My 1972 F250 project

Time for a little more work-with the new tires giving a smoother ride I found a couple of previously unfelt vibrations when traveling at 50+ mph . Time for 2 u joints on the rearmost drive shaft ( one of the three). After two attempts we got the correct parts and that vibration is gone - now good to travel at 60mph - except for the gas !
 
Time for a little more work-with the new tires giving a smoother ride I found a couple of previously unfelt vibrations when traveling at 50+ mph . Time for 2 u joints on the rearmost drive shaft ( one of the three). After two attempts we got the correct parts and that vibration is gone - now good to travel at 60mph - except for the gas !
Awesome news!! Sometimes you have to be able to go over 60. Lol
 
After the road test and warm up I gave the old beast it’s yearly oil change and found another project. The right hand exhaust manifold was leaking at the front cylinder. A look through the parts box that Dad had supplied provided a new gasket. Many thanks to Dad for using anti seize many years ago as all 8 bolts holding the manifold to the head came out as well as the crossover bolts. A quick clean up of the manifold and head surfaces - new manifold gasket and a trip to NAPA for a crossover pipe donut and It’s back together again.
 
Time for a winter project - last summer I noticed a noise from the clutch release bearing. Ran it as is for the rest of the season ,but time for some TLC.
Last week I moved the car and truck, exchanging work bays, got the seat out, floor mat out, trans panel out, then paying work took over and the project stopped.
Tonight I was sucussfull in pulling the trans, replacing the release bearing and getting the transmission bolted back in place. I’m lucky as the transfer case is remote mounted / known as “divorced transfer case” on this model. A short 1-1/2 ft shaft connects the transmission to the transfer case. With the shaft removed there was room to slide the transmission back while leaving it on the jack. Now to finish the job!
 
Well , nothing goes quite to plan. Replacing the noisy release bearing got rid of one noise. Originally when I had my foot on the clutch even lightly I had a slight squeal. That’s gone now but still have noise when clutch is fully released. Time to take the trans back out and this time drop the clutch and flywheel to replace the pilot bearing. The release bearing noise was covering up the pilot noise before. Well at least most of the bolts will come out well this time .
Round one goes to old truck - but the fight is not done yet !
 
Well , nothing goes quite to plan. Replacing the noisy release bearing got rid of one noise. Originally when I had my foot on the clutch even lightly I had a slight squeal. That’s gone now but still have noise when clutch is fully released. Time to take the trans back out and this time drop the clutch and flywheel to replace the pilot bearing. The release bearing noise was covering up the pilot noise before. Well at least most of the bolts will come out well this time .
Round one goes to old truck - but the fight is not done yet !
Oh no, that sucks Gerry.
 
I finally received the replacement for the pilot bearing, so it was time to pull the trans again. Because I had cleaned and lubed the bolts on reassembly last time all came apart well. I had to go a bit deeper this time , starter and bellhousing came out after dropping the exhaust for clearance. Clutch and pressure plate looked great. I didn’t have to take off the flywheel thanks to some tools that Dad gifted a few years ago. Replace the brass pilot bearing with a sealed ball bearing this time, cleaned up 50 years of dirt accumulation on the bell housing and then reassembled. Decided to replace the manifold flange gaskets (donuts) since I had the exhaust down . Trial start up equals no noises this time.

Now to the front of the engine where the distributor was stuck in the block making timing adjustments challenging at best. A couple of weeks of penetrating oil, application of vice grip chain pliers and a few light hammer blows and the distributor is now free without major rework. New points and condenser go in tomorrow and the “new to me timing light” will get to come out of the box and the time(ing) will be right.
 
I finally received the replacement for the pilot bearing, so it was time to pull the trans again. Because I had cleaned and lubed the bolts on reassembly last time all came apart well. I had to go a bit deeper this time , starter and bellhousing came out after dropping the exhaust for clearance. Clutch and pressure plate looked great. I didn’t have to take off the flywheel thanks to some tools that Dad gifted a few years ago. Replace the brass pilot bearing with a sealed ball bearing this time, cleaned up 50 years of dirt accumulation on the bell housing and then reassembled. Decided to replace the manifold flange gaskets (donuts) since I had the exhaust down . Trial start up equals no noises this time.

Now to the front of the engine where the distributor was stuck in the block making timing adjustments challenging at best. A couple of weeks of penetrating oil, application of vice grip chain pliers and a few light hammer blows and the distributor is now free without major rework. New points and condenser go in tomorrow and the “new to me timing light” will get to come out of the box and the time(ing) will be right.
Great job Gerry, and love the photos, she certainly looks great.
 
This weekends project was to upgrade the original alt. to something with more output at low speed so I could reinstall the electric fan system. Some web searching let to a Ford 3G parts list. A rebuilt alt was secured after
leaving money at Napa, and a trip to ”Kenny U-Pull “ for a replacement wiring harness from a much abused Mustang and the project was underway. Changing back to V belt drive required a bit of lathe time to make a spacer for the pulley and trim the retaining nut flange. I added a 175 amp maxi fuse to the new 4ga wiring as the original wiring would not be enough for the new 130 amp capability.
I hope to get the fan remounted and tested next week as I ran out of time this weekend, Who made the weekends so short?
 
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