Digger's '69 Build Thread

[Jesus_man]

I was thinking those front corner pieces were going to be made out of machined aluminum

I had the same thought, but of the entire bumper! I'd hate to know what a chunk of solid alum would cost to make a bumper!!

It'll be interesting what you come up with we all know it'll be designed to take the abuse. But you could run into interferences if you decide you need more beef in the center section.

[Digger]

Well, the ZF5 got pissed on the way to work and I had to pull over and decided to have a friend drag me home to avoid more damage. I was bummed. I bought the trans freshly rebuilt from a shop that the owner was retiring. Everything appeared in good working order and I got 12,000 miles without issue until 2 weeks ago.

Lately, driving to work on really cold mornings, I would hear a quick "zing" noise from what I thought was the trans, but it would only happen once, real quick and only on mornings when the truck was cold, the air temp was sub-30F and only on the interstate in OD @ 75mph. This would only happen every 5th time under only those conditions, making it real hard to diagnose the problem. Well 2 weeks ago, with an air temp of 24F, it happened 10 miles into my commute, then again and again every 1/8 mile. It didn't take long before everytime I heard the noise, you could feel the truck bog down.

I popped the t-case in neutral and coasted off the interstate. By the time I got onto the frontage road, the trans was pissed and could stall the engine when letting the clutch out with both trans and t-case in neutral. I was guessing either input bearing or secondary shaft bearings.

By the time my friend showed up, things had cooled off and were operating normal again. Not to risk it, we strapped it and tow it home. I dropped the trans and last week with a friend in town, we cracked the case open. I was relieved to find nothing major like giant metal flakes. The fluid was a little dark and the magnet seem to have an excess of sludge on it.

546 by J W, on Flickr


We pulled the gear cluster and at a glance, things looked to be in good condition. Main shaft bearing were good, but counter-shaft bearings looked a little dull with signs of high axial loading.
547 by J W, on Flickr

548 by J W, on Flickr

549 by J W, on Flickr


This was my suspicion all along. Reading the S5-42 service manual, proper preload is important to the bearings due to case expansion. I bought a 3-jaw internal puller and yanked both bearing cups. The only shim was the original single spacer the factory would have used after performing statistical analysis of the mfg tolerance stacks. Best I can tell, when the thing was rebuilt, it was just ped back together and no one checked preload. With a cold case, the aluminum would have contracted tighter on the bearings until the ATF could no longer penetrate the space between the rollers and the bearings went dry.

SO, now bearings are on order and I get to run through the pre-load procedure.

[Kinder]

I know this isn't fun for you but I always appreciate your engineering perspective on problems and learn as much as I can, I'm glad it's repairable.

[Jesus_man]

I know this isn't fun for you but I always appreciate your engineering perspective on problems and learn as much as I can, I'm glad it's repairable.

x2 - I wonder if mine was done properly a few years ago??

[Justin]

x3. I'm glad your brain is in this club.

[Digger]

Thanks guys.

On the plus side:

1) I'm very happy with how I put everything together. Pulling the transmission was the easiest pull I have done. I only used 3 sockets, 3 end wrenches, an allen, a screwdriver, and a trans jack to remove the exhaust, driveshafts, t-case and trans.

2) The ZF5 is very serviceable. Hands down the easiest teardown I have done on a manual. Most light and mini truck transmissions require partial disassembly of the gear cluster to break them down. Usually 5th and reverse gears are behind a partition within the case. The ZF splits the case very easy and the entire gear cluster is removed as one unit. There are a number of special tools require for a full break down, but that is nothing unique for a transmission.

[Digger]

Slow progress lately, but moving forward.

I ordered bearings and seals. Pushed the new bearings on tonight. I had a serious when I priced out the recommended bearing puller from Ford. $1700!!!

So I did what everyone else does:
556 by J W, on Flickr

557 by J W, on Flickr

554 by J W, on Flickr

552 by J W, on Flickr




After cleaning the case mating surfaces thoroughly, I dropped in the counter-shaft and laid the housings together. I went about measuring preload/clearance backwards, but I figured there was a good chance the spacer was too big. Using shims, I evened the gap all the way around the housing halves and spun the shaft a few times to get it seated well. Feeler gage was telling me that I still have .0050"-.0055" gap, meaning there was about .002" too much preload on the shaft. I will take it back apart tomorrow and use the lathe and a Dremel as a make-shift surface grinder and take ~.003-.004" off the spacer and push the pre-load into the middle of its allowable range.
558 by J W, on Flickr

559 by J W, on Flickr

[Kinder]

Love the bearing puller, I wonder if my diff bearing puller could have been able to do the work. Question, is the preload checked with only the case weight "loading" the bearing?

[Digger]

Love the bearing puller, I wonder if my diff bearing puller could have been able to do the work. Question, is the preload checked with only the case weight "loading" the bearing?

It shouldn't take more than that. I added weight the second time I measured to make sure things were seated and measurements hadn't changed compared to the unloaded measurements. Usually when measuring something new or unknown, I'll take measurements 20-30 times with different tools, in different ways to make sure what I'm seeing is accurate.

The real procedure calls to remove all shims and measure free play with a dial indicator through the PTO hole, then add that number plus suggested preload amount to the shim pack.

I turned down the shim last night and re-assembled everything. Preload is down to ~.002". You can tighten the case bolts and feel the drag on the secondary shaft, but it is far better than it was before.

[Kinder]

Cool, I'll have to pull my PTO cover next time I work on my drivetrain and take a measurement.

[Jesus_man]

Cool, I'll have to pull my PTO cover next time I work on my drivetrain and take a measurement.

I'm not sure I want to know... I'll be livid if it ain't right!

[Digger]

Honestly, I'm surprised it had a problem. Bearings are so exact, they are essentially interchangeable, even between manufacturers without issue. Tolerances are plus/minus .00025". Even with two bearings, tolerance stack is still minimal. The OE bearings had to have been on one end of the tolerance band and the new bearings on the other AND the transmission would have been setup with near maximum preload.

At least that's how I see it.

Statistically, most should be fine, but the right procedure is to check lash/preload every time.

[Digger]

A little catch up:

Before putting the transmission back in, I took a detour and designed/machined an AN quick disconnect fitting to match the factory Ford hydraulic clutch fitting.
570 by J W, on Flickr

573 by J W, on Flickr

574 by J W, on Flickr

576 by J W, on Flickr

577 by J W, on Flickr


Then, recently, installed a front sway bar
586 by J W, on Flickr

589 by J W, on Flickr

588 by J W, on Flickr

590 by J W, on Flickr

[Eck]

Jerk!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Digger]

And swapped in smaller injectors, which fixed an uneven fueling issue at WOT
584 by J W, on Flickr

585 by J W, on Flickr




...a 2nd 1BAR baro sensor so the computer can comp for altitude on the fly (vs at startup). This isn't finished yet, but I needed it functional before heading up to the mountains. I'll make a nice housing later.
591 by J W, on Flickr


I also bought some nice roll cage padding at Todd Z's suggestion. This stuff is dual durometer and SFI rated.
593 by J W, on Flickr



Then added a P3 brake controller, which required opening up 3/4 of the wiring harness.
594 by J W, on Flickr


and cleaned up some wiring
595 by J W, on Flickr

All so I could do this safely:
592 by J W, on Flickr

[Digger]

Jerk!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven't forgot about your adapter yet, but a run of 10-20 hasn't been looking too promising.

[Eck]

I just mean that I hate how capable you are if making your own stuff...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Strike2]

Nice custom upgrades! How much weight is that trailer and how's it tow with the bronco? That front sway bar sure is beefy

[Kinder]

Serious Thumbs Up! Especially the camping pic.

[Justin]

Wait, you're supposed to drive them? Looks great, esp like the new camper.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Digger]

Nice custom upgrades! How much weight is that trailer and how's it tow with the bronco? That front sway bar sure is beefy

2250 lb dry, ~2600 lb loaded. Towing is not too bad, but you know it's back there. We hit a 30mph headwind coming back from the dunes and I had to keep it in 4th to maintain 60.

[Jesus_man]

Some really nice upgrades! Do you pl an to disconnect to the way bar for offroading?

[Digger]

Some really nice upgrades! Do you pl an to disconnect to the way bar for offroading?

Yes, the current ones are temporary. I have a few ideas for remote disconnectable or remote variable rate sway discos.

[Digger]

This week I got around to re-hosting many of the pictures that were lost on this thread thanks to the Photobucket debacle.

It's been a year and a half now, so I'm happy to get the build pictures back.

I had been fighting a weird glitch with the ignition system and replaced darn near every component trying to fix it, including the computer. The only thing left was the ignition trigger in the MSD. Looking for more accuracy and moving towards getting rid of the distributor, I designed and machined a 36-1 Ford-style trigger wheel and sensor bracket.

597 by J W, on Flickr

598 by J W, on Flickr

599 by J W, on Flickr

600 by J W, on Flickr

601 by J W, on Flickr

603 by J W, on Flickr

602 by J W, on Flickr

604 by J W, on Flickr

[Digger]

I got a new steering wheel for my birthday.

605 by J W, on Flickr


Since then, I have been working on refining little things. I decided to switch intake manifolds and ordered one from Edelbrook on Jun 3rd.

After many, many backorder notices, missed dates and a lot of back and forth, they finally delivered it after I got home from SEMA, 5 MONTHS after the order was placed. It has been extremely frustrating and forced me to take stock of where I was in the project and what was left to do.

Besides a new winch bumper and some minor items, the biggest to-dos revolved around engine upgrades like a serpentine belt system, further EFI refinement and adding a catalytic converter and an aux fuel tank. It was still of a lot of work and even after all that I would have a vehicle that only gets 14 mpg at best. I have had a long term plan to go diesel and while at SEMA I took a second look at Cummins' crate diesel engine.

Cummins recently improved the engine calibration and pushed the little R2.8 to 310 lb-ft of torque. This made it a lot more appealing, especially since it weighs the same as the 351W and has an acceptable RPM range, which means no spring or gear changes. After a few nights calculating return on investment and selling my motorcycle a month ago, I decided to pull the trigger.

Delivered
606 by J W, on Flickr

607 by J W, on Flickr

Unpacking
608 by J W, on Flickr

609 by J W, on Flickr

610 by J W, on Flickr

[phyler]

I love this line: "I designed and machined a 36-1 Ford-style trigger wheel and sensor bracket." You say that as if it is as easy as making a PBJ sandwich. Love watching your build. Wish I had a tenth of your smarts.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Digger]

I love this line: "I designed and machined a 36-1 Ford-style trigger wheel and sensor bracket." You say that as if it is as easy as making a PBJ sandwich. Love watching your build. Wish I had a tenth of your smarts.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Ha ha, yeah....

In reality it was was ton of work and I messed up the first wheel on the last machining step and had to start the lengthy process all over again. The whole thing was frustrating, but it works really nice. However, it wasn't worth going into the details since it is now a big waste of time. Maybe I'll put it on the Fairlane.

Deciding to switch out the engine was tough. I've put a lot of effort into it and learned a ton, but there is still a lot of work and the diesel will be a better fit for me.

[Jesus_man]

Did you see the R2.8 in the rolling chassis at SEMA?

[Digger]

Did you see the R2.8 in the rolling chassis at SEMA?

Briefly. It's wider than a stock Bronco chassis, which helps fit the 2.8. Unfortunately, I only browsed and grabbed a flyer from Cummins. I wasn't too serious at the time and didn't have much time to around outside of our booth.

[cw72]

The 2.8 is very cool, I look forward to seeing your progress and hear your reviews. That’s a motor swap I’ve considered as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk