I would of brought my dewalt impact drill but airlines are iffy about lithium batteries for good reason ( thanks Samsung galaxy note)
having a device of easy transport and organizing will make life better. The tool rolls worked well I wish I had better organization of my sockets though.
Preventative maintenance: I was lucky I know people in the area. I had enough parts shipped there outside of a wiring harness so I could rebuild / fix / replace almost anything on the truck. I had the time so if it was something I didn’t want to do on the side of the road I just replaced or rebuilt it. I was ready to put new tires on it and had all that money + what a uhaul would cost set aside. I knew there was a chance I wasn’t going to drive the truck the whole way.
A plan! Where are you going to sleep. How far can you realistically drive a day? I fly helicopters for work. I always keep the PACE plan in effect when working Primary Alternate Contingency and Emergency. I did my best to have this going.
I planned on having the rental car for 3 days I kept it for 5. I had air B&B picked out for the trip and was in communication with the owners, establishing the I might not make it this night but if I do is that okay to book it an hour out thing. Wouldn’t bet on that working often at all. There’s something about staying in a real house or condo and giving money to someone local I enjoy. Making my own breakfast or midnight snack was worth it.
Patience!!! I never got to the point where I wanted to throw my hands up and walk away. Even when I slept in the truck when it wouldn’t fire. If one thing won’t work figure it out. Why doesn’t it work, what’s the minimum things to get it to work. Is there a way around it.
Finally I had a go no-go checklist. The minimum things I needed before I could hit the road were:
All lights working as they should -headlights blinker tail lights brake lights hazards
windshield wipers
tires / brakes
engine and drive line.

I hope this post helps someone. I would do this again but I think 200-300 miles is plenty. The 400 miles in a day killed my motivation. It’s better to have time where you stop and enjoy the trip rather than get home as fast as you can. Also bring snacks and at least a case of water. I kept a gallon of oil and 3 gallons of pre mix coolant, 2 gallons of water. If I needed to hike it somewhere i at least had food and water. I ended up drinking all that water before I left Tennessee.

 

Breakfast drive downtown TN

I wish I got better photos

Not a bad brew while downtown Nashville

Good place to eat

Incase you like to party hard

Really good stout

Headed east

Lag bolt in the trailer tire. Glad I was at a pit stop and saw this before the tire went flat


Hammock out waiting for Uhaul road side. I had a tire plug kit and the tools to fix it. But how Uhaul is and liability I’m sure they could lawyer their way and blame an accident on me God forbid something bad happened.

Truck back in CT getting new tires!!!

 

Good to see you made it!!!

I like the list, will keep it mind if I ever get a wild hair road trip idea!

Larry