Hey guys, thought I'd start a thread and introduce you all to Emma, my '75 highboy
Since I'm fairly new to the forum and have been mostly a lurker I thought I'd also use this post to introduce myself. My name's Ben and I live in the the greatest part of the world, northwest Montana I'm 18 so I don't have a ton of experience nor extensive knowledge like most of the rest of you, but I know a fair bit and add to what I do know every day. I'll probably have quite a few questions in the future so bear with me if you will, I'll appreciate every scrap of info I can glean.

Anyways, back to what matters! I've had a couple old trucks already and fell in love with the oldies Then I got a Grand Cherokee and, though it was a nice rig, I never really felt happy driving it or "working" on it, too many computers and other such stuff. Sold the Jeep about a month ago and had been looking all over for an old truck/full size SUV, found quite a few that I almost got then last minute decided that they needed either too much work for what my skill level could accomplish or were just not quite the right thing for some reason or another. Anyways, got on Craigslist one day and saw an ad for a '75 Highboy over in Idaho, it looked in pretty decent shape and it my budget so after a few days of thinking about it I sent the owner an email and a few days later went and picked her up She's a little rougher than the pictures or PO made her out to be, but I kinda expected that. The 80 mile drive back home was a little white-knuckled most of the way and was quite fun enough in and of itself.



And now, the info you've all been waiting for! Some of this is what the PO said, some is what I've been able to confirm.

1975 Ford F-250 Highboy w/3" body lift on 33 BFG Mud Terrains, which I'm pretty certain are re-treads.
360 or 390 engine, VIN says it came with a 360 but the PO said it had a 390 put in at some point, I just haven't had the time to find out which one yet.
C6 tranny, NP-203 T-case, D44 front and D60 rear diffs.
Absolutely NO cancer rust that I can find anywhere! I've found a couple small place of mild surface rust but NOTHING major at all!

Problems and things to fix of the bat: Knocking/ticking from what sounds like either the number 2 or 3 valve set (I'm thinking maybe it's a lifter, could be wrong), very very rough idle when the tranny is in gear as well some other tranny issues, oil leak somewhere in the rear of the engine which I'm thinking might be a failed rear main seal, carb definitely needs a rebuild kit and tuned, everything cleaned, and some of the wiring is pretty much shot. There's more but that's pretty much all the major stuff at the moment.

I've change the engine oil/filter and the tranny fluid/filter & filter/pan gaskets, got the engine timed a little better and put a bit of carb cleaner through the carb to try and at least get it a little nicer.

And it also came with some extra goodies A Comp Cam (unknown specs so far), new lifters, new head gaskets and a couple new rear main seals, and numerous other assorted parts, bits & pieces.

Future hopes are many and mild to wild! Including: New paint, redo the interior, bedline the whole underside and bed, some nice new spot and floodlights and then...either keeping it a gasser (if I go this route, I'm considering going with a dual gas/propane conversion at some point) OR...putting in a Cummins 6BT somewhere down the road ..or maybe a 6.9 IDI

Anyways, sorry for the huge wall of text. Any thoughts on anything I said would be very welcome AS LONG AS they're constructive!! Please don't go right off and say something like "stay away from the Cummins swap!" or something! That will be a couple years away at least so I'll have time to make those decisions and make a good call when the time comes. Right now, any thoughts on the immediate problems i have would be greatly appreciated! Let me know what y'all think! For $2000, I'm pretty stoked!!

Here's some pics of her, I'll try and get some better ones up soon! A couple of these are just from the Craigslist ad

 

im jelly of your non rusty truck

 

That's a nice truck and IMO, a great price. I just bought a 75 F250 and I'm not going to say what I paid, but it was more. Lol

 

Looks like a nice solid foundation. Doesn't look like there is a body lift on there to me, but I could be wrong.

Whatever you do, prioritize. It doesn't matter if you have a nice shiny paint job if the truck doesn't run worth a damn.

Like Nortex, I paid more for mine and it's in worse shape but hey, you win some, you lose some.


-Jameson

 

Thanks guys!

Definitely going to get it running real good and stuff before I start on any of the body or anything.


***** - Haha, I was actually just browsing through your thread about a few days ago Looks like a pretty sweet rig. I remembered HIO Silvers post about how to find out if an FE is a 360 or 390 with the dowel but didn't remember where I had seen it, so thanks for reminding me!


Here's a pic of what I'm assuming is one of the spacers for the body lift




I'm also trying to find out some specifics on my axles, I've been over quite a few decoders and websites and can't seem to find the info to decode mine. Here's a pic of the rear and then of the front tags. I'm fairly certain they're a D60 and D44 respectively. If anyone could point me in the direction of a good place to decode them that would be awesome.
I'm not too concerned about the finer details about them but it's always nice to know everything about something you own

 

Yep, standard highboy axles. Dana 60 rear with 4.10 gears, Dana 44 front with 4.09 gears

 

"Stay away from the Cummins swap!" Sorry I had to just, cause you said no. lol

Nice truck I think you did ok, 360's are always 390's come sale day. The dowel rod trick will tell you quick.

Good start on the fluid and filter change, here is some more for tech for you.

BillaVista.com - Offroad & 4X4 Tech Articles by BillaVista

 

Thanks! Any idea if they would be full or semi floaters?

Haha, I knew someone would say that Now instead of just saying "don't", could you give me your reasons why I shouldn't? And thanks for the link, already started surfing around his site

 

nice score, buddy of mine back in high school had a 75, called her " wild cherry ". i noticed that you don't have an in cab fuel tank , pretty sure a 75 high boy would have that but i could be wrong .

 

Thanks! Your right about the fuel tank, it was an in-cab tank but at some point a previous owner installed an external tank, I'll try and get a pic up tomorrow.

 

Howdeee.... Nice highboy!

click on the Tech Thread Sticky's last update (the last one with TONS of links and go to the Dana 44 section (I'll rename it at the next update) for the link to Dana-Spicer axle link.. it'll be like the fourth of fifth from the bottom of their page.

Decode the axles' BOM (Bill of Materials) number.

Blacked out grills are OK but consider this to recover some of your 75's identity: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...technique.html

Here is an in-process visual comparison:
,

 

You wouldn't want that good of a motor and that much easily accessible power in such a good vehicle. That right is reserved for Dodges only. Stay with a much lesser motor like a an International IDI.

 

HIO - Thanks! I was actually just reading your thread about the grill recovery earlier today I'm definitely going to do that on mine! They look great compared to the all black IMO. And thanks for the axle info, good stuff

RedNeck - While I do appreciate the compliment, this is the kinda stuff I was trying to avoid, even if it's meant in good humor. Like I said in my OP, I'm not sure what I'll put in, either the Cummins or IDI, or maybe just keep the gasser, we'll see when the time comes.

I'd like to hear some more detailed information that I could use, i.e. is the IDI easier to swap vs. the Cummins, money to achieve a decent level of quality with either of the three, etc.

 

From what I have read, if you want to run turbo on the IDI there isn't much room to run the down pipe. I think that the IDI's valve covers interfere with the firewall unless you have a body lift (which you do so it doesn't matter). Cumminses tend to get better fuel economy.

 

I only quoted you, I never said don't. Lol Yes D60 rear is a full floater axle.

Why be common, a Dodge or Ford diesel swap in a old Ford is all the new rage. Mind you, I have NO issues with folks that undertake the endeavor.

How about a Caterpillar or a other odd, rare or non common swap. Dare to be different and go the furthest out on the limb.