Another short miscelanious day.

I was holding off on hanging the left front fender until I sorted out the starting problem. While my daughter turned the key I was trying to troubleshoot. Suspected the park/neutral switch. Before crawling under the truck, I banged the start relay with a half inch wrench and it turned over. great lesson in shade-tree mechanics for my daughter. So, I went ahead and hung the fender. I buttoned up the rest of the dash, bled the brakes, filled the radiator, replaced the radiator overflow bottle to the stock location, and installed a seat. Tomorrow, I hope to get some fuel in it and run it for a bit. I still need to wire the brake/tail/liscence/back-up lights. It is another place where the 1992 meets the 1977.

Windshield Day

I started by cleaning up both sides of the flange with a wire cup brush in the 4" angle grinder. I followed that with a couple of coats of black Zero Rust spray paint. While the paint was curing, I scrubbed the old window rubber with a brass wire brush in a bucket of soapy water. In the past, I would have just purchased a new one, but they are now about $65. The old one did not seem brittle, so I figured it would work even if it was full of crud and had green moss on it. after it was scrubbed clean, I rescrubbed it with R-U Glide. R-U Glide is the rubber lube that they use when mounting and dismounting tires. As you can see, the rubber looks like new.

I started by pushing the rubber onto the flange all the way around the opening. You can see that I also dabbed some body sealer in the gaps above the cowel. I had forgoten to do it before. When it dries, I will paint over it to make it black. Eventually, it will be covered by the upper valence.
Next, I put the bottom of the windshield into the groove in the rubber and leaned the glass back against the frame.
Ordinarily I would have tucked a rope into the groove to help pull the rubber lip over the edge of the glass. Not having a rope of the correct thickness, I opted to use this tool. I think it is a tool used to loosen stuck hoses, but I am not sure. I saw it in the middle of an intersection and thought it would look better in my toolbox than sticking out of somebody's tire, so I stopped to pick it up. Working slowly and pressing inward on the window with my hand, I worked my way around the glass.

Working mostly with the tool this way to avoid poking through the rubber, I pushed the lip from the inside of the cab out. Occasionally, I would use it in the way depicted to pull the lip over the glass. Whenever it started feeling tight, I would hose it down with windex and it would slide right in place.

Eventuallu, The entire glass was in the groove in the rubber.
Once the glass is seated, the lock cord goes in. The lock cord fills the void that allows the rubber to flex enough to be forced over the glass. Using a rag, I liberaly doused the cord with R-U Glide. When it was dry, I could not force it into the slot. Once lubed, I was able to pop it in place with my fingers.
I worked it all the way around.

Just to the right (picture right) of the shine on the bottom of the windshield, you can see about 6" of the cord stiking up. This is the overlap. I am pretty sure that over time the cord, which was stretched during install, will relax. If I cut it to fit now, it may leave a gap later. I will give it a few days, then I will trim it.

Somewhat random day.

I didn't get out to the shop until early afternoon today. The first thing I did was hang the driver's inner-fender. I had been holding off on the engine bay wiring until this was in place. I left the bolts loose so that I can jockey it around to line up the hood and fenders. I also reinstalled the key lock and start switch. I had taken them out to get a key made. $25 later, I now have a key to unlock the column and some day start the dumb thing.
Next, I focussed my attention to the wiring. I ran the main bundle along the top of the firewall. I then mounted the voltage regulator to the firewall and plugged the harness into it. I also attached the ground.
Then I hooked up the grid heaters. The grid heaters are acuated by solenoids on the driver's inner-fender. When the key is turned, the heaters heat in order to assist start-up. From what I understand the computer times the heat cycle and shuts them off after a few seconds when the "Wait to start" light goes out. Later, if and when I rewire this truck to make it as simple and reliable as possible, these grid heater will probably go away.
These two big plugs on the side of the engine by the lift pump and fuel filter get connected.
These two plugs connect the alternator to the harness.
The blower motor plug.

This is the washer tank pump plug on the passenger inner fender.
After hooking up what I could under the hood, I hung a door on the passenger side. Since the rear body and the windshield frame do not move, the door goes on before the fender. I do not know how many times I tried it the other way around and spent the rest of the day trying to get things to line-up. By doing the door first, you just fit the door to the winshield frame first, then to the body, rear of the door. On the lower hinge, leave two bolts loose and tighten the middle one. When the door is closed, you can get to the upper hinge bolts and this center lower bolt with a 9/16 socket and a 6" extension. I adjusted the top hinge to make the door fit the bottom of the windshield frame. Then I adjusted the bottom hinge to even out the gap along the door and frame.
Since I am using a newer style door than the body, I had to change the latch pin. I did not take any picks of that. I will when I do the other door. Once the latch pin is in place, it is adjusted up or down so the door closes smoothly and in or out to make the trailing edge of the door line-up with the body.
Once the door is in place, the fender can go on. To adjust the fender, work from the door forward. For now, I only tightened the back of the fender. The rest is loose until the hood is in place. Then it will get adusted and tightened to make the gaps along the hood look good. This picture was taken befor the back of the fender was adjusted.
I turned the key. I got buzzer, blower, wipers, hazard flashers, wait to start, 4x4 indicator, headlights, and map light, but no starter. I just get a click. I put the charger on the battery to make sure it was fully charged. Tomorrow, I will do some testing before I put the other fender on. Lifted trucks are such a joy to work on. The top of the fender is just right to rest my forearms on and talk about the worlds problems. Way too high for easy access. Oh, the price you pay for being cool.

I should also get the rest of the screws in the top of the dash and get the windshield in. The more I do to it (thinking doors here), the harder it will be to do the windshield.

Das update.

The dash is pretty much in. Needs a few mor screws. I still need to get a key made somehow. I got the switch and tumbler assy out, but without a key, I can't get to key lock out of the switch. It is worth a trip to the locksmoth as each of the two parts cast $66. Anyway, the plugs under the dash that I could not figure ended up being some kind of flasher or buzzer for when you leave your keys in. something for the radio, the third was the place where the power door equiptment harness would plug in.
Another pic.

Shifter and Steering

I was not able to simply hook-up the the shift linkage to the column because of the body lift. The 1 1/2' lift moved the linkage bayong it's adjustment. To resolve this, I simply straightened this bend slightly so that the end would pop into place when both the shifter and the tranny were in park. Then I ratcheted through the gears a few times and checked that it hit them all. Another thing to check off the list. Getting closer...
Next, I hooked up the steering shaft. This was a head scratcher for a while, mainly because it was one of the places where the 1977 met the 1992. I'm still not sure if I get how it all worked out, but I will try to describe it. Notice that the steering coupler is up by the '92 steering column and the rag joint is down by the '77 steering box.
This picture is of a spare '92 steering column and steering shaft to show the stock '92 configuration. Notice that the ragjoint is by the culumn and the coupler is above my hand where it would connect to the steering box. Here is the problem. The splines on the '92 coupler do not match the splines on the '77 steering box. Also, the shaft itself is about 2" too long. This is because the old style steering box is mounted differently and turns the opposite direction. I could have changed the box, and I still might, but this worked and there is no reason why it shouldn't be safe, as you will see.
Messing with a spare part, I found that the splines on the '77 coupler and the splines on the column side of the '92 rag joint were the same, so I drove out the roll pin on the column side of the '92 racg joint that was aready installed in the truck. Since I forgot to take picture, I am showing the part and the roll pin on the extra column.
This is the '92 coupler. I am not using this part as its splines only fit the '92 steering box. It is also connected to the shaft that is too long.

I ended up using the '77 shaft. Not only was it the right length, but it also was the only thing that had the correct splines (on the rag joint end) to fit the '77 steering box. This pic shows the '77 coupler installed on the '92 steering column with the roll pin reinstalled.

This shows the '77 ragjoint on the '77 steering box. For a while, I thought I was going to have to cut and weld the steering shaft and put it together with two rag joints. Neither of which would have made me hapy from either a safety or drivability standpoint. I am pleased with how this worked out.

The summary of this (I realize this has sounded like a bunch of circular mumbo-jumbo with a lot of '92s and '77s in it) is, if you are using the '92 cummins dash, column, and wiring harness, as I am, but retaining the old '77 steering box. also use the '77 steering shaft. Knock out the roll pin and remove the rag joint from the column, and the older shaft will fit.

If I had retained the old dash and column this would not have been an issue. But, by using the dash wiring that fits the engine wiring, I am saving a lot of wiring fabrication nightmare, which is my least favorite kind of nightmare. Since I am using the newer wiring, it only made sense to use the dash that it was meant for (even thhough the old steel dash is way cooler). The same goes for the column. The wiring plugs are different from '77 to '89, which in turn the '89 is different than the '92. In fact my '75 is different than my '77. By using the '92 I have plug and play wiring, I also have tilt, wheel monted cruise control buttons, and column mounted delay wipers instead of having to reach hafway across the dash to control the two speed wiper in the '77 dash. I also like the smaller overall diameter, but bigger grip diameter steering wheel. In my mind, this was the only way to go.

My Version of a Hybrid

Tonight, I spent a little time on the dash. Actually I spent most of the time under it. I started by laying out the harness. I took the steering column down twice befor I got it figured out. Three times if you count the metal strip that supports the under side of the dash that goes over the steering couln and gets sandwiched between the steering column and the brake pedal/column bracket. Note to self: When you do this again on the crewcab, the main harness goes over the brake/column bracket and in the long plastic sleeve behind the cluster.
The reaso i call this a hybrid, is because it is a combo of so many things. The frame and rear sheet metal is 1977 half-ton ramcharger. The axles, for now, are 1975 3/4-ton crewcab. The engine, transmission, transfer case, wiring, and dash are out of two different 1992 diesel trucks. The front sheet metal and doors will be off a 1989 half-ton. At least it all came off Dodges

The next series of pics are mainly here as a host sight so I can post them on http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/ to see if anybody can tell me what they are and where they go.

The first, the pics are terrible. It is some sort of gizmo with a plastic bracket. it does not plug anywhere. I just want to know what it is.
Another bad shot of it.
This next has wires whose colors remind me of car stereo speaker wires. But the plug does not fit the back of the factory radio.
This is the inside of the last plug. My phone is kind of hit and miss on pictures, this was a mis.
Here is another pretty good shot of the same plug.
Finally there is this little guy. Now that I am not in the shop, this may be where the power window/door lock harness would plug in. I will check that tomorrow.
Another shot. All three of these are under the dash to the left of the brake light switch and to the right of the ash tray, and they come out of the main under dash factory 1992 ctd wiring harness.

1992 factory CTD transmission Cooler

The next thing to get installed is the transmission cooler. I drilled the oval-shaped hole with overlapping 1 3/4" holes in the hole saw arbor. Then, I cleaned it up with the cut-off tool, the same as the way I cut the holes for the intercooler. I did not even measure for this one, I just held the cooler up in place and marked the center of the holes. The hole saw was of no particular size, it was just one I had.

This is how the coller will fit on top of the intercooler.
I had some of this u-shaped moulding with adhesive already in the groove so i decided to use it around the hole. The last thing I want out on a trail or anywhere is to have a rub wear through the tranny fliud line and leave me or my kid stuck somewhere.
Here it is bolted in place. I left a gap between the intercoller and the tranny cooler so there would be no rub or heat transfer. In the left, I used two self-tapping self-drilling sheet metal screws, being crefull they were not long enough to ever come in contact with the radiator.
In the other side, I made another bracked with a 1 1/2" spacer and a nut.
Here is a shot of the lines all hooked up on the engine side of the firewall. Notice the lines bolted to the radiator flange. In the upper right of the picture, you can see that i got good penetration when I welded the bracket to the other side.