You know those little annoying things that we just learn to live with? Something that really isn't expensive or time consuming, but we just ignore them.

I'll start.....

Door pins. Drives me nuts when the FIRST thing you experience with your truck is opening the door and it drops an inch. Simple and cheap fix that just makes things feel more solid.

 

Rattles. Tighten and/or replace screws/bolts/fasteners

Broken plastic that you can mend with lots of epoxy metal reinforcement glued behind it.

Its not for everybody, but cleaning under the hood in stages. Lots like to go all out with steam cleaning, but I try & do a lot of wiping down by hand with rags in each area I work on with each separate job. Makes later work easier. Take some thing out, clean it good.

 

But door pins aren't really an issue on these Fords. Sure they wear out, not nearly as bad/quickly as Chevies but they do. However unlike Chevies our door hinges are adjustable, loosening 6 bolts and lifting the door is a simple and FREE fix.

 

Also, the door striker bolt bushings. These make your doors seal muuuuch better when replaced and make the cab significantly quieter at highway speeds.

Also, go around your interior and tighten all the little black screws that hold the interior plastics together. You'll be surprised how many little creeks and rattles just disapear and it literally takes 30 seconds with a screwdriver. Wanted to kick myself for not doing this when I bought the truck. It eliminated 80% of my interior noises.

Also, Shocks. It cannot be understated just how cheap stock shocks for OBS trucks are, and if they're original forget it. There was a sale at Auotzone, picked up a set of 4 Rancho 5000 shocks for $120. TRANSFORMED the truck.

That's just off the top of my head. Gimme a bit I'll think of more...

 

Rebuilt the brakes and Emergency brake cable (5 speed). New calipers, front hoses, premium pads, new spring kit in the rear and shoes. Flushed the fluid while I was in there.

New E brake lines from LMC and everything worked as new and braking power was SOOOOO much better.

Brake components for these trucks are cheap, new hoses make a big difference over the 25 year old crusty ones. Well worth the effort. Such an easy thing to do to make our trucks more enjoyable to drive.

 

I've been trying to ignore the 2 cracks in my drivers side door panel. But after 6 years, I'm starting to get tired of looking at them. Maybe I'll get a new door panel soon

And I put in a new power point a few months after I bought it, since the PO decided to take it out for some reason.

The ashtray would never stay shut, it slid open anytime I hit a bump. So for two years I put up with it and just closed it every time it slid open. Until I finally picked a perfect one out at a junkyard for $2

 

Over time, my 96' had lost rear brake power. It happened so slowly I didn't realize how bad it was. I had a couple dreams where I would be attempting to stop the truck and couldn't! Anyway, I replaced rear wheel cylinders, rear lines, drums, shoes, and all drum springs. The front end got new calipers & pads. It felt like a sports car in terms of braking compared to the leaky cylinders that I pulled off. That was around $120 of parts and I completely agree it made a huge difference. No more bad dreams either, lol.

 

I had the same problem only I just took a screw and a big washer and screwed the ashtray shut.

 

New whether stripping for the doors and resealed the firewall to cab joint. No more leaks.

 

I had the same thing. It drove me nuts! That rattling ashtray haunted my dreams My junkyard piece cost $11 after a bit of haggling. Not as good a deal as you but worth every penny

 

Shocks were a quality investment, also the passenger side dashboard bracket that is plastic frequently shears. This results in that big clatter over bumps as one side of the dashboard is unsupported. It also puts extra load on the other mounting points and you can end up with a lot of small cracks in your dashboard at the windshield edge mounting screw. The fix was ford issued and is a little steel bracket that gets riveted in. Bronco Graveyard had the brackets when I did the fix, but you could probably make your own as well.

 

Mine was broke too.
Nothing two, three inch self tapping screws can't fix. 😁

 

On my 95 Dually crew cab I had to replace every door pin on the truck eventually. Other than that I loved that old work horse !

 

Assuming nothing is currently broken, fix the interior rattles, adjust the sector shaft depth on the steering box and throw all the front end wear parts at if if you have the time and $.

 

One of the most satisfying thing I have found is noise reduction

Lowes peal n Seal used like dynamat

Surgical tubing put inside factory door weather strips

New belt line moulding and wind felt guides