Did a lot of little things over the past few weeks. It was all stuff that was on my list to do "one of these days", but my Dad wanted to use the truck to haul an Novurania 18' rigid-hull inflatable boat in for repairs.
So, in no particular order:
2 new ( reconditioned ) batteries from Interstate. Of the 3 local Interstate locations in my area, only 1 knew what a "blem" was, and they didn't have any. Man, what a difference, had to relearn how long to keep the switch in the crank position all over again!
Along with the new batteries, I had new battery cables made up from welding cable. These were all hooked up with military-style battery terminals and boots. In the process, I removed the rear radio rack power cable. Mine didn't have the terminal blocks in the back, so the cable just ended in one of those round 4 pin connectors. On top of that, the cable was in poor shape under the hood, missing insulation and a large section was taped up.
8 new Bosch Duraterm glow plugs and connectors from CUCV Electric. The truck had been running on 6 glow plugs, with the two bad ones being on the right rear. I feared the worst, but they all came out without any problems. The old ones were all AC60Gs. I took out the rear battery tray to make it easier, and also took the opportunity to wire-wheel and paint the rear tray.
Replaced the shocks and steering stabilizer with Rancho RS5000 hardware. The left rear upper shock mount was tedious, but not too bad. An air ratchet would have been great to have. I'm really glad I soaked all the shock mount bolts with PB Blaster the week before. The tapered pin for the steering stabilizer took a bit of heat to get out. Have not noticed a huge difference, other then the truck not rocking back and forth so much when coming to a stop.
Had a Class III hitch installed. It is welded to the frame and they also tied into the square support tube for the pintle hitch. Not sure I'd be able to remove the pintle hitch now if I wanted to... should add to its strength a bit though.
Made up an adapter harness to go from the weather-pack connectors that connect to the military trailer plug so I can use the 4 pin flat style connector. Thanks go to jmassenga for the picture of his adapter. Also finally connected the license plate light via this adapter. I also installed an heavy duty signal flasher to handle the extra load of the trailer lights.
Replaced the harmonic dampener. What a lot of fun that was. Getting it off wasn't so bad, as I was able to keep the crank from turning using the holes in the outside edge of the old one as mentioned in the TM. Tightening the new one, that required pulling the transmission inspection cover. That was a pain.
Added a 12v power port in the stock cig lighter location, mainly to power the GPS for use as a backup speedometer, as it tends to bounce at highway speeds.
Temporarily installed the military antenna I plan on using for the CB. My Dad wanted to fly a pennant from it while we towed the boat.
The boat towing went just fine, the truck pulled it without any issues. Get to do it again this week, as the boat should be out of the shop soon.
There is plenty more to do on the truck, but summer is almost here, and the boys will be out of school, so I'll have plenty of slaves, er.. helpers...