Roadrunners SWB 4wd build

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Roadrunner

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Here is a pic of a SWB K1500 I'm building up for my wife's dad. I ended up picking the truck up with a trashed transfer case and blown rearend on the cheap. After getting it home I was checking it out and the 350 in it had rebuilders tags on it and the dash was showing 120k on the odometer. So I ended up swapping the 350 into Jayne my 305 powered shop truck.

Now its rocking the 305 out of Jayne and I've been working my way through getting everything worked out and rolling again. So far I've got the 305 in and running, replaced the transfer case and got another rear end put back in with all the fixings. Heres a pic of all the bits I've gone through to this point.

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I still have a long way to go on this one. Right now I'm chasing issues getting the 700r4 shifting. I fear I may have let the magic smoke out of it after breaking a connector off and having dropped the pan to replace it discovered it was very nasty. I'm still hoping the governor is stuck and I can save it, but it looks like I'm going to have to rebuild it.

I also need to fix the steering column and replace the ignition switch as it's all loose and the key sticks on sometimes. I need to flush the transfer case out, bleed the breaks and solder up some of the wiring harness.

There is still a while lot of work to be done on this truck to get it reliable and back to being a DD but I'm getting a little at a time. It's now been almost a year that I've been chipping away at it. Hopefully I'll be getting close on it soon.

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Roadrunner

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I got a little bit of work done earlier today. I pulled the governor out of the transmission and cleaned it all up. I also did a bit of work getting the TV cable fixed. Finally got the transmission shifting again so maybe it will survive for a little while before I got to tear into it.

Heres a look at some of the wiring in the harness I had to fix and solder up today and the tools I use to get it done. I've read about folks here having to solder up circuit boards for the windsheild wipers and having issues getting solder to stick and work. This is wiring obviously but the tools I use is pretty much the same but with th addition of a solder sucker and desolder wick for circuit board work.

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The tools I use for repairs.

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From left to right, far left is a dimmer tied into a receptacle and feeding 1 of the outlets regulated power. The other plug on the receptacle is straight 120v. Next is the $6 35w soldering iron I got from walmart that plugs into the regulated power. By moving the dimmer I get temperature control of the iron for fine work. Next to the iron on the right is the most important part, rosin soldering flux. With out flux solder is very difficult to get sucked up into the joints where you want it to go. Lastly is good 60/40 rosin core lead solder, leave the silver stuff for the plumbers. I fix a lot of circuit boards with lead solder. The silver stuff that is used from the factory is prone to cracking in the crystal structure and causing lots of resistance to electrical flow.

Here they are all soldered up and ready to tape up.

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Lastly, I was out running the truck a little bit today and thought I ran out of gas, but it looks like the fuel pump went out on me and i had to drag it back to the shop on the rope. Later tonight I will be changing out the fuel pump with a spare I have left from Jayne the shop truck.

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Roadrunner

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I got the truck running again tonight after checking the fuel pump. While I was in there I found out that the sending unit is broken so I will have to grab another one and change it out. Sadly it wasn't the fuel pump that caused the issue. I found the ecm fuse had blown after noticing the check engine light wasn't coming on when I cycled the key.

Now it looks like I got some wiring to fix up under the dash in the steering column. I also need to take the column apart and tighten the screws all the way in the back and replace the ignition switch. I also have some wiring for the tail lights that needs to be soldered back together.

All in all it's been a good weekend of wrenching on this truck. Its rolling in and out of the shop under it's own power again after almost a year of working on it and building it back up.
 

Roadrunner

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I did a bit more work on the truck this weekend. First up I worked on the loose tilt steering. As with many of these trucks the bolts back by the shift column were loose making the column floppy. I found a steering wheel puller recently in a falling down shed I cleaned out. Then i bought a tool for compressing the backing plate and ended up makin a pin puller for the column pins. Everything is tightened up now with only a few pieces left to put back on. At least now the key doesn't randomly get bound in the on position anymore.

Hopefully this week I will be able to get after some more of the wiring that needs attention, change the transfer case fluid and few other minor odds and ends.
 
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