Bumbles Bounce Don'tcha know..

[jynx]

Great story Matt!!

Thanks Andrew.

I had a gold fish once.

Emphasis on "had" I'm guessing

 

[jynx]

Hooked up the trailer and loaded the 80 just to see how it all went. Bumble had the Ford 7 pin out back, so guessing it came with the factory towing package. Anyway, plugged the trailer plug and have brake lights and signals. Guessing if I had the markers wired they would have worked too.

Anyway drug out my ramps and up we went.

I watched the rear fenders to see when it started to move. It seems pretty far forward, but that was where I got to when I noticed the fenders starting to move. I measured loaded and unloaded. As loaded, it was squatted right at an inch and it wasn't on the overloads. Main thing I noticed is that I need about a 2" drop on the receiver to help the trailer level out.

I didn't try to pull it since I didn't have it tied down, but that may happen in a week or so just to see how it pulls with such a load.

Trailer is 18' and the 80 pretty much took up all the real estate.

I need to get the lights rewired and get new brakes on both axles. Also want to get the spare mount moved and get the truck box mounted on the front rail.

I need to get some axle straps so I can strap it down and take it around the block a few times.

Maybe this week...

 

[Elbert]

I would take the loaded rig for a few test runs , to include some extended hwy time and some long hills at speed to see how things go, better to learn what works and does not work before you are trying to make a ride somewhere. Took me a few times to find the sweet spot on the trailer to see where the loaded truck rides best, and I made a few changes on tie-downs too. Axle straps on the front and rear have been my strategy and that has worked well for me (primary pull down is a ratchet strap), and I also have a safety chain on the front and rear in case something breaks, hopefully which would allow me to get safely stopped if I had to. I would like to reduce the angle of the tie-down straps (relative to the deck of the trailer) but to some degree you have to work with what you have, the extended angle of the tie down straps in my view reduces the applied force that the straps can apply to keeping the loaded truck to the deck of the trailer. I'm sure there are better technical terms to describe what I'm saying. in my case I feel I'm good on the front of the loaded truck but I'm not so happy with the angle of the straps on the rear axle (pull down angle).

So far things have worked well, I've noticed some minor movement of the loaded truck on my trailer (the rear of the loaded truck), but that's maybe an inch or two, even with the straps super-tight. I also tighten them down a 2nd time after a little bit of trip time to adjust for settling of the loaded truck, anyway....never had anything come loose or go down the hwy by "itself" so far

Lately I've been looking at the safety chain setup my trailer came with......while its there, I'm not impressed with it, and likely I'll make some changes to ensure all things are safe. Appears some folks are liberal in what one calls a safety chain and the components as to how they are rated. (both the safety chains I'm using and the safety chains that came with the trailer with respect to the tongue).

 

[jynx]

Well, looks like we about to get into the big block a little. Drove 'im to church this morning and when we came out found he was peeing in the parking lot... Luckily we live a mile from church. Got home and after lunch crawled around underneath for a bit and think I chased it back to the water pump. So now thinking I am going to pick up some belts and hoses and maybe a new radiator along with the water pump and just give the cooling system a general once over.

I also just had to patch up a hole in the t-case. Turns out either the PO ran over something, or the more likely scenario, the shop that rebuilt the trans dropped the case. Either way, small place on the front case half was leaking. Drained, cleaned, scuffed and JB welded it up. Not in a high stress area, just need it to hold the fluid. Anyway, now I am keeping my eyes out for a BW4407 case to put on the shelf to swap in down the road.

So no towing practice for a bit, but another project to put on the list.

 

[jynx]

Well I ordered this before the water pump laid down, but my Chassis Unlimited rear diff cover arrived today.

They definitely don't skimp. These things are serious heavy duty. I will get one for the D60 once I get it home and start rebuilding it. Just need to get it painted and bolted on.

 

[jynx]

New MotorCraft pump and thermostat are on the way. Got an OSC radiator and a thermostat housing just in case. Should be in Friday, so I may start tearing it down tomorrow or Friday if the grey ever blows out of here.

I will pick up belts and hoses from NAPA and I need to get a pump backing plate from Summit just as good measure. From what I am reading, fingers crossed that I can get the pump bolts out without breaking any off, otherwise I will be going deeper than I really wanted to.

 

[jynx]

Well the old hands took a beating today. Getting the water pump off of one of these motors is a major pain. Pulled the radiator, fan and shroud out so I could get at the hoses and belts. Once I got all that stripped then I had to figure out how to get the pump out. So on this motor there is a big aluminum bracket on the right that holds the PS pump and the AC compressor that has to be unbolted and moved off to the side, then on the left side the alternator removed and then the aluminum bracket it and the air pump mounts to needs to be unbolted and pushed off to the side so that all the pump bolts are accessible. Got all the way to there and started loosening the pump bolts and that's when things went sideways...

First off the top 3 bolts were barely snug and one wasn't even finger tight, which I think may have been the root of the leaking, but wait it got better. 10 of the 11 bolts came loose with little effort, bit that last bolt, well it is still in the block, less its head and about a half inch of his neck.

On the left you can see the alternator bracket that I bolted back up so it wasnt hanging there over night. The broken bolt is right behind the cover. And d@mn did it cause a problem. Even after I got all the others out, that one was seized into the pump body. It took a lot of fighting and prying but I finally got it off.

So the front end is stripped and ready for some cleaning and the parts I ordered came in on Friday (radiator, pump and thermostat) so I will be prepping this week for new parts and I will hunting some new bolts, belts and hoses along with other misc bits to get things back together.

And the offender...

I believe it was past time judging from the look of things.

And I had a little helper checking on my progress periodically this afternoon.

The biggest hurdle is going to be getting that broken bolt out. Going to put the heat to it, going to try some MAPP since I dont have a torch set, then break out the MIG and try welding a nut on to see if that frees it up. If that doesnt work, then the sad reality is that the timing cover has to come off to get to the front of the block

Oh well. Just another brick in the wall as they say.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Good luck bro. Been there a few times myself just be patient and you'll get it out.

 

[Elbert]

good investment with cooling improvements now rather than find out on the road. Is the fan clutch new and cooling fan/shroud in good shape.

Those brackets are painful...but for a while its seems everyone builds things where it takes a long time to get down to the actual engine.

 

[jynx]

We've been on the road and/or had family in the last forever weeks it seems. Came home early this weekend to have a few minutes for ourselves today. I have a boatload of things that need doing, but I needed something that I could get done so I could have a little sense of accomplishment, so I painted the diff cover I got for Bumble this afternoon.

Nothing special, but it is something.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

I am waiting to see if the bolt eventually comes out. I figure its been a month, you could have sprayed it every day with PB.

 

[jynx]

Yeah, I'm going to fire up the miller on Saturday and see if I can't get a nut welded on. Between the heat and soaking, hoping it will come on out without too much fuss.

 

[jynx]

Dang, I've been slacking something awful... The water pump is still not fixed, the timing cover and other misc front of the engine stuff is still right where I left it. Rain, sickness or travel mostly, but part of it is just plain slacking... Well time to get on with it, truck has sat too long.

I got a 60 that I will be rebuilding as time and funds allow. Not in any hurry, but I was able to get one for a good deal and I snatched it up. It is currently at Rogers and I need to go get it one weekend when I have a free afternoon.

Other than that, small victories. I pulled the rear driver's side door panel to see what was up with the locks, well I'm pretty sure the actuator froze up and somebody just unhooked the manual locks to make sure it didn't get locked because they didn't have a door key. Well I fished around and found this little dude today.

That is the popper. I reached in and unhooked the electric actuator and reconnected the manual linkage, so now just need to get some pulls and we will be in business. So then just pull the passenger side and do the same and "hot Damn" I will have a lockable truck.

I also piddled with the diff cover and did a little detail work on it.

So now that I've had a 2 month break, and it is now winter, now I will get back to work.

Oh and because it is Christmas, Merry Christmas from my budding gear head...

She drives like her dad, 15 minutes and she already hit a parked car and broke the plastic bumper cover on the front... luckily it was the sami and it didnt even flinch.

 

[jynx]

Well the Bumble has had an exhaust leak on the passenger side since I got it. Has at least one broken stud on that side and you can feel air blowing around the manifold to collector connection on that side, so while hunting for deals before Christmas I found a really good deal on a set of Thorley Headers and today they arrived straight from Cali.

I have been eyeing them for some time, so now once I get a little warm spell (read above freezing at this point) I will be back at the water pump and will throw these one while I'm in there.

 

[jynx]

Well I still haven't gotten the water pump squared away. The rain hasn't let up the last 3 weekends so I haven't been able to get under the hood, but once it does break I should be ready to get after it.

Erin and I got tired of just sitting in the house so we made a ramble day and headed out to @DSLTOY's to pick up the D60 front that rode home from Cruiser Crawl with him last fall.

Not in a hurry, but I will be slowly rebuilding it and getting everything to do a swap at some point down the line. I have the outerss in the garage. D@mn these things are seriously beefy, and heavy. Will be using the tractor to move this thing around.

 

[jynx]

I think I got my last package from Summit today.

Gonna change the oil in the VW tomorrow then dig back into the Ford since it is supposed to be nice this weekend, Finally!

 

[jynx]

Well I got the oil changed in the VW and then it was time to get after it.

I tried the propane torch first and a pair of vice-grips... Well that went about as expected, so after that it was Miller-time.

Welded a 9/16 nut on the exposed shank. That got it cherry red, let the color go away then hit it with some wd-40 rusty bolt stuff and watched the smoke boil. Socket on a 1/2" ratchet and slowly started working it. At first I thought I saw signs that it was going to snap, but ever so slowly it started to turn. Look at the gunk coming out as it started backing out.

And then I was able to wiggle it free with some pliers.

This hole is into the water jacket which is what made it such a pain. Water started running out as soon as it was clear of the hole.

And the offender.

It was bent from prying the old water pump off.

Anyway, with that one out I went ahead and unbolted the remaining 4 front bolts and the 3 that went into the oil pan flange. And then it was on to the next surprise....

 

[jynx]

I was worried about the crank bolt not coming out, but thankfully my 18v impact broke it loose with little effort. With it out I hunted around for something to pull the balancer. Lucky for me my steering wheel puller also doubles as a balancer puller, who knew

Then I had to drive out the keyway key so I could pull the external balancer-spacer

With that off I broke the cover loose and started working it off only to find that the oil cooler was keeping it from coming off cleanly. I wiggled and twisted to no avail so that SOB had to come off next.

So with that out of the way the cover came off and it was time to start scraping. Got the mating surface all cleaned up and put on the new Cloyes timing set. It is adjustable, up the 8° advance or retard, but I aint that far along, so it went on straight up.

And that is where I left it for the day. I need to run to town for some gasket spray, some hoses, maybe a speedi-sleeve for the spacer and a new o-ring for the oil cooler so I can get started in the other direction tomorrow.

Hopefully things will go back together a little easier than they came apart.

 

[jynx]

Well today was not quite as productive as I had hopes, but I did make progress. I was leas than motivated since my chest is seriously bruised from laying on the core support for 6 hours yesterday, but I did finally make it outside. Started by putting a coat of paint on the bare iron water pump and then started cleaning small parts up for the install. WhIle the paint was drying I went to drive the new crank seal into the cover and that is where things went sideways. I could not for the life of me get the seal to start. Kind of thinking it was a bad seal. Anyway after about an hour, on and off, of messing with it I decided to run to the parts store and get another seal. So back home with the new seal and some hoses I came. I started in on the new one and was able to get it in and seated. So on to gaskets and working on getting the timing cover on.

So whoever designed this whole gasket setup needs to be shot. The rounded piece for under the crank is ridiculous to get in without it moving. In retrospect, I should have attached the gasket to the block instead of the cover, but you live and learn. After much fiddling I was able to get everything lined up and get the bolts started. I put the water pump on temporarily to be able to tighten down the upper half of the cover on the gasket. Then I put in the cleaned and painted balancer spacer to check the cover to make sure it was centered on the snout.

So today was progress, but I didnt get quite as far along as I had hopes to.

Bottom side

Top side

And then onto step 6 while I put my tools away.

So I picked up my hoses today and I have belts, a tensioner and some o-rings on order which should be here by the end of the week. So maybe I can get the pump on this week and be ready to start getting the hoses and accessories back on this week.

Will be doing an oil change before start-up and then probably again shortly after since I know a lot of misc gunk fell in while I was scraping the old gasket off.

So the to-do is left as:

• Get the water pump permanently installed.
• Reinstall the oil cooler
• New hoses
• Install new radiator and thermostat
• Belts and new tensioner
• Oil change
• Coolant top off
• Test fire and run to check for leaks
• Change oil again after test drive

Once I am sure we are good on the water pump and timing front, then I need to replace the plugs, wires, rotor and cap and then onto the header install.

Getting there, one bite at a time.

 

[Bama4door]

Dang good work this weekend Matthew!