Hello, everyone. My name is Kevin. I had a Hyundai for about a year, until the breaks failed and I rear-ended someone. That car is trashed, and my mother's neighbor was selling an '88 Ford. So here I am now, proud owner. I've never had a Ford before, though - so I wanted to introduce the truck and figure out maybe what I should do that I haven't already done:

The truck is in pretty great condition. Minimal rot/rust, 48k original miles, good tires, plastic bed liner, pretty ok paint, runs like new.

Odometer hasn't flipped, so it has been sitting on and off for twenty-seven years. I vacuumed out about ten pounds of squirrel nest from the airbox (and it still ran great!). Cleaned the leaves out of the bed. There was a squash plant growing, no, thriving, in there, even

So I changed the oil and the air filter. I've got an order from RockAuto coming so I can do some work this weekend. Tune-up kit, plugs, fuel filter, shocks, and a Haynes manual.

It's pretty solid - after the winter I'll probably put it up on the lift and grind out all the rust from the frame and paint it, I'm in New England and I need this to last, so...

In addition to what I listed, I'm debating what I should do with the major hydraulic components - power steering, brakes, trans, cooling. Everything works perfectly fine now, but I don't want to start using it regularly with all these 30-year-old fluids in there and have things wear out on me. As mentioned - I have a lift and a garage, my grandfather did autobody for 30+ years. I'm pretty capable of doing most of the work, and if not, I have a friendly mechanic who works inexpensively out of a storage unit (with a lift in there, too)

SO - more to the point - I'm thinking next on the list is a coolant flush. I pulled the radiator cap, and that's red as the Baron. It takes 6 gallons, so I'm waiting until I get paid again before I drop $50 on antifreeze and distilled water. I've never done a coolant flush, however, and I've heard that it's possible to get air in the system and can be very detrimental. I don't want to do that. If anyone is familiar with the process - it isn't too difficult, right?

After that, I'm wondering about the transmission fluid. Now, it shifts great the few times I've driven it around since I bought it. It's the 3-speed automatic. I'm leery with Ford auto trans, my fiance had a '98 Explorer where the trans died the day after she bought it. I don't want to muck anything up. What I'm thinking is a filter change, rather than a flush. I haven't heard good things about flushes nor do I have the equipment necessary or the money to pay someone. From what I understand, if you drop the pan, clean it out, and swap the filter a few times, you'll get the greater majority of the old fluid out. Since this has so low mileage, and its fate is not set in stone to fail, I don't think, I'd like to do something.

The brakes have good response and all four sets of pads have plenty of life left, a good 1/4" anyway. The brake lines were replaced at some point with stainless ones, and they're looking good. However, the rear passenger-side drum did not want to come off. It was almost off, with a great deal of effort, but we decided it should be left on, otherwise we may not get it back on. It did some squeaking afterwards while driving, not a constant but more like a pulse, and it's gone away since then. Is this something I should worry about? I am not very educated on brakes, never mind drum brakes. I know how to change the springs and pads but that's about it.

Lastly, the power steering - I notice it's fine, but when I first drove it, it was a minute amount noisy. I haven't had any issues with it, but don't want any to come up. Fluid level is normal. I don't think I've noticed any noise with it since, maybe it was just a little tight?

I only paid $1500 for this gem. I've put about $200 in parts into it, and I'm willing to put another $300 in to get it up to tip top shape before I register it. I would really, really, really appreciate feedback on this, being that I'm new to Ford trucks and, really, trucks in general.

Thank you

 

Welcome to the forum, that's pretty low miles for and 88'. Mine has 109k. It is also an 88' project truck for hunting.

 

thanks, it was a great find. Any problems you've had I should keep an eye out for?

 

the ford c6 transmission that you have is almost bullet-proof ... no worries there. same for the 4.9 litre engine, by the way.

as for the brake drum ... on that side the shoes are adjusted too close to the drum, thus the trouble that you had with removal. you can back them off without taking the drum off ... do a search on it and you will probably find a better explanation than i can give you.