My J-4500

[Heep-J4000]

Cranky , those weights are in lbs right!?

When I got my 73' j4000 on Dutch plates it was aloud to haul 1300 kilograms with a total weight of 3450 kilograms.

I had a couple times that much on the back and it performed very good!
It did ride smoother with some load instead of a empty bed.

The max it once hauled was around 2800 kilograms of bricks ,but that made the tow hitch scraping the pavement when going over a bump in the road.

I hope to have some load options left after the truck is back in one piece with the Cummins driveline in and utility bed on.

[Crankyolman]

Cranky , those weights are in lbs right!?

When I got my 73' j4000 on Dutch plates it was aloud to haul 1300 kilograms with a total weight of 3450 kilograms.

I had a couple times that much on the back and it performed very good!
It did ride smoother with some load instead of a empty bed.

The max it once hauled was around 2800 kilograms of bricks ,but that made the tow hitch scraping the pavement when going over a bump in the road.

I hope to have some load options left after the truck is back in one piece with the Cummins driveline in and utility bed on.

Yes, that's in lbs and I know I baby it and I have no doubt the axles can handle way more load than the truck is rated at. I do at times think about when my brother and I broke an axle on the Chevy truck we used to haul firewood when I was a teenager and don't want to have to go looking for another DANA 44 to fit it, or axles or anything else for that matter and I seldom actually need to haul too heavy of a load.


I will say the truck does like at least a bit of a load and unless I'm hauling something heavy I keep two or three 50 lbs bags of ballast at the very back of the bed, otherwise I have traction problems even on slightly damp roads.

[Crankyolman]

And then you find another donor truck to make a trailer to match

Back when I was looking for a replacement tailgate I found an old trailer made out of a Kaiser era truck but Mrs Cranky persuaded me not to buy it because we don't have the room for it.

[Crankyolman]

I haven't been posting much lately because a lot has been going on in my life and none of it involves the truck. Apple production this year is dismal but I don't have time to deal with them anyway and the truck is running real nicely.


That said, this week a couple minor things happened.


I got a flat tire but it was easily fixed but the tires are starting to look a bit shoddy and I'm going to have to start thinking about replacing them next summer or so.


The other thing is my odometer finally rolled over to 20,000 miles. If what I was told when I bought the truck is correct that means it now has 120,000 original miles on it. This milestone happened at 5:30 in the morning and I had to pull over and take a couple of pictures I rather like how they turned out so I figured I'd share them






I just love the green glow of old dash lights

[SOLSAKS]

i love the green glo too,........hello cranky

[Crankyolman]

i love the green glo too,........hello cranky

Hi Dave


There is just something comforting about those green dash lights.

[SOLSAKS]

I like the lettering or number style, font......
on those year models
the simple design is always good.

[rang-a-stang]

Those pictures are great Cranky!! Love them!

[sierrablue]

Mine came w/o the green lenses so unlike the Fords we have of the same era, its lights were yellow when we got it.

I added LEDs so now they're clear...I actually like it that way. The green is awesome too--it's just not what I know on mine. I have no idea how many hundreds it is (at least one), but I'm almost to 16k since.

[Crankyolman]

I see the posts I made in December have disappeared

[TPICherokee]

I see the posts I made in December have disappeared

Any post you made from December 24th-January 1st was deleted. We did a test update on vbulletin Dec 24th to make sure everything would work and it did. Once we did the final update January 1st, the file corrupted itself so we had to go back to the Dec 24th file

[Crankyolman]

I've actually been working on my truck a bit lately...sort of...

Mrs Cranky knows I've been wanting a dash cam for some time. We've often discussed getting them for the car and truck if for no other reason than to be able to post videos of the bad driving and crazy stuff we see around here. Knowing I would likely never buy one for myself she got me one for Christmas. It was one that fits over your mirror and has a backup cam but after reading up on it I decided this particular one was a bit too complicated for me. I prefer to keep things as simple as possible but I then started researching to figure out exactly what I want in a dash cam so I could exchange it for something more suitable.

I had no idea it would require hours and hours of research to figure out something so seemingly simple. First thing is cost. Dash cams come in numerous price ranges but of course quality and resolution suffer on the cheapest ones. I wanted something simple to use, so many of them are very complicated. I wanted 4K if possible. Cameras that face both ways but not a backup camera, although I would like a backup camera, I just don't like the big screen that comes with them. What I didn't want was complicated, GPS, turn by turn directions and any number of things so many of them now have, including the one Mrs Cranky bought me.

After all that research I settled on a Rexing V1p plus 4K. It has a front and rear facing camera. The front camera shoots 4k the rear 1080p, it has an impact sensor which locks the current video in the event of an accident and turns on if the car is parked and it senses an impact in case someone runs into you while you are parked. and it's simple to install and unlike many it can be removed from the windshield if necessary so it can be used on multiple cars if you want or if you just want to take it inside to transfer videos to your computer without removing the SD card, which came with it, not all come with cards. It also has bluetooth to connect to my phone if I feel the need but it requires downloading an app and I'm not big on apps. It is also GPS compatible if I want to glue yet another thing to my windshield and reveal things like my exact route and speed should something happen, I'm not a fan of showing my speed, mostly because I tend to drive just slightly above the speed limit (by 5 MPH or less)

Installation was simple...ish. Plug the cigarette lighter adapter in, run the wires under the dash, along the passenger door trim, under the piece that holds the headliner in place and down to the camera which I located behind the mirror. Figuring out where to locate the rear facing camera was a bit difficult but I chose to place it on the windshield rather than rear window so it gets the maximum view to the side. Between the two cameras there is only a small area not viewable in the event of an accident. Once wired up I set the date clipped it in place and that was it...or not...

I thought that was it but then I realized it was not turning off, which was a problem. So after some more research I discovered that if your lighter is hot all the time you have to manually turn it off and on and the "parking mode" doesn't work or you need to buy what Rexing calls a "smart" hardwire kit, or an "inteligent" hardwire kit...great more research...

So after further research I found that the "smart" hardwire kit is only for certain models, mine being one, and will turn the camera on automatically and allow "parking mode". The "intelligent" kit includes a motion detector that turns the cameras on if someone or something gets too close.

I opted for the "intelligent" kit because I'd like to catch my gas thief, if he's still around, although I suspect it's the same neighbor my wife caught stealing firewood a few weeks ago.

So with that we ordered the intelligent kit and today I set about installing it.

The kit comes with 2 fuse adapters that are made to fit in empty but powered slots in modern cars where mini fuses go. Of course my 50 year old truck doesn't have mini fuses, or even a fuse block so I had to improvise. One fuse connects to an always hot and the other to a hot when the key is on. My solution was to get two mini fuse holders that are made for aftermarket and connect one to the connector that also goes to the cigarette lighter and the other to the wire that goes to my aftermarket tach because I know it only comes on when the key is on. I'm thinking I will probably change that circuit to a relay but since the camera only draws 1.5 amps it should be fine for now... So much in my life is made up of temporary measures... I then removed the wiring that used the lighter and ran the new wiring. I then had to pick a location for the motion sensor which wasn't easy because it needs to not be blocked but it also needs to be inconspicuous. I picked a place I thought would be low enough below the mirror and stuck it to the windshield. I then walked around the truck and realized it would be better in another location but was unable to detach it from the windshield so I guess this spot will have to do. It actually seems to sense movement anywhere important and turn on so I guess it will be fine where it is.

And with that I now have a new dash cam and I'm anxious to get some 4K footage of some crazy driving and post to my youtube channel

[Crankyolman]

That is except for the fact that any time I mess with wires under the dash I knock something loose, so why wouldn't this time be any different.

On my way home I discovered my blinkers didn't work so when I got home I had to crawl under there and sort that out. Fortunately it didn't take much to find and fix the problem and everything is good now.

[Crankyolman]

Every time I mess with wires under the dash I knock something loose, so why wouldn't this time be any different.

On my way home I discovered my blinkers didn't work so when I got home I had to crawl under there and sort that out. Fortunately it didn't take much to find and fix the problem and everything is good now.

[sierrablue]

Every time I mess with wires under the dash I knock something loose, so why wouldn't this time be any different.

On my way home I discovered my blinkers didn't work so when I got home I had to crawl under there and sort that out. Fortunately it didn't take much to find and fix the problem and everything is good now.

It's NOT just me!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I've done that a few times too