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So I'm a VERY lucky girl, my dad gave me his 1994 Superduty. Hes the original owner, bought it for when he had a shed building company. Now 22 years later it only has 67,000 original miles and is mine for use on my farm.
He gave me a pretty good run down on the care and maintenance but I want to double check its ratings?
My new toy.
And the door sticker:
Right now it has a 16ft bed, he was originally going to cut two feet off so I could possibly tow my horse trailer/hay trailer with it...but that never happened, no biggie. I have a 2010 F-150 that tows those two trailers quite well for the most part.
My biggest question is, how much can the dump bed REALLY hold? When I lived in DC near my parents I would borrow the truck to get hay sometimes but I've never really known what my max is?
Also a few little questions that he told me to research (hes not good at googling....I googled some but couldnt find a STRAIGHT answer.)
1. Do I need to be using any type of additive for the fuel since all the gas stations now have the low sulfur diesel?
2. Favorite additive for the antifreeze? He said if I don't use the additive it will cause the engine to get holes basically....so want to make sure I use the best one!
3. The front tank doesn't read on the gas gauge, rear tank does, easy fix you think? I drove it 8 hours home and when I refilled I just reset the trip odometer and drove on the front tank for 130 miles or so then switched to rear.
4. As you can see in the pictures the metal sides are gone and he made the wooden sides. He never made a real back for it though because he planned on cutting off some of the bed...never happened...so when he gets gravel he's just been screwing a board to the back of the sides to give it a tailgate. I'm pretty sure I can make something pretty easily, just don't have the right size boards on hand right now...or is there a somewhat inexpensive side kit or something I can buy? I was just going to make more stakes and attach boards in kind of a [ shape to fill the gape between the sides and rear.
5. This question isn't as important because its not going to happen for quite awhile but while I'm asking questions...Is it possible to haul a gooseneck trailer with the dump bed? Can a hitch be installed? Or is it just a terrible terrible idea? I probably wont be upgrading my bumperpull trailer for at least 6-7 more years...more if I have to upgrade my truck first LOL! My little f-150 would never haul the horse trailer I want next ha!
#1: no you do not need to add anything to the fuel, there are enough additives in the ULSD sold ot properly lubricate the fuel system. if you want to add some diesel kleen or howes, it will not hurt it, but it is not required.
#2: a lot of us use NAPA-Kool Coolant System Treatment https://www.napaonline.com/p/FIL4056
you should also get some test strips and test the system once a year.
#3: if i remember correctly, the diesel sending unit is no longer available.
buy yours may be repairable if it is just a bad float.
#4: you can buy new steel or aluminum rack kits.
or you can make a wooden tailboard too.
i have aluminum racks on my flatbed dump, and made a set of short boards out of 2X4's in the pockets with 1X6 boards screwed into the 2X4's. i then used eye hook fasteners to hold the sides and tailboard tight.
#5: i would not use a fifth wheel hitch in a dump bed. i am sure there are people that have done it, but i would not.
you have an E4OD trans with 5.13 rear axle ratio in that beauty.
Thank you for answering my questions! The tranny actually is not stock, when it was at 30k miles or so my dad swapped it. I'm not sure if he put same model back in or upgraded it? Ever since he switched it, it shifts HARD. He's a pretty decent mechanic himself and his brother ran a very large truck shop and said nothing was "wrong" with it...it just shifts hard.
I figured the 5th wheel hitch would be a no no, but never hurts to ask! I'm sure my f-150 will be dead and ready for upgrading before I'm ready to upgrade my horse trailer anyways.
1. Do I need to be using any type of additive for the fuel since all the gas stations now have the low sulfur diesel?
Most run something ... I personally add 16oz of Lucas upper cylinder lubricant with injector cleaner and fuel conditioners at each fill up. (not top off)
Stanadyne lubricity formula is another popular additive.
Originally Posted by walkerdesigns
2. Favorite additive for the antifreeze? He said if I don't use the additive it will cause the engine to get holes basically....so want to make sure I use the best one!
YES ... Keep up on this!
Personally I use regular green coolant and Nalcool or NapaKool, they are the same thing.
You can buy test strips, Robinair 75134 Coolant Test Strips.
Many run the newer ELC coolants with additives ... Not my preference.
Originally Posted by walkerdesigns
3. The front tank doesn't read on the gas gauge, rear tank does, easy fix you think? I drove it 8 hours home and when I refilled I just reset the trip odometer and drove on the front tank for 130 miles or so then switched to rear.
Likely the sending unit.
Further testing required.
Yes it is a nice gift! I can't even count how many people have tried to buy this truck from him! He promised it to me when I got my own farm though and he no longer needed it. Its funny, my brother got his 2001 Pontiac Firehawk...and I got the Superduty...You'd think it would of been the other way around! He's said multiple times though he trusts me driving the truck way more then my brother LOL!
That truck weighs around 8-9k probably. I had a 93-f450 and it weiged 8k i believe. You can install a gooseneck hitch. What i would do is cut a hole in the floor and weld a gooseneck plate to the frame. wen you need the hitch flip the door open on the flat bed to reveal it. Ive stopped over 18k lbs plus my dump truck on just truck brakes. these f450 have front and back disc brakes with the hydroboost makes amazing stopping power
John is correct, a gooseneck hitch MUST be attached to the truck frame. Without getting into the geometry of the system, if attached to the dump bed, the more wt you pull the more it will tend to tilt the bed up and since most dump beds use single acting cyl's which cavatate easily there is only the wt of the bed to keep it down.
The only issue with mounting a gooseneck is that right where it should be welded to the frame, the hydraulic lift should be right there as well if it is a single cylinder under bed setup.
Its a f450 so it shouldnt have a cheesy scissor lift. My dumptruck had a trihoist in the front like a triaxle. Other f450 have two rams on the outside of the frame
I think you should be able to install a trailer hitch on this truck. From the picture it looks like the rear axle is close to the end of the frame. if the frame hangs over too fat, then the hitch swings too far causing a potential jack knife, or the trailer to push the truck while cornering. from this view, it looks fine. check your local hitch shop for axel center to hitch point requirements.
I'm wondering about just bolting it to the dump bed.
And then, just weld a couple of eyes to the front of the bed, and a couple next to them attached to the frame, such that you could just insert a big pin or two and just pin the bed in place.
This way you wouldn't need to worry about it moving unless you wanted it to(and removed the pin(s)).
"Right now it has a 16ft bed, he was originally going to cut two feet off so I could possibly tow my horse trailer/hay trailer with it...but that never happened, no biggie. I have a 2010 F-150 that tows those two trailers quite well for the most part."
I don't think you need to cut the frame down to pull your existing trailer.
If the hoist is not in the way, I'd go with the trap door method for the goose neck.
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