This just happened last weekend. A friend of mine ordered 3 tons of these pellets for a woodburning stove from TSC, and they needed to be picked up. There was my friend in an 04 silverado 1500, his brother with an 05 Ram 1500, and me with my 92 f-150 (211,000 miles) 300 inline. We each agreed to take 2000 lbs and it was about a 40 mile drive. Being that we all had different trucks we naturally made a side bet on who would make it back first. We all put in a $50 and whoever made it home first took it all. After the trucks were loaded i knew i was going to win. both the chevy and the dodge were draggin ass with all the weight. When we pulled out of the parking lot the guy in the dodge got cocky and tried to leave us in his dust. Shortly after we left my old ford passed them both with ease and about 5 miles from our destination i got a phone call that the dodge over heated and needed to be towed back. After my ford beat them both back with a full bed, i unloaded it and went and towed the dodge with the bed still holding 2000 lbs back to the house (13 miles away). The $100 was nice, but knowing that my old 300 still has it after all those miles is a great feeling. I dont know how you guys feel but you couldnt pay me to drive a dodge!
I have a 78 4x4 F-150 300 with a four speed, stock gears and factory 1 bbl carb. We were clearin out some trees on my buddies land and there was a tree that was already half fallen so we were gonna hook up to it and pull it out. He hooke his 1979 F-250 with a four speed, 4 bbl carb and 4.11 gears up too it. He pulled in four wheel drive and started in 1st gear didnt move it went to 2nd and it stalled. I hooked my truck up too it, started in 1st then went to 2nd and it moved a little bit, then i went to third and yanked that tree out of the ground. He was pissed cause he actually had money in his. I had juct bought mine a month before, and it had been sittin in the woods 3 years before i bought it.
Bought an '83 150, it had an irratic "tink" inside it and shrugged it off as a loose rocker. Drove the truck an additional 36,000 on top of its 265,000, and raced a cavalier,(the older style with a V-6) just at the end of the race, the truck started loosing power, my oil pressure disappeared, and my engine temp went through the roof. The truck started slowing down by about 1 mile every four seconds (WOT), and it came to a stop along side the highway, when it did the block literally had exploded into 4 pieces, btw, that "tink" was a cracked piston the -whole- time, bet a chevy couldn't do that (p.s. I beat the cavalier ;P)
To 7866ford,
I used to pull trees with my '84 2x4 too, I've had the rear end three feet in the air before from pulling down a tree (and after 15,000 miles I still have the same engine and tranny)
My 300 has survived me so far. That's pretty impressive.
Mine certainly isn't fast , but it has made many long trips hauling fairly heavy loads going up through nasty hills of the Appalachians in Kentucky and Tennessee. Although slow it its never complaining and never missing a beat.
Kinda like a slow old locomotive and a little vocal like one too.
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Bill Lloyd
1981 Ford F250 4 x 4 351M & 4 speed
1982 Ford Econoline 300 six
Mine certainly isn't fast , but it has made many long trips hauling fairly heavy loads going up through nasty hills of the Appalachians in Kentucky and Tennessee. Although slow it its never complaining and never missing a beat.
Kinda like a slow old locomotive and a little vocal like one too.
Mine isn't fast either. At all. She moves okay off of idle, but even then.. Matter of fact, she lugs a lot. She's sick. But even so, she runs decent.
This doesn't qualify as a story but I know I can idle forward with 6,000+ lbs behind me.
I just took a hill today in first gear. Never went past 1,500 rpm. I didn't even have to rev it that high.. I was just moving at a pretty good click because I didn't want to meet someone head on, haha. Not sure if that's impressive or not but it sure did feel good. I had a lot of power on tap. Made the hill and got on the flat part, all dirt. Moving along all I had to do was tap the gas pedal to break the tires loose. I don't know if that's because of the motor or because of my locked axle though.
Mine isn't fast either. At all. She moves okay off of idle, but even then.. Matter of fact, she lugs a lot. She's sick. But even so, she runs decent.
This doesn't qualify as a story but I know I can idle forward with 6,000+ lbs behind me.
I just took a hill today in first gear. Never went past 1,500 rpm. I didn't even have to rev it that high.. I was just moving at a pretty good click because I didn't want to meet someone head on, haha. Not sure if that's impressive or not but it sure did feel good. I had a lot of power on tap. Made the hill and got on the flat part, all dirt. Moving along all I had to do was tap the gas pedal to break the tires loose. I don't know if that's because of the motor or because of my locked axle though.
Whatever, that's what I got if it's good or bad.
Last year a I bought a few acres behind my house that had to be cleared.
I hauled several loads of scrap iron and one load was 7,400 lbs. It sure worked my old van hard, but, it did it. Now, on the back hills I did piss a few guys off cause I couldnt go faster !
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Bill Lloyd
1981 Ford F250 4 x 4 351M & 4 speed
1982 Ford Econoline 300 six
I wouldn't say I have a particular one time story, but mainly the story of my 300.
It sat for four years on my wife's parents' property since someone dumped it there (probably because they couldn't get it to run). Got in a car wreck so they said I could have it if I could get it running. A few fresh gaskets, a fuel pump, and a regular tuneup (sparkplugs, wires, etc.), and it drove 750 miles from California to Idaho in 110* heat and it never faltered. Slow as a pig though.
Drove it another 500 miles to see my parents and go camping. It eventually stalled out in the mountains because the carburetor wasn't even bolted down. The air filter housing was the only thing holding it to the engine and the bumps were making it bounce off the intake and suck air. (An attest to how poorly it was treated.) Found the bolts embedded in the engine grime, so I was able to put it back together.
The engine was so weak and slow, I had to put it in 2nd to climb steep grades on the highway, go about 20mph, and have my hazard lights on.
Over the last couple of years, I've done nothing but freshen it up, put on new gaskets, run cleaners through it, replace some simple external parts like lifters and stuff, and it's simply just run better and better to the point where I could do 95mph down the interstate with the stock 1bbl.
Now it has a performance exhaust and a 4bbl intake and screams up to 4500 RPMs without thinking twice.
It's never been rebuilt in the last 28 years and still has over 150 compression in all cylinders with only a 6% variation. I'm "guessing" it has 250,000 miles on it, but I can't be sure since there aren't any records. Could be 150k or 350k. Not that it would make any difference.
Says a lot when you can take a 300 that has been abused to the point it doesn't run any more and simply freshen it up to a high performance machine without even rebuilding it.
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4bbl Holley 390 w/ Offenhauser DP intake. 4 speed Manual w/OD. K&N air filter, EFI manifolds, 2.5" exhaust.
3.00 rear end and 2000 RPMs @ 80mph!
My favorite story about the 300, is that every morning, i could go outside, turn the key, and the engine would start.
Other than that, the day the starter died 50 miles from home was fun, but at least since it was a manual tranny truck i could let it coast down a hill and dump the clutch to start it. Made it to autozone and changed the starter in the parking lot and off i went.
In the same town a few months later i blew a rear brake line. Reminded myself again why i love a standard tranny, you can use the engine as a brake. Made it home and replaced the blown line.
My favorite story about the 300, is that every morning, i could go outside, turn the key, and the engine would start.
Other than that, the day the starter died 50 miles from home was fun, but at least since it was a manual tranny truck i could let it coast down a hill and dump the clutch to start it. Made it to autozone and changed the starter in the parking lot and off i went.
In the same town a few months later i blew a rear brake line. Reminded myself again why i love a standard tranny, you can use the engine as a brake. Made it home and replaced the blown line.
last winter a big rig got stuck in some ice and dug all his rear drive tires about 6" into the ice to the point he couldnt even rock it when i drove by there was a 07? dodge ram with a hemi badge on the side i figured hed get out the truck was 4x4 and was on dry pavement (a result of the sloped streets where the middle melts to the curb then freezes again) about a half hour later i was goin by and the semi was still there and the dodge guy was packing in his tow strap he left just before i pulled up and offered a hand and the trucker kinda snickered so i hooked up got a good system goin had it in 4lo and once we got the trucks synchronized i dumped the clutch and floored it in 2nd and the right came right out the trucker asked what i had in it i said you wouldnt believe me if i told you so i popped the hood and he about hit the ground...other than that i spent all last winter pulling people out/off of snow banks and ditches
there was a dodge dakota 2wd ext. cab stuck in the ditch in 3 feet of hard snow so that the wheels were sunk and the whole under carriage of the truck was flat on the surface of the snow, the highway was patchy with ice but we got lucky and hooked up i was in a dry spot and in 4lo with a stretched out t-case chain he came right out
and the best of all... i never plug my truck in and all winter it was -50 with wind chill and it fired up at 6 a.m. ever damn morning cranked the heater went back inside for 15 min and when i went back out id have to take my coat off and roll a window down it was so warm
the starter did go when it was -26 and 6" of snow on the ground on a street that was sloped sideways that was a blast to change...but im glad it was a 300 those are easy starters to change
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PROJECT---95 ford f150 4x4, 300 INLINE SIX!, 5speed, SAS, 4" lift, 35x13.50 ground hawgs (sooner or later)
DD---91 ford f150 lariat, 302 v8, auto, 2wd, rust
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I have a great story!
(p.s. I beat the cavalier ;P)
Not that it would make any difference.
