FNG checking in from the Carolinas

[PD1744]

Currently at around 193k miles.

Replaced driver side hub/bearing yesterday



Went with a Timken unit and saved about $45 over Motorcraft. Looks like both the units I pulled off the truck were Moogs. Ironically enough Rock Auto charges $158 more for the Moogs than Motorcraft. No idea why. I know everyone has the experience and opinions on Moog parts but I personally have never been impressed with their products.

Went smooth and easy. I’m getting really good at taking this truck apart. Everything is nice and quite now. Also looks like the axle on that side is aftermarket and was replaced at some point.

The driver side window is starting to become intermittent so I’m gonna replace the switches and the regulator/motor.

Also discovered some deep grooving on the inside of my passenger front rotor when I did the LBJ’s. Gonna try and have it turned. Would have done it yesterday’s while I was in there for the bearing but the dude that turns rotors wasn’t working that day.

And now I’ve been battling a broken expensive ass headlight for over a month now. Had two failures on my driver side Morimoto XB’s in less than half a year. They’ve had my headlight for over two and a half weeks with next to zero updates for me. The vendor (a forum vendor) and Morimoto have seemingly ghosted me. Stay tuned...


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[BenBB]

RIght on. I'd rather do 4 front wheel bearings than one window regulator haha! You might check that harness between door and body, I think rear doors have more issues with wires breaking there inside the boot but you never know, if you're lucky it's just the switch. Good luck with the headlight, hope they get it sorted!!

 

[PD1744]

RIght on. I'd rather do 4 front wheel bearings than one window regulator haha! You might check that harness between door and body, I think rear doors have more issues with wires breaking there inside the boot but you never know, if you're lucky it's just the switch. Good luck with the headlight, hope they get it sorted!!

Thanks man! I've looked into the window regulator job. Doesn't look too terrible. I've been in this particular door a lot. I've seen issues of breaking wires and issues with that harness, but I feel like I've taken a look at some point for some reason and didn't notice any obvious issues. From my symptoms I'd say it's a switch going bad. I noticed a handful of times that I'd have to bump that particular switch a second time to get it rolling sometimes and then the other morning it just didn't work at all, but came back on my drive home from work. Of course before it came back my ******** already ordered the regulator assembly (the more expensive of the two parts). It's been working fine ever since, but I figure go ahead and replace it all so I don't have to think about it for a long time.

After this, I still gotta get the front diff fluid changed and then the Deavers that were on the 'used to be long list' have suddenly wound up on a much shorter list. But I'm trying to re-gear the 4Runner soon too, so one thing at a time.

 

[PD1744]

Also this tip I got (probably from here) to use hanging folders to organize the center console was MONEY!! Was a mess of papers before.




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[PD1744]

Replaced the window switch over the weekend. Was quite possibly the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Took less than a minute.



Hopefully this cures my issue. I have the regulator assembly standing by if/when I need it but not in any rush to install that joker.

Gear oil for the front diff came in this week. Will knock that out at some point. If anybody has good tips here I’m all ears.


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[PD1744]

Had the day off and finally put the front diff fluid change to rest. By my count that should be all the fluids for a while. Preemptive research showed me two methods of getting this done. One by sucking the fluid out the fill port because of the proximity of the diff cover to the steering rack and then those that successfully did it the traditional way.

I ordered a cheap electric oil pump with the intention of employing the former method:



After receiving it and reading it shouldn’t be used for gear oil because of the high viscosity, I second guessed it and decided to make an assessment on how to proceed once I got in there. Didn’t like how close it was AT ALL. I could see a lot of ways that I could **** this up.

So being a ‘work harder not smarter’ kind of dude this is the rig I came up with:



Yup, used some tiny pump that I probably salvaged from a lotion my wife threw out or something. Obviously took forever because of the tiny engine on that pump but got er done. 10 out of 10 don’t recommend unless just looking for a workout. Good news is the fluid looked great already. No milkshake like I’ve seen in several others. Possibly has been done at some point. Managed to pull out pretty much everything using this method:



New stuff went in easier with a larger pump that I use to do most of my fluid changes. I also like the pump out method for the fact that I don’t have to worry about resealing the cover and allowing time for it to cure and worry about it leaking and having to do it over. It’s ready to go.

Fluid looking good makes sense in that the case remains pretty much static most of the time. Even with deletes like mine, it’s never really under load, just kinda slinging fluid around so my low level of urgency to complete this issue was fitting.


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[PD1744]

Oh also forgot to mention that I hopefully put an end to my headlight saga a couple of weeks ago by swapping out my socket as a suggestion from the vendor. Anyone interested in some entertaining, mature discourse can find how all of that transpired on my post in the lighting sub-forum. Did a half-decent job with solder and heat shrink and the whole nine. Fingers crossed.






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[PD1744]

Couple small updates from the weekend. Picked up the next project. I inherited the smoked engine from my buddy. Ya boy might bit off more than he can chew here. But got it to its new location. Will be my first engine build so could be a huge bust but for sure a learning experience. I’ll start a new thread to document it so any info doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Still don’t know if I’m going to do a stock rebuild or a BUILD. Also not sure if I keep it for a spare or sell it when I’m done. But first order of business is obviously get it tore down and assess what we’re working with.





Then started digging into a new issue that ended up sort of a win... sort of a fail. Issue was when my son rolled his window down (the infamous driver side rear) around 80% or so I would be greeted by the ‘door ajar’ alert along with all the fun stuff that comes with it (chime, dome lights, etc.). Dove in to see what I can find. Symptoms like that to me seem like a wiring issue since it dependent on the position of the window.

Tore out the entire latch mechanism to see if I could put eyes on the switch or sensor itself. Not the easiest thing to pull out.





So couldn’t actually put eyes on the mechanism itself. Seems to be integrated into the assembly. 4 wires go into the connector. One set I assume operated the door lock actuator and the other for the door ajar switch. Metal rod for the manual lock. Black cable in the top pic for inner door handle and pink clip for outer.

Inspected the wiring inside the door panel and saw nothing that would impede with the window operation. Inspected the wiring inside the bellow that passes from cab to door and saw nothing broken. Reason I call it a ‘win-ish’ was once I put it back together it from a condition where it was door ajar from 80% to window all the way down, to just a quick intermittent blip, and then went away all together... so I thought. Then last night it came on right when I cranked the truck but I got it to go away by cycling the window. No issues today. Definitely screams wiring to me. Good thing too because those latch assemblies aren’t really cheap ($80-$100). I’ll tear it out and give it a more thorough inspection. Either when i have time or when it really demands my attention.

Few quick shots from our city slicking over the weekend






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[BenBB]

Oh those little actuator bastards...so on this forum somewhere there's some really old threads on issues where the door doesn't unlock (not that big a deal since you can use the key to get in) or unlock (much angryness for me, nothing like walking back to your truck in a crowded parking lot only to find it was open to the public). Consensus here and other F150 forums is either dust or resistor overheating. I know, not your issue, but I did crack mine open to clean, regrease and mod the resistors (also wrapped 'em in heavy ziplock bags best I could), and there's only a motor in there, and they damn sure do get nasty:

I haven't had the same issue, but isn't there a pushbutton type switch on the cab side to detect door ajar? Have you scoped out under the driver front scuff plate and traced that circuit?

Motor project is badass. I vote you built it up as much as possible and stuff it in an F1...street or long travel prerunner, either one will work heh.

 

[PD1744]

Oh those little actuator bastards...so on this forum somewhere there's some really old threads on issues where the door doesn't unlock (not that big a deal since you can use the key to get in) or unlock (much angryness for me, nothing like walking back to your truck in a crowded parking lot only to find it was open to the public). Consensus here and other F150 forums is either dust or resistor overheating. I know, not your issue, but I did crack mine open to clean, regrease and mod the resistors (also wrapped 'em in heavy ziplock bags best I could), and there's only a motor in there, and they damn sure do get nasty:
View attachment 162919
I haven't had the same issue, but isn't there a pushbutton type switch on the cab side to detect door ajar? Have you scoped out under the driver front scuff plate and traced that circuit?

Motor project is badass. I vote you built it up as much as possible and stuff it in an F1...street or long travel prerunner, either one will work heh.

Thanks for the picture. It's helpful as far as understanding the guts of the thing. Holy moly that thing is nasty.

All other door ajar switches I've seen in the past were a little button between the cab and door like you said. But when I tried to learn about my issue, I saw that Ford has one where the switch is integrated into the bottom of the latch mechanism, though that's not what I saw when I pulled this guy. If it were the other configuration (button between cab and door), then I'd definitely have no clue why the position of the window would effect the circuit. So I guess first thing I need to do is figure how the damn thing actually works. Will require my attention sooner than later now too, as it seems to not like when the door is open and closed. Thanks for the info!!

Regarding the engine build, I like you style! My wallet don't...