tpdaniels... i was wandering what u are going to do with your old grill, i have one on my 71 but when i was pulling it out of the pasture (where it sat for 12 years) the chan snapped and ruins my grill. ive been lookign forever but cant find one for a reasonable price. pm me with a price if you are willing to sell. thanks

 

Wednesday night I was checking Craigslist and saw the following ad;

"I AM PARTING OUT A 68 FORD TRUCK WITH LOTS OF GOOD PARTS COMPLETE TRUCK 360 AUTO 3/4 TON CAMPER SPECIAL XXX-XXX-XXXX CRUSHING THURSDAY"

I called him at 10:30 PM and asked him to hold off to give me time to come Thursday to see if I needed anything. I came home feeling like a Kid at Christmas. I have been looking for a "Good" automatic steering column for month's, but refused to pay what everyone has been asking, this truck had one that is as tight as any I've seen, also got the kick-down linkage and transmission shifter rod. He sold it to me for $50.00, I did have to take it out but that is only about a 30 min. job, but what I did not know until I got there was that it also had a set of near perfect stainless windshield trim, back-glass trim, cab drip-rail trim and headlined chrome trim. I also got a perfect looking tinted rear glass, a set of the small hub caps for 3/4 ton trucks and a set of very good West Coast Jr. Mirrors. It cost me an additional $50.00 for all the other "Stuff".
I didn't save the truck from the crusher, but I will be recycling all the above parts on my truck except the hub caps, I'm going to save them for if I want to show it with the "original stock" look, I still have the stock wheels with new 9.50 - 16 tires on them. It is going next week to be switched to the automatic and then to the painter. Hopefully I will have it back in a few months and can start the process of putting it back together.

Pictures Below.

 

I'm *so* jealous. I need a drip rail for my new cab and haven't found one...
Great find!

darrell

 

Darrell I have a parts truck and i'm in Victoria.

 

PM Sent!

 

sweet progress wish mine was that far

 

wyoming checkin in nice truck. working a 1970 ford crew. Getting engine done first and then drivetrain then body. waiting on good weather to blast cab and get the couple layers of different paint off. nice truck you got and will be checkin in later. Saving old iron one ford at a time!!

 

Sorry about taking so long to answer, getting old plays havoc on your memory.

I plan on selling it later on when I get everything back together, (Late Summer most likely) I took the headlight cans from the old one, but everything else is there. I also have the old inserts and headlight trim pieces.

 

I have not posted lately, but have been on the site everyday to keep up with everything going on. Progress has been slow but steady, the bed was stripped to bare metal everywhere, primed, repair's completed and temporarily put back on the truck. The whole front end was soda blasted and also repair's completed and temporarily put back on the truck. I'm adding the lower body side molding and the tailgate insert, so I had to drill about 50 holes to attach them with. It's going to be deluxe two tone so I also had to drill all the holes for the cab separator trim molding, another 15 holes. as I drilled them I thought about all the ones people take off and have to fill them. Everyone has their own opinion of what looks best. I completed my steering column swap and now have the Automatic Column with the four speed stick still there. It is going Friday to the shop to be switched over to the C-6 transmission, It's been rebuilt and I have a doner truck for all the small parts, I install a 30000 BTU Hayden transmission cooler in front of the radiator to cool it instead of using the factory cooler in the radiator. I have been looking for several months for a 73-76 F250 4WD C6 tail-shaft, finally found one so now I will have the proper way to mount the transfer case lever to the transmission,
I went ahead last week and got my new tires, Nitto Terra Grappler All Terrian, 295/75/16 (equal to 33'S) I had the wheels for several months, so now the set is complete.
The body work will start as soon as all the mechanical changes have been completed, I'm ready to see some paint on this thing.

I put my Dog Dish hubcaps on to give it a little dressier look, If I show it after it's completed in a "Stock" class I will have these tires,wheels and hubcaps on it.

Below are a few pictures made this morning

 

Your truck is coming along nicely!! I went with that same steering wheel and really like both the way it looks and feels.

 

like the truck. really like the seats!! I'm 6' tall big guy and was lookin for some seat conversions. The steering wheel looks great think I will do the same. catch you later. saving old iron one ford at a time.

 

Trucks looking great wish I had the money to go all out on mine can't wait to see it when its done going to be a new truck

 

Project Update

It has been a long and very busy summer that left very little time to work on the truck, but progress has been made, so here is the where I'm at. As always one thing leads to another, when switching the transmission over to a C-6, I decided to drop the oil pan to check the bottom end. The main bearings were a little worn so now was the time to replace them, I also changed the rod bearings and put in a new oil pump just for safety. The timing chain and gears were replace about 10,000 miles back and still looked great. With the bell housing removed it was easy to see that I also had a oil leak on the back of the intake I took it off and repaired the leak on the back side.

Having been up on the lift for several weeks I noticed a wet spot on the rear end housing, long story short is there is a pin size hole up near the yoke that was a defect in the housing, I had to gut it and completely clean everything so I could repair the hole.

Standing underneath, it looked like a bomb went off and opened everything up. Everything is now completed on all the mechanical repairs and transmission swap. I did have the intermediate drive shaft shortened by three inches by a professional shop, this is not a job for the home shop.

When switching the transmission I looked everywhere trying to find a C-6 4WD tail shaft housing for use with a divorced transfer case, it looks just like the regular short housing but does not have a hole for the speedometer cable and does have holes for mounting the 4WD lever to. These must be rare because it took me three months to find one and it was not cheap. They were on only used for a couple of years starting in 1973 and only on C-6 4WD with divorced transfer cases.

Hopefully now the paint shop can get me it the line up to get done.

I have added a few pictures below of how it looks underneath the truck now that the transmission switch is completed. Also I have one of the steering column with the new shifter installed, I have not yet removed the clutch paddle, I do have the correct setup but I have not changed it yet.


Transmission cross member had to be moved back about 1 ½ inches



Rear view of the rubber mount, it is the same as the NP435




Linkage hookup, the pan was also changed to the later 4WD style, it’s about 2 inches deeper. The cross member right at the linkage had a bulge that hit the transmission, I cut it down to what you see to clear everything, then re-boxed and welded it to look original.



I bought a coil of steel line and fittings and made the new lines myself.



Column is from a donor, I completely rebuilt it, works like new.



Floor view of completed swap.



Rear housing with the shifter mount, For me it was a tough bugger to find

 

Excellent build. Very thorough, and excellent pics. Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Well after thinking I had all the mechanical work finished, I have started two more projects. First one is I'm moving the gas tank out of the cab and relocating it where the spare tire was located, I'm using a plastic tank from a 80 International Scout II, I'm having to move the rear frame support back to the rear of the frame, fabricate a mounting system, putting the fill spout in floor of the bed so that will require a little fabrication, not sure yet on final design. Second one is, several weeks ago I was rummaging thew the local 4 x 4 shops bone-yard and found a 76 Low Pinion Dana 44 HD Open Knuckle, Disc Brake front axle assembly complete from hub to hub already geared 4.09. These are a direct bolt in for a 67 - 72 Highboy. We (owner & I) pulled the cover and everything inside looked good. I took it home and completely tore it down, Had it sandblasted and primed. It's now back at the 4 X 4 center being put back together with all new seals, bearings & races, u-joints, ball joints, rotors, calipers and pads. If it's a seal, bearing or moveable part I'm having it replaced. I ordered new Warn Hubs today to dress up the hub ends that show. The original ones were chromed aluminum and were scratched up and oxidized. I'm beginning to think this project is never going to get finished, or when it does I will be to old to climb up in the truck.

I have been looking at this conversion to put Disc Brakes on the rear end
Dana 60 Rear Disc Conversion
I have all the correct parts to do it, same bone-yard as the front axle, but I want your opinions on doing this, the drums on the rear are working fine, just looking. What do you think ?.

My dear wife has been very patient with me but she keeps wanting to know why it's taking so long, and how much it costing. I keep telling her on both questions, she doesn't really want to know.

She has been asking me for weeks what I want for Christmas, I told her today that we are going to Dennis Carpenters in Concord, then to National Parts Depot in Charlotte tomorrow, I have a shopping list and she can pick anything from it she wants to get me and I will get the rest, I Guess I will find out tomorrow how good I have been.

Hopefully some day I will finish this project.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone.