36 Ford truck on Ranger

MercuryMac said:

I have broken one of my rules of fixing.
I fixed two things in the same system without test driving them separately.
Diagnosis is one of the skills of fixing, and you can't learn much about diagnosing if you do shotgun fixing [fixing everything related to the problem]. You probably have fixed the problem but you don't know what the actual problem was, so you still can't fix it next time it happens. I have some diagnostic skills, but want to gain more in my memory library.
Anyhow, I was disappointed in my power steering all along so I changed the rag joint out to a U-joint, and, I changed the high pressure hose to the steering box, as it looked like it had been crushed and I thought maybe the inner lining was blocking the oil flow a bit. If I've fixed the problem I won't know which fix worked.

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If you've fixed the problem it doesn't matter which fix worked

If you have my phobias, Snopro, it does matter. I want to know exactly what went wrong and what fixed it, so next time it'll go quicker and easier, fixing. I just got thinking that, this thought pattern may stem from a lifetime of trucking out in the bush, oilfield or log haul. When you break down on the job, you are usually alone, it might be cold and dark, you only have a few hand tools with you, and you're a long way from civilization, so you want to understand what is happening and how to fix it.
Anyhow, both of my steering column fixes didn't help much, as my steering went from Armstrong-like power steering to marginally better, poor power steering.
My gauges responded exactly the same way, even though I put a higher Ohms resistor in the line. Time for a new plan.
I tipped the rear-end up 4 degrees and that helped the fine vibration a lot, but my test drive did not include any major high-way.

Yeah but all that thinking makes your head hurt sometimes.

You can sleep better now Mac knowing the neither of your fixes worked.
I agree with you on your thoughts about diagnosing(sp) problems. Back in my dealership days we called guys that did multiple things to fix something R and R mechanics.(Rip off and replace). Too many of them out there now as well.
Torchie.

Torchie said:

You can sleep better now Mac knowing the neither of your fixes worked.
I agree with you on your thoughts about diagnosing(sp) problems. Back in my dealership days we called guys that did multiple things to fix something R and R mechanics.(Rip off and replace). Too many of them out there now as well.
Torchie.

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I do agree, though sometimes it's just worth it to change a couple things at once to get your ride back on the road faster!

I was just trying to bug ya Mac

Not a problem Snopro, as I took it lightheartedly; you just got me started thinking of why I am like I am. You must have triggered an 'off on a tangent' moment.
Torchie, yes, diagnosis is important to me. It speeds up the fixing most of the time, but as Snopro says sometimes you should do the shotgun fixing and get on with the rest of your life. What tells you which you should do; diagnosing and single fix, or multiple fixing? Idon'o.
POPS, diagnosing doesn't hurt so much as making stupid mistakes does, for me at least.

My in-laws invited us out to a Chinese restaurant last night for my birthday. I wanted to show off so we took the '36 in to town. As we rolled up to the restaurant door the truck quit and would not start again. We pushed it into a parking spot and went in to enjoy our supper. After supper, it still had not healed up and wouldn't start yet. I was standing there in my good clothes, with no tools, cursing under my breath. The in-laws took us home and I unloaded two tractors off of the trailer and headed back into town, with some tools and another coil. I put the new coil in and ran a 12v wire from the solenoid to the coil and it started up and ran nicely so I drove it up onto the trailer, all the while the Chinese couple that owned the joint were out there asking questions and pointing and saying Wow in Chinese, [they haven't had that much fun in years], and then came home. Today I test-drove the new coil without the 12v hot wire and it went well.
So, then I found an adjustable resistor and set it to 12.2 Ohms and wired it into the gauge leads. This fix has not been tested adequately, but shows promise.
Picture one shows the adjustable resistor.
My passenger door didn't open too far for me but it turns out other people can get it to open far enough to hit the front fender, so I shortened the safety strap 1/4" and that did the trick. Picture 2 shows the gap between the door and fender now; see the white scrape marks 2" in front of my fingers, that's where the door used to touch the fender.

I have test driven my gauge resistance, changed it and test drove it again. At 17.4 Ohms resistance the temperature gauge reads a little low but I'm leaving it there. The gas gauge doesn't read right yet, but I fiddled with it quite a bit before I put it in the dash so I probably skewed it badly, and maybe permanently. I'll adjust it some other time when I get a lot of time.
A couple of days ago, in town, I started up the truck and the throw out bearing started to squeal again. Back in the shop, I took the tin pan off the bottom of the clutch and by bending my hand unnaturally and painfully I could spin the throw out bearing but couldn't see it. It squealed just spinning it, so I started taking the transmission out again, cursing slightly. After the transmission was out I started sleuthing out the real problem, [I did not feel that the two throw out bearings should go out in that short of time]. I made a mock up, transmission input shaft retainer, to slide the throw out bearing on and found that one of the clutch fingers adjustment screws was set 1/8" higher than the rest and that would probably cock the throw out bearing every time you applied the clutch. This also stayed in contact with the throw out bearing most of the time. The squealing came from the adjustment screw touching the bearing quite a bit.
In the picture the adjustment screw that you see, that's worn down a lot is the culprit, but I can't turn it in or out. Tomorrow I'll come up with some way to fix it......I hope.

Just working the bugs out Mac.
Keep at it.[P
Torchie.

I, either bent a clutch release finger or I didn't see that it was bent when I put the clutch in both times, so it's embarrassing which ever way you look at it. [Picture 1]
After checking around in town for a clutch and getting a good humoured 'good luck' answer, I came home to look through my inventory. I naively looked for, and found two Ford flathead clutches to put in my unit to replace the bent and worn funny one. Guess what, '50 Ford 8BA clutches are not the same size as '47 59A ones or '53 Mercury 8BA clutches. I found the right one, a '53 Mercury 8BA, got it off the old motor and here it is in the '36 truck. [Pic 2] Oh and there's a new throw-out bearing in there, too.
After quite a lot of cursing and putting the transmission back on the jack again I've got it pretty close now, and some long bolts started in. [Picture 3].
As far as 'working the bugs out', goes, Torchie, I'm sick and tired of that.

I'll tell you this, it doesn't matter how many bugs you have, or how many times it took you to see the bug. The reality is, in the end you have the skills to fix/kill the bug and move forward.

Don't be kicking yourself too much, you have a great ride!

Stay strong my Canadian Brother.
Some days I'm sick and tired of most everything.
Keep on keeping on.......
Torchie.

Dirtyrat and Torchie, thanks for the kind words of emotional support. It's toning down my fixing/building arrogance and building more humility that's gobbling up my energy.
I'm going to try to be ready for supper at A&W tonight, with a hotrod.

Boy O boy, life keeps happening to me. We're haying now and that's going quite well. I got to go and move a derelict Massey-Harris combine and tractor for a guy, and then on the way home I loaded up another really old Massey-Harris tractor and brought it home for a friend. After unloading that tractor we loaded up another one for me. Then a lady I know phoned and said she heard I really liked a car that was on some estate land she had to clean up. We met there and I looked the old car over and nodded. It's a 1946 Dodge five window coupe in reasonable shape. [pics one and two].
I also got a little work done on my '36 as I have a big car show to attend on this week-end; Dawson Creek, Mile Zero of the Alaska highway. I have the gearshift back in and the floor together with the floormat on [pics three and four]. Underneath, I have the driveshaft hooked up again, the transmission in and secure, the transmission crossmember in and the exhaust pipes bolted up.

Cool lookin' 46, man they just keep on following you home dont they MM.

-Chris

My wife doesn't word it like you do 3b. Thanks. I sure like the lines, especially the rear roof to trunk swoop.
I got a lot of fixing in today, just not on a hotrod. The upper rad tank blew out on the bale stacker and the baler quit tying on one side. Got them both going again tonight and crawled under the '36 again. A really horrible crossmember that's under the clutch and holds the radius arm bushings is now back in but not tightened up yet.

You're a busy man MM
I like the Coupe!!!!!!!!!

Thanks OI.
I finished putting the '36 together and went to A&W last night for a test drive. I will be taking it to Dawson Creek to the show.

MercuryMac said:

Thanks OI.
I finished putting the '36 together and went to A&W last night for a test drive. I will be taking it to Dawson Creek to the show.

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Post some pics of the show.
Torchie.

MercuryMac said:

Thanks OI.
I finished putting the '36 together and went to A&W last night for a test drive. I will be taking it to Dawson Creek to the show.

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Nice X2 on the pics [P
Have yourself a grand time [cl