There's a red 1989 f150 with 138k miles on it for sale for cheap near me. It is a 4x4 with the 300 and a 5 speed, and I am tossing around the idea of picking it up to cut down on the wear and tear my jeep sees, as I work at a party rental company and also do a lot of landscaping/yardwork, plus in the next year I will most likely have my 6 - 7k lb tractor running and would like to be able to take it to shows and use it to do some work. Is this likely to be something that would be a reliable truck for me to run on a semi regular basis, or something that I would be likely to regret two months later. At the moment, the truck probably will not see more that 31s and things like an intake and an exhaust if I do any modifications to it, though that is subject to change based on what I find on marketplace.

 

Welcome to FTE

Because it is red it is not reliable J/K

That is a hard question to answer as no one but the owner and maybe not even them know much about the truck like service records.
If motor oil was never changed then you may only get a block away before the motor let go. And that goes for other things that should of had service in its 138K miles.

Now the 300 six is a great motor and like any motor if serviced like it should will run a vary long time.
The M5OD 5sp is a pretty good transmission as it was also used in the 250 trucks and as long as it was not beat on it will last a long time just like anything else.
The motor has EFI run by a computer and with age the computer can start having issues with caps leaking and sensors going bad it is what it is and happens with anything old.

Some will say you dont want the six as it is slow and that is true but it was used in much larger trucks over the years so I would not worry about power. The 302 is not much better on power then the 300 six but dose it at a higher RPM so more wear & tear on a 302.

The only thing I can see that might not be good for you is the 6K to 7K tractor & trailer being pulled by a half ton truck as it is a little light in my book but I dont know how far toy will be dragging it 10 miles max on back roads or 100 miles on the highway? Then you say tires if 31" what is on it now and what gear ratios in the axles? I would guess maybe if lucky 3.73's and that M5OD dose not have a granny first gear so to get the load moving you would need to slip the clutch, wear it out faster, and I dont think you would be able to use 5th over drive when pulling that load.
If you pulled a lot of trailers, truck was set up with trailer brakes, law is anything over 3K has to have brakes, and a weight distribution hitch it may do it just slowly,

I say all this as I have a 81 F100 flare side 4x2 with a 300 six, NP435 granny 4sp to get a heavy load moving, Advance Adapter Range Splitter over drive where I can split all gears making my 4sp a 8sp transmission and 2.75 rear gears and 235 / 75 / 15 tires. Truck was setup, trailer brakes, to be back up to pull my 20' open deck car trailer of about 5K.
I have not pulled car trailer but have pulled the car clubs 20' enclosed trailer and I only pull it back roads, farthest out was 50 miles 1 way but most is 20 miles round trip.
If not for the granny gear and able to split gears it would kill my truck and no way I could use over drive as max speed is 55 MPH on the roads I travel and that is 1800 RPM.
Would it be better with 3.73 gears, why yes it would but I dont go far and pulling and like the gearing when empty so not going to change it.

If priced right get it and use it for a bit to get a feel and if it dose not work out sell it and get a 250 as I think that is a much better truck to pull what you plan to pull.
Goodluck
Dave ----

 

This is what I pull on weekends

Dave ---

 

I don't see myself ever towing the tractor more than 20 or 30 minutes from my house, at more than 55mph, a more common load for it to potentially tow is a single axle utility trailer with thingns like tents and tables and chairs, or a bounce house or two, probably no more than 1500lbs. Unfortuantely I don't know what gears are in it right now, but i'm not opposed to trying to do a gear swap on it, this i'd be less scared to try it on than my JKU that the bank still owns most of. This wouldn't be my daily, and so if I had to spend a week doing some maintinence on it it would be fine, and I've considered the idea of carburator swapping it to remove the efi problem.

This is the tractor in question, this was before I got it and started working towards fixing it.

 

This is the truck in question by the way

 

Here's the weight capacity chart from the '88 owners manual. Ignore the green dot. That's my truck. My '88 F-150, 5.0, 5 speed, 4 WD, weighs 4660 with me, fuel and a in bed tool box, so I can tow around 3200 lbs.

 

Here's my build thread if you get bored. Build thread of my '88 F150 - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...y-88-f150.html

 

The trailer would have to be pretty HD to haul that tractor that adds to the total weight being pulled.
For sure brakes on both axles and controller in the truck and WD hitch to make it happen.

Not know the gear ratio is hard but I would not go with big tires for a few reasons.
It raises the gear ration so you would need to go even lower (higher in number) to cancel the tires.
Big tires also add weight and makes it harder to stop the truck all by its self, you dont want that pulling a trailer.
They also add to wear and tear on the truck to the brakes said above & wheel bearing , steering like rod ends and ball joints and can make the truck wonder when driving.
Mine wonders and everything is new up front when I rebuilt the truck as a cab off frame rebuild 6 years ago and everything is with in spec.
I am not a fan of larger tires and lifts if the truck will be used to pull a trailer with any kind of weight. Truck was not built & speced to do that just call me Mr. safety LOL

Maybe itis because I have always "over trucked" what ever I was pulling? I used a 76 E350 van, 460 C6 auto, to pull a 2 car open deck trailer with off road racing Jeeps all over New England and some of the hills it slowed down a lot.
Maybe what you are thinking if you had a HD hitch and sway control I would feel better?
I know I would with the above set up but the V nose on the trailer I cant add the brackets for the weight bars so it dose sway a little but pulling trailers since the late 70's I know my limits.

There is a trailer towing forum up on the main page and can ask the same question and see what they have to say.
They may want to know the GVWR and gears so tell you dont have that info and see what they say.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum286/
Dave ----

 

If I had a choice, this wouldn't be what I'd use for towing it, but my budget is limited and I need something I can more easily navigate city traffic with and I'm rather picky on the specs for how I want the truck set up and this is the first one i've found in my budget that fits the main requirement I have.

 

Structurally that cab is toast. The bottom rockers are gone which will mean the the front cab mounts are probably gone and the radiator core support will no doubt be toast also. Probably make a good parts truck though.

I had a 89 F150 2wd that one time I pulled my 66 Caprice on a car trailer 80 miles. I know the car weighed 4765lbs + probably 1800 for the car trailer. While my truck had the 302/AOD with 3:55 gears, I was living life at 4000 rpm on any hill while trying to maintain 55 mph. It was just too much for the truck.

Try to find a F250 in the same vintage and it would probably better suit your intended use.

 

That cab is pretty much toast. Looks like the cab to bed gap is wider at the top,, and that leads me to think the cab mounts are all gone. Id pass. I think your concept is good... but look for a better truck.

 

Do a forum search for, "carb swap" and you will find plenty of people thinking a carburetor is more reliable than EFI on these trucks. The general response is, "No."

The stock EFI is very reliable, and easy to learn the basics on how it works.