So my girlfriend knows a guy from the fire department that has an 87 with the diesel in it. Pretty sure it has a broken rod. He is only asking 400 dollars for the truck. Its was his work truck.

It has the 6.9 with the manual transmission. Its 4x4, Extended cab, and I think short bed. Been a while since Ive seen it and it has some lame home made utility bed.

What I want to do with it is Flatbed it and tow with it. Ideally I want a flatbed big enough for my Jeep Cherokee to go on it, and I want to be able to trailer my friends scout. Basically all this truck is going to be a dedicated tow truck for our 4 Wheelers. I roughly plan about 3,000lbs over the back axle with extra springs back there, and towing another 8,000 or a little less.

I have a friend that is a diesel mechanic (guy that owns the scout) but he is used to working on Semis and doesnt know much about little truck motors or so he says. He can work on whatever but doesnt know how well this motor will do with what we want. Not only that I dont know if there is anything specifically to look out for or not on these trucks. I can handle the basic stuff but like I have no idea how good the tranmission is and if the rear axle can handle the weight I want to put on the actual truck, before towing.

Can anyone help?

FYI I am buying the truck regardless. I need a pickup and I need to stop using my girlfriends superduty. Besides she wants to lift it and I dont want to regear that thing for towing what I want with bigger tires. Even if I cant do exactly what I want with it it will still tow my Jeep on a trailer and I need at least that!!

Thanks for any help guys

 

I doubt that you will be hauling a jeep cherokee on the flat bed short or long bed. Unless you have a real short jeep. A quad will take up most of a short bed, and a long bed will fit a side by side.

 

What's the budget????

We'll need more information to answer some of the questions but needless to say the cherokee of the rear axle is goint to make you way tall and the truck wasn't designed for that. I'm just thinking about a SRW truck with a cherokee on the back going down the highway with strong winds... NOT FUN! I design the flatbed for the fourwheelers and put the cherokee on a car trailer behind the truck.

The rear axle is either a 10.25 sterling or Dana60. It probably has the 10.25 which is a really strong axle, and even better when it has the HD full float axle. You can tell if it has the HD axle if the hub looks like this 1989 Ford F-250 Disc Brake Installation | Four Wheeler Magazine Article at Automotive.com

Is the transmission 4spd or 5spd? I think most/some of the 87's still had 4spd manual transmissions. The 5spd only helps if your not loaded down and doing lots of highway miles so if it's a 4spd you'll be fine.

You need to get the axle code from the door jam to see what rear axle ratio you have.
Check here to find out ratio: Ford Axle Code Chart .: Articles

If you need more power just get a banks sidewinder turbo for it... you'll have $2500-$3000 in the turbo but it will scream down the highway loaded when your done!

 

To explain in a little more detail, which doesnt help my case at all, is that the flat bed was going to have ramps that go up a headache rack. I am a welder by trade with all my own equipment so I could fab something up pretty quick. Wanted to park the front two tires on top of the cab. pretty much. Other than center of gravity im not sure what that would really effect.

Budget is not much. About enough for the truck and enough for rods and a headgasket.

I really hope the truck has a full floater with 4.10s, thatd be stellar. I have access to semi turbos but my buddy says I cant put those on with out changing the entire motor. I am not gonna spend that much into a turbo for this old hauler lol. Fix it enough to just go go go. I have no need to get anywhere fast in it, just get there.

I also do have a friend with a 89 F250 that 'might smoke' and a 460 in it. I know it has more torque and HP but im not sure how much it would really matter in these old trucks. Not to mention I am hoping better MPGs in the diesel. He wants also 400 dollars for it. Would that be better? Its setup as a long bed and standard cab. And automatic. Id also rather have a manual but I guess it doesnt really matter.

 

Sounds like what you really want/need is an old F-Super duty rollback. I see them on craigslist all the time, normally diesels with manuals. I wouldn't do a significant amount of weight above the cab, a slide-in camper is about the limit IMO. Rebuilding a diesel is more expensive than a gas engine, no questions asked. Parts are far more expensive due to the fact that they have to withstand such high compression. You can find a j/y 7.3 IDI that will bolt in and give you (some) increased power from the get-go.

 

THat would be really nice but as you can see my budget is pretty low for a truck. Ive spent alot of money in the past year. i.e. all of it. I now have alot of cool things but now its time to save again, and I still owe money on some stuff. Im just not comfortable spending any more money on a truck. Ill make what I get work with me, just need to know some limits.

Although thanks for the idea , I didnt think about that. I will keep a watchful eye out for a wrecked one or a fixxer upper.

And as I understand the 6.9 is basically the 7.3 but not bored out so much. Same block and heads or something like that. Alot of compatible parts.

 

to be honest you may be better off buying a trailer long enough to put both cars on and tow that instead kinda like this not sure how much this would cost as i never had a need for one...

 

the 6.9l idi would pull it but wouldnt get you there fast. i traded the 85 i had for my f150.
as for putting a jeep on the back of a 250??? and then pulling another trailer behing it?? i would strongly advise against that. i would just pick up a gooseneck trailer big enough to fit both and pull it with the truck. i could see a small car maybe.... but the jeep will overload the gvwr

 

and also start to burn things out....

 

Why not spend $800, get both, and combine the two to get the truck you want? I'd go with the standard cab longbed, 460, use the manual tranny from the 6.9 (if you can...I'm not sure), and use whichever of the axles is stronger or geared more appropriately. When you were done, you would have a convenient source of body/ frame parts and could sell or keep and rebuild other mechanical items to potentially swap in later, like the 6.9 itself.

If you don't have much of a budget, I wouldn't go with the diesel for the expense reasons that blkF250HD mentioned. I would be very wary of any engine with a broken rod. It usually isn't quite as simple as putting in a new set of rods and being able to, as you put it, go go go. You may be looking at a lot more money and machine work than you imagine. Here's how:

-Does it indeed have a broken rod? If so, you will need a new set because if one broke, others may not be far behind.

-When the rod broke, did it damage the crankshaft? If so, you will need to have the crank machined at a minimum. If the damage is significant enough, you may need to find a new crank and then have it machined.

-When the rod broke, did it damage the block? If so, you may need to replace the block.

-Do you need to find another block? If so, it will also have to be cleaned up and possibly machined, unless you can find one that has already had the machine work done. Might as well figure on a new set of pistons at this point too.

-You will need a new set of bearings to match the work done on the crank and the mains.

-You will probably want to get the cam checked or replaced, plus you will want a new timing system. Get new bearings for the cam.

-Speaking of valvetrain components, if you're going this far already, you'd probably want to get the heads rebuilt while you are at it.

-Once you get all of these parts together, the engine has to be properly reassembled, balanced, and spec'ed. You will also need a whole gasket set, not just head gaskets.

With a gas engine, you could easily be looking at $2000 before you know it. With a diesel? Probably quite a bit more. Of course, you could always find a good used running replacement engine, but it will more than likely cost you a bit. You can get a remanufactured one, but it will definitely cost you.

To piggyback on something else blkF250HD said, why not keep an eye out for some older U-Haul type stuff, like the smaller vans? They are one tons or better (if you'll consider one of the Internationals with the 7.3- you can always cut it down to the length you want), come with diesels or 460s, occasionally with manual transmissions, usually with dual rear wheels, and have a frame length behind the cab of equal to or possibly even better than the length of a long bed pickup. That would seemingly give you everything you would need, save for the flatbed...but you said you would make that yourself anyway. So there you go.

In the end, something like that may turn out to be less money and give you more to work with.

Just a thought.

 

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Okay alot of good advice.

Also the truck seems to have a fuel leak as its pooling on top of the motor from somewhere. It cranked over with no abnormal noise, but wouldnt start it only had one battery in it and it wasnt very charged. Its got a 5 speed manual, full floating rear end and is a short box.

Tires on it are OK at best and the box on the back is reallllllllly ugly. Outside is a little rough with trim falling off and a couple primered body panels. Interior isnt that bad, all the guages seemed to work, dirty but not ruined. Could be cleaned up.

Thats all I can remember for now. We will be going back out either today or next weekend (I am working out of town during the week) with a fresh battery and going to get it running and take it for a little drive.

 

If it has a broken rod, chances are it needs a block too. As for putting a jeep ON the back of a SRW pick-up, ARE YOU NUTS?!?!

Buy a real truck(not an IDI) and a trailer to haul your jeep and his scout

 

X2X2 , on a budget , not much money to spend ? that engine would most likely have a hole in the side of the block , get under the truck and LOOK for a rod sticking out !

 

yeah I wouldn't even consider putting a jeep cherokee on the back of an F-250, way over the legal limit! Buy a bunch of c-channel and build yourself a nice trailer to haul the two trucks, and take a look at that 460 for towing it.