Sun will cause issues with any plastic type material over time. The box cover possibly saved your spray on lining.

My F150 has a drop in liner. I’m afraid to pull it for fear of finding rust. Good news is that it has almost always been garaged, so maybe there’s nothing to worry about.

In addition to my 2000 model I have a 1978, regular cab, short wide 4X4 that I bought new. I repainted it a couple of years ago and kind of wish I hadn’t done so because I’m afraid to park it anywhere for fear of it getting dinged up. I’ll try to remember to post a few pictures of my F150’s.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Pretty cool animation of the evolution of the Ford F series.



https://fordauthority.com/2016/02/image-shows-seven-decades-of-ford-f-series-in-fifteen-seconds/

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Behind every great man is a great woman. Behind every great woman is a great behind.

That is cool if a bit too fast moving .

I wonder if it can be used as an avatar ? .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

That animation is great!

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I saw the animation pop up in my FB feed the other day, and shared it. It's nice seeing how it morphed from what it once was, to what it became.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

There are two generations that are so much alike, that they had to make one a Supercab, and the other a regular cab, or you wouldn't have seen the change. The only exterior area that changed was the front end, but the body lines remained the same. 1987-1991 and 1992 to 1996 for the 150 and 97 for the 250. Even then, the Bull nose body parts will work, but the lines on the bottom won't match up.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

You should make that animation your avatar.

I had a few firsts happen this weekend...

1) Right rear brake would occasionally lock up, especially if road was wet. I finally got around to pulling those heavy rear tires off, pulled the drum, and a out 15 small pieces of metal fell out. Apparently the pin let go of the front shoe where the adjuster attaches, and sent debris in between the shoes and drum. Called our son in Cali, where he did the brakes 800 miles prior, and let him know. He got them at Autozone. I went to my 'Zone here in Ohio, gave them his phone number, and they agreed to swap out for new. These were the best Duralast shoes they have...not the crap ones. Since I'm friends with the manager, he let me swap the drums, too.
While there, i picked up new wheel cylinders, since the opposite side had developed a leak.

2) First time I've done a brake job where rust wasn't an issue. This truck could spoil me.



I ordered a BT OBDII plug and installed Torque Pro on my phone. I now have access to gages that I like watching while driving, such as oil temp, trans temp, etc...all on my phone. I can also read and clear any codes. For the $18 total investment, this gadget is pretty cool.

I removed the Midland 1001z CB our son put in, and replaced it with peaked and tuned Cobra Model 29LX...a Confederate model made in 1994 as a special buy. Picked it up at a local CB shop by trading a stock Uniden 78LTD and two used power mics. I ordered a 6 foot Firestik to replace the 4 footer mounted on the rear bumper...it isn't tall enough to clear the cab. It, along with a quick disconnect should be here this week, then I'll trim the antenna proper for the radio.

I still have yet to repair the 4X4...just need to run new vac lines for it, as the actuator is fine.

Sounds like you have a winner there, some fettling is normal .

Yes, if you grow up working on rusty vehicles , touching a California rig is a real eye opener ~ when first I arrived in Los Angeles in the Summer of 1969 I was flabbergasted to see so many pre WWII vehicles still doing yeoman duty .

It didn't take me long to pick up some wrenches and wow was I ever pleased .

Being a Mechanic anywhere but in the Desert essentially means you have TWO jobs : the weather and the actual repairs necessary .

A leaky wheel cylinder ? . simple here, else where first you have to beat the crap out of the drum to get it off (after snapping off two wheel studs) then when you try to use your top quality snug fitting flare nut wrench on the brake pipe, will it unscrew or simply snap off or twist to scrap the steel pipe ? .

Of course, there are Desert specific issues but apart from the hanta virus, they're easily dealt with .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

The last three times i had to break open a brake line connection, I ended up replacing the line because it twisted with the fitting. This truck is spoiling me.

Yes, I understand completely .

My '59 Ford F100 wasn't even ten years old yet the entire floor was gone and the bed was supported at the back end by a long bit of angle iron welded horizontally across the bottom of the bed and two 45 degree angles pieces up from the ends to the upper edges of the bed ~ this was S.O.P. for old trucks in the 1950's & 1960's .

Enjoy getting spoiled ! .

I was in a junkyard to - day looking at a 20 year old F150 in fine shape, even the paint looked good .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I was going to pick parts today, but the weather didnt cooperate. I need to look at the front axle of a 97-03 F series 4x4 to see what i may be missing on mine...

Yeah, me too but I spent decades working in the weather and now choose not to unless the car quits on me .

Keep us posted .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I spent the day working out the shorts and issues with the CB coax and wiring. When I installed the Cobra, I just tied into the existing wiring from the Midland. That was a mistake. The ground wasn't connected properly, so I had to add a new ground to the cab.

There was a short in the antenna, and after some time screwing around in the cool 50 weather with a stiff breeze, I figured it out. The mounting lug came with an insulator, and it should have come with two. The bottom of the pole was touching the sides of the mounting bracket hole. I ended up taping the lower section of the threads, the unused section, and adding a rubber washer from the prior CB u bracket, so it's properly isolated. I checked it with the multimeter, and all was well...until I introduced the existing coax...and the meter went nuts. I checked, and there were two sharp bends in the cable, breaking open the pole wire isolater inside the coax...so the old was ripped out and new put in it's place. I now have the same readings, withing .5, between channel 1 and 40. I'm heading to The CB Shop south of town in the morning to pick up a quick disconnect for the antenna, which will add height...and since the antenna is short, according to the SWR gauge, it should be good. I hope it increases height enough to give me some to trim to make it perfect. Between the quick disconnect, spring, and fiberglass whip, I'm looking at nearly 6.5 foot worth of antenna sticking up off the bumper.

It's going to be too cold and wet to go scrounging around in a junkyard for awhile, and since I have a daughter in PA having labor induced on the 17th, I'm just going to wait til I get back from PA to hunt...unless I can get her fiance interested enough to scrounge with me up there.

I'm just addressing small stuff now, until it warms up enough to sand and paint the upper half of the cab. I'm considering purchasing a paint gun and trying my hand at laying down the color myself. With the flash drying of today's paints, overspray shouldn't be an issue. And with buying one, I can stop the rattle can crap I've been doing on the wife's F250.

We'll see what the future holds

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles