I have a 1982, 4x4, 4 speed with granny low. This truck is not, and never will be, for off-roading or crawling. I do not plan to ever put big wheels & tires on it either.

First gear is worthless. If I need a low gear, I can always just throw the transfer case into 4L. The motor has awesome torque down low, but the top end is completely gutless. It takes a pedal all the way to the floor to achieve anything much over 60mph.

What is my best option for improving everyday driveability? Transmission swap(and what options do I have for this)? Change front/rear gear ratios? Some mod/replacement for my transfer case that I'm not aware of? Engine work so that it can actually have some pull above ~3000 rpm?

Suggestions welcome!!

Or maybe I have unreasonable expectations. If that's the case, let me know that too.

 

What type of engine? Why is first gear worthless? Can't get it in gear? Just pops out? This doesn't make much sense to me the way stuff was written.

Thanks!

 

I'm thinking first gear is worthless, because it's geared so high, it's like moving at idle speed.....


You could change gear ratio's in the diffs, not cheap by any means.

 

351w

1st gear is an unsynchronized granny low. I know it has certain towing and off-roading applications, but it is not useful at all given how this truck is setup and how it is used. Regular driving is just 2 -> 3 -> 4. Huuuuuuuge rpm drop between 3 & 4 that makes it a gutless turd trying to accelerate at 40ish mph. At 60mph it basically does not have the ability to get out of its own way.

I guess I'm looking for a way to fix the gearing. I came across this:

http://www.gearvendors.com/4x4fmanual.html

And it seems great, but awfully pricey. But maybe at the end of the day, the price for that overdrive unit will be similar to or less than a conversion of some kind.

 

A 351W?!? You should be doing pretty good! I have the 351W and 4x4 on my pickup with the supercab and long bed (long wheel base). Only difference is I have the C6 but she'll top out at 85 on a good day. No problems driving around town or the farm (all <45 mph). Now it won't burn rubber, but it's got plenty of pulling power, especially in 4L.

That gives you an idea that it is possible to have daily driver performance from your 34 year old truck.

Here's how I would approach it:
- Oil change, Air and oil filter change. This should be < $20. I use 20w50 all the time so the oil weight doesn't affect drive-ability.
- Inspect the spark plugs for fouling (tells you what's going wrong inside combustion chamber). It might be running rich or lean robbing your power either way.
- check/adjust your float levels
- use 100% gasoline, not that ethanol stuff. It'll deteriorate your tank, lines, and fuel pump diaphragm
- Go crazy and jack up one wheel at a time and make sure it spins freely. Listen for grinding and squealing. Friction on rotating components drains power.
- Look at each tire for uneven wear (might be an alignment issue grinding the tires against the ground)
- Check the tire inflation. Should be > 30 lbs and all tires should be the same.
- While you're looking at the wheels, check and see if there is any wobble in your U-joints. Grease them or replace as necessary. These get old and rusty over time and rob your power.

 

It sounds like you need a tune up. And also check to see if your vacuum advance is working. When I got my truck (1983, 300 I6, T-18, and 33 inch tires) it was running pretty similarly to yours. Now I can get it to go 80 mph (not that I ever want to). Fixing the vacuum advance was the biggest improvement, followed closely by a rebuilt carb. Replacing all the old hard plastic vacuum lines also helped.

 

I've been using 10w30 so far. The oil filter is new, air filter not so much. I'll go buy a new one soon.

The rest I will set aside some time this weekend to take care of. I am very weak with working on carburetors, so I think honestly that will be the hardest part for me. Nothing a good manual and some determination won't fix, amiright!?

I haven't own the truck for very long (6 months or so) and in that time I have not messed with or even checked the timing and vacuum advance. Maybe I'm losing power there too.

The motor just seems so weak... Not worn out (no smoke, doesn't eat oil, starts in half a second, etc), just down on power. It was supposedly rebuilt and sits at fairly low mileage, but like I said before, it is just gutless.

Maybe some good synthetic gear oil for the tranny, gearbox, and diffs would help as well?

And I'm out of luck for fuel. I live in the Bay Area. Closest 0% ethanol station is 75 miles away....

It seems like I definitely need to make absolutely sure I've done what I can to make sure my motor running in tip top shape before I jump the gun and start spending thousands on a fix that I might not even need.

Good suggestions!

 

In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn:

"Wait, I say wait just a cotton picking minute!!!"

Adding an overdrive will not solve the problem of low power. All it will do is change the RPM of the engine as you run out of power. In other words, fix the low power issue first. Then split the difference of how much you saved by not buying an overdrive and mail me a check as a measure of gratitude. You will stiill come out way ahead financially.

I have an 84 F250HD 4x4 supercab with the same 351W and T-18 four speed. While not a tire smoking monster engine, it most assuredly can get out of its own way. This truck spends most of the summer fully loaded to 8600 GVW with a pickup camper and my anvil collection (Don't judge). Even with all that weight, and the extra drag of a cabover camper, it has no problem cruising all day at 75. Steep grades change the equation, but even then will maintain 50 mph in third gear. I'm sure I could rev the engine higher, but I keep 3000 RPM as a practical, wallet-saving redline.

So follow the others' advice and start with a good tune-up. And keep us posted. Let me know when you plan to send that check as I've got some truck parts I'd like to get soon.

 

mine is not 4x4, but I have a 302 with a C6 with a 2.75:1 9" rear with 31x10.50-15 tires. Truck pulls decent but is not going to win any races. It can maintain 75 mph easily my only issue with mine is even with the gearing I have I still spin 2500 rpm at 70-75 mph. Maybe I am spoiled from taking parents out of town driving their 2012 truck, thing spins 2000 rpm at 85 mph.

 

I second the idea of investigating the vacuum advance, you will have a gutless wonder if that thing isn't working right.

 

Me and engine builder at work got into it on this, heavy acceleration vacuum advance is not being used, that is mechanical and initial advance that you are seeing. Vacuum advance is used under no load to advance timing to allow for a leaner mixture when cruising as well as smoothing out the idle.

I agree with him on the acceleration aspect partially. Vacuum will never go completely to 0 when you floor it it will drop but there still will be some vacuum and will slowly build up the higher the RPM goes at WOT. So I would check not just vacuum but the mechanical and initial. Should be around 11* initial with initial and mechanical being around 34 to 36 total at 3,000 rpm max.

 

Whatever... I guess I'm thinking mostly to look at the timing advance mechanism(s) and see if they're working.

 

Many 1982 trucks had the feedback carb with computer-controlled ignition. And lots of them have had things done to them that caused the computer to lock the timing at 10 degrees BTDC, causing the engine to be gutless. I had an '82 that was exactly that way, but with a change to a DS-II ignition system it ran quite well.

So, I suggest you look at the distributor. Does it even have vacuum advance? If not, it is computer-controlled and you need to find out if the computer is happy or upset. I'd bet on upset.

 

First check: With engine off have assistant press gas pedal to the floor. Remove air cleaner and verify the throttle blades are completely open.

I bought a real dog once cheap, only to discover it was only getting half throttle with the pedal to the floor!

2nd check: Timing. Because these old balancers have been known to slip you can't always trust the timing marks but getting your base timing correct and then making sure both your vacuum advance and mechanical advance are working correctly is essential to getting the most out of these engines. Personally I can feel the difference a few degrees of base timing makes on a hill.

In my younger years it was standard procedure to advance base timing until it would ping under a load (or the starter would struggle to turn the motor over) and then back it off just enough so it wouldn't ping and the starter was happy.

Beyond that change the fuel filter if it's old and follow the other good advice you've already received.

 

I'm assuming a DS2, that may be my bad because I don't agree with your claim of "many".