Hey guys and gals, I decided to start a build thread on my F-150 that I'm in the process of rebuilding. I've been working on it for about a month now and have some pictures to show ya'll, but first I'll bore you with some of the truck's history.

The truck is a 1979 Ford F-150, 4x4, standard cab, short bed with a 300 I6, NP 435 transmission, and NP 205 transfer case. Whew, that was a mouthful! The truck was purchased by a local Ford dealership to be used as a company truck. Interestingly enough, my great-grandfather worked at the dealership and may well have driven the truck! After the dealership closed, the truck became the owner's personal vehicle and, when he died, was passed down to his son. Sometime in the late 80s or so, the owner had a bunch of work done on the truck at the body shop just down the road. This included a paint job and a "custom" flat bed. My father was a paint man at the body shop and was the one who did the work on the truck. Many years past, and the owner used it as a farm truck and eventually just parked it to rot under some pine trees. The owner wanted the truck gone and offered it to my brother and I if we would haul it off. We were in our teens and were very enthusiastic as this was our first set of wheels. Dad warned us that it would be a ton of work. He was right. Here's some pics of the truck when we got it.






As it turned out, my brother was not a fan of being a mechanic, so I got all the fun to myself. I didn't mind though, and through a process of trial and error (lots of error, in fact) I eventually made the truck road-worthy. It didn't take a lot to get the truck running, even though it had sat for several years. A new starter and some ether was pretty much all it needed. It did however need a lot of body work. Cab corners, rocker panels, floor boards, fenders, hood, roof, body mounts, etc. all had to be repaired or replaced. I also patched the frame around the leaf spring brackets as the back half of the frame had some pretty serious rust. The flat bed that my father had built 30 years before was rusted heavily, and we opted to replace it rather than repair it. These repairs and many more took me about a year to complete before it was on the road. Lastly, we (or rather, Dad) painted it.




It's been four and a half years and that truck has been our only vehicle until 6 months ago, so babying it wasn't an option. We've hauled more loads of firewood and stone, gone on more hunting and fishing trips, and drove down more trails and tracks than I care to count. Along the way it's got a little banged up; but, man, doesn't that truck run like a champ.

I have always wanted to clean the truck up and baby it just a little bit more than we have. About a year ago I got a newer f250 which enables me to do just that. A month ago, I brought the old girl into the garage and tore into it. I've got it down to the bare frame and am making progress.





The truck was in good running condition when I brought it in the garage and was suprisingly smooth to drive.The motor had supposedly been rebuilt just a few thousand miles before we got it, and it runs like a champ. Not too much hp, but if you know how to drive it, it'll out-pull my dad's 5.3. I rebuilt the transmission two years ago and it works great. I've never done anything to the transfer case or the diffs other than change the gear oil and a couple seals, but they're in seemingly good condition. The truck currently has 31x10.50-R15s on it with the stock suspension.

My goal with this build is to clean and paint the chassis, after I address any issues like my crappy welds on the frame (in my defense,they were quite literally the very first welds that I ever made); lift it 2 inches, put 33's on it; address a host of body issues; insulate the interior better; install an air system (it already had air bags, but the air system wasn't complete); and literally dozens of other things. I also would like to re-gear to 4.11 and install an Eaton truetrac in the rear and perhaps a Detroit locker in the front, but that smells like $$$ and might have to wait a little. Finally, I want to paint it and make it look pretty.

I'll post more soon. Happy tinkering!

 

Great thread 👍 looking forward to your progress Subscribed !

 

Very nice and very good story thanks for sharing. Look forward watching the progress as well

 

I've been working on the truck pretty steadily, and have got the chassis painted.


I used Tamco Monocoat, which is a 1K coating that is designed for use over rust. I considered just using Rustoleum oil based paint with some enamel hardener, but I think I'm glad I went with the Monocoat. It goes a lot further than Rustoleum. It took about one and a third quarts to put two coats on the frame and axles and one coat on the brackets and cross-members. It seems to get good adhesion and is quite hard already, but time will tell.

I had noticed some time ago that my radius arms were wearing a little thin where the bushings go on their rear, so I did some welding on those.


After doing a bit of research, I bought a 2 inch lift kit from Superlift that included new coils and an add-a-leaf for the rear. I think I'm going to go with Bilstein B8 5125 shocks, but input is welcome. I also bought a complete bushing set with 4 degree radius arm bushings and am waiting on them before I can put the front axle back in.

I have done some research on what I want for tires, and have determined that I definitely want 33x10.5r15s and not 33x12.5r15s. But I am not fully decided on which tires. There's not a ton of selection in that size seemingly, but the BFG K02s seem to get good reviews. What do you guys like? I'm pretty sure I want ATs and not MTs and don't want them to be really loud.

Any input or advice is welcome! Thanks

 

Looking great. Keep it up. I’m knee deep in a frame off too so I understand the struggle but also the joy that comes with each successful step. I’d go with A/Ts, but that’s just me and I know that I will never have a real need for M/Ts. 99% of the time our truck will be on the street. It’s not worth the excessive wear on the tire and the noise to have a tire that’s more capable for the 15 minutes it will spend in the muck every year. It’s your truck though. You have to make that call.

 

Went down to the local tire shop today and picked up my tires. I got 33x10.5-R15 Kenda Klever RTs. They're between an AT and a MT as far as aggressiveness goes and were highly recommended by the shop. Got them mounted and installed this evening.


They seem be quite a lot bigger than the old 31s.
Can't wait to try them out!

 

Last week I got the motor, tranny, and t-case bolted onto the chassis. I'd been picking away at cleaning them and painting the motor (the paint on the transmission and transfer case was good - I used Rustoleum oil based when I rebuilt the NP435 a couple years ago). That crappy rattle can "engine enamel" was all coming off. I used oil based (this stuff was Krylon, gloss black), and added some enamel hardener. We'll see how that holds up.







I'm going to get a new valve cover as the old one is cratered pretty bad around the bolt holes. I know I could probably flatten them but I dun't wont to. I also discovered, by examining my spark plugs, that cylinder #2 has a leaky valve seal. Think I should replace them all, or if it ain't leaking don't fix it?

That's all for now!

 

Looking good, you do know how to pop out the NP-435 shifter to get it outa your way come cab back on time right? Just in case... and for other if reading. Make this custom tool.


NP435 = aluminum top cover w/8 bolts, T-18 = cast iron top cover w/6 bolts. Warranty Plate TRANS code: A = NP435 (N-1965 only) / F = Warner T-18 / P = F350 Warner T-19. Warner shift lever retainer cap (8MTH-7220) threads on/off.

NP435 shift lever retainer cap (B8T-7220-D) has two notches, is retained to shift tower by two pins.To remove this cap, it must be presseddownand helddownwhile turning it counter clock wise to remove it. Its spring loaded and twist locks into place.

Put the trans into 2nd, 4th, or reverse, take the board by the outer edges and pop it down a few times, then pop down and hold down on the outer edges and twist counter clock wise a 1/4 to 1/2 turn to unlock the cap.

 

I learned about that the first time I dropped the trans a couple years ago. Sometimes I'm able to do it by hand and other times it requires a tool. I have not used a piece of wood like that, and it seems like that would work better than what I usually use (a pair of pliers). Thanks

 

Just trying to make life easier. And good looking tire choice, please report how well you get along with them. I know it is going to be a while before you road test them, but at your working pace (gofastgo), I can see it in maybe 2 weeks to a month and you will be hammering the gas pedal. Lol

 

I noticed you removed all the cross members from the frame and bolted them back together. I assume for rust repair. Will that effect the frame rigidity at all you think? I know that frame isn't very rigid anyway. I had one stripped down recently and was amazed at how much it would twist. The factory rivets are surprisingly tight and strong. Good progress though. Looking nice. Let us know how those tires ride. Always looking for a reasonably priced tire with good grip and nice road manners. I went with a 33" set of Achilles Desert Hawk MT for my bronco. $600 delivered for a full set from amazon. They have 30k miles on them with plenty of tread left, but they are loud and literally unbalancable. Get what you pay for sometimes.

 

I hope so, but I'd be happy if I was driving it in two months!

 

Well you are rebuilding a truck almost one bolt at at time, hang in there.

 

Just here for the show, eating my popcorn. Lookin good so far!