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The Acquisition
My wifes co worker owned this truck and had dumped a bunch of cash into repairing it over the past summer (Ill upload the documents so you can see the amount of work later in the thread) She had run into a good deal on a car that was much more suited to her needs. I heard that she was unable to store the truck and was considering scrapping it, I told her to get it to my house and I would take a look and if it was something simple, I would do what needed to be done to get her back on the road, when she showed up in the truck it would only hit 45 mph, was spitting trans fluid on my driveway and sounded like it had just driven to the moon and back in first gear with the pedal to the floor, but all in all it looked good, ran and somewhat drove, and has a slew of new parts. I asked her what her highest offer had been, added $50 to that and had the title in hand for $325.00 cold hard shiny new cash money bills. I just couldn't let a good Ford die, you know the sickness, you probably have it yourself.
The Inspection
The next day I found the tan interior to be extremely clean, the two tone paint is a color scheme I actually really like, and there was more rust on it than I had hoped, but not to far gone to be savable. I got underneath to see what all the fuss was about with the trans fluid river boiling lava flow, the tail shaft seal was leaking, pan was tightened down so hard the gasket was oozing out right along with the trans fluid, then...there it was...the crevice. In its freshly gleaming glory a nickel wide expanse crossed the tail housing of the auto trans...what to do? what to do?
The Disclaimer
Anyone who has seen my previous vehicles knows that I enjoy the "Adventure" style builds, also, they know that many of my projects get about halfway to my goals and I wind up selling/trading/bartering them to get something else. So the rest of you are now forewarned! I have a plan for this truck, but being that I work full time and am in college full time, this build may be slow and may never get completely finished, but I will share what I learn, give thanks to those who lend a hand, and buy beer for anyone who comes over and turns a wrench, that being said here it is....
The Plan
I want to build this truck so I can work out of it as a contractor (generator, chop saw, air compressor, ladders blah blah blah) but I also want to be able to take it into the back country and sustain 4 people on a week long trip. I want to keep the truck repairs and upgrades under 4k, including the purchase price. Ill keep a running tally as I purchase items. The first step is to get it on the road! After I get the baseline in place and fix some minor TLC issues I will start the upgrades. Truck Cap, wheels and tires, dual battery, water storage, sliding storage in the bed, removable bed rug on top of that, cargo basket on the cap, some lighting upgrades and additions, front reciever, winch with a mount to store it in the bed....thats the start! Onto the nitty gritty...
12-06-2015, 05:52 PM
