Allow me to introduce the "Guacamole Express," a 1974 F-350 camper special (460 AT) truck I bought from my step son who was in a little over his head on the time, effort and expense of maintaining an older vehicle. It's in pretty solid condition, complete, and mostly original. Immediate plans for the truck are to make it a reliable driver. When I retire, I may consider a complete restoration. We'll see how it treats me. I don't really have much time for it because I am in the middle of another project car, but I will get it running well and safe before moving it out to my retirement property where my shop is nearing completion. Then I can work on it on the weekends I'm out there and finish my other project when I'm at home. So far, I've changed the plugs, plug wires, coil, replaced a leaking brake line, replaced the master cylinder, bled (obviously) the whole system, and replaced the turn signal switch in the steering column. I'll apologize in advance that 90% of my experience is with GM products and this is the first Ford I've ever owned so I still learning some of Ford's way of doing things, although mostly it's been pretty straightforward. Next up is to set timing, oil change, carb tune, and run down a grounding issue in the turn signals. Then it should pass inspection and run well. The calipers and wheel cylinders are in need of a rebuild, which I am dreading on the rear wheels.

So here's my first questions.
1. when I got the truck, all four corner lights would flash when you turned the turn signal (either direction). I traced the problem back to the switch in the steering column, which I replaced. It worked...sort of. When the right signal is on everything works normally, but when the left signal comes on the right rear light blinks too, but slightly dimmer. Is this a grounding issue in the right rear tail light?
2. None of the lug nuts or studs are rusty, but I needed my impact wrench to spin most of them off. Very few would spin by hand. I wire-brushed the studs, and gave the lug nuts a bath in PB blaster, which did nothing to make them easier going back on. None appeared to have been cross threaded and I could spin them on by hand for a couple of turn when replacing, but that was it. I needed the impact wrench to get them back on and used a torque wrench for the final tightening. None of the threads looked to be in bad shape. Is this normal on these large lug nuts?

 

I missed seeing this when posted. Nice SCS.
Lug nuts on mine are same way. Resist the entire way like interference threaded. Never been a problem other than the one side of road flat tire change with the factory wrench. Problem being stamina and patience.
Notice you do not have SCS emblems. 74 should have had the right below the F350 fender emblem. Mines a 77 so I don't get to officially call it a SCS but I still do.






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The rear brakes should be drums. They aren't so difficult. Assuming they are currently correct, make notes, sketches and make photos before you disassemble. If you put it back correctly it will work well.

I've got a 1976 F-250. On mine the lug nuts go on with just my fingers until they get to the wheel. Then I use a four way lug wrench to complete the job. Perhaps you need a thread chaser or run a tap in those lug nuts (or get a set of new ones). While some don't agree, I've always used a bit of lubricant on the lugs. I don't use an impact wrench. Unless they are set properly they often over-tighten.

 

Thanks for the thread bump. Eight months of silence on an introduction thread with zero replies will make a guy wonder if he belongs here. Haha. Every forum has it's own dynamic, I suppose.

I aspire to resurrect my SCS to the level of yours. It's had years of neglect but generally seems solid. Now it's time to make it completely reliable and safe so I can drive it with confidence. I'd like to paint it (original colors) but everybody tells me the "patina" is cool. To me, "patina" is Italian for "Looks like $#!^."

Do you know where, or if, the original badging and hood trim is available? The holes are there, so I knew it should be there.

Yes, drums in back. I've worked on plenty of drum brakes so I'm confident I can get them back together properly. By my reading of the service manual, the axles and bearings need to come out to pull the drums. I will do that, but I have a bad case of "while I'm doing this, I might as well do....." So at a minimum it will involve changing the diffy oil and cover gasket, and probably new bearings too. I've bled the entire brake system and judging by what first came out of the rear wheel cylinders, redoing the brakes is a priority. As of now they aren't leaking and the brakes work good without any noticeable left-to-right or front-to-rear bias, other then the normal rear brakes locking first in an empty bed. They locked at the same time, so I've got that going for me.

As for the lug nuts, you're probably right, I need to run a tap through the nuts and maybe a die over the lugs. I only used the impact wrench to get them far enough down on the lug so I didn't have a heart attack putting them on. I could spin them for the first few threads so I'm certain they aren't cross-threaded. The final tightening was done with a torque wrench. Cleaning them with PB Blaster and a small, round wire brush didn't seem to help.

Thanks for the help and input guys. Cheers.

 

On the rear brakes you will need the right socket for the axle nut. 2 1/16 if I remember right. If you do bearings and races double check the inner bearing race matches the old one. There is one for a different application that is slightly wider.
I happen to have two NOS Super Camper Special emblems. Not ready to let them go yet but there are others on ebay and such. Think maybe even a reproduction one somewhere.
Sorry for the late welcome. I try not to miss any SCS action here,

 

Good tips. Thanks. If you ever decide to sell emblems, let me know. I'm in no hurry to be messing with cosmetics when I have so much mechanical work to do.

 

I've had the pleasure of wrenching on several Dentside F-250's and I don't think the lug nuts were difficult to thread. Better double check somebody didn't put metric nuts on. Nice truck and color btw.