1987 F150

Got the bed picked off, because none of the sending units or fuel pumps are working, so I can change them out, and lo and behold. The front tank, which the previous owner hasn't been using for a number of years? 17 gallons of what I can only describe as the consistency of sweet tea.

Yummy.

 

Had to do that with our 1989 F-250. When we got it, one tank had a working gas gauge and other tank had a working fuel pump.

 

Now I just gotta figure out why the brand new fuel pumps aren't doing the pumping thing =] I love doing diagnosis.

 

two things come to mind . granted my ranger is a 88
and has two fuel pumps
(1) fuel relay - easy check
(2) computer - tells pumps to RUN

now the old gas weed killer

 

yeah, already changed the fuel pump relay when I changed the fuel pumps (3 fuel pumps, in this case), just gotta start running through the wiring, and figure out why it's not kicking the fuel pump relay on. It's not hard, just tedious and time consuming.

 

I had a 5 gallon bucket of ooooold stinky gas here for a few years that came in the boat I bought for the trailer. I dumped it on the burn pile fire the other day, and it actually put the fire out.

 

grounding issue? I know when my '92 started acting up it was caused by the fact I had a lot of rust and bad grounds. It got to the point I finally gave up and scrapped the truck. I was chasing my tail for weeks and it was very frustrating. Good luck

 

It's the most likely issue, the EEC relay is the other one I haven't changed yet, luckily, I've owned a few of these OBD-I Fords, and I've got a whole bloody sack full of relays. Don't leave home without them.

 

I've heard others say the ground post up by the radiator can cause fuel pump issues. Not sure if true.

 

And she purrs like a kitten. Cleaned up the grounds, and the contacts on the EEC relay.

 

Stuck thermostat (opens up at about 220F) and the coolant looks like what I would generously call "Mud", so I've been out there for the last 30 minutes running a bottle of coolant flush through it....

 

So I already asked over at FTE, but haven't seen an answer yet, so I figured I'd ask you fine folks. This thing has a wire spliced into the 2-wire connector that hangs from the bottom of the dash, right below the glovebox. It's been a while since I've worked on one of these OBD-I Fords, but as I recall, that connector had something to do with testing the EEC. It seems to run fine whether the wire is connected or not, I just want to clean up the PO's hack job. Anybody recall what that connector is for?

 

Well, I certainly figured out the noise in the rear end. The pinion is only moving about 1/4" before it contacts the ring gear (so bearings are a yes.), the Drivers Side wheel bearing looks like it's lubricated with peanut butter (Wheel Bearings and Wheel Seals, yes.) and the 1 16" wheel that's on it, just happens to be what I *think* has to be a Dodge 5x5.5" Wheel, because it doesn't actually fit over the index on the axle shaft, so the drum wasn't tight.....

So yeah, I think I figured out what all the noises in the rear end were.

 

Pulling the bearing cones off of the diff carrier in this 8.8, and I just peed myself a little when the first one *sproinged* about 1/8" while I was cranking on it with the puller.

Fun Times.

 

You know, I'm about ready to take this 8.8 and toss it in the Bin, and go pull a 9" out of somethign up at pick n pull.

 

Nothing wrong with the 8.8, there's about 87,000,000 cars and truck driving around on that axle. Remember that any 9" you find will be almost 40 years old at the newest, so it may need some repair too.

 

Fully aware, I've just put together about a billion 9" third members over the years, and never had one be this bloody stubborn. This is the first 8.8 I've played with. I've done enough 10/12 bolts, 10.25 Sterlings, and Dana 44's over the years that it shouldn't be an issue.

So let me ask the technical question, because honestly, I'm baffled. And hopefully one of you guys will be helpful, as opposed to a couple other places I've asked.

So I tore it down because the pinion was loose. Got it pulled apart, none of the bearings or races were wiped out, no serious wear on any of them. The ring and pinion gear surfaces looked good, no pitting or weird wear, no sharp edges on any of the teeth, So I decided to just get a case install kit.

All the bearing mounting surfaces were in good shape, the Inner pinion cone was loose on the pinion, enough that I didn't have to do anything other than grab it with my hand and take it off.

Reinstalled the pinion, with fresh bearings and a new crush sleeve, got it all torqued down, and resulting in 21 in-lbs of rolling resistance (Spec is 16-28 in-lbs) So the pinion is good.

When I disassembled, I made sure to keep the bearing caps and spacers together, so they went back into the same positions. New cones installed and seated on the case, new races, load it up into the housing, tap the spacers back into the same position, install the bearing caps and torque them down to spec.

The backlash is so damn tight that I basically can't move the case in the housing. How is this possible? Did I not get the spacers tapped in enough and they're causing an alignment issue with the cones/cups on the case? There weren't any shims anywhere in the assembly when I pulled it apart, not on the case or the pinion. In the past, when re-running old gears, back in the same carrier, I've never needed to change the shim pack, at least not on initial setup to check gear pattern. Put the shims/spacers back into place with the new bearings, torque everything down, check your pattern, and more often than not, you're good to go.

What the hell am I doing wrong here? It's *possible* I got my side bearing spacers mixed up, and I'm gonna double check that, but I don't know what the heck else it could be.

 

Finally got it, I don't know if somebody else set it up wrong, or what, but I ended up having to go get a shim kit, and shim the thing .015" away from the pinion to get the right backlash and a good gear pattern. I think that's the first time I've ever had to do that, when reinstalling used gears back into the same housing they came out of.

 

Seems weird but I am thinking that the new inner pinion bearing/cone is "bigger" than the worn out one and pushed the pinion head deeper. Too late now but measuring against the originals would answer that.

 

Yeah, I have no idea. Near as I can tell, somebody else has been into this differential in the past, so I don't know what was done. Seems to be fine now, I got good backlash and pattern with the shims.