Sometimes it'd be nice to know the history of a vehicle just so you'd understand how it ended up so. My truck is one of these.
The guy I bought it from spoke English about as well as I speak spanish so with the mutual language barrier not a lot of conversation happened during the transaction. But he had the truck for less then a year so even if he did speak the Queen's English he probably didn't know much about it anyway.

I didn't mention this during any discussion on glow plugs because I didn't want to muddy up the waters while trying to explain the right way to do things, but the reason I was able to provide current pictures on both systems is, well, because my truck has both. Yep, the truck's an '85 with an '87 engine. When whomever did the swap didn't decide on one system or the other so they used both. The new style relay and controller are wired to the old style relay. Of course this didn't work so they installed the manual switch, but both relays are still wired in. The manual switch controls the original replay and feeds the NS relay which has a bypass on it.

And look at this on my rear axle:



That's a speed sensor! The truck's an '85. There's nothing to plug in there. And it's the actual sensor, not just a boss.

Looks like my fill plug is leaking...

Obviously this truck hauled a large cab over camper some time in it's past, it still has the front supports:



Then look at this line. Now it's getting harder to see now that the patina's taking over, paint wasn't all that bad when I got the truck in '07, but it was beginning to fade and loose the clear cote. But even then when the fender and hood were blue there was a solid straight line of no paint or rust on this fender and only on this side. So what the heck?



So I guess I'll never know, why and when the engine was replaced. And with what? A low mileage used??? A high mileage used? A new replacement? (Doubtful on the latter.) How long ago, was the truck still fresh or was it already an old work dog by this time?

Why the rear end had to be replaced? And was it an incident that took out both the rear and the motor?

Obviously I'm not seeking answers here, this is info that you hope gets passed on from owner to owner, but sometimes you'll just never know for sure.

Of course I added to the 'muttness' of this truck by adding power doors from an '87. I have so many Fords wrapped up into one!

 

You know, I hadn't realized just how badly that paint had deteriorated over the last 5+ years, this photo in my album is from just a few days after purchasing the truck:

 

That's a cool truck the mutness just adds testament to the toughness and simplicity of these old war horses, wonder if it started life as a diesel or if it was converted from gas.

 

Wax it with some 30wt. It'll come back. Lol. For its age I would be proud especially if it passes Chevys.

 

I pass everything that's broke down!

It's factory diesel, even the replacement rear axle is correct. I though maybe someone was swapping rears to change the gear ratio, but it matches the door tag.

For all it's ugliness it's actually a good base truck to work with. Being a California truck there is zero rust other than that surface rust on the hood and fenders where the paint died. In fact the fame is still painted, the fame paint looks better than the body paint. There's no body damage and with the exception of the glow plug harness(es) mess the wires are mostly factory and unmolested.

I've never had the patience to do body & paint work, but I do need to throw a cheap-o coat of something on it soon.


You are right Dieselexic, I've said that myself about the testament this truck gives both Ford and International. And this isn't just a run around town beater truck, I've had it all over the West Coast. Usually towing either that travel trailer or an equipment trailer with a project of some kind on it.

 

The early 10.25 axles are notorious for yoke wobble because the splines were short. This results in pinion bearing wear, which equals yoke wobble. It is almost always cheaper to swap in a 2nd generation sterling 10.25 axle than to rebuild the old one. The newer ones have a longer yoke with longer splines, and is a better axle design. My '86 has yoke wobble, and I have a '96 F250 rear axle that I picked up for 150$ to replace it. Like your truck, mine has better paint on the frame and undercarriage than on the body. Mine has almost the identical patina, as you can see in my current avatar. Back east trucks rust out underneath, but in the ultra violet battered mountain west the trucks rust on top!

 

Well as long as were on the subject of how tough these old girls are...the guy I got my truck from had it since ~99 and 95k miles and his theory on maintance was if it fell off replace it, if not your good to go and dont worry if you ding the body in the process. I picked it up last summer at just under a quarter million miles without a straight panel on it (besides the hood) more broken/worn out parts then you could shake a stick at and obvious years of deglect (if its any indication the orginal owner installed an ATS 093 complete with pyro...pyro was broken and he didnt even know what it was, ATF was blacker then the motor oil, worn out IP, factory orginal injectors etc etc etc...) several replacment parts later and she still runs like a champ even though I still have a ways to go to get it back factory fresh.

Oh and for the record 99% of those parts broke after I picked it up, only thing I found wrong prior was a beat to hell body, missing spare tire (had come loose a month prior and bracket was secured with tie down to bumper...), residual oil on engine and the broken pyro...cleaned it off after I got it and it all went downhill from there

 

Cool, so someone did the right thing by putting the newer axle in it. And with the best of the 6.9s (87) maybe someone actually knew what they were doing.

That's what is great about this forum, always something new to learn.

Those poor east coast trucks, I see a nice one on the internet then notice it has no cab corners, or you can see through the bed. Or both!

 

At least it's a simple truck to work on KC, if you're going to be stuck with a lot of work to do at least you have the right one to have to do it to.

 

True that, especially compared to the school buses I normally work on (I hate flat nosed buses...)

 

Well, today I finally was able to begin the disassembly of my mutt truck so I can install the stuff in my truck IN my truck and make it even more of a mutt with the 7.3 and the ZF.
Wish me luck, lack of free time, crappy back, and bad weather right around the corner may add up to this truck being down for a bit.

 

I have the same set up in my truck right now, with a good 90cc pump the turbo is pretty decent. the 5 speed was a worthy upgrade. The swap is actually really simple in my opinion.
keep us updated
Rob

 

Time to give that mutt some hybrid vigor!

 

Idk if the factory still used lead in 85, but that could explain the "clean" stripe on top of your fender.

 

Phase One complete, 6.8, T19, & transfer out. It's dark now and I'm beat.