Talk me into, or out of, it...

[someotherguy]

Neither of which are as rare as snow in Houston.

That's my old place in Atlanta. Snows there at least a couple times each winter; I lived there for 6 years before coming home to Texas.

Richard

 

[618 Syndicate]

The tailgate markers are OEM, and required by law on the dually. (So are the cab markers and dually fender markers.) The early 400 duallies got the rear ones across the tailgate, and at some point (1995 maybe? I'd have to investigate to be sure) they moved them to a single assembly of 3 in the gap between the tailgate and bumper. Cleaner look and harder to damage, but these were already there on the tailgate, so I fixed 'em. It's 4 holes for each light btw! 2 for the rivets that hold the socket to the sheetmetal, and 2 for the bullet contacts.

Ya know, my old '92 ECLB had a tailgate off a dually and I had to remove all that junk when I first got it. No way I was letting those ride on that type of truck. You can just barely see where I masked off and primered the spots they were in, before the truck got body and paint later. Also a glimpse of the rare all-clear tails and even rarer all-clear Caprice tails!

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Richard

I recognize those clear tails...

My 95 had markers on the gate.

 

[someotherguy]

I recognize those clear tails...

My 95 had markers on the gate.

One of many sets of clear tails. That was an original APC set, and a dude that backed his station wagon into my bed corner broke one and had to replace it. You could still buy them brand new at that time.

My '96 had the 3-lamp I.D. bar setup between the bumper and tailgate, so that must be when the change happened.

Richard

 

[454cid]

I had no idea duallys had to have lights on the tail gate. I've just never noticed it before, I guess.

 

[Supercharged111]

I had no idea duallys had to have lights on the tail gate. I've just never noticed it before, I guess.

It's because of their width, same goes for trailers above a certain width they need those 3 in the middle.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

It's because of their width, same goes for trailers above a certain width they need those 3 in the middle.

IIRC any vehicle over 80" in width has to have them. This is why those fat a$$ Ferd raptors have them....

 

[Caman96]

IIRC any vehicle over 80" in width has to have them. This is why those fat a$$ Ferd raptors have them....

And now it seems many are just putting them on anything. Some look really ridiculous.

 

[someotherguy]

Prepping for the new tires today.. man it's tricky getting this fat truck up on 4 stands in a position I can still get the garage door closed. The garage length is the biggest reason why I didn't get an extended cab - no way an ECLB will fit in here.

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BFG Commercial T/A AS2's in the original 225/75/16 size, look much better to me than those big 235/85's and will work better in the future with the drop.

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Not convinced on the lug nut setup. Still haven't decided what color to go with the wheels and hubs, too. Will have to think on those for a while. (I mean, hubs and clamp rings most likely black)

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Popped driver side valve cover off for new gasket. Fairly simple but I had to blow about 1,000 mouse turds out of there first, so I probably have hantavirus now. Looks like PO kept up on oil changes, anyway. BTW @454cid the Fel-Pro gasket fit just fine; dunno why I had trouble with it being slightly too large on the '96 7.4.

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Passenger side.. big PITA. Can't get the nuts loose on the EGR valve as they're rusted stuck, very little room to work, and they just want to round off. So that's the only thing between me and getting the valve cover off. I'd been jacking around in the garage most of the day at this point and had to bail before I started throwing tools. Sprayed some more Blaster on them and we'll see what's next.

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Also pulled the wiper arms and cowl piece so I could properly set the wiper arm position. Much better now with actual working wipers, especially since we've had rain the last few days. Put the passenger door panel back on with some used clips, really need to buy a bag of new ones. Then took the truck for a spin around the neighborhood and shut it down for the night.

This truck is fun.. way more punchy now that it's running right (still some more room to get better as I replace the plugs, check timing, etc.) and has the smaller correct-size tires.

Richard

 

[Erik the Awful]

I had to blow about 1,000 mouse turds out of there first, so I probably have hantavirus now.

I joked a lot about hantavirus after picking up Roscoe, but a couple months ago I was chatting with a friend who grew up on a reservation, and he told me how scary that stuff is. It has a 38% mortality rate. Next time I won't be so blase when vacuuming up mouse poo. Wear your respirator!

 

[Supercharged111]

Try some heat on those EGR nuts too. And from my couch, I'd say you've got plenty of room. Look at how well my ECSB fit into my garage.

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I could swear I remember it being tighter. Meh.