The Correct Answer Was “Get Rid of That Ford Crap!!”

But Thank You For Playing “HOW TO FIX MY TRUCK”

That is right ladies and gentlemen, I was having some electrical gremlins that were keeping the truck from being roadworthy.

We troubleshot. We tested. We fixed and tweaked. We horse traded and swapped (no horses were actually traded during any transactions of Jeep parts)…

In the end, it was a matter of replacing the carburetor, the coil and the ignition control module, getting rid of that Motorcraft stuff and replacing it with an Edelbrock 650, an MSD Blaster 2 and a 6al. I realize that most of that might have been jibberish to some of you, but think of it like this – I replaced the bad stuff with much better stuff, and now so far, the truck has been running better and is much happier. I still need to mess with the timing some, but it is definitely getting closer to trustworthy. I will take it out of the immediate ten mile radius of my house, and may even venture to seek freeway speeds. Oh my!

Now, you may be wondering what the next step is. Well, now that I have a working truck, I can get that Chevy small block 400 and rebuild it to put into the truck. But, you just spent all that time on the 360, why would you replace it now?

The answer is simple – It is an AMC 360! If you have read my FrankenJeep musings, you will remember that conversation at the parts store. The one where Tommy Partslinger looked at me blankly when I asked about AMC engine parts?

Yeah, that sort of thing does not happen as often when you ask for Chevy parts. Those RockAuto.com commercials crack me up because I deal with that pain often; unfortunately, they are unable to help me out too.

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Do not fret; I am still on the hunt for “that” truck. It is just not as easy to find a ’94-02 one ton diesel Ram that is 4×4, manual, and a single cab/long bed. That is not to say they do not exist, I just did not think it was going to be this difficult to find one.

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Now we can get the bead bags and have Craig install my 37” tires! I have been talking with Cherokee Jim, and I hope to have my fenders soon. If I do get my fenders, that means I can start body work on the bed. WHAT!?!? Yep, that is right. I am going to start body work on the bed as soon as my fenders are installed.

What could you possibly do to an M101-A1 trailer bed to make it any more badass than it already is?!?

I am glad you asked. I am going to widen the rear fenders six inches. You heard me! Who could not make use out of another six inches?

Cherokee Jim did such a great job on my fenders, that it makes my rear end seem a bit anemic. So, we are going to remedy that with SIZE! I am going to add six inches to the rear fenders so that they match the fronts. I will only be adding size to the actual fender, they will then be faired into the respective end corners. I will have the fender well come out six, and then taper forwards to the cab, and aft towards the tailgate, this will give me triangle steps that I can utilize in order to help get things situated in the bed. I am also going to side mount a 37” tire on the driver’s side, and install a small crane that will assist with that.

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We think we might have found a way to deal with my crappy electricity issue – 6ga wire is cheaper than I thought it was, because 98’ (yes, one tick means FEET) goes for $35 on the eBay! I thought for sure I was going to be at least $120 into a fifty foot extension cord. Now I get twice the length for nearly a third of the cost!

I will be grabbing that and the other pieces required to make myself a 50’ 6ga extension cord.  This way, the welder does not know it is as far from the j-box as it really is; it will think it is plugged right into the wall.