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While I do have some experience working on airplanes, and am comfortable with normal maintenance on these trucks, I have very little practical experience working on wheeled vehicles... so please be patient if I seem like a complete clown. I'm starting to think it'd be a good idea to just get started on pulling the engine and cleaning up the engine bay. I'll have better access to all this stuff, and I need to replace a bunch of seals on the engine anyway.
No, Do it right the first time. The purpose of the fusible link is to protect the circuitry from the feed source. Follow the wiring diagram & use the proper gauge fusible links.
Why would you pull the exhaust manifold? That's unecessary. What's the year make model engine?