Truck shakes in gear and no power
 

I have a 1983 f150 inline 6 with an automatic. It shakes the the truck when I put it in gear it smoothes out a little but it won't accelerate over a crawl. Fuel pump and filter have been replaced. The plugs and wires have also been replaced. The timing may be off. If anyone has any ideas

Also check the intake and carb to make sure none of the mounting bolts have worked loose.

Thanks they seem to be tight. I think I might have a vacuum issue. The hose from my distributor went to nowhere and another is disconnected. Does any one have any under the hood pics that give me a Better view of the vacuum lines. Thanks

There should be a vacuum hose routing diagram under your hood on the radiator support, here is mine for reference:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=236280&.jpg

The vacuum hose issue aside, I think you may have miss-routed some of your plug wires. Do you know how to check them?

That maybe possible somebody changed them shortly before it sat for year or so then I got it. Not exactly sure on how to check. I assume I just need to find the firing order diagram.

If you pop the distributor cap off then turn the engine over (by hand) in the direction it runs - clockwise viewed from the front of the truck - until you have No. 1 piston at top dead center on the compression stroke - NOT the exhaust stroke. While doing this, watch to see the direction that the distributor rotor turns.

Once you have TDC on the compression stroke of No.1 cyl, the rotor will be pointing to the cap position of the wire for the No.1 cylinder spark plug, so don't turn the motor any further.
Good idea to mark this wire position on the cap to eliminate confusion later; you can now put the cap back on the distributor.

Now carefully follow the wires, in turn, from the cap (in the direction that the rotor turned) & see if they lead to the cylinder corresponding with the engine firing order.
So, with the firing order being 1-5-3-6-2-4, the wire at the No.1 position on the cap (that you found) goes to the No.1 cylinder - that's the front one.
The next wire from the cap, going in direction the rotor turns, goes to No.5 cylinder & so on.

If you go carefully step by step you can find any misplaced wires. If one is wrong, at least two will be.
When you think you have it all corrected, I would start at the No.1 position on the cap & check all the wires once more.

Good luck

Thanks I appreciate it

Checked the plug wires and they are hooked up correct and I think I got the vacuum lines figured out. I increased the idle some. It still shakes when I put it in gear but not as bad. It also feels like it is dogging out and wont accelerate in gear. It won't drive over 5 or 10 mph and feels strained.

The problem lies on either the intake or exhaust side of the engine. You could have a ratnest in your exhaust or a malfunctioning carb..

It seems to be pumping quite a bit of exhaust smoke. What would be the best way to check

Remove the air cleaner assembly and start the engine and let it warm up a few minutes 'til the choke fully opens.

Then, look down the throat of the carb - do you see gas dripping or pooling in the plenum?

Do you have a vacuum gauge?