Let me tell you guys something about old fords and new fords.
My first truck was a 1979 ford f 150 4x4 that I bought off a friend back in 1993 for about $1000.00. It had a standard trans, 351M, a 3" lift and 36.5"x14.5" swampers on it. I pretty much re-built everything on this truck with all heavy duty and high performance components. This truck climbed walls, ran over cars and pushed snow like the big state rigs that plow the highways during blizzards.Hell I plowed one snow storm with one of the front axles sticking out of the front end about an inch. That's what you can do when your truck is made of real metal and solid gears instead of soft crap metals and chain driven drivetrains. The truck would easly blow away ANY new truck on the market right now!!! And the power this rig put out was unbelievable!!!
The wife made me get rid of it because we had 2 babys and felt we both needed vehicles with back seats. Now that I look back I wish I had got rid of the wife and kids and kept the truck!!!!!!

I now have a 1992 F350 dually with a 460 that I'm beefing up but as soon as it's done (hopefully by the first of the year) I'm going to get a 1977-1979 f 250 or f 350 and rebuild it just like my old f 150.

 

I Have a '79 F100 2WD with an est. 175,000-275,000 mi. worn out 302, rusty foor pans and I take it off road

The best truck for the money is a 78-79 F150 long bed XLT with ,tilt ,cruse ,air ,351M , 400, 460 ,or 300 I6 ( I don't think a 302 is well suited for a heavy truck , the 300 I6 is plenty torquey with it's 4 in. stroke). Taxes on it are cheap ,and check the floor pans for rust by lifting the carpet. espect to pay about 3 to 8 grand for a nice rust free loaded truck that runs good maybe more or less.

check out this site and read the literature and forums.
www.projectbronco.com

 

I live in beautiful Lawton OK. I have one vehicle $10,000 Combined single limit, and $1000 deductible. 1 ticket, ever. No felonies. My credit sucks and I noticed that insurance cost is based in part on your credit score.

 

i generally agree with the newer vehicles being garbage....

I'd trade my manhood for the 75' F100 4x4 3spd auto 360 in it that I bought in 96' with only 52k miles on it, no lie.

Too bad i had to sell it as it was my daily driver, and couldn't afford the 8 mpg it got.

Any one who thinks my ranger doesn't go off road is dreaming, but trucks are turning into cars, and I'm afraid that we won't stop it either.

 

Well, I to prefer the older trucks. I have a 1990 Bronco. 351W Ho, 6" lift, 35" tires the list goes on!!! I never had any major mechanical problems with my Bronco. I also have a 1998 Ford Expedition. It's an Eddie Bauer with the 5.4L V8. It also has 4X4 with the 3.73 gears!!! That truck I've never had any mechanical issues with either! Teh only problem was the master clyinder went out a month ago. Besides that, not a problem. And the truck has 67,000 miles!!!!!

It seem way too cawincidental (excuse me for spelling) that both those trucks went out on you. Especially the FORD!! Maybe the dealers in your area buy there trucks from accident auctions?? Oh well at least you found a SUV you like!! The only down side is it's not a FORD!

 

I thought about the coincidence thing too, only my wife drove both vehicles and she babies them, and none of her other vehicles had problems (except her `96 Taurus, POS).
My `92 Ford has been good, my `66 F100 was legendary for being reliable, and my `95 Crown Vic police interceptor seems pretty decent, too.

 

Hey, maybe she does some drag racing when yor not around!!

 

I agree with the suckage of newer trucks. My dad got a 2000 C###Y silverado 1500 with the 4.8L V8, and with about 20,000 the u-joints went out. Replaced those. At about 30,000, it started the knock on cold mornings. Its loud enough you can hear it from inside the house. Stops in about half a mile. I change the oil in it, and use Mobil 1, so its not lack of proper maintenance. Now he's trying to figure out why he only gets about 14 mpg.

Another example would be my old bronco 2. At about 80,000, when my dad bought it, it ran good. 5000 miles later it developed a valve lifter tick (presumably low oil pressure.) I inherited it at 120,000 miles. At 164,000 miles, it gave up. The crank moved back and forth about 1/8", and it had NO oil pressure. Yes, I kept up the maintenance, changed the oil every 2000 miles (trying to get rid of valve lifter tick).

Now I drive the 1970 F-100 that I bought from my brother for the sum of $250. It took a little work to get it streetable (it had been sitting for about 15 years in the driveway,) but it is now pretty much bulletproof.

So my conclusion is that some mixture of bean counters and environmentalists has ruined the truck as we know it. Newer trucks cost more to buy, are more complex, and cost more to maintain than older ones. And forget about fixing them!!!

 

My dad was a parts guy for a chevy dealer, they have all kinds of trouble with the motors, form the 4.8 clear up to the duramax, the duramax won't pull a load, the gas motors all knock within 30k miles, some right of the showroom floor. I don't like the new fords, drove one a couple weeks ago just felt cheap. I like my 92 van, other than the occasional brake job, and vacuum leak it's great.

 

Excuse me for being off the subject, but what exactly is a valve lifter tick?

 

valve lifter tick, is a small tick that sounds similar to a small exhaust leak, but is deeper in the engine.

 

A valve lifter tick is when:

a) the valve lifter is not getting oil, so it does not pump up and smacks the two halves together whenever the valve opens, or

b) it does not hold pressure anymore (politically correct term is "collapsed"), causing the two halves to smack together when the valve opens, making noise.

It only happens with hydraulic lifters, although poorly or unadjusted solid lifters can sometimes give a similar noise. It reduces valve lift and duration significantly, causing the engine to be a dog. End lesson one.

 

So guys, are you saying in 25 years my 99 SuperDuty will be a "good ole' Ford" or a piece of junk?

People were saying the same things about old/new vehicles 30 years ago!

There's nothing wrong with driving a good old truck. But, how many times is your boss gonna allow that excuse - "I'll be late because my truck won't start due to the ________ needing fixed."

Newer vehicles are more reliable than older vehicles. Period. If the opposite were true then manufacturers would not be able to give their vehicles away.

BTW, 41K miles on the '99 and only the cupholder and tires have been replaced. No piston slap, no leaks, just preventative maintenance.

While I disagree, this is still an interesting thread.

 

i agree with the last post 100%

 

It depends whether or not your Super Duty will be a good ol' Ford or a piece of junk. It depends on whether or not the auto manufacturers continue their trend of building crappier trucks every year.
I was just reading in the newest Four Wheeler magazine about how some company is offering a "fix-it-all" kit for the Super Duty and it's apparently inadequate front end design, if you want to run larger than 36" tires. The kit included all sorts of parts, such as new bearings, axle shafts, steering components, etc, etc.
I don't recall any such kits needed for the old Dana 60 straight-axle trucks.
Newer vehicles are not more reliable than older vehicles, period. Is a `97 Hyundai more reliable than a `66 Chevelle?
Depends on lots of factors. The Chevelle is simpler, better made, and a better car.
Some new cars are more reliable, ie; anything made by Toyota or Honda is pretty trouble-free.
But as this thread was talking about trucks, I believe you are absolutely wrong about newer trucks being more reliable than older trucks.
Newer trucks may be more comfortable, get better gas mileage, ride nicer, and be quieter, but they are vastly more complicated and expensive.
I wrote a research paper in college about the huge amounts of inflation for certain products. Among them was pickup trucks.
I used the example of my Grandpa and his `79 F150 he bought brand new for $4500. He also retired that year as a carpenter for the local college. I compared his salary in 1978 to a carpenter's salary in 2001. I then compared the price of a similarly equipped pickup from 1979 to 2001.
If pickup prices were to increase at the same rate of wage and income increases, then you should be able to pay $12,500 for a brand new Ford F150 XLT regular cab 2wd with an engine upgrade and premium sound package.
To buy the same truck today will cost you not $12,500, but $27,000 .
Going by that cost increase, carpenters at the college should be making around $10,000 a month, instead of the $3000 that they actually get.
So, you should be able to see that we are expected to pay outrageous prices for trucks that I simply don't see as being all that better. Especially when you constantly hear about people having axles, trannys and motors going bad after just a few months of owning their new $37,000 truck.