Hi, my name is Gabe and I'm new to this forum! I'll introduce myself by explaining my quest on getting Thumper. Not growing up in a all Ford or Chevy house I was pretty open on all makes. I knew it had to be a classic though b/c I felt no new cars/trucks or have any character or personality. After spending hours on the internet looking and looking i noticed that chevys were a dime a dozen and kept getting uglier and uglier after looking at them so long...I knew it had to be a ford so I started looking at the 60's era and was not coming across any 4x4's. I needed a 4x4 b/c of my line of work requires a lot of country road driving in all seasons. So I started looking at the 70's and absolutely fell in love with the 78-79's. Finally after a couple of months looking on Ebay and CL I found her. Some college kid was selling it b/c he didn't have the money to fix it up like he planned, he had just bought it this last August from a small town mechanic so he says. Anyway i didn't waste a sec and got her. Now there's a lot of stuff i want to do..redo interior, replace a lot on the body and basically get her to be a daily driver..my brother in law thinks its impossible and my wife thinks Im nuts...but whats new.

I've had thumper for 3 weeks now and replaced the back window that I got from LMC..and just ordered all new front end stuff..(tie rod, drag link, center link, ball joints & steering stabilizer) I don't know too much YET on these trucks but I hope to learn a lot from you guys..the steering on her i feel could be a lot better and just driving across town with her feels like a workout sometimes. IDK maybe that what I just got to get used to..but Ill do eveything i can to get her the way i want...

Thats another reason why i wanted a classic..so I could learn and do all of my own work on her...plus just a great exuse to hang out in the garage and drink beer all night...lol Oh I also ordered a drop pitman arm from JBG mag b/c its says its for lifted trucks and helps with steering? IDK does the truck look lifted or is that stock? The VIN also says F10GUFC2872, i looked it up and says its s F100 302 4x2. Well the truck is badged F150 Custom, its a 4x4 all the time I think, and it has a 400 in it, I think also..Does that happen a lot here?

Anyway i could go on and on about my new tuck but just wanted to say hi, show you thumper, says thanks to this forum, its members and admins...I hope to get a lot of support and give also!

 

First of all welcome to FTE and also congrats on your pickup, it is very nice. i currently have a "thumper" as well. or so it says on my door, although i am getting rid of it, so i can buy another supercab and all. but thats another time. if your steering is working right you should be able to drive that pickup with a finger maybe two. if it wanders alot then you are on the right track to getting that fixed. also take a look at you steering shaft, that knuckle in it may be going bad, just replaced one on my wifes 78 f150 supercab. they will run you about 200-250 bones, so be ready. other than that i would look up some forums on steering and do some reading, there is alot of info on here, and well worth the read. you never know you might read something and then think of it later when you have another problem.

 

It is definately a very nice find. The steering should be like any other power steering vehicle. I had a 76 that the steering head went bad in and the fluid leaked out and it was worse than standard steering. The steering pump could be out. To my knowledge the truck is not in 4 wheel all of the time. The shifter on your floor should have a selection for 2wd. Very Nice find. I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

did you get your steering figured out? as a thought, if you have to replace your valve cover gaskets on that motor i would switch the valve covers. so the oil fill is in the correct spot and it is a bit more handy when servicing your engine.

 

nice lookin truck, what size tires are those?