Blinker assembly on the f100

 Doing a dummy fit of the new indicator housing assembly on the new stone guard of the F100. Aftermarket parts being what they are, a perfect fit was never going to be on the cards. Bit in truth, these parts never really did fit that neat from the factory. To me, the indicator housings were always a bit of a "stick in on somewhere there and it will be fine" kinda thing from the factory. I managed to put them together on a dark and stormy day at home in the back room. Let me point out a few differences.

The part says 252-1956 but underneath says park light frame 55. Does that mean it is a 55 of 56? Does it really matter? Maybe not. Here is another curiosity. 

The unit on the left was what came with the truck in a box. Well, to be honest, it could have come off anything. The new one came in a box of new stuff that Garry purchased. See the difference in the frame surrounding the light? Interestingly, the holes in the original lined up with my new stone guard panel, whereas this new one did not. So I had to drill new holes to suit. Not a big deal. 

Another funny thing I noticed was one set of these blinker units had phillips head screws and the other had flat head screw. Maybe they ran out of one or the other during assembly? 

The old one's were a perfect fit into the panel. The new, not so.

You get a better idea of the difference in design here.

They came up well in the end. The panda was happy, anyway! 

Dunked the old ones in a tub of vinegar. I'll show you how the come out tomorrow.

Some historical photos from Goulburn NSW featuring old vehicles

 I was digging through some old archival photos at work the other week and found a few real gems that I wanted to share with everyone. Just something different from the usual post. You can't say things are predictable around here!

F100 November news

 Hot off the boat from the USA the MAR-K 1956 F100 tub is due to arrive at the depot today or tomorrow and with some luck it should be here by next week. Can't wait to see it and put the thing together! It has been a slower month this November and I haven't been hitting the truck quite as intensely as before. Mind you, a lot of the work has been done, and now there are just numerous "little things" to sort out.

Disappointingly, just discovered David McDog must have stolen my headlight buckets as well as my step plates for the truck. Incredibly, this low grade c*** still has a photo of my truck on his Facebook business website. I just cannot find them anywhere, and they were expensive items as well. Costing me over $300 for the pair. I don't know how scumbags like him sleep at night. 

I am going to spend more time on the blog page and less on YouTube videos as I tend to see these videos as pretentious and presumptuous and self indulgent. Let's face it, I just cannot compete with girls doing yoga stretches in skin tight shorts. Imagine me in a...no, no...we are NOT going there!  

So, I think I will just stick to the blog. Safer that way, and on the rare occasion I feel the urge to create a video, I'll let you know about it. 

A trick for young players with Jag front ends. All is not what it seems when it comes to tie rod ends. How do I know this? Trust me. The term "third time lucky" is very apt. 

The threaded rod end of the tie rod end has apparently more than one size. There appears to be two different sizes and stupid me, I ordered two of the same size thinking they were different. The third one I got right. I have the fatter rod and it takes part number JLM9726 

I picked the right ones up from Jagdaim on Ebay for around $35. 

Fortunately, I was able to return the old ones even though they had been sitting in my box for the past twelve months unbeknown that they would not fit. After a bit of grumbling, they accepted the returns.

On a related note, I was planning on hooking up the front stabiliser bar and unfortunately, the Nolathane bushings were way too large. I ended up using a hacksaw and gently trimmed them. 

When I went to fit them up discovered one of the shackle things was missing. That is a fairly common thing that happens around here, but try as I might, I couldm't find the rotten so and so thing. So the only thing left to do was cough up for a new set.  Unfortunately, the cost of these was very prohibitive for Jag ones, but being a clever dick (that is: all arse and no class) I lucked out and bought a set of D Mount Bushes + Brackets Kit for Landcruiser 78 79 Series 99~07. 

They fit absolutely perfectly. Even the fricken holes in the shackle line up. The rubber bushes are too big, as they are made for a heavier duty bar, but I had already bought a sexy red Nolathane kit that was perfect. so I will take that as a small win.

Replacing upper and lower XJ6 Jag ball joints...warts n' all.

 Ever have one of those times when if only you could have taken a step back with a job and said "yeah, nah, I'll get a mechanic to do that." Well, changing the front  upper and lower ball joints fits right into that category. Yesterday afternoon, in a fit of stupidity, I decided to have a go at replacing them. Armed with a few YouTube video's tucked underneath my arm, I felt confident of tackling the job with a minimum of fuss.

Well. YouTube video's sometimes don't show the warts and all of a project. They don't show what happens when things go awry, like they did here.

I was certain the removal of the upper ball joint was not a traumatic undertaking. I was led to believe the spring tension would not play a part in the removal of the joint. I was wrong.

Dead wrong. Well, I could have been dead if the spring had gotten free of its mooring, like it was wanting to do during the course of this activity. 

But, as young Willy said once "all's well that ends well" and today (after seven hours of wrestling with it) finally overcame the issues and fitted both ball joints up.

The issue I think was the truck had no weight, no engine and when the ball joint was separated the spring just went kapow and the whole lower section of the spring housing dropped about 30 cm almost spilling the spring free. What followed was several hours of figuring out how to get everything together again while at the same time not breaking anything.

The trolley jack was not big enough to raise the truck to a sufficient height, and when it did, the whole truck went with it. I tried putting wood blocks to raise the jack's height, but that didn't work. I tried spring compressing jacks but they were of no help, either as I couldn't get access to the springs with the ones I had. I decided to setup the engine crane and tried to raise the front end via chains through the lower shock absorber shackle, but that did not work as the angle of chains forced the hub in the wrong direction. It became problematic, too, as the chains were always trying their best to damage the brand new wheel hub. 

In the end, it was left up to the crane and the placement of the chain to the outer side of the same shackle allowing the free movement of the hub while I raised the crane and from there was able to feed the ball joint into the hub.

Mamma Mia! 

The old lower ball joint. Totally stuffed and definitely in need of replacing.

Unconventional, but it worked...seven hours later!