Rhetorical question and more of a rant, I guess.

85 F250 4x4 460/T19 ex cab. Has electric fuel pumps, lift pump boss on block is cast shut from the factory. Has EFI style, big hole sending units, 4 wire.

86 F250 4x4 460/T19 ex cab. Sticker on core support says equipped with electric pumps, nowhere to be found!!! Engine is equipped with mechanical fuel pump (!) with a return provision (!!!). This one has big hole sending units, but with 2 wire plugs.

What gives with this stuff? FWIW it's highly likely that both are 98% factory original config - core support paint matches the cab, wiring appears untouched.

I guess I am mostly curious why two very similar trucks are so vastly different. The only REAL differences between the two is that the first is an XL with no options, and the second was a Lariat with PW/PL/AC/Cruise etc.

I give up trying to understand it, just annoying when I'm hunting for parts.

 

The one with the return line I imagine has the Hot Fuel Handling package.

Somewhere along the line, Ford figured out fuel in the fuel lines near the engine was getting too warm and causing vapor lock, and they migrated to the hot-fuel-handling stuff from the factory. And, there were retrofit kits to install on trucks brought in to the dealers by owners.

The 460 wasn't available in the 80-86 trucks until, um, 1983, it replaced the 400 as the largest engine available when the 400 was discontinued.

Some 460s had mechanical pumps, others had electric.

 

It's just weird that there are so many little differences. That aside, I think I am going to do a front tank delete on the '85 and run a 38 gallon rear...tank selector valve is garbage anyway...nothing to lose!

Here's another interesting one, my '86 F150 is just your generic 5.0 EFI 4 speed truck...with 2.5" leaf springs, no overload, no factory tow package...but it has a 9" rear axle. You'd think (big assumption) that with the light duty springs, you'd get an 8.8.

The specified part for upper ball joints on that truck also do not fit - when I replaced them, I had to get a pair for an '87. The supposedly correct ones have a significantly smaller shank.

Kind of seems to me like with the changeover to EFI in most Ford vehicles in the mid-80's caused a surplus of older parts and some of the trucks appear to be assembled with whatever they had on hand. . . who knows!

 

The dates they changed from one configuration to another are all listed in the FoMoCo 1980-89 Light Truck Master Parts Catalog, available for ~$20 on CD from hipoparts.com.

This is the exact book the dealerships used to figure out what parts to get when trucks came back to the dealership from the field.

 

Cute avatar ctubutis,

Ford's running changes during the 80s were something to behold.

Month to month changes were highly likely.

 

Agreed on both counts.

 

I feel your pain. As I have an '86, some parts take some digging into. The fuel tank sending unit is the size of the fuel injected ones, just with no pump or return (351 truck). Couldn't find one anywhere, had to order from Ford to get the correct one.

The column in my truck is mostly '87 parts too. I needed a new multi-function switch (hazard switch was giving me problems) and had one from a couple years older truck here. I thought, no problemo. Wrong!! I had to get one out of an '87-up truck. I haven't had to do ball joints yet, so we'll battle that when the time comes.

I have the 9" rear too and hate getting even a gasket for it. The parts stores only list a 8.8 for that year. It's been a struggle for several parts so far. But still worth it.

 

I just found out about this the other day in a recent thread. A guy said he had a 87 truck with a 460 and it had the return lines with a mechanical pump. I thought only the electric fuel pump trucks had the return line systems, but I looked it up on rockauto and they do sell a mechanical fuel pump with the return line system also. So I guess you could possibly have 3 different 460 systems?
1.The simple mechanical fuel pump with no return.

2. The mechanical system with return lines.

3. The electric fuel pumps with return lines.

It may have been the same thread, there was a guy that had a 351w and he had a 6 port tank switch with a return line system. I can't remember if he had a electric pump system or a mechanical pump system.

 

I thought the multi-function switch didn't come about in our trucks until 1992+?

Parts book shows the same basic 13341 switch used 1980-1991 and then a 13K539 used 1992+. It does show a different variant of the 13341 used in 1987+ but I don't think that's the multi-function switch, at least not the one I'm thinking of (turn signals, headlamps, wipers/washers in one stalk).

I think I'm confused....

 

FWIW, my '85 has a return lines, and 6 port switch.

The '86 had the same thing.

Regarding steering column parts - I have seen at least three different non-tilt, manual trans columns in 85-86 alone (I junkyard surf a lot...) but the difference is almost always where the key release is located.

 

It didn't change a whole lot, just enough that you need the correct one. It even has an E7TE part # tag on it.

 

There were 6 different types of turn signal switches for 1980-1986.

1980-1983: Tilt
1980-1983: Non Tilt
1984: Tilt
1984: Non Tilt
1985-1986: Tilt
1985-1986: Non Tilt

I've seen some early 1987's with 1980-1986 style steering wheels as well.

Trucks with Build dates right at design changes, or year end builds right before or after the new models can be "unique" to work on.

 

That's why I said "the same basic 13341." emphasis mine