My son has found a truck that he wants to buy. I have a 2000 PSD and he likes the OBS trucks with the two tone paint scheme like y'all have. I have always liked them too so I guess its inherited.

Its been a long time since i have seen one and we are going to look at it this evening.

Its a 95 207k with the ZF5. Cosmetically, no real issues. The owner said it has 2 tanks. He also said it runs fine on front tank but will no go over 50 on rear tank. I am assuming tank screen?

Can someone help me remember the differences as far as the fuel system between yours and mine? I looked through you FAQ for any information.

I appreciate in advance any help. Any suggestions on what to look for will always be appreciated as well. I know the motors like mine with my eyes closed but its been a while for the others.

Also, will AE connect to your trucks?

 

OBS has a mechanical fuel pump in the valley, driven by an extra lobe on the camshaft. Also a mechanical vacuum pump and vac boost brakes. Simpler electronics in other respects (no GEM, no air heater, etc). AE will connect to it, provided you have the "Ford Enhanced" activation. They all have dual tanks. A common problem is that the strainer in the tank (aka showerhead) breaks or falls off, and the truck starves when that tank is below about 1/4. It could also have sucked a bit of broken-off strainer into that line between the tank and the selector valve, thus the fuel starvation. ZF5 has no cooler/pump. The electronics on a ZF5-equipped truck are about as simple as they come.

Alas, we don't _all_ have two-tones. They're very hard to come by in these parts; we had to settle for one dark blue truck and one dark green.

If he buys it, tell your son not to be a stranger around here; lots of good info/ideas to share.

 

My 2000 has dropped the showerhead foot off of it recently. I am waiting on it to cool off to drop the tank and repair it. In the meantime, i just keep it over half. I stay gone in a company truck so i do not drive mine a lot so its not hard. I have mentioned that to my son several times but he really wants his own.

I forgot about the Vaccum pump. I used to drive a 93 IDI that had that in a service truck.

Do they have steel tanks and if so, is there a problem with delamination like some of the Cabnchassis models of the next generation?

This truck is supposed to have come from Central FL to Middle GA. It was apparently owned by a mechanic that did a lot of the mods discussed in these forums. The original owner told him about the rear tank but he has never had a need to fix it. The guy that has it now was unfamiliar with any it but has a stack of papers to look through when we get there. He wants a 4x4 instead of the 4x2. Insurance on my son will be bad enough but worse if he buys a 4x4. We have a small piece of land with a lot of towing to do so another truck will help out a lot when have to do it.

This one is a tan and white two tone. It has a little fade in the pics on the door and extended cab but not bad. Easily Fixable. The price is less than NADA to account for that. Both the previous owner and the current owner were 50+. It looks like it has had very good care. No cracks to dash. No Interior damage. No real damage at all other than the fade in that one section.

Of course, that is all from the pictures. The guy seemed to want to try and tell everything to know.

The one my son took me too yesterday was not one to look at. I was done looking at it when I realized the spring clips on the stock air box were broken off and the lid was just sitting there bouncing around. It was an 03 with several other red flags but the price was right. I told him when we got in my truck that was not going to be a reliable truck for him. It would not even crank.

 

Some of the automatic trucks had plastic front tanks; that ZF5-er should have two steel tanks. Couldn't tell you about the delamination. We have ours painted. If the truck is staying in the south, you might be just fine.

 

I've seen tanks get holes in them in the south from corrosion. No big deal, they're both easy to replace assuming their empty (A hole would do that for you).

Not a whole lot to know. Compared to your superduty it's a smaller turbo, smaller injectors, mechanic lift fuel pump, 15 degree HPOP vs a 17 Degree on yours, valley of the engine has less meat in it, drums in the back instead of disc... That's really about it

It'd be a decent truck. I wouldn't imagine insurance for a kid on an old 4x4 would be that much? $75 a month for minimum coverage?

 

- The Superduties have a solid front axle in the 250 whereas the OBS 250s have a TTB-50 front end in them.

- The OBS trucks also don't have intercoolers; the SD's do.

- The OBS trucks have forged connecting rods, the SDs have powdered metal. (although i think the 99, 00 and some 01s have the forged rods.)

- The OBS trucks have windows.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...d-engines.html

 

 

I do not know what i did to make it post the pic twice.

So he bought the truck. I think maybe someone here may have owned it previously to the the current guy.

I found a DMV receipt for a man named Bryan from Gainesville FL that had it before this guy.

It has riffraff plenum boots on it, 4" muffler delete pipe ( the drone got to me), boost gauge, aluminum diff cover. It had a banks power sticker on it but I cannot tell yet what could be different. Half a turn and it fires right off. I am still looking it over so I am sure there is more.

Overall, pretty solid truck. One rust spot on the very bottom middle part of the extended cab on the passenger side. It feels like some extra play in the steering but it does not seem to be in the draglinks/tie rod ends. It needs batteries (won't crank on the third time of stalling it). Some paint fade to the stripe down the side. Center caps are missing off of wheels. Price was right though i think.

It has more get up and go than my SD. I think it has 4.10 gears. It seems to max out at around 14-15 on boost gauge. The gauge is mounted really low so hard to watch it and drive. Fuel mileage seems fairly decent- i filled up front tank, drove 150 miles playing with it some, and it still had 5/8 of a tank. We did not get home until 1 am Sunday morning from getting it. AT my age, that feels like a hangover.

If anybody knows who this may have belonged too, i would love to get some more info on it. Its a terrible pic. i think my phone clouded over when i went outside from a/c. That is the side with the small hole. The other side is better.

 

Looks like a good find. The drone sound might be the downpipe hitting the cab. The fuel gauge tells you zero about the fuel economy; you have to measure actual gallons used to refill. Steering play could be the shaft and/or the rag joint.

Cab rust is often from the inside. The fixed glass quarter windows are a unit part (glass + frame), with studs built into the frame, and the nuts are just 22 INCH-pounds. Nuts work loose over the years, rain gets in, drains down between the cab walls and rusts the bottom edge. The nuts were finger-loose on ours when we checked them, and a hose test showed water coming in. We re-torqued them with loctite, re-did the hose test and no more water.