Dirttrack510 Posted October 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 I replaced the driver side floor yesterday and ordered a New rubber floor mat from Rockauto. Pics coming soon. I also ordered a new front bumper, since it was the last one in stock at rockauto. :) Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 I replaced the driver side floor yesterday and ordered a New rubber floor mat from Rockauto. Pics coming soon. I also ordered a new front bumper, since it was the last one in stock at rockauto. :) Are you sure the one you ordered is the correct size? 99 percent of the 720 bumpers out there on the early trucks are the thick 4 inch deep ones, rather than the 2 1/2 inch thick one you have, the plastic ends will not interchange either. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted October 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Guess I'll find out, anything is better than what I have now. ;) It was the last one that was 1980 though, and they had a bunch that were for the later models, so I'm hoping It's the thin one. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted November 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2013 Thought i'd toss a couple update pics on here.... I got the new seats installed and the Rubber Carpet Kit or Rubber floor mat kit installed.... You know what I mean... Lolllllzzzz I think it turned out pretty good. The interior is definitely the best part of this truck now. :rofl: :thumbup: What ya think? Major improvement ain't it? :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: 2 Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Ok.... I'm freezing my ass off in this truck. Even in warm weather the temp gauge barely moves off of cold. If I let it sit and run for 15 minutes or so it gets toasty warm inside, but after driving a few minutes I have no heat and the temp gauge never comes off of cold. Does it sound likes someone removed the thermostat or does it sound like some other issue? I'm thinking thermostat... Quote Link to comment
Janksun Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Ok.... I'm freezing my ass off in this truck. Even in warm weather the temp gauge barely moves off of cold. If I let it sit and run for 15 minutes or so it gets toasty warm inside, but after driving a few minutes I have no heat and the temp gauge never comes off of cold. Does it sound likes someone removed the thermostat or does it sound like some other issue? I'm thinking thermostat... Maybe you have a low temp thermostat. Pull it and boil it and see what temp it opens up? Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 im thinking you should replace the thermostat cus its easy and this bad boy is probably running the antifreeze you got it with :P Quote Link to comment
dat77sun Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 love me some 720 :) but yours didnt come with armrests in the door? weird... Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 No armrests, and yeah... Maybe its a low temp thermostat, but as far as the antifreeze goes, it's clean and bright green. Not dirty at all. Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Check to see if it even has a thermostat, and if it does, it's likely jammed open. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 I bought a new thermostat (180 degrees) and installed it. Badda bing, Badda boom.... I have heat. :) :) :) the old thermostat appeared fine, but my guess is It's just got a weak spring. 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Another happy ending :) Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 I'm all about happy endings. :) :) :) Another question... Will this truck tow a 411 four door on a tow dolly? I'm about to join the 411 club ;) Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 I have towed home a lot of 720s with my diesel 720 in the past(both tow bar and dolly), I am very careful, but now I can say with absolute certainty, that I will never tow anything except for a very short distance(5 miles or less) with anything but a dually, I have towed at least 10 720 trucks home with a tow bar, and a few home with a tow dolly, and it was difficult to keep the truck going in a straight line, but the 720 dually towed great. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 Yeah, I hear ya. I was mostly concerned with having enough motor to do the job. I know its gonna be " fun" to keep it on the straight and narrow :( Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 I scared a guy when he rode with me when I towed his 521 back from central Oregon, the frontend just wouldn't stay in the middle of the lane, the pavement had grooves from wear, and the truck shot to the right unexpectedly, he was real quiet after that. The diesel has only 61hp, when a hill came I had to downshift a couple gears, since yours is an 80 with an L20b, you would likely do alright with 437 gears, but if you have 390s, your going to have issues eventually, it really depends on your gearing, my diesel has the torque to get 390 gears going, but doesn't do so well on the hiway above 55, while the L20b will do fair on the hiway, but starting out on a hill towing anything will be a bitch with 390 gears. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thanks for the info Wayno, your the Truckin' King. :thumbup: I'm used to the towing issue of non dually trucks, so I'll be extra careful. I once towed a 510 two door from El Paso Texas to St. Louis Missouri with an 81 Toyota mini truck, using a tow bar. That was a long Hellish road trip, but I made it safe n sound :thumbup: I'm considering doing a lot of "customizing" to this 720... :devil: BIG frame stretch, Dually rear end, Flatbed and dove tailing the rear of the bed to make a "mini" Car Hauler out of it, for my 510's and my 510 Race Car. That's a serious summer project though. Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 The 720 e-brake system doesn't like being changed, when they stretched the frames for the motor homes in the early/mid 80s, they added cable to the stock cables with crimp type connections, then to keep the angle correct for the center e-brake section to work correctly, they basically welded a small rod(1/4" maybe) to the frame rails pointed towards the driveline, then bent the rod into a "U" shaped loop at the approximate length needed to align the cable, this was real low tech stuff, you should have seen the frame extension, I have photos of it, it's hard to believe that they didn't fall apart, I suspect that the actual mobile home structure itself kept the frame straight. There is a local guy that did what your talking about, he stretched the frame about 8 feet, and it had a tilt bed, the frame was bent in no time, and he went threw a set of brake pads a couple time a year, at least that is what he told me, he could haul full size cars, and when ever I asked questions about it before we knew each other, he never really told the truth, I forget what year this truck is of yours, but the first thing I would do is upgrade to the 4X4 dual piston hardbody brakes, it will bolt right into your truck if you get the correct setup, I have this on my 521 dually work truck, it bolted right in since I had already converted over to the 620 disc brakes. I know I shouldn't say this, but toyota made exactly what your looking for, heavy duty everything with a stretched frame. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 I know I shouldn't say this, but toyota made exactly what your looking for, heavy duty everything with a stretched frame. Hahaha.... I gotta believe that with the right frame material I can do the stretch, as far as my brakes go, I have the disc brakes up front. I don't know if that was an option or not, but they do work good, I'll know "how good" when I do this towing job though. My biggest challenge, I think.... is going to be finding a dually rear end and wheels. Is there really a difference on the NISSAN trucks, or it really just a matter of wheels and springs? Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Hahaha.... I gotta believe that with the right frame material I can do the stretch, as far as my brakes go, I have the disc brakes up front. I don't know if that was an option or not, but they do work good, I'll know "how good" when I do this towing job though. My biggest challenge, I think.... is going to be finding a dually rear end and wheels. Is there really a difference on the NISSAN trucks, or it really just a matter of wheels and springs? OK, I went back again and figured out you have a 1980 Datsun 720, they came with non-vented rotors, the 84-86 Nissan 720 came with vented rotors, this is a upgrade that will bolt right into your truck, just disconnect the balljoints from there mounts, and bolt them right into your truck, and a better upgrade is the hardbody dual piston calipers, which will also bolt right into yours also. The benefit of the Nissan dually is that you can keep the flatbed lower, as they have 14 inch wheels, so does Toyota, the big benefit of Toyota is that they had 14 inch dually rims all around, even on the front, while Nissan never did that, they have always had regular 14 inch rims on the front. You can use just about any dually rearend as long as you have a user friendly gearing, but the bigger the rim size, the higher the flatbed will be. I don't know about the Toyota axles, but the Nissan axle is rated for 1700lbs I believe, now I have doubled that before without issues, but that is something I believe you should know. My work truck has a 521 leaf set with 2 extra leafs, I have coil over shocks, and I have overload airbags, it works great, but gets a little bouncy when going over speed bumps. This was quite a load, even with the hardbody brakes, it was still difficult to stop at hiway speeds. The tires have 40+psi and are still being squished, but they are just car tires. 2 Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thanks wayno, your truck is truly inspirational. 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 This truly sucks.... There's about a foot of snow in my driveway and the street in front of my house. The street dept. hasn't been by a single time to clear the roads. There was a fire truck stuck in the snow at the end of my street and they had to call out a snow plow service, so they could get to an emergency call down the street. I'm ready for Spring already. 1 Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 That sucks, I am very happy that stuff like that only happens around here once every 30 years, I have not seen a foot of snow on the ground around here since I was a kid, that's 40 years ago, we came close a few years ago though, but it turned into freezing rain. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 yeah, they said on the news that this is the coldest weather we've had in over 20 years. We usually have fairly mild winters, this one has just been a doozie. Quote Link to comment
Dirttrack510 Posted January 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Well crap... I have no tail lights all of a sudden. According to the book my dome light and marker lights are on the same fuse and those are working. Guess u gotta trace wires now :( anyone know where there's a "common" problem spot on this truck for this? Quote Link to comment
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