HG's Bigass Farm Truck

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Neat camper! You better hurry up, doesn't it start snowin' up there in like 10 days?

It's got a heater.

[hgs_notes]

Out with the old, in with the less old. I had these air shocks from my Jimmy. I only used them on that for a couple years to help lift the rear a bit to level it out. I had to change upper bushings to fit the larger stud mount. I just used the metal bushings from the old shocks and drilled the rubber so it would fit in the less old shocks.

Gotta hook up the air lines and try it out. The camper is in the kids truck this week so I have a couple inches of extra clearance for working underneath. Lol I drove it to town to run an errand and took it over the scale. It was 5580 lbs with me in it and about 30-40 lbs of tools and almost full tank. A few days before I weighed it with the camper on and everything else about the same and the camper adds about 2300 lbs.

Working underneath I noticed that the top helper springs were either cut or broken and probably would help with the leaning I had in a cross wind. Which is why I am using the air shocks. I might replace the helper springs but I'm undecided. Two reasons, first is that air bags would be a good upgrade for supporting heavy loads and 2nd, I was planning on lowering the truck a bit. Not a lot. I already have a shackle flip for the rear. And doing that might be a problem with the helper leafs.

[hgs_notes]

Also working on putting the interior back together. Just cleaning up and reusing the original stuff right now. The passenger side door panel looks good, has a crack on top but not really noticable. The driver side panel is rough and will need replaced eventually.

The dashboard is the next challenge. I can't remember where pieces go or if I even have everything.

I pumped up the air shocks and it lifted the rear about 3/8". I'm guessing it will be a stiffer ride empty. Going to try it out tomorrow.

[hgs_notes]

Wow, been longer than I thought since the last update. Not a lot changed. Had the camper back in it but didn't use it. Too much other stuff going on. I looked into getting airbags and I'm not sure that's the way to go or if I should just replace the leaf springs. I think one side is a little softer than the other because it started to lean a bit. I don't see any cracked leafs but that's not the only reason they sag. Got all winter to think about it.

I did look into tow mirrors and found that GM had used extendable mirrors on some trucks. I think it's on dually camper special trucks but I'm not sure. If anyone knows, speak up. And I think I found a set of those OEM mirrors on a parts truck south of me. But during my search I came across posts on the forum here about after market extendable mirrors. I don't think they still make them but one of the posts had a set and he was going to sell them. It was posted a year ago but I messaged him anyway and he still had them.

The ones he had were for the 88 and up trucks where the door mirrors are mounted where the wing window is and the tube had a tighter angle bend than the square body trucks. I figured I could straighten them out to the 90* angle I needed so I bought them. The tube is the same diameter. Got them mounted today and they look good and should work great when the camper is loaded.

I think my only plans for working on it this winter is getting new wheels and tires (I don't trust the old 16.5" tires and want to switch to 16"), figuring out what to do about the rear suspension and maybe do more rust repair, dash assembly, replace the transmission inner wire harness and bring it to the shop for some further ECU tuning.

[ba2345]

you have some great projects man

[daddyjeep]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Wow, been longer than I thought since the last update. Not a lot changed. Had the camper back in it but didn't use it. Too much other stuff going on. I looked into getting airbags and I'm not sure that's the way to go or if I should just replace the leaf springs. I think one side is a little softer than the other because it started to lean a bit. I don't see any cracked leafs but that's not the only reason they sag. Got all winter to think about it.

I did look into tow mirrors and found that GM had used extendable mirrors on some trucks. I think it's on dually camper special trucks but I'm not sure. If anyone knows, speak up. And I think I found a set of those OEM mirrors on a parts truck south of me. But during my search I came across posts on the forum here about after market extendable mirrors. I don't think they still make them but one of the posts had a set and he was going to sell them. It was posted a year ago but I messaged him anyway and he still had them.

The ones he had were for the 88 and up trucks where the door mirrors are mounted where the wing window is and the tube had a tighter angle bend than the square body trucks. I figured I could straighten them out to the 90* angle I needed so I bought them. The tube is the same diameter. Got them mounted today and they look good and should work great when the camper is loaded.

I think my only plans for working on it this winter is getting new wheels and tires (I don't trust the old 16.5" tires and want to switch to 16"), figuring out what to do about the rear suspension and maybe do more rust repair, dash assembly, replace the transmission inner wire harness and bring it to the shop for some further ECU tuning.

I need to find myself a set of those as well.

[hgs_notes]

Barely touched this truck through the winter. I started it a couple times and drove it on the driveway. It always started right up which is nice. Not a lot of big plans for it this summer. I need to replace the old tires. I really didn't trust them with the camper loaded up. They were not high load rated plus the age and weather checking. They are 16.5" also. Didn't want to stick with those. If there was a stock looking steel wheel in 17" I would have got them but I couldn't find what I wanted. Got a great deal on eBay for some OEM GM 16" wheels though. $57 shipped for powder coated wheels? Hell yeah!! They are blems which is why they are so cheap. They were delivered today and I'm happy with them. The blemishes are like areas where the coating isn't as thick as it should be, or Knicks, scratches, etc. Nothing terrible as far as I can see. After a couple years even great wheels would look like these.

Shopping for tires is fun isn't it? I want load range E or 10 ply and that seems to limit options. I want to keep to the stock size because I'm pretty happy with the gearing and the look. And the speedometer is really close too. Found a decent deal on new ones but spent several hours searching for used. Not finding any great deals there. So I'll put my tire order in here today.

The only other plans for this year is getting the rear helper springs replaced. Maybe all of the rear springs. Getting the dash reassembled. Body mounts replaced and the one rusty cab mount replaced. I have some new seats that I think will be more comfortable and have an arm rest. Going to add cup holders if it doesn't have them already. I'd like to get the holes filled from the snaps on the roof for the visor that it once had. And maybe replace the rear bumper with a nicer step bumper.

And maybe get some camping in!!

[hgs_notes]

New tires got here yesterday. Mounted and balanced and installed today. The old truck is looking pretty nice!

Also found a part number for the helper springs I need on my plow truck. For some reason they are listed online as a 89-91 spring so it didn't come up on my searches for the 79. Weird. Dormans catalog has it listed for all square bodies though. Found some on ebay for about $40 each, free shipping!

[hgs_notes]

Finally got a cloth sample for recovering some seats! Relocate leather had what I was looking for in stock. Going to make sure it will match with the vinyl I liked at my upholstery ladies shop and get some ordered. Can't wait for better seats! I haven't replaced the overload springs yet, been busy with the cobra and the C10. The engine and transmission swap in the C10 is almost done though so I might find time soon to turn a wrench on this one.

The second pic is a seat I'm looking to emulate. Really love the look and will be perfect for the interior of this truck.

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I received the houndstooth fabric and I think the upholsterer ordered the rawhide style of vinyl for the seats. I need to mount one though and make sure I can get the brackets on it.

Today I finally got the overload springs installed. IDK if I'll use the camper this year or not. I should load it just to try it again and see how it rides now. A pic of what was left of the original springs. No idea why they were cut. It's not a lowered truck where they would be in the way.

[hgs_notes]

I really haven't been using this truck much this summer. But today it got some miles, about 350 of them. I loaded up my sons motorcycle, 83 Kawasaki KZ750, which a friend of mine is buying. Before I hit the road I decided to swap in the Ford seat. I really didn't want 6 hours on the original seat. Just doesn't have much support. The new one has much more foam and fold down arm rest.

And since I was working on that I figured I had time to put some of the dash together. I've been driving it for over a year with just the gauge cluster held in with a couple screws. Now it almost looks complete!

Checked the fluids last night and the rear section of master cylinder was empty. Well not completely empty, there was sludge and rust in it. I wiped it out and added fluid. It's yucky but I have brakes yet. I don't know how but I do. There's a leak on the hydroboost that I need to take care of them the system needs a flush at a minimum. Everything needs inspected and evaluated though.

No problems on the trip north. The other reason for going up was to borrow his scaffolding for the roofing job I'm doing this week. On my way home I started having a problem with the engine stalling when I stopped. A couple times after re-start I couldn't give it any throttle without it acting like it was either flooding or starving for fuel. I solved the problem for the rest of the trip by shifting into neutral when I had to stop. No problem cruising along.

Right before heading home he asked if there were two posts on the front of the seat. There is, he went back in the garage and came back with a Ford factory cup holder that mounts on the posts!

[hgs_notes]

My new cup holder. And the problem with the truck isn't easy to figure out. Code reader says low voltage from the MAF sensor. It was new during the swap, so was the wire harness. Filter is good. MAF sensor wasn't really dirty but I cleaned it anyway. No signal.

I swapped the MAF sensor from my Yukon which I know is good and had the same low voltage code. I checked the signal in live mode and it was zero. Put it back in the Yukon and check the signal and it read normal. So I'm kinda stumped.

[hgs_notes]

Took the truck to a local shop that specializes in LS swaps. We checked continuity on the wires to the MAF sensor, which was good. Couldn't get any voltage at the plug, which was bad. Figured out that there's a fuse for the MAF sensor, O2 sensors that is powered through the brake switch. Weird setup. He thought it was a bad brake switch so after blowing several fuses I unplugged the wire from it. That stopped blowing fuses and the sensors were were working again. Great! But it's not starting worth a damn and it's running worse than ever. He was trying to update the tune on the engine and transmission, then it wouldn't start at all. So he flashed it back to what it was when I came in.

I had to leave for a bit and when I came back I was going to try a new brake switch. The other wire was stuck and I couldn't get it to pull out to connect to the new switch. So I loosened the column bolts and the stuck wire pulled free. It was SMASHED to where I could see copper through the insulation. Well I found the source of the short. I plugged the wires back into the old brake switch and no blown fuse and the sensors are still working.

The self learning has a long way to go. It's almost like the MAF is still off. Going to drive it as much as I can the next few days and probably replace the cam position sensor, he thinks that is the cause of the hard starting.

If it gets back to normal then I'll bring it back next week for the retune.

[hgs_notes]

The truck continued to run poorly and stalling randomly while cruising along. The only codes I got were cam position sensor, misfire, MAF high and low and oxygen sensor. Nothing consistently except maybe the cam position sensor. Even though I changed it to another used one and then a new one. It got worse the more I drove it. Eventually I checked the fuel pressure and found the problem, sort of. Only 8 psi, how did it even run? The pump was running, the regulator is good, changed the fuel filter. The whole fuel system was new and probably only a few thousand miles on it. A walbro pump that maybe is pushing fuel out of a bypass so it can't build pressure. I don't know for sure because I didn't pull the tank to check.

Instead I got the passenger side tank out of the shed, pulled the sending unit out and inspected it. Inside looked like new but the old sending unit doesn't really work for adding an in tank pump. Got a new 87 sending unit for EFI locally and used the brand new mustang fuel pump I just got but wasn't using. I figure a 98 mustang GT is probably similar power level as the LM7 so it should be adequate capacity. I was surprised that the plug for the 87 Chevy fit the one on the mustang pump.

Working in the parking lot at Schwanke engines for a couple hours I had the new/old tank installed and power and hoses hooked up. A few cycles of the pump and it started right up. It's really a shame that there isn't a fuel pressure sensor. Would have saved me a bunch of trouble trying to diagnose it.

I had the ECU flashed with a higher performance tune. He also shut off some little things like the gas cap trouble code. Another issue I've had is inconsistent shifting which could be associated with the painless harness only having a single VSS plug to the transmission. Which works for a 4L60 but the 4L80 has two. I bought the plug harness for the second VSS and showed me how to connect it into the ECU plug. Hopefully that helps.

Next I want to get the dual tank setup working again. I'll have to check out the other fuel pump of course.

[hgs_notes]

I get it running decent and then the brakes fail. Sheesh

I'm getting things done around the compound for winter, and wanted to make room in one of the sheds. Which meant moving the camper to a different place. I didn't get out and use it this year but I really wanted to see if the new helper springs would be useful. And I'm happy with the results. It's just touching the perch on one end now so with it loaded up I'll see a benefit for sure. Keep it from swaying around like a drunk sailor. It wasn't in the truck for long which is great since the brake pedal went to the floor the next day. Yikes

I already knew there was a leak between the master cylinder and the hydro boost. And the master cylinder is rusty inside. I ordered a rebuilt hydro boost for it but while looking up the master cylinder there's a couple options depending on the size of the rear brake shoes. When I got underneath to check I found a leak from the right rear drum. So I'll need to check that out too. Hopefully the drums are ok since they cost about $100 each plus shipping. I also have a slight pull to the right at the very start of braking so the fronts need inspected too.

[hgs_notes]

When the brakes failed I was also in the middle of changing employers and the weather took a turn for the worse. So I brought the truck to the local mechanic. He swapped in the new hydroboost, rebuilt the rear brakes and bled the system. It cost me a few hours of labor but it was time I just didn't have.

So it was running good again and the brakes are good. Then it was parked for the winter lol. I've started it a couple times.

I got my front seat in for reupholstery finally. She did a great job mimicking a Chevy bench seat from a ford with a completely different shape. But she covered over the fold down arm rest. I didn't see it until it was done. I really wanted that. Instead of scrapping the cover though we will just use it on the back seat that doesn't have the arm rest and make another cover for the front. I had planned on waiting awhile to do the back seat, money is getting spread a lot of ways right now between projects. Oh well, getting done now!

It's rawhide vinyl, not leather, so it's got some shine to it until it gets some usage. This is a driver, not a show truck. Doesn't mean I can't make it look decent though.

I ordered a dark brown loop carpet for the truck. I think it'll compliment the look and easier to hide dirt. I'm not a fan of the fawn carpet that is in it now.

[hgs_notes]

The seat upholstery is done and now I have a lot of work to do getting them in, with the new carpet. But I need to replace body mounts and one of the cab support braces that is a bit rusty. Three of the 4 rear seat bolts were broken off so I spent most of the afternoon drilling those out. The rear seat brackets need to be attached to the Ford seat. Got a Pic of the hastily assembled rear seat to get an idea how it would look. Not bad.

[hgs_notes]

Got the rusty cab support cut out. I left the nose of it in place, it was in good enough condition and it makes the repair much easier. The new support is cut to fit. Just need to drill some holes for plug welds and weld it in. I spent half an hour looking for the new cab mount bushings I bought over a year ago. So frustrating, too many projects going on.

Once this is done I can do the front carpet and seat. The rear seat is bolted down and done. Now I'm looking for seat belts because the plastic is crumbling on mine. Or look for better alternatives.

[hgs_notes]

Was getting ready to weld in the cab support, pulled up the carpet from the front and found MORE rust. Scattered spots, nothing big but several small holes and spots not far from going through. Mostly the driver side, the passenger side has a couple small holes. So as usual, the job got bigger and will take longer to finish.

I cut out the driver side rust and have the new pan roughed down to size. I started welding the cab support and it has a twist that I'm struggling to straighten out. I think the cab itself is twisted after cutting the floor and it's not being supported on the frame. Tomorrow I'll get the bushings in and set the cab back down and hopefully it'll straighten out and I can finish welding the support and get the floor patch in. The passenger side should be easier.

[hgs_notes]

Cab bushings installed and it's sitting back square. Finished welding the support in. Got the floor patch cut and fit but waiting until tomorrow to install it. Two reasons, it's supposed to be warmer so the adhesive will cure better and I need to go get adhesive lol. I'm out.

[hgs_notes]

Floor patches are glued in. Going to let them cure over night. Still need to plug weld the floor pan to the support and brace under it. There were a few small holes on the passenger side about the size of a dime that i glued some small patches onto. And some smaller ones i just filled with the adhesive. I'll spray something over it all or get some sound seadener. Just about done with the floor finally!

Still need to do the passenger side mount bushings. Always something else waiting to get done.

[hgs_notes]

Finished the floor repairs and got all the body bushings in. I cleaned it up and sprayed it black just to seal things up. I'm putting in some sound deadener next then finish putting the carpet in and finally bolt the seat down. Something I thought I would do a week ago.

Not really sure what else I'll do on this truck this summer. With my shelby cobra kit car getting close to being on the road I'm not sure how much time and money I can put into it. The next mechanical issue to fix is the rear gears. They are just wore out and howling on deceleration. There's more rust and body work to do. I'd like to find a nice step bumper. I'll have to get seat belts before I get a ticket. I need to do door glass felts. The rest of the interior will need some work, paint and repair panels, etc. Don't think I can afford to do the AC this summer. Very much a long term project.

[hgs_notes]

Put in my lumber yard sound deadening. Laid the carpet in and set the front seat in. The carpet is not glued in. With our weather still on the cool side of summer I'll wait until it gets warmer and things settle in better. Looking pretty good though. Anyone have some brown seat belts in good condition for sale? Message me.

[hgs_notes]

Picked up a new receiver hitch yesterday. Right now it just has a ball mounted on the bumper, which is rusty. I want to get a nice step bumper for it eventually. While sizing up how it will fit and see what's in the way, etc. I found a problem with the upper shock mount on the passenger side. I think I can fix it.

[hgs_notes]

Picked up a rear step bumper for cheap. It's a bit rough but not rusted through anywhere. Some dings and a little out of shape. Most of it I was able to hammer out and clean up. Didn't want to spend much because I'm cutting it up for some foot holds in the ends like the newer trucks have.