Ok, so I asked this on the 67-72 board and now I'm wondering about a different truck.
It's an '85 F150 with a 4-speed and a 300. It has some rust , but the bed floor is in good shape as are the bumpers and doors. How would this be for towing small cars (around 3000#s)? I've been looking for a (cheap) towing vehicle for awhile...

$700?

thanks,
Stan

 

A lot of people with 300's say 4-spd and they really have a 3-spd with overdrive.

You can't use the O.D. for towing. I had an '85 with 300 and the 3-spd w/ od and it didn't do very well for towing. I used to tow a 16' alum boat with a 25hp outboard (about 1000# loaded) and that was about all I could do. I also used a 12' tandum trailer to pull a small garden tractor (about 2000#). The truck would pull it; but, it was real slow to start.

A car trailer & 3000# car would most likely be a real strain and you would need a real good clutch.

 

There's quite a few 300's with heavy duty 4 speeds out there. I don't think you'd have any problems with 3000 lb. My 300/4 speed tows almost as good as my 351m.

 

I would agree if he said F250; but, not F150 - most of the '85 4x2's w/ 300 IL were built light duty with the 3-spd w/o.d. trans.

Some 150's even had the 3-spd 3.03 with collum shift - Which actually may be better for towing than the 3-spd w/o.d. set-up.

 

Hmmm....
Not getting a strong feeling here one way or the other. The truck is in decent shape, especially the interior. I thought most of what I've read over the last few months had the 300/ manual as an ok towing package. Maybe I was getting that happy feeling from the 300-six forum.
I'll just keeping looking maybe..

thanks for the input though!

Stan

 

What tranny do you have? If you don't know, post the code from the door jamb sticker (assuming it's the original tranny).

 

The real bottom line is the $750.00 - try it and see if it's going to work for you. If not - you should easily be able to sell it for the $750 you would have in it.

There is more to towing then just the transmission - miles on the motor - good tune-up and carb as well as timing.

An '85 is most likely going to need some work to get it into shape to do a good job of towing. It may or may not perform the way you want it to.

Good luck,

Oscar.

 

Heck, Oscar, it's only $700!
I know I'll need to put some (a lot?) of work into it, but wanted a tow vehicle when I'm done. I like small cars, although I looked at a '66 Baracuda tonight, so the weight shouldn't be a big factor.
It's still a toss-up between it and the '68 F100...

thanks again,
Stan

 

Don't forget the Borg Warner T-18, it was put ing to lots of the light duty F150s in the 80s. Great tranny for towing, espeically with the granny low. So if it has the T-18, you'll be set for towing. I wish I had one.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

The NP 435 and T18 are far more common than the O/D boxes in my experience. Also, the O/D transmissions also tended to come in front of 2.75 and 3.08 gears... YUCK

 

I agreed with 82f100swb. I looked at two '85s. They were both 4x4s, they both had NP435s, and they both had 300s. I got the cheaper one. I've had about 1000 lbs on this one without any trouble, and I've had way over a ton with my 2wd. It had 2.47s and no granny, you had to slip the clutch a little though with a ton on.

Make sure you get a 4x4 and a 4speed with granny. The 4x4 has a little bit beefy rear suspension (has 3" leaves instead of 2.5" like the 2wds have).

If you planned on only towing once in a while (say the weekends for 50mis or so) the above would be great. If you plan on towing a lot, and for long distances, I'd look for something a lot newer, and a lot more HD, like a mid-90s F-250HD with a powerstroke or 460.

 

That's just brutal. Why on EARTH would the put 2.47s in whout a granny gear? I thought having 2.73s was bad...

 

Why 2.47's and an overdrive trannmission? So that they could advertise gas mileage figures like this ad carries:
http://www.bigblocksix.com/f100swb/0...d_fordadbg.jpg

 

Well, you probably _could_ get that kind of mileage if you lived in kansas and never hauled anything and drove about 80 every where.

My 2wd was originally my dad's, and he always said we should have swapped in a 4speed.

You will see a lot of ford f-150s like that. They were a "work truck" and received those gear ratios to obtain better gas mileage. They were also dirt cheap. I think mine retailed for $8500 in 1984 including the AM radio, and column stick shift

 

there is no replacement for displacment if you are going to pull a lot all the time get a big block or a deisel set up in a f250 u will have a lot less problems in the long run ang be alot more sat. with the way it does the job josh
85 f250 4x4 460
81 f250 4x4 351m