Project 7.3

[dubob]

Glad to see things went well.  It will only get better from here on.

[Bduck]

Bob, Doc keeps telling me I'm a bionic man now. I asked him where's my $6Mil   

[Bduck]

I'm back with my truck project, about a week before my surgery on my other knee I ordered the rear bumper for my truck. Once I received it I unpackaged it (with a neighbors help) to make sure all pieces parts were all in order as bumper was going to be sitting for a while as rehab starting. Finally got around on Aug 9 to install since weather temps cooled off for install. I was unable to kneel down on my knees but this was a good lay down task after another neighbor dropped by to help me get the bumper mounted. Since this was at the back end of the truck I addressed a long time issue purchasing a new spare tire. The old one was as old as my truck and was in maypop statis for last 15yrs. When I bought the truck it was 2yrs old at the time. Previous owner had a spaghetti of a mess with wires at the back which I did contribute to the mess a little. All that wiring is now straightened out. The wire bundle for trailer connection was a bit too long which I cut about 10" of it off leaving enough for possible future repair and installed a new trailer receptacle.


Bumper came with 2 sets of different 
size LED lights. The inboard lights on 
each side of license plate are connected 
to the backup lights while the bumper 
end lights is on an independent switch in cab.




What was cool with purchase of bumper,

it also came with license plate lights. The 

in board portion of the light shell was a

LED white light directed onto plates. The

back of the shell has 3 small red strip

lights



The long red strip light was
an add on about 4yrs ago. These
are set up to work with run, brake, &
turn signals.

[wiperhunter2]

Looks good Roger, how long dd it take to get it installed?

[Bduck]

Looks good Roger, how long dd it take to get it installed?

Removal of old bumper & install of new didn't take very long at all. The wiring was the time consumer.

[Bduck]

I managed to get outside under the cover of darkness to get a couple of pics.


     
Backup lights on        Backup lights with
backup circuit            outer lights on separate 
                                  circuit

[wiperhunter2]

I managed to get outside under the cover of darkness to get a couple of pics.


     
Backup lights on        Backup lights with
backup circuit                                 outer lights on separate 
                                                     circuit

Looks like plenty of light for backing up.

[Bduck]

This is my everyday toy, I like doing ad on installs. I currently have new brake lines to install which is a must but will be recruiting another set of hands. Also, been treating frame and other underbody parts for rust.
 




This is what it does when applied
turning rust black





Found on Amazon. I use a
cheap throwaway brush

[wiperhunter2]

Looks good but what about the area on the top side, where you can't see from your pic, do you treat it as well?

[Bduck]

The inner channel & top can be treated using a spray effect but can be very messy. I have a siphon nozzle that attaches to an air press source I bought from Harbor Freight that I have used on many other applications that can be used. Just need to find a sacrificial area other than my driveway to apply. For now, I'll apply to areas reachable using a brush.

[Bduck]

Got around to replacing 3 main flex brake hoses attached to hard lines, 2 of which in front wheel well & 1 in the rear. Dan came over offering up his skill & knowledge tackling left front while I went for the right front. Both lines were a bit of challenge as the language of every foul word that could be said was said, a mechanics language & world.  After the front was finally done I moved to the rear which rust had imbedded more into the hardline fittings where a regular open wrench was either causing hardline to turn with fitting or the fitting started rounding out. Not even penetrating fluid would help. I ceased at this point deciding to leave this task for another day. Another day came the next day; I forgot about the tubing or flare wrench in metric sizes I had that fit over the small fittings attaching to the old flex line, these wrenches were new additions to my tools. Same results were continuing as with the day before with exception of the flaring wrench which did fit around the fitting prevent rounding of the fitting. One other little trick I remember doing with other projects is I took a propane torch and applied heat to 2 fittings which softened up the imbedded rust. BINGO, fittings started coming off with no strain at all.  



The right tool for this task

[wiperhunter2]

Heat can make a big difference when it comes to removing rusted parts and the right tool also improves the odds of getting the job done.  Sounds like you are really on the mend now.

[Bduck]

Yes, I am on the mend but have to be careful not to kneel down on the knees while doing the tasks that require me to be flat on my back.

[Bduck]

Back on Mar 5, 2025, during this project, I posted pics of an oil leak I had at the oil dipstick mount on the side of the oil pan. That has come back to haunt me. This is a poor design made by International Diesel and now I have to address it again. I was hoping that the seal replacement would have given me some kind of longevity at the time of replacement. It was the cheaper route to go at under $10 using OEM seals. Now, instead of a repeat offender my option has taken me to the next level. There are 3 other options for this next step. 




Cost $299.95-This allows to replace OEM 
part by removing large nut & Oring and letting
dipstick mount drop into lowest point of oil pan.
It comes with a double sealing Oring, reviews 
have all been mostly excellent but I'm
not a fan of oil pan trash. This is a back burner
option.

                                     



Cost $95.99-This a weld in part. Not sure how this 
would be accomplished either removing pan which is
engine pull or weld in place allowing OEM part to
drop inside of pan, oil burns which I don't like this idea
sooo its not on my plate.





Cost $89.95-Very costly parts here but this is 
most likely next step I'll do. This requires to 
remove & discard OEM nut and Oring replacing
with rubber gasket, flat washer & nut sealing 
with black RTV. Most reviews with this has
been favorable with a couple mentioning about 
leakage still. I have my own thoughts why they 
have had an issue with leakage.