Thinking a 1972 F100 might be the way to go?

Regards,

 Chris and Cheryl

Any educated fool who thinks he is going to install nearly an identical computer to the one that just sits on your desk and is rendered useless enough to need replaced every few years from just being there and getting used occasionally and expecting it to work in as dirty an environment that a pickup truck is one mental giant I can live without. Frontal 

Lobotomies all around, I'm buying. And yes, but go back even more past 1964 cause that was the year royalty decreed we needed to celebrate our freedoms by being told to wear our seatbelts or pay fines. Hah, freedoms.

I remember helping a friend 'tossing' a real truck 4 speed( with granny 1st) in a 72 F100 with inline 6.  3tree tranny came out, held in one hand.... it's wall BOTH of us could do to lift the 4 speed tranny !!

It was a NICE ride  after that.,,,no... GREAT ride.

Problem is 2 fold today. IDIOTS messing with the basic engine (aka VVT or what ever they call it ). Maybe tweak the computer for FI stuff, but keep the ENGINE 'simple'

Second is all the STUPID addons to 'help' the driver drive. OK cruise is OK, 4 wheel ABS OK, after that nothing is needed.

Old blue KW does tow better just bigger, is an '05 and has Two processors, one for engine one for ABS, hard to say I spent too much time and money on it when have less than $62k in it including the two old GM 70s traded for it.  Cannot buy another truck that can do the same as it even used for less than $85k and needing work.

We have an edge on most, CAN Fix our machines, Mfrs' are attempting to make that impossible, so we continue to rely of our aged stuff.  We will be plodding along long after the newer junk is hauled into Shops costing thousands just to fail again and again and again.

When or AS I give up wrenches, will buy something with a Full warranty, as that comes close to end will trade, and get another with full warranty, will feed them there own Crap back and continue that cycle until can no longer drive.

Any one have an early 1970s Chubby 305 with the 15 lobe cam shaft ??  YEA i had one that wore out like that..... How about the rear fenders  of the 1975 Cubbys that rotted out after 2 years ???  Been there, done that...... Had a 1989 Dodge Minni van that the valve cover gasket started leaking oil with about 40K miles... Asked the dealer and NOPE, NEVER HEARD OF THAT ONE.. We can fix it for $75. .... did it myself... A week later got a letter for RECALL for ALL THE VALVE COVER LEAKS !!!

been a LONG Road of Foul Ups from all the Big Three as they knew had industry covered, then Japan entered and as with Auto S Korea with Japan and Central Asia came along to destroy AG machine construction here.

Oddly, S Am heavy industries still use Allis, FA, Bucyrus and LOADS of Euclid stuff.  If have no access to new, make their own parts or conversions to continue using.  Almost ALL the used Utility Company stuff my retirement employer dumped to S Am, where all the emissions and much of the Safety gear got stripped away to basic machines.  Used to have photos of one of the shops in Brazil and two in Argentina with Mounds of DOC systems and Auto transmissions as went back to Manuals.  Engines were converted or mods made to use other brands that still used Mechanical injection.  One photo showed Deutz Air Cooled engines going into IHC Chassis.

I remember in 1960 when my Gramps was giving Dad a bunch of chit about "they dont build them like they use to "........... after Gramps left, dad told me "he was righ... They use to be  CRAP.".. (1930- 40)..... .........

 When i was a kid , if a car made it to 100,000 miles it was close to a MIRACLE.... ... Today you call that Just starting to break in . !!

Most of us that where around in the 70's when the first smog control measures were added heard all the complaints. The bugs got worked out. One of the reasons valves and valve seats are made out of better materials. Nobody got to 100,000 miles without a valve grind. Now 300,000 miles and no opening the engine up are common.

  Will we get a that kind development in electronics??? Probably not as all manufactures what built in obsolescence so they can sell you a new widget every year. But we can still hope. 

You'd 'think' an airbag would be totally selfcontained and NOT required connection to the  instrument panel !!

Wonder if 'they' decided before deploying the airbag, the car needs  to 'talk to the car' about a possible crash... airbag says we're in trouble, instrument panel says we're in trouble, 1 shock sensor says no.... so NO do not deploy the air bag ??

Compromise in radiator:

Lot of plastic to take loose, remove, and attempt to not break anything:

Cooler broke free from this bracket:

Cleaned it up along with the cooler ears themselves, (both sides) and replaced with stainless hardware. It should last the duration of the truck's lifespan. I could have repaired the radiator but truck is a 2008 and always in the rust belt, so replaced.

Bracket bolted to the cooler. Truck assembled shortly thereafter. 

Rodent nest around hydrostatic drive units. This is not the worst of it:

Not a single fuse is blown in the machine but very little actually works. There is a maintenance bypass switch incorporated that bypasses many of the incorporated safety circuits but this when selected locks out boom and bucket functions. 

That instrument cluster is long obsolete and I've found nothing used to substitute. I'm going to work with this one a bit later today but in all likelihood, will be reverting to "relay logic" to get the machine back into service. Thinking I can retain many, (if not all) safety and monitoring features this panel provided. A small digital totalizer, ammeter, fuel, and temperature gauges would be incorporated, but will climb that mountain once at it's foot. 

Tomorrow, (Thursday) is supposed to be above freezing so will get the machine outside and give it a good bath with the steam cleaner. Not really dirty or greasy, but a lot of dried dust and of course rodent remains/nest. This should all break up easily with the water stream and the very hot water will kill anything still living, or run it off..... 

I installed a new injector pump as the old one was frozen stiff from biodiesel and setting several years and the engine runs well. I can drive it easy enough, but with that EIC inoperable, nothing electrical can be enabled including the boom and bucket functions.

Another adventure begins as they say.

Looking through an electrical print I see where the 12VDC interlock "Daisy Chaining" takes place and after physically removing the seat to check for voltage at the seat weight sensing switch(s) connectors, it is found to be present. However, the rear switch does not have continuity when depressed. Jumpering the plug to bypass both seat switches gains nothing. Next in line is the parking brake switch which has to be engaged to pass interlock voltage to the instrument cluster. It is present and that 12VDC interlock voltage seemingly runs up to the instrument cluster as it should. This is when I pulled the instrument cluster down and found the mounting cavity a solid nest. I did not check for a compromised wire and stopped there. 

Hope to gain on it shortly.

Don't like hijacking threads much myself so feel free to either move or delete if wanted.

I put a call into the dealer I help out with the board serial, model, and revision numbers which were perfectly legible after cleaning. I've asked for a print of the board circuitry so hopefully if they'll respond I can repair this long obsolete thing. A replacement type is over $1K in price so have some room to fiddle and this is kind of different and relaxing to me. 

GREAT to hear PROGRESS !! Used to dread fixing  PC that mice had 'relocated to'.... Used to 'brushcut' 1" paint brushes for  PCB cleaning detail. Once 'clean' would use heat gun(aka hair dryer) to be dry it off, then do it again and once more.

Hopefully you've got real good pictures of the PCB, both sides as well as 'part numbers' on the it. For giggles, toss those number into Google, you might be surprised what comes up.

If the part numbers on the actual chips are easy to read,it'll help if you decide to 'reverse engineer' that board . Having actual wiring diagram of HOW it connects is vital to getting it up and running.

Talked to the owner and they are alright with me incorporating relays, enable buttons, annuciator lamps, and digital/analog gauges in a new aluminum faceplate I can fashion. Don't think I'd have a hundred bucks in the job but do want to see if I can get this original board working first. Going to be ringing out a couple of harnesses that run throughout the ROPS roof that has had prior rodent damage this afternoon. Hopefully a compromised ground wire is all.

Dropped rest of control panel down and wiring damage is prevalent. Many of the wires with prior repairs are once again compromised. This would explain the lack of lighting in the machine. I cannot get a straight answer whether fuses have been replaced as there has been more than one set of fingers in the pie. 

Ignition switch panel dropped down:

I'll get to repairing this later today but have a couple other small jobs to tend first. Starting to fall behind on this one but many times a can of worms once opened is like that.

Yes they are. I'm going to emulate many of the safety's in the system using strict relay logic. Going to retain the engine shutdown for overtemp, low oil pressure, restricted hydraulic filtration, operator seated, and seat belt fastened also. One feature I will eliminate is the engine shutting down if seat belt is unfastened. However, the second this belt is released, the boom functions will immediately lock. Engagement requires operator in seat, seat belt fastened, and manually depressing a button to unlock the boom functions. As original, the second you release the seat belt, the boom functions would lock and the engine would shut down unless you manually switched a toggle switch to "Service", from the "Run" position. This switch also locked the boom functions. 

New Holland responded back with "intellectual property" and cannot/will not provide a print of the CCA so kinda SOL with repairing the original board cost effectively. No worries with me as I'll be removing a single point of failure that puts a machine down and replacing with a logical, and easy to follow algorithmic start/run scenario. 

Something that will be retained from a safety standpoint is the engine will shut down if the operator gets out of the seat. There isn't a way to lock out the machine movement controls with the engine running. The original function was if the seat belt was unlatched with engine running, the foot pedals controlling bucket functions were immediately locked. The engine would continue to run. If the operator left the seat, the engine would shut down. These feature(s) will be retained to keep anybody from getting hurt, or worse.

Awaiting an order of timers, switches, buttons, annunciators, and some additional "Bosch" style five pin relays and sockets. Once this goes back together, operation for the operator should be as original with exception of physical "look".

All the while I'm thinking if I wanted to keep doing this crap, I shouldn't have retired..... 

Owner wants either a loud annunciator, (Sonalert screamer) or flashing lamp to remind to release parking brake. Easy enough to incorporate at this stage and will serve a good purpose. 

I did locate the values of the sending units for oil pressure, hydraulic charge pressure, and filter restriction sending units. The oil pressure gauge kit comes with the appropriate sender, the fuel gauge is selectable for the proper resistance readings and has full, and empty calibration capability. The hydraulic fluid temperature, and filter restriction are simple on/off switches calibrated at different values. 

Overall, a productive day. 

Corrosion with this machine in the electrical terminations has been terrible and takes time to sort. There have been prior repairs to wiring that have been attacked again in addition to fresh damage further up, and downstream. I understand the machine has sat untouched where it was for at least six years so ample time for small vermin to take up permanent residence.

I'm not a believer in electronics into a construction type machine given the atmosphere they exist within. Manual, or mechanical operation worked for a lot of years pretty trouble free and even a novice could keep their equipment in good repair. Not so much when you have a single board with it's fingers into every fit, form, and function and a single point failure takes the machine out of service. Eliminating this very scenario is my goal with this machine as it's been troublesome in the past; along with knowing these EIC, (boards) were known failure items. To be fair, not really a machine fault in this scenario, but rather atmosphere and care/exposure.

When I finish all automated features should remain intact but isolated into operational segments and easy to t/s in the future should problems arise.

I found a couple boards used on the internet but still over 1K each. Given they were a known failure item, I'm just going to eliminate the problem altogether. Myself personally have never seen one of these work. I have hauled several in for either service, or trades on new and all the clusters I've seen are inop. Most have a toggle switch incorporated to unlock the boom functions and other wiring workarounds including a pushbutton for engine preheat, (glow plugs) and I could do the same easily; but I'm retaining the automatic functions through a discreet componentry scenario. I'm not counting nickles but rather going for reliabiltiy over anything else.

Had to run a new power lead incorporating a separate fuse in line for the lights. The termination at the original fuse block was corroded badly and broke off with very little effort due to the effects of rodent urine. That is why I had battery voltage at the switch in the with the switch in the "Off" position, but immediately went to zero volts when "On" position was selected.

Hoping to get this machine back to owner by next weekend. The project is coming along nicely so far once figured out.  

I have a 30 year old GEHL with a 4 cylinder FORD engine.. Runs great, but does not have a "normal" coil/ points, or a distributor.. Has two little magic "BOXES" with a dozen wires running to each... BOXES are hard to come by... I dread the day that i have "no spark"..... guy before me put a mechanical governor on the engine, so "half" of one box does nothing... but i dont want to disconnect it and find out WHAT !

Received the timers, red annunciators, reset buttons, and all important 52mm hole saw to install the gauges. Also located a section of 14ga sheet steel for the faceplate, and a stick of lightweight 1" steel channel to function as a relay mount strip. I'll weld the channel to the rear of the faceplate, bore and tap holes for relay ears to affix so no fasteners protrude through the faceplate with exception of the four mounting fasteners.

I didn't think of a "dimming" circuit for the instrument panel with the work lamps turned on and it may not be a problem, but that can be inserted at a later time if needed.

Hopefully get some accomplished on this task yet today.

Only Gehl skid steer I've worked on was a diesel unit that scattered the engine. I want to say it had a Perkins, or Shibaura engine and was replaced with a reman long block the owner could not get any credit for as it wasn't a rebuildable core. That one was fun and I used my gantry crane to completely lift the cab off the unit for unimpeded access.

I figger I'll go till getting bored, (not there yet) and then think about something else. Don't hunt, fish, drink, smoke, chase skirt, etc. but still like working on things so save to say it's "difficult" to slow down.

This is what the fuel gauge looks like lit up:

I'll get the relay bank mounted up tomorrow and hopefully some incorporation done.

 

Will be incorporating my new control panel today but have one circuit yet to figure out. No point to point wiring diagram available and will find this wiring run via multimeter. I can make it work with the original card in place, but now need to go around that circuit as have all the others. This allows for an unmolested original wiring harness, (albeit several repairs). Engine starts and runs from my homebrew concoction and glow plugs cycle as they should. Same safety systems are active and engine immediately dies if any are compromised.

One Eye Wonder:

After finding yet another wire compromised and repaired:

Owner tells me the lights have not worked in the machine for many years. Rodent damage corroded the termination that supplies power to the circuit. I "scabbed" this in there temporarily going around original fuse till I can get the correct pins that go into the fuse block. It actually tucked away nicely and is readily accessible though I didn't photo the completion:

Going back together and this is where I stopped for the day. Tummy growling when I snapped this so time to head home:

Originally had planned to split the harness but later decided there was no need as I'm going to attempt to repair the original EIC board:

Figured out my way around the original EIC and everything works as far as enabling. Also found two wires in the ROPS that were devoid of insulation and together but they are not used in this machine. 10 seconds of glow plug cycling and this engine wants to jump off the mounts starting so easily. Finally have everything sorted and haven't had to cut a single wire of the original harness. Tomorrow I will incorporate my panel into the mix and give it a functional checkout with my grapple bucket, and some downed limbs in the yard.

Discovered how to jumper to enable the hydraulic valve body to allow booms to stroke. This is the first time they have been down in nearly eight years:

Little too tight to work in engine compartment with them down so back up they went.

First shot of my new panel livening up just a bit. Nothing installed, nor calibrated but I think they will be fine as not too bright to use at night. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP82vFkcaXE

First Yellow lamp will be glow plug cycling.

Second Yellow lamp will be for hydraulic filter restriction.

Red lamp is for low engine oil pressure. 

Hopefully when the keyswitch is turned to the "On" position, all three will illuminate and the top Yellow lamp will extinguish at the interval adjusted for to allow glow plugs to warm. The engine can then be started.

I have decided to run the second Yellow, and Red lamps through five second timer circuit(s). This means if the engine sensors "see" either a clogged hydraulic filter, or low engine oil pressure, this will start a countdown in the respective circuit. If oil filter differential pressure, or engine oil pressure does not return to normal levels in five seconds, the timers will command engine shutdown immediately by interrupting the fuel solenoid voltage.

 

Thanks. Been a rewarding project for certain. As each subassembly comes back to life it is considered accomplishment. 

Kinda like your pickup project being it if were easy, anybody could, or would do it. Lot easier to repair something when you can actually see the damage; not so much with electrical when you are only armed with the limited scope of printed material I have available. 

https://youtu.be/7RlMOFDT2aI%20" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/7RlMOFDT2aI

Then comes the green in both cash, and their Deere tractor which they call "Big John" as mowing season is just around the corner. I want to say this tractor has rodent damage also but not to the extent this skid steer did. I think it only affects the lights, and this may, or may not be from rodents but it has been worked on in the past. This tractor still runs/operates, but needs checked over and serviced for the upcoming season.