I think it looks good if this is what you mean

 

I saw it too, there is a big on in the back of the head and it looks a bit rusty… Mark

 

No it’s good the one on the backside of the engine but thanks for noticing.

 

I spent some free time over the past couple of weeks dialing in some minor issues with the old white '85 crew cab.

The T-case was making a little bearing growling noise, so I swapped it out for another 29 spline one. While there I went through both driveshafts. I broke a bolt off in the rear yoke, so I ended up swapping in another yoke. I also shortened the front driveshaft 5/8th of an inch to allow proper movement with the slightly lower ride height I am running now. The old Sky Jacker 6 inch lift is running closer to a 4 inch lift in the front now after my modifying / leveling, the old springs a month ago.

Then I over filled the Getrag with some 5W30 to the upper PTO hole. Followed by greasing all the U joints and tie rod ends. Should be ready for spring now....whenever that happens.
I did note that the D-60 U joints are getting close to due to be changed again, must be closing in on almost 20 years since I last did those.

 

I spent a few hours taking apart the doors on the nice '92 W-250 I bought off nonrev a couple of years ago.
The passenger side armrest had given up the ghost and was loose and broken. The drivers side armrest was un broken but was well worn and the plastic wrap on it was starting to delam..

I took apart both doors. Replacing all the clips that where damaged with other used ones. I found two good grey armrests in my collection and swapped them in.
The center screw that holds the inside of the door was MIA when I took the doors apart. The nut / clip on the other side of the door was in rough shape and needed to be replaced and relocated to where I could get a screw into it with the door panel on.

During re assembly I found it hard to get that center screw started. I ended up using a longer screw and starting it first before popping in the door clips. Then when the door was all clipped in place I backed out the longer screw and installed the proper one. I did this as the first time I installed the door clips first, then could not get the center screw started because the nut / clip was out of place in the door itself. I feel that the center screw really helps keep the door panel from buckling inward when you close the door - It helps hold things in line with the metal support that goes behind the door panel.

After achieving door panel greatness. I focused my attention on the OEM radio that will not play CDs. I went through 4 OEM Tape / CD radios and found they all have a CD player that will not read CDs. Since I like that feature, it looks like I will be installing an aftermarket CD player and radio I have in my collection in Vern's old ride.

I am trying to get the minor things done on my summer drivers, before I get all wrapped up in trying to finish up my major 2wd Ramcharger build. I know I have a lot of details to finish to get that RC driving under it own power for the first time in 22 years. At least that was the last time it was registered in TX...'02.

 

My am/fm, cd, cassette factory unit has no sound at all. I'm not driving it so no big deal. It worked when I parked it. Ex wife burned some cd's and it wouldn't read them. I copied many to play in my 670 Volvo company truck. It had a plastic support for the dash that broke so the dash had the Volvo death rattle. It would ruin cd's.

 

I REALLY like the OEM unit in my '92. It has real *****. It has actual buttons. It displays the radio station or time - and nothing else! Simple, clean and usable. Which I guess is why they don't make them anymore.

It quit working several years ago and I couldn't find a direct replacement (like I did for my '98 XJ's). What's in there now was the simplest I could find from Crutchfield but it SUCKS! little bity buttons, one short **** for volume. Lots of pretty colors and scrolling that would enthrall and entertain a toddler for hours. But it does pick up stations and play cds, just don't look at it or try to change anything while actually driving. Did I mention I REALLY liked the OEM unit?

My current goal in life is to die without ever owning a vehicle with a screen thing on the dash. Did I tell you how much I like the OEM unit?

 

I am with you KRB.
I have been saving Dodge OEM radios for years. I still have a lot of OEM just the radio / tape players, but have now apparently run out of OEM CD players that still work.

The OEM radio that came out of Vern's old truck looks like it was "rebuilt" at some point in its life. It had some radio repair shop out in Wa. sticker on it.
I am tried of listening to my old Van Halen tapes and the crappy Canadian radio stations playing music that sounds like it should be playing in a strip club. I like my 30 year old collection of CDs.

Yes I can do without the 15 different pastel colors to choose from, for the display on the newer units.

 

Tell us, do you like the OEM unit? I think the foam on my speakers may have rotted away. If they have that.

There used to be a guy near Huntsville that dealt in restoring Mopar radios etc. I have a couple of thumbwheel radios in the shop. One is an AM, the other may be a AM 8 track.

 

Every winter I make my annual pilgrimage to our local junk yard - I mean salvage yard, usually with my brother. Done between Christmas and New Years while I'm off work and so are the wasps and weeds. This one's owned by an old school friend. He lets me wander around and grab whatever I want or think I could use. He just sold the property on the edge of town after 35 years in business. The deal isn't done yet but he's crushing big time & waiting for scrap to inch up. It's on the bones of an old distillery and my guess is that's what it will go back to, given the boom in bourbon.

Went solo yesterday. Perfect day for it, just above freezing and drizzling/misting/spitting snow or sleet. He was a farm boy, so he has a soft spot for trucks. He was also a hard-core puller and was always building/altering his 4x4 pulling truck in the wood (and used oil) stove heated shop. He focused on trucks but unfortunately, he is a chevy guy so he saved lots of them mostly (those military diesel blazers mainly). Being the seat of state government, he bought a lot of surplus Dodge work horses too over the years. Long gone are the M880s and Adult Toys era trucks though. He had a couple XJs so I was able to glean a few small parts I needed.

I was surprised to see a W350 CC in there though! He gets them off & on but they don't hang around long. Same colors as mine with the spice interior. Dash was gone as was the passenger seat. All the interior plastic trim was as broken as mine or more so. It did have a good driver door which I've been on the lookout for for a buddy but he said he wasn't parting it out just yet so I couldn't scrounge anything... He said he's been overwhelmed by teenage boys begging him to sell it as is. The dually bed had a massive dent on the passenger side and was full of junk so I really couldn't tell how good of shape it was in.

Anyway, a good day in a junk yard. Oh, I did take home one Dodge find - a shift **** for my NP435 that's going in the M880!

 

Last night I finished up my aftermarket CD stereo install. Before I put the dash back together, I swapped out the cargo light and over drive buttons with the two button display for the one button cargo light only panel.
The truck had been swapped over to manual before I got it, but the OD button was left on the dash. This was an easy swap to do as I had the parts on the shelf in the shop.

 

Before jumping to the next Dodge's winter "to do" list I did a little more work on Vern's old ride.. I cleaned up the grounds in an attempt to make the speedo stop bouncing from 30-80 MPH when driving down the road at 50. It has been putting a lot of extra miles on my rig. It will often bounce up to 30 MPH while just idling and not moving. Makes it so I can not figure out my mileage per gallon, or even properly guess how many miles I have till an empty tank.
I also got the 4 wheel drive light to work on the dash when you throw in in 4 wheel.
I will leave messing with the droopy head liner for another time. Sounds like a better warm weather job to do outside...Or maybe I will just continue to run it as is, like I have for 3 years.

 

Mine's still bouncing too. Maybe I missed some grounds, do you remember which ones you hit?

My 4x4 light is also intermitant. What did you end up doing? Cleaning the connections or adjusting or both.

Geez, just realized I haven't started my rig since last year...

 

Dude, you need a camera to post photos here

(otherwise you're just teasing us.)

lol

 

KRB,

IIRC the ground on the core support is the ground for the auto transmissions, so I just assumed it also is the one for the speedo on the T-case.
I cleaned the metal on the core support, scuffed up both sides of all the O-ring wire terminals with sand paper. Wire wheeled the screw that is used for the ground to make it shiny and clean. I then reassembled it all with a light smear of Dielectric grease.

I am not sure if it helped with the speedo as I am not going to take it for a drive in the snow...I am just hoping it did the trick. I can't imagine it hurting anything. It is always good to clean up your grounds on an old Dodge.

The 4x4 light...That was just dumb luck, I think. Maybe it was the work on the grounds. Maybe it was just taking apart / reassembling everything that did it. When I plugged in the battery after buttoning everything up - it light up. I drove the truck in the shop in 4L with the hubs unlocked to give me the best slow speed control.
So I was a little surprised when it lit up.