Question about '78 cab.


The workhorse

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Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:17 pm

Location: Redmond, WA

Post Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:09 am

Question about '78 cab.

Hey there.

So I was doing some cleaning before a storm and was taking a pile of pine needles off of my truck and noticed some got under the grill under the windshield. I didn't take the grill off to investigate at the time but I did cover it with some window screen material held down by some magnets to keep crap out.

My question is if pine needles and crap got in and under the grill is there a way for them to get out? I assume there is a hole of some kind to let liquid out but what about bigger junk? Or do they just end up piled up inside of there?

Thanks for your time.

Ken

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Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2016 4:52 pm

Post Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:37 am

Re: Question about '78 cab.

Ken, I can only give you a general idea. Someone else here will chime in.
That grille is the fresh air intake. It feeds the HVAC system in your truck. Yes, it collects all kinds of muck. The tray underneath can fill up with decomposed organic matter which becomes dirt. Yuck.
On the vehicles with factory A/C the evaporator box often fills up with the dirt from this intake. It's where it all ends up.
If it doesn't have have A/C, the heater box tends to fill up.
You will be surprised when you take it all apart at how many pounds of dirt is stuck in there. Here in dirty Central CA the evaporator boxes are half-full when I take stuff apart. Just NASTY.
I sugggest integrating a cabin air filter into the system if you take it all out. That's what I do.

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Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:13 pm

Post Sun Nov 20, 2016 1:24 pm

Re: Question about '78 cab.

Hello, yes they fill with "crud" of all types :cry: So as any one with one of theses trucks finds out ...you get to do some cleaning now and then in this area. The area you spoke of drain off to each side thru a tube at the corner just below the windshield. On loadstars there is a panel that goes between the hood/fender and door, a small panel, this is just on the larger trucks, pu's have the fender that goes to the door, but the Loadstar has a "filler panel" you could call it to transition the space from door to fender and the drain tube is generally behind it and they 99% of the time are stopped up and this is also the culprit that rots out the heater boxes most of the time. So you have 2 choices:
1. work your way into it and get them cleaned out...both sides as these collect dirt and start the rust of the cab under the windshield , or
2. you could go into the area, "under the grill below the windshield", and block off each side before the corner an install a drain tube to come out of there and drain down the firewall in the engine compartment. That is what I did on the last old truck I had. That way any time you are under the hood you can check and clean the drains easily.
To do this job..I block the area ,after removing the little gril, to each side ...metal of plastic and good silicon sealer, then drilled a hole thru fire wall into the area and used some metal line..a little copper tube works nice as they do not rust , a small clamp to secure it and a little silicon to seal it. I hope this help you out.
If you need a visual of the factory drain set up, you should find it in the library under Loadstar body as there should be exploded views of it, mike
IrisHMike

Here is a link to "Gangster IH", an on-line library for old IH trucks. https://www.box.com/shared/otkihx6yoa You can reach me at PH: 606-six-six3-1531, or email: almanning@godisforyou.com on facebook ...Michael Manning

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