Refurbishing the W350

[stillsmokin]

Like any first gen, the W350 I bought isn't quite perfect. There are lots of little things that have been broken, lost, or bubba repaired. I spent some spare time over the last 2 weeks running around getting the title switched over, getting plates, and gathering parts. Parts are alot easier these days Mark Nixon, Pulltilbroke, my shed, and Ebay all helped.

All that had been done up till now was a lift pump replacement and chasing a loss of prime. Today, the weather was in the upper 40's and I could do a little more work on it. So, I got out the wash bucket and mitt and made a cut (not joking) on the finish. I don't think it had been hand washed in alot of years. BIG improvement!





Now to replace bumpers and clean up the interior. Still need a few little spice trim parts.

[1990]

Clean truck!

[stillsmokin]

Got the loss of prime figured out, turns out I installed the problem. First off the original lift pump started leaking on the way home. The new aftermarket lift pump I put on was mismachined where the pressure side line screws in. The seat for the compression fitting was slightly offset and bored too deep. It failed a witness mark test, only seating about 75% of the way around. It would not leak fuel but sucked air and lost prime overnight. So I exchanged it for another one. It has started easily on its own now after setting overnight.

I checked out the KSB today since it was a little too smokey when cold. The switch was bad, I put in a new one and that is working now. That cleaned up some of the cold smoke. I also put in the correct tail lights quick while I was letting the engine warm up.

[bigbill105 45]

Man that truck is clean!

[stillsmokin]

Went after the headlight switch problem today. Tore the dash apart and found somebody had been playing with scotchlocks and butt splice connectors around the switch . What a mess, the plug is melted somewhat, I'll have to get another plug for the switch to repair it. I can wire up the brake controller and trailer lights the right way later. I have a pile of trim parts to replace in that general area as well to restore it back to original function/appearance.

I had a minute to install the $25 Dodge CD/cassette radio pulltilbroke found in a 99 durango at the u-pull yard, it works great . I also discovered that the duals only had 45 lbs of air in them, no wonder it drank 3/4 tank of fuel on the way home. Especially when you figure in a leaking lift pump and one heck of a windy day!

[stillsmokin]

I pulled out the brake controller and associated crappy wiring job tonight after work. Then, I had a little better access to the brake switch, which clicked and snapped the whole way home. It had a hose clamp on it and some cracks in the switch so, I pulled it to investigate. I think the nut that holds the bracket backed off or wasn't tight, the switch went out of adjustment, and all kinds of bad repair came into play. It all makes sense now, the guy I bought it from mentioned the tailights were stuck on when he got it and the tail light lenses had melted. The switch had a couple of homemade reinforcing brackets, and all kinds of s--- holding it. But, it was upside down in the bracket . I ended up swapping the entire switch and bracket for one I got at Mark Nixon's place. Here is what I removed...





I also took some time to put the fuse box back together the right way. Almost every fuse was a 30A. I also noticed there was no cigar lighter fuse, HMMMM . I did some quick detective work and found a screw for the fuse box in the lighter socket. Pulled the short out of there and put in a new fuse. D-bags.

[redneckroot]

My 90 had the wires cut to the lighter for the same reason.

[stillsmokin]

My 90 had the wires cut to the lighter for the same reason.

When I worked in a dealership we used to find pennies and dimes in the lighter once and a while, this is the first screwed one I've run across.

[stillsmokin]

I had a few hours to work on it yesterday, I put in the new headlight switch (which got a new pigtail as well) and partially reassembled the dash. I then went under the truck to look at a suspicious electric tape job on the main harness under the cab. Turns out that was concealing yet another corroded scotchlock connector, which just so happened to be spliced on to the black/yellow wire for the marker lights. That particular wire was melted at the headlight switch.... So, I cut out the corroded area and put in a heat shrink/seal butt splice in there.

I elected to remove all of the trailer wiring at that point and inspect the rear harness. I found that the black/purple wire had rubbed through and corroded forever ago right by one of the 4 wire connectors behind the drivers rear wheel. Today, I ran down to Marks to cut a connector pigtail from a parts harness. I pulled the lock from the connector and took out the black/purple wire to make the repair with. Hopefully, there will be time to get that repaired tomorrow.

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS USE SCOTCHLOCKS!

[RumbleFish]

I don't know why you are wasting all this time and money messing around with an old beater like this. How about I come take it off your hands for ya lol.

I understand about scotchlocks. Id like to find the creator of them and kick him in the pills.

[PToombs]

Didn't you guys know scotchlocks breed? I think we had this discussion at one of the SOP meetings. All it takes is 1, and then then there are 2, then a bunch in a harness. I think they are amorphodites, and breed with themselves.

[stillsmokin]

I don't know why you are wasting all this time and money messing around with an old beater like this. How about I come take it off your hands for ya lol.

I understand about scotchlocks. Id like to find the creator of them and kick him in the pills.

You know how it is, it just a nice old truck, meeting its new owner. The new owner actually knows how to do more than wash it and change oil. He can tell things are shot before parts fall off or warning lights come on. It seems the electrical system on these older dodges are almost always all hacked up.

GM taught us strategy based diagnostics, scotchlocks+outdoor elements=corrosion/resistance. So, no scotchlocks in dealership, seek and destroy scotchlocks on all electrical warranty repairs. It was that bad.

[Dieselwrencher]

That is a very nice W350 you have there! You don't see many around here. Let a lone any that are as nice as yours!

[stillsmokin]

That is a very nice W350 you have there! You don't see many around here. Let a lone any that are as nice as yours!

It attracted ALOT of attention on the way home. Lots of staring people and pointing little kids. I stopped at a chili's for dinner in Ankeny, IA on the way home, got hit up to sell it while the turbo was cooling off in the parking lot. I didn't listen much to the guy, just told him, "It's not for sale". I had owned it for a little over 1 hour.

Pulled up next to a 4th gen cummins dually 4x4 at a stop light leaving Ankeny, it was almost like that truck bowed down to mine when the light turned green and that guy just sat there and stared like he had seen a ghost. It looked like the makings of a dodge truck tv commercial.

Got hit up again in Walnut, IA by a trucker, he asked if I had just bought it and if it was a stick. I said yes to both questions, he said "I won't even ask you if you want to sell then", I think he could tell I was a first gen guy. He said he hadn't seen one that nice and original for many years, that meant alot to me.

FWIW, I ran out of heat shrink/seal splice connectors last night so, I didn't get that wire spliced until tonight after work.

[Mark Nixon]

Jeff, glad I can help you do this thing up right, electrically.
Who would think such a nice truck would have had that much hacked wiring?

For the record, I scotch locked some wiring last night.
Fortunately it was on my TRAILER and it was only to get the lights on it to work for a quick trip to retrieve a half of a dead one a couple hours away.

Don't tell me I'll burn in "hell" for it, because I'll tell you "at least then I'll be warm, so I'll scotch lock away!"

Mark.