Topic: '84 SR5 Pickup 20/22R Hybrid Project

[jangelfire]

Great lookin truck! Party on wayne

[redneckcustoms13]

Lovin the mud flaps that do nothing. Awesome!!!

[Plainview [OP]]

Been awhile since I've updated this thread.  Haven't done a whole heckuva lot with the truck in the last year until just recently when drivetrain issues forced me into some changes/repairs/upgrades.

I found a good deal on a W56-C that's nice and leak-free so swapped that in place of the original G52 which had lost the output shaft seal for the rear driveshaft and the output flange had started to move around on the shaft.

Don't really have any pictures of the swap, but do have some pics of the shifters and the differences between them and how the newer W56-C shifters fit into an earlier truck (perfectly!) in this thread:  http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=100459.0

I'll post up a pic of the new shifter boots once they're installed.  They're supposed to arrive early next week.

Also replaced the 3rd member since I broke the pinion gear in the original, there's a thread about that in the axle/differential forum here:  http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=100480.0

Not really an upgrade though, just a repair.  Hoping to find a V6 3rd member I can rebuild and put 4.56 gears in it.

Currently I'm working on adding some driving lights.  I found these "Auxbeam" LED lights on Amazon for $20 for the pair and thought "what the heck, let's try 'em".  I got the ones with the 30 degree beam pattern (they also have 60 degree) and am going to mount them so that they can light up the road closer to the truck when the high beams are on.




The reviews are generally good with the common thread among the bad reviews being that they got water inside the housings and that the mounting bracket isn't such a great setup.  I figured I could deal with both of those issues.  Once I received them I first tested them to make sure they work, and they do have a pretty solid, tight beam and are pretty darned bright.

Then I disassembled them to see how they're built and if I could improve the weather sealing.

Here's a closeup of one of the ones I received.  Notice that the LEDs aren't all perfectly centered in the reflectors.  I didn't expect perfection for $20... and the beam pattern seems acceptable so this really isn't an issue:

DSC_1281 by Will Baker, on Flickr

Here's what they look like with the end caps off, and what the seal on the end cap looks like:

DSC_1277 by Will Baker, on Flickr

DSC_1275 by Will Baker, on Flickr

Pretty complex design, I can see how the end caps *might* leak a little bit, but I think the biggest problem is where the cord enters the housing - the gasket around the cord is pathetic and fits terribly.

DSC_1271 by Will Baker, on Flickr

Liberal application of ultra-black silicone should make these suckers water tight.

As for the mounting brackets - they use four small screws to hold the bracket to the mounting block on the body of the light:

DSC_1290 by Will Baker, on Flickr

This is dumb.  I'm going to drill straight through the block and just use two longer through-bolts. That should fix any issues there.

And, because I upgraded my headlights to H4/9003s and I want these driving lights to be on a 3 position switch so that I can have them always on or slaved to the high beams, I'm building a relay harness for everything.  Here's the diagram:

HeadlightRelayHarness by Will Baker, on Flickr

I'll post more pics of the harness as it comes together (I just have all the parts & pieces now).

And just FYI- when you start looking for wiring diagrams for relay harnesses one of the threads that comes up most often is over at Yotatech.  That thread is like 9 pages long and has a bunch of different diagrams in it, some of which won't work right.

This diagram *should* work just fine though I may not get the high beam indicator on my dash, which isn't something I'm really concerned about.  The relays are Hella waterproof relays that have resistors in parallel with the coils but I don't think that will make any difference.

[Plainview [OP]]

Any Electrical gurus out there?  Anyone built your own wiring harness?

I found a blurry, low resolution scan of the factory headlight wiring diagram and after peering at it and scratching my head for awhile I realized that the above diagram *might* not work.  Well, it'll work but the low beams might not turn off when the high beams are turned on.  I don't want to run both at the same time - that's almost twice as much heat to dissipate which I anticipate could cause problems with bulb life and the sockets, even though I'm running the high temp ceramics.

Here's a simplifed drawing of the headlight wiring and the scan that I found:

simplified factory switch by Will Baker, on Flickr

Headlights85 by Will Baker, on Flickr

Sure wish I could find a reasonably priced copy of the '84 service manual but they're rare and $$.  There's only one on Ebay right now and they want $80 for it...

Anyway, the problem I'm anticipating is that when the high beams are on, the resistance from the dash indicator light might not be enough to prevent the lo beam relay from remaining energized.  I'm going to mock up the wiring and test it to see what happens and if the low beam relay stays on, then the following is how I'll wire it.  This scheme has the advantage of making the high beam indicator work like stock but the disadvantage of only one power feed for both low and high and the need to splice an extra wire at the high beam terminal.

HdltRlyHarness Alt 1 by Will Baker, on Flickr

I'd appreciate any thoughts/comments from the electrically inclined and anyone who's built their own harness or used one of the aftermarket harnesses and knows how it was wired.

[Plainview [OP]]

Haven't had time to really work on the lighting harness, but I did whip up this bed extender today.  Leaving for a 6 day camping trip tomorrow morning and wanted a little extra room out back. 

DSC_2535 by Will Baker, on Flickr

DSC_2534 by Will Baker, on Flickr

DSC_2532 by Will Baker, on Flickr

Need to think about a better way to secure it to the truck.  It's very strong, but a bit of a PITA to install & remove - held on with 4 bolts that require a 9/16" ratchet.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.