I believe 225/75/15 is the stock size for the 2wd truck of that era.
As for wheels...
CK5
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As for wheels...
The wheels are 15x6
I know what size you have, I was saying I have no input for your question.
Although now I am thinking what do you have on now?
Rally wheels with beauty rings or steel wheels with covers?
Steel factory with the full Cheyenne Super hub caps.
Are you thinking it could be engine isn't getting up to temperature?
Someone had messed with the thermostat. You can just make out the HUGE ass homemade gasket.
Part of me wonders if there is a thermostat in there.
I was actually wondering if your idle time to warm it up was cutting into your mileage. But they certainly would be related
I was paying a little more attention to how the truck was running this weekend and it takes a good while for it to warm up. Both drives it would stumble a bit from a start for a good while and I'd start to think maybe I needed to do some more tuning. But then once I got into more stop and go traffic in town it would start accelerating smoothly with no stumble. So I think that was the point at which it was finally warmed up.
Yeah, I was thinking I need to do that and probably swap out the sender for the temperature gauge for good measure too.
I've kinda been putting it off because the t-handle on the radiator drain spun off so I'm gonna have to pull the entire plug which will mean antifreeze going everywhere.
I took some time at the shop Friday to swap out the thermostat. There was in there and it was a 180 unit. I put a 195 in because that was the factory spec. I also installed a new sender for the temperature gauge. The old sender was pretty black and I wonder if this effects how well it works.
When I was tightening the housing bolts, it cracked apart on me.
Luckily I had another in my parts hoard.
So now I seem to have the opposite problem with the temperature gauge. On the image below the green mark is where it used to run and the orange is where it runs now.
I drew a line for the range where I've seen the needle run, but generally under steady state cruising it's where the line is.
I don't believe it's actually running at those temps. When I first ran the engine temp up to get any air out it was at 250 before the thermostat finally opened. Up until it opened the upper hose was cool to the touch on the radiator end and hot, but not so hot I couldn't touch it by the thermostat end. I just don't believe it was running 250. After the thermostat opened and circulated for a bit the radiator level dropped down quite a bit. So that tells me there shouldn't be any air trapped in the system.
Now the engine does warm up like I expect it to on the cold mornings. Takes about 5 or 6 miles of highway driving to reach the supposed 250 mark. I drove it about 160 miles round trip to my mom's house. Temperature behaved the same the entire time.
I think I'm going to put one of these coolant temp gauges in like I did with the crew cab so I have a verification.
And I still may put a 180 thermostat in. That would be my normal on a carb'd 350, but I thought I would try the 195, but the whacky temps on the gauge have me doubting I can do it. Plus I'm hoping the A/C system will take a charge so I'd probably be better off running a cooler t-stat.
I also swapped out the sealed beam headlights for some Hella H4 conversions. I've been very happy with those on the crew cab. For the 73 I did "Euro" style lights and I REALLY like them. Low beams light up the road really well, but the Euro lights have a good cutoff so they don't blind oncoming traffic.
More info about the Euro lights vs DOT:
When I was tightening the housing bolts, it cracked apart on me.
Luckily I had another in my parts hoard.
So now I seem to have the opposite problem with the temperature gauge. On the image below the green mark is where it used to run and the orange is where it runs now.
I drew a line for the range where I've seen the needle run, but generally under steady state cruising it's where the line is.
I don't believe it's actually running at those temps. When I first ran the engine temp up to get any air out it was at 250 before the thermostat finally opened. Up until it opened the upper hose was cool to the touch on the radiator end and hot, but not so hot I couldn't touch it by the thermostat end. I just don't believe it was running 250. After the thermostat opened and circulated for a bit the radiator level dropped down quite a bit. So that tells me there shouldn't be any air trapped in the system.
Now the engine does warm up like I expect it to on the cold mornings. Takes about 5 or 6 miles of highway driving to reach the supposed 250 mark. I drove it about 160 miles round trip to my mom's house. Temperature behaved the same the entire time.
I think I'm going to put one of these coolant temp gauges in like I did with the crew cab so I have a verification.
And I still may put a 180 thermostat in. That would be my normal on a carb'd 350, but I thought I would try the 195, but the whacky temps on the gauge have me doubting I can do it. Plus I'm hoping the A/C system will take a charge so I'd probably be better off running a cooler t-stat.
I also swapped out the sealed beam headlights for some Hella H4 conversions. I've been very happy with those on the crew cab. For the 73 I did "Euro" style lights and I REALLY like them. Low beams light up the road really well, but the Euro lights have a good cutoff so they don't blind oncoming traffic.
More info about the Euro lights vs DOT:
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You actually changed 2 things at the same time soooooo.
Either the new sender is not accurate or the thermostat is opening too late.
I tend to believe the sender is the big change
Yeah, I thought the same about changing 2 things. But I prefer to just drain the coolant one time because I guarantee I'm going to make a mess when I do. I feel the same about the sender being more suspect, mainly because standing there by the motor it just doesn't feel like it's 250F.
Put a resistor in it and just make it read what you want 
no coolant draining required
no coolant draining required
Could just be a bad connection due to you unplugging it and installing the new one. I'd go for an ohm meter first and check sensor output and your connection at the sensor.
I was thinking about that. I should get one to have in the tool box.
I also wondered about this. The sender I took out was pretty dirty and I was thinking the connector could have gotten dirty. The new sender came with a new connector housing with the slot for the sender. I could just put a new connector on the wire for good measure.
I got a $15 infrared thermometer from Amazon. It does look like the temperature on the head where the temp gauge sender is runs about 220. Around the thermostat housing it's about 200 which lines up with the 195 thermostat.
I think I will go ahead and put the 180 thermostat in to drop everything down a little. I'm also thinking I may need to put a new radiator in for the summer. The engine temp runs warmer at the higher speeds, but it will be interesting to see how it runs with a 180 thermostat.
It was interesting to note the intake runner behind the thermostat housing was only a little over 100. I always figured once the engine was up to temperature the intake would all be a uniform 200.
I think I will go ahead and put the 180 thermostat in to drop everything down a little. I'm also thinking I may need to put a new radiator in for the summer. The engine temp runs warmer at the higher speeds, but it will be interesting to see how it runs with a 180 thermostat.
It was interesting to note the intake runner behind the thermostat housing was only a little over 100. I always figured once the engine was up to temperature the intake would all be a uniform 200.
Is that the side coming from the radiator?
That side should be cooler
The temperature sending unit is in the driver side head. I did point the thermometer at the passenger side head I think I remember it being a bit cooler.
I put the 180 thermostat in and the truck seems much happier. Gauge runs straight up which should be about 175. It doesn't spike like it did with the 195 stat. It would seem 180 is the happy spot for this truck. The 195 must allow the motor to get warmer than the cooling system is able to keep a lid on.
Be interesting to see how it does this summer. I still think I'm going to need to replace the radiator. I can see a lot of scaling around the tube openings when I look in the radiator.
The drain plug that was in the radiator was seized up so I replaced it. tried to drain a little more coolant and the damn t handle on the new drain is spinning free already. I didn't even use a wrench on it. Those damn things are so easy to spin off and I can never remember which way to turn it.
Be interesting to see how it does this summer. I still think I'm going to need to replace the radiator. I can see a lot of scaling around the tube openings when I look in the radiator.
The drain plug that was in the radiator was seized up so I replaced it. tried to drain a little more coolant and the damn t handle on the new drain is spinning free already. I didn't even use a wrench on it. Those damn things are so easy to spin off and I can never remember which way to turn it.
