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Jeff Balazs

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Everything posted by Jeff Balazs

  1. Brad; As far as steering adjustments go you should expect to have to adjust it after a bit of a break in period. It is no big deal. I have put at least 25K miles on mine and I typically adjust it about every year and a half. Very small adjustments. I did not have to rebuild my steering gearbox. But I do keep it topped up with Mobil 1 synthetic axle grease instead of "lighter" grease. No leaks and it works just fine. One thing that definitely makes a difference on the steering with these trucks is keeping the tire pressure correct for the tires you are using. FWIW I know a lot of folks like the look of the mechanical fuel pumps on these trucks. Personally I think they are a potential problem waiting to happen. One of two things can happen when they do fail. The least significant is you can stall in traffic. The bigger problem that can rear it's ugly head is if the pump leaks internally and dilutes the oil in the crankcase. And I might add that usually when this happens the engine still gets enough fuel to continue running. I blanked my mount off and run a full time electric fuel pump to eliminate this from happening. If one was concerned about the looks of this one could go ahead and mount a pump and dummy up the fuel lines...... Jeff
  2. Hi Tom; Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Here is a photo of the linkage on my DTG1. Please excuse the dirt....but it is a daily driver. Hth and let me know if you need something else. Jeff
  3. Hey Tom; I will look through my stuff they weekend. I may even have an extra kit for the dashpot....if memory serves? I have the one on my truck in functioning condition. Not sure it is absolutely required but since I have it I set it to work. I should be able to get decent pictures as well. One thing I will say is that once these carbs are properly clean and adjusted they work very well. Jeff
  4. Good luck with this. I am certain that several of us will chime in to help you with questions. A couple of comments I would like to add. If you are going to do this make sure you get the parking brake to work correctly. using a block of wood etc....is not a real world solution. It is true that having the FD does make for a nice driving experience. It will lug down to next to nothing in 3rd and accelerate without a shudder. Not quickly but it will do it. It is also nice when taking off from a stop on a hill. You will however need to keep track of all the component lengths when putting something like this together. And have a FD that has not been damaged by incorrect handling when it was taken off the donor vehicle. Hth, Jeff
  5. When I have had situations like this involving nightmare wiring I have found that it is simply better to tear it out and start from scratch. Wiring one of these trucks is a pretty simple job. There is plenty of info on this site. Spend some time planning it out and it will be pretty painless. When you do this you will end up knowing and understanding the entire system. You can easily switch it over to negative ground during the process. Jeff
  6. I put a 2002 Grand Cherokee rear axle with 12" discs on the rear and a rustyhope disc kit on the front of my 3/4 ton B series. No booster needed. In more than 25,000 miles I have not had to touch the braking system. If you are going to drive the truck much in traffic this mod is a real confidence booster. Jeff
  7. After trying a few different plugs I settled in on using NGK BR6S plugs in my truck along with a set of Belden resistor type wires. I found the NGK plugs to burn the cleanest of those that I tried. They run a perfect medium tan color in my truck. All the others showed sooty black grey. I have always found that NGK has an optimum plug for just about anything. As I mentioned earlier getting the carburation just right took more effort than setting up the ignition system. My truck has FD and came with B & B equipped with a dashpot. No matter what I did with the original Carb I couldn't get it to run right. I lucked upon a NOS B & B on Ebay that was better but took several attempts to get it set just right. Now that it is right as it should be I help keep it that way with two modern sealed fuel filters in the system. And regular doses of MMO in the fuel tank. I don't care what anybody says about MMO the stuff works great as a fuel additive. Hth. Jeff
  8. I can only say what I said before ........ these engine are in general in a very soft state of tune. Typical side valve characteristics. When I first got my truck running I played around with the spark gap. Going from .035" to .045" made absolutely no difference in the way the truck ran. My Pertronix set up was...... and still is working flawlessly. I had far more issues in getting the carburation working properly. Once I got that corrected my truck has been a joy to use. Never any issues starting right up and running properly. I have used it as my every day driver for the past 6 years. And that is what it is all about. Jeff
  9. My truck has a fluid drive 4 speed. It was original to the truck so I kept it. It works just fine but there is more to it than a standard type clutch and transmission. Yes it is a bit easier to drive in heavy traffic.....but I wouldn't fit one to a non FD truck without very good reason. And yes the parking brake is an absolute. Jeff
  10. These engines are in a very soft state of tune for the most part. It does not take a super hot spark to keep them happy. The real benefit of using a module like this is fewer moving parts... avoiding sub par points and condensers...and the inside of the distributor cap and rotor stay much cleaner. This is why I converted mine.....and it never fails to start and run right. Day in...day out. Jeff
  11. Between the cab mounts and the front and rear engine mounts there is a fair amount of fine tuning that can be done. I had mine apart for over a year and ran into stuff like this. I found that a "little here and a little there" methodology worked well to correct things like this. Jeff
  12. I get it and I think what Plymouthy suggests would solve the "look" thing. I am a reliability kind of guy and I make most of my decisions based on what I think is going to give me the most. I don't do car shows or even open the hood for just about anyone. It is just the way I am. I have made several mods like this to my truck and all I can say is that for the most part they have made the driving experience better.
  13. If it was mine I would get the matched coil from Pertronix. I have this set up in my daily driver and couldn't be happier with the way it performs. If you take the time to do all this correctly I think you will find that it is a solid investment. Jeff
  14. I had to make the same sort of modification to my distributor when I decided to put a pertronix module in my truck. It bothered me at the time. But it has not bothered me since. ? I have been using my truck daily for 6 years now......and this unit has been flawless. No way am I ever going back to P & C........ Jeff
  15. Hi Ed; I like what you did there. I may do something similar with the rustic walnut I used for my bed. It lives outside all of the time and the water based poly I used has almost entirely lifted. I will probably tackle it sometime this fall.....but I don't want to disassemble it. Just clean up stain and then oil. Jeff
  16. This is just a suggestion. Have you had these tires and wheels spun balanced recently. Might be worth a look see to see if anything is amiss with them. Jeff
  17. Not absolutely positive but it seems to me that there might be a difference between the early cabs and the later cabs as far as wiper linkage goes? Seems to me I remember something about the later (52/53) wiper linkage not being a direct fit on an earlier cab. I know I asked some questions about the set I bought off ebay before pulling the trigger. Jeff
  18. If I remember correctly there was someone on this site that converted from factory vacuum to factory electric wipers without too much fuss. It was maybe 5 or 6 years back if you do a search. I bought a complete working spare set off ebay back around then for a $125. Jeff
  19. 3.73 ratio is probably optimum. You could pretty much get there if you fitted the 3.90 and a set of taller tires. I have a 3.55 in my 3/4 ton with a slightly later 230 in it. If I was building another I would most likely go for the 3.73. There are trade offs with all of this but some fine tuning can be done using different tire diameters. Just something to consider. Jeff
  20. I have a set of Belden Premium 7mm on my truck. I also fitted the Pertronix module and matched coil when I was building my truck. All of this is over 6 years old now and driven daily. I have had no problems at all with any of this. Honestly it has all been pretty much fit and forget. I have not had to touch any of it. One side benefit of the module that does not seem to get discussed is that the inside of the distributor cap ends up staying much cleaner than it would with conventional points. Hth, Jeff
  21. Hey Wally; Here is to smooth sailing with the rest of it! And btw the only pictures I want to see is of the old truck back at work. ? Jeff
  22. Fwiw I wouldn't even try making a stock frame 1 ton Pilothouse a freeway flyer here in SoCal. I don't think you could get the ride quality you are after out of the larger Pilothouse let alone a relatively stock Power Wagon chassis. I drive my very nice riding 3/4 ton Pilothouse on the Freeway from time to time.......but there are some stretch's that you need to be able to get up into the 80's to merge safely and quite frankly it is not at all fun. Or all that safe. This just my opinion........but I drive my truck every day in our traffic so I think I do have useful insight. I love the way the Power Wagons look btw. I just know a stock chassis one is not going to get much use in the LA area. Jeff
  23. I think you have a valve stuck open. That is a pretty common thing with these engines if they have been sitting. Should be pretty easy to check with the inspection cover off. Might even be able to get it to loosen up without taking the head off........? Jeff
  24. There are frame drawings available for each size truck. The frames are different for each jump in size.....so the frame on a half ton is actually different than a 3/4 ton and so on. Some items will swap over and others do not. I would suggest getting a manual and Don Bunns Pilothouse book......they will help you determine what model you are actually looking at. Hth, Jeff
  25. Hang tough man! I for one have missed watching the progress on your truck. Jeff
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