I surfed a truck and parts trader book looking for trailers, and ran across an ad for a 1985 F350 extended cab turbo diesel (6.9 with a kit added).

The truck has locking tool boxes on it, and a set of pyrometers. Presumably it has A/C because it was used as a work truck to head over to Arizona and back.

And here's the kicker - it has a nine foot flatbed! A set of side panels come with it.

Price?

$1995.oo

- I'm going to look at it wednesday afternoon!!! The man said he had full records on it, which tells me it was worked on by professionals. The only rust is (quote) "A pair of spots behind the front wheels about the size of a silver dollar. We don't have the rust problems in Arizona like they do in California..."

And from what else he said, it gets better mileage than my F100...

 

Go for it, Wolf, diesels are the way to go.. smell nice, make nice thick smoke, and cost less to fuel.

Emissions are way easier too, if you have to have 'em.

They sound nice, they rattle nicely.. I love 'em, which is why I got 2..

 

This is almost too coincidental - if you believe in coincidences.
I need a truck with lots of pulling power, and was going to investigate (AKA 'tinker' with) bio diesel when I got out and got home.

The flatbed works nicely for hauling parts, and if anything can plow it seems like this rig ought to. Especially when I get done learning to rebuild diesel engines, which was my next target area of expertise. At this rate a Kenworth is not beyond imagining...

But who would believe a K-whopper as a grocery getter.

I think diesel trucks have a mytique of their very own, it's what you want if you grew up with your eyes on the highway. And yeah - the rattle and smell is like some kind of strange siren song.

 

Yes sir... I can get more therapy from roaring my truck around the highway than a whole mess of doctors could ever supply. When you get a diesel happy, it growls.

Theo

 

I got my truck happy this afternoon, when it was stationary. I read about a mod to the grill, making an internal bug guard out of gutter guard, so I thought I would try it.. 3 pieces of gutter guard @1.17 each, a bunch of black cable ties - (the really small ones) and some time created this:



I did a few tricks with the hood safety catch, with wire and rope, so I can still get the hood open. I think it looks really good, and does not restrict the air as much as the Lund bug screens I had last year - they worked fine, for the time I had them on, so this screen material will work just fine. It will not stop as small a bug as the Lund did, but it will stop the humongous ones from clogging the fins up.

I found out about the mod at The Diesel Stop website - it has a bunch of really good mods for my truck over there - I have actually been a member of that place longer than I have been one here, but post more here.

Theo

 

Looks like I need to check them out.

I heard the new truck could use some extra cooling, and that will be an interesting project if it goes where I think it will.

 

I put a much larger radiator into a similar aged beast once - it worked wonders on the cooling - it cast about $300 from a commercial truck place.

Theo

 

Yep. I can get one from Modine made for a 460. I didn't look to see if there was a trans cooler on the truck - I bet there isn't.

I plan to build a ducted box for the cooler with it's own forced air fan and possibly a scoop, all of which to be tucked up under the bed in a convenient spot. This will make the lines shorter as well.

 

Put the biggest, ugliest tranny cooler you can find on the truck, even if it has one.. The more coolers for the tranny the better..

When I got the last work done on the truck, the company that rebuilt my tranny were going to put their cooler on, until they noticed the size of the one I have..

Theo

 

That bug guard looks very slick Theo. Bet it was a lot cheaper to.

 

The bug guard cost me all of $2.95 plus 36 small cable ties out of my junk tub.

the pictures of it are here, if you haven't already been to look.

 

I can do a detailed in work process show as it happens to mine, but first there is another trip down the "Power Steering Leak" road in store for me.

- I'll get to it, trust me.

This truck came to me for a reason, I'm going to explore all of it...

~Wolfuss