Yeah, here in central Oklahoma, going to be upper 50's today, then 60's through Thursday. Great get outside and work on vehicles weather. With a beer and a cigar on the side. ;-)
It was 54 degrees this afternoon. Extremely weird to be outside without a jacket towards the end of December turning wrenches and not cussing at the freezing cold and/or snow/ice LOL. Got most of the stuff taken care of that needed done, I'll have the shop do the shocks and balance the tires next week. Oil was dirty, about 2k past due for an oil change according to the window sticker. Transmission was full of oil too. Going to check the rear diff tomorrow. If the rear diff doesn't look too bad I'll wait till spring to do a fluid change on it just suck out what I can and replace it, there's no leak in the rear diff seal so going to leave well enough alone with that one.
Still have the random power loss & chugging issue that comes and goes...started when I left work today, got out on the highway and got on the throttle really hard and it quit doing it, so its quiet weird. Maybe a bad fuel filter or something IDK yet on that, I really need to find a fuel pressure tester, that would really help LOL.
I found a couple of odd wires under the dash with 2 4AMP fuses that seem to go to nothing, I unhooked those and haven't found anything that isn't working so I have no idea what those wires went to. I ordered a blower motor resistor as the blower only works on high right now. Also need to pickup a horn, I have no idea what the heck horn they put in it but it doesn't do anything, I swear its like a siren type horn but it barely makes any noise at all so that thing is getting pulled out and probably find one from pick a part.
The cruise control doesn't work, no big deal, its not factory in the first place, its the type that was installed at the dealer or aftermarket that replaces the original turn signal arm.
After I unhooked those wires with the 2 fuses in them the radio sort of tries to work now but still a short in the volume and fade knobs anytime you just barely touch them it cuts out, antenna swap didn't do anything either...so I managed to confirm that it is the radio itself that's a pile of crap...gee I've had 3 of those things that were garbage I think Ford just had junk radios back then LOL. I haven't tried a cassette tape in it yet, I guess I should and see if the problem is the same with volume control and fade control. There are 2 speakers behind the seat, and I don't think they were put there at the factory? At least my 84 Ranger only had the 2 speakers in the top of the dash, so I wonder if those 2 wires went to those speakers and possibly were some sort of speaker/amp type units whatever they are they don't work anyhow and they definitely don't have any noise coming out of them at all after unhooking those 2 fused wires from the fuse panel.
The truck sat out under a tree and had sap, dirt, and grime all over the hood and roof. I got a spray bottle of Krud Cutter this afternoon and sprayed it down really good and it all wiped off very easily with a towel. I then just washed everything off really good, and made sure to hit the door, window, windshield, and back window seals really well, no leaks into the cab which is good news.
Just a few little things here and there, sure is nice having a little pickup again though, my Bronco 2 and Jeep haven't moved since I got the truck Friday LOL. Supposed to snow on Christmas eve, so I kind of want to see how those tires do, probably not well considering there's no weight in the bed LOL...may have to add some sand bags over the axle, pretty simple fix there. Rear axle is of course the standard 3.73 open differential so no help for traction there...glad its the 3.73 though, at least it gives it a little bit of towing capability, how much I have no idea, never been good at figuring that out, probably 3500lbs I'd assume at most maybe less sense it has the manual transmission. It don't have a trailer hitch on it anyhow.