Alright folks, I have enjoyed watching all the build threads over the years and figured it was finally time to do my own. Introducing Cheyenne! Well, that’s what my wife calls her anyhow, and so long as she’s happy, I’m happy! You know how that goes….

1977 F250 Ranger XLT 4x4, Regular Cab, 8’ Bed, 351m or 400 (don’t know yet), C6, NP205, D44/D60, 4:11’S, factory height sitting on 33x16.5’s.

Below are pictures from the day that I bought her. It was listed on CL through an auto repair shop (they were handling the sale for the owner) with a $2,500 price tag, and I arranged to see it the very next morning at 8AM. Here in New England, that’s about the going rate for one in decent condition. Decent being running, salvageable, and not a total rust bucket. So I went and looked at her, test drover her, and spent about an hour going over her with a fine tooth comb. I wanted to know exactly what I was getting into. I would say she was decent overall, definitely had some issues, but felt I could work with her. The pictures make it look better than it really is. Isn’t that always the case?











So I decided I didn’t want to haggle too much. I lived an hour away and figured I would offer the asking price if I could use his repair plate to drive it home and then return the plate. He agreed and we made the deal. I had to go get some cash now. As I walked away from the shop, two guys show up only to be disappointed that it was no longer for sale. I grinned as I walked by them. It took me about 45 minutes to get the money and when I returned the guys were still there looking at the truck. They approached me and asked if I was really buying it. “Indeed I was” I told them. They tried to offer me a couple hundred to walk away, but I said “No Thank you!” I wanted THIS truck. They left disappointed. So after the exchange of money and paperwork, I parted ways from my new truck and anxiously waited until I could have her back in her new stable. Oh, I almost forgot….that very night I happened to be perusing CL again and saw a new post entitled: You Bought the Black w/ Flames 1977 F250 Today. Call Me!!! and it included a guy’s name and phone number in the main message. I never called him but can only presume he wanted to buy it from me or was looking for parts. This made me really happy.

 

So as it turns out, between trying to set up when I could get back there to pick the truck up and coordinating the availability of the guys repair plate, the guy finally says he will just deliver it to me. “Umm…OK” I say. That just saved me 4 hours total travel, the time of a second person and vehicle to drop me off, and lots of fuel. The deal just got that much sweeter. Here she is in my driveway right after they delivered her to me.




I got the truck in January of 2010, and she has sat outside in my yard ever since. I moved her around here and there, but there were things I needed to do in order to make her road worthy. I replaced the rear shocks and mounts, rear brake job/drums, and e-brake cables. My plan was to do only what was needed to get her registered. Well, along the way I determined that a head gasket was leaking (I sure hope that’s what it is) and knew they would not pass it, so I just never got any further. I finally decided I should at least do all the stuff required, plus take care of all the rust/rot and make her a solid truck before putting her on the road for real.

 

Here is a dilemma…..

Having only test driven the vehicle when I bought it, I don’t really recall exactly how she performs. You know how you’re overwhelmed when looking at something new? You don’t really think to go 65MPH to see if the gearing is too low, or if a C6 1:1 final drive is going to be too slow/too high RPM. I’m not sure if the motor I have is adequate or not, etc.

When I build this truck I want to do it RIGHT. To my liking. So what do I do? Do I only take care of mechanical issues enough to make it sound? And fix all the rust/rot (which you will see in future posts) to get the frame up to snuff? Then put it all back together and register and drive it for 3 months? OR do I just completely tear it down now, and make assumptions that a slightly mod’ed 400, with maybe a ZF5 conversion is what I want. And give it a full restoration now?

When I put her into the garage, it was to do my first thought. Get it drivable and solid and see what I’m dealing with. But as I take things apart and the truck becomes barer, it almost seems like a shame to take it that far and not just do the complete job and get it done with. Also, I’m dealing with stuff that is breaking as I take it apart, and do I want to buy new parts to put in to a pig of a truck only to take them out when it comes real build time and then try to reuse them? By then they too are starting to get hacked up.

I hate doing things just to undo them….that’s my problem. I have time to make the decision though. I plan to take the whole winter to pull the motor to replace all gaskets at a minimum. Also bed is off as you will see shortly, so I will be doing all the frame repair work (and then some).

 

I removed the bed a couple of months ago and stashed it to the side. You can see where I cut out a square of sheet metal. This is for my Arizona rust free bed I picked up from a guy in ME. It is dual tank, and I know I will never run dual tanks, so now I have a filler piece.

I had to get the defibrillator out in order to get her going. She sat so long battery was dead and gas had dried up, so I also had to prime her.

I moved her for some photographs before retiring her to her new home for the winter.




Resting comfortably.
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I’ll get into what I am planning to do to the truck a little later. I wanted to get these photos up as I get going

I decided to remove the motor in order to do what I needed to it. Mostly just replace all the gaskets, and give it a good thorough cleaning. I’m a fairly big guy and sitting up on the radiator trying to lean into an engine compartment just does not work for me. So I set about getting the front end taken apart.

I started by taking the hood off. Not really a one man job, but I managed. I thought the weight of the hood on the hinge would keep it sprung down but when I removed the last bolt, that was not the case and it sprung up quick on one side. No biggie. I just held the entire hood up, undid the other side and let it lay down as such. Then lifted it off. No problem, but putting it back on I will need a set of hands





Next I wanted to remove the grill. Removed all the bolts that I saw, but it was still tight in there. Then I realized there were still bolts hidden behind the fender well covers. No problem, those were coming off anyhow. I had to remove the chrome fender trim to expose some of the fender well cover screws. This is why you don’t put fancy fender trim on New England trucks.



Fender well covers coming out.



Off with the grill.

 

Everyone moves at their own pace, but I would've had this truck on the road within a week. That way I could drive it and take inventory of what I had. Leaving it sit for 23 months will only create problems. (as I'm sure you've discovered) I wish you luck with your build but I fear this truck will get disassembled and never get reassembled. I sure hope I'm wrong because it was a beautiful truck. I see the frame issues and the rust on the sheet metal, but nothing that would've made me park the truck. The only way to know how the truck works is to use it. I think you've let the truck go to the point where it would be best to tear it down completely and start over.

I'll tell you right now 4.11's with no over drive and 33's is still too low of a gear to drive around. I put 3.50's in my truck because it came with 4.11's and on the maiden voyage with the 4wd chassis, I thought I had it stuck in four low. Yes, they're THAT low.

Another thing, unless your truck was running poorly and spewing white smoke, the head gaskets were fine. It's actually quite normal to have seepage from a head gasket to the outside edge when the engine has high mileage. There's vehicles out there that have gone HUNDREDS of thousands of miles like that.

Good luck with your build. Don't get discouraged. Builds can take a LONG time. For reference sake, I bought my truck as a 2wd F100 in January, 2011. The suspension and steering where completely worn out. The bed was rusty too. My truck is now an F150 4x4 with a rebuilt chassis on 33's and the rust fixed in the bed. (welded in panels) I also added a bed side tool box and started to redo the interior.

 

Looks like you pulled the trigger just in time to get it from them other boys.

Well that pic of the bed by itself does not look like it came off that truck, anyway. As far as pulling the front clip to get access to the motor, good call. To late to tell you to scribe the hinge to hood area to make alignment easier down the road.

But if you could ever get a extra set of hands you could of pulled the COMPLETE (inner fenderwell, outer fender and grill/core support) front clip off, alot easier route IMO.

Front bumper (79) off first, then work on the front rad core support to frame mounts bolts. Might as well get a sawzall and make it quick, by the looks of the frame rust, they are going to be ruff.

They never unbolt when you first try it, (even with the PB blasted ya have there) and smoke wrenching the bottom nuts will only burn the rubber mounts. I just cut the bolt into, run the blade right on the underside of the top frame rail of it and cut the bolt.

Remember one each bolt (in the middle) when you open the door, and one on each rear bottom edge. And a inner fenderwell rubber piece on each side.

Interior looks good, how are your floor pans under the carpet and how is the drip rails around that visor (THAT VISOR IS NOTORIOUS FOR CAUSING RUST) BTW.

Good thinking on doing it right the first, motor wise, and the trans swap will be fun but doable according to folks on here. It looks like a fun project, keep us posted.

Also ck out the cab handles on the side, they could have directed some rust down into the cab corners.

 

Do you think this is amateur hour or something?

 

I have seen Alan's work speed and quality, he is a regular fixture in my shop and helps alot of us ol truck folk getting out stuff to live, shine, and run.

And has a ton of projects and a business.....I think no harm meant, just he has seen it before.

Continue to post up progress and we can all learn and offer help where ever might be needed.

 

Yes. Thanks Rich. I didn't see the truck in person so I don't really know how good or bad it was. As Rich stated, I've had to save projects like this in my shop and I get nervous when stuff like this is presented. I didn't mean my last post the way it probably sounded.

Anyway, ...good luck with the build.

 

Next the fenders came off. All went well with that.



I removed all the bolts to the inner fenders, but found that there was not enough room to squeak them out. So I knew I would need to remove the radiator core support first. In order to get that off I thought it best to remove the front bumper now.



I drained the coolant and transmission cooler lines. Of course the tranny cooler line snapped right at the fitting as I unscrewed it from the radiator. It was all rusted like all the other lines in the truck, so no shocker there.

I was able to get one of the core support bolts out no problem. The other was not budging. With one removed, it freed the core support up enough that I could wiggle it enough to get the inner fenders out.



The rubber on the remaining bushing was deteriorated enough that I was able to cut it out of the way. This left the metal bushing and bolt exposed. After I snapped a couple sawzall blades in the chuck, I had to finish it with some manual bolt cutters that actually worked pretty well.

And now the front bodywork is completely removed.

 

You think 4.11s and 33'' tires is to low? I dunno, my current truck has 3.50s and 33''s and I feel its a bit high geared. The last dent I had was in '85 and it was a F-250 with maybe 31''s or 32''s and 4.11s, seemed just right, at least for a working truck.

 

I respect what you guys are saying. That’s why I commented about it not being as good as the pictures show it before someone questioned it. What you were seeing was it all polished and buffed for sale to some sucker. The bed was absolute junk. Swiss cheese in the floor, as the PO had a sheet of metal between the bed and the rubber mat. You barely could stand in it. And there was plenty of fiberglass patching done to it as well. Lots of rust forming where the old race track holes were welded. The frame under the bed is the worst. I will need to section out about 7-10 different areas when I can find a donor frame. I have already got two new cross members and rear spring hangers from a member here that came out of Mississippi.

The front half of the frame is in better shape. Though I did discover two areas once I removed the front clip that I will need to address.

Quick Background: I have wanted this truck for 20 years. I fell in love with it when I was 15yo. Not this exact truck or even a 1977 F250 per say, but I knew I wanted this body style and a 4x4. Well, one day this truck showed up in the listings and I felt it was the right one. Like everyone else, I have no plan to ever get rid of this truck, and God willing I will enjoy it for another 50 years. So every nut and bolt will be removed for a complete overhaul and customization, and it will be done correctly, no hack job. I’m surprised by the amount of people that think Por15 or a wire brush/Rustoleum is a proper method to overhaul a vehicle. I’m not bashing anyone that has done it, so no flames please, but think with a little extra effort you can do it like a professional. And it will look so much better and last so much longer. If it isn’t sandblasted and coated with real automotive paint, it’s just not an acceptable job in my opinion.

 

And now to ruin your day......

Here are some pics of the problem areas of the truck. This isn’t all of them, but will give you an idea of what I am dealing with.

This first picture was from the day that I bought it. Right before the transaction actually.



Classic rot behind the rear shock upper mounts. What a terrible design of that shock mount with no weep hole to allow water out.





I have solid replacement hangers for the rear springs, but even the frame behind them will need to be fixed.



All but one cross member is junk. I have these replacements.









This rot on the body was evident when I purchased it. It was just bubbled paint (and did not show in any of the photos) but I have chipped away at it to reveal what it is. That’s why it is so much more visible now.







Not totally sure on the floors yet. I see just a little rust at a seam on the driver side from underneath. Passenger side looks solid. Until I rip the carpet out, I just don’t know. Cab corners and rockers seem like they are good.

 

Looks like you wanted to take the long hard road on getting the clip off one piece at a time, with Alan's suggestion and help we had my complete front clip minus hood, off in like 15 min.

I know you are working alone and one piece at a time is the way you have to go. What is you eng pull plan? With or without trans attached?

Glad to hear the front half of the frame is better than the back. I am watching this thread with great interest, keep us posted.