hi, i just got my license, and tommorrow i am picking up my 1976 f-250, i have a few questions that you may be able to answer for me, since the owner wasnt sure.

1. Gears? DANA 60 up front, 4-10.5 in the pumpkin?
2. Rear end in General, 10+ inch?

one of my main questions is i think i noticed that there is two g-tanks. one in the cab, as well as one mounted to the frame under the bed like normal.

Can you tell me how much each tank will hold, and if there is a switch to toggle between the two, or will one drain into the other where it will be pumped?

also, to increase room in my cab, to put..say.....speakerboxes or anthing in general, can i remove that tank?

THanks for all the help.

Mitch

 

Welcome to FTE. This site is awesome especially for new guys like us who are working one their pride and joy. I might be able to help some, but wait for the forum regulars to tell you like it is.

The easiest way to find out what axles and gearing you have is to check your vin number against the vin decoader on this forum. Heres the link http://www.medicine.wisc.edu/~mrm/bronco/ftvin.cgi
Your vin tag is on your drivers door. Write down the Complete vin number and also on the right hand side it will say AXLE. Should be 3 numbers/letters there. This will tell you what axle and gearing you have.
When you said you had a gas tank behind the rear seat and another in the rear of the bed the first thing I thought of is that someone along the line swapped beds with a truck from 77-79. I dont know if these trucks could come this way, but Im thinking no. My next question to you is are both tanks functional? Because it would make sense to swap the bed but not go through all the trouble to swap out things like the heater control panel and the dual tank solenoid. I would look under the truck about where the bed and cab meet and see if you see a solenoid with 3 tubes hooked to it mounted to the framerail. One to each tank and the other to the motor.
The rear is most probably 19gal US. I couldnt tell you on the one in the cab.
If this were my truck, Im sure I would be corrected, I would take out the in cab gas tank and use the rear. There is something unsettling about using 15+ gallons of gas as a backrest. Plus every truck Ive ridden in from 48 up has always had a faint smell of gas in the cab. Also, gas tank = no room behind seat for junk. I would say these 3 reasons are why Ford no longer has gas tanks behind the seat. These are just my opinions.
Hope this helps and please dont worry about asking a question that you might think is stupid. I have asked my share. Later

 

I just acquired a '77 F250, and have recently been driving my friend's '76 F250, both 2WD. Both trucks have dual tanks, one ahead of the rear axle, one behind. But neither has a tank inside the cab. Let's leave that trick to the old '69 Chevy half ton I used to own.

On the dash, with the heat & defrost controls, is another switch just like the fan switch but on the right side of the controls. It is marked "fuel" with "aux" up and "main" down. Mine seems to work OK, switching both tanks and gauge senders. "Main" is the rear tank on mine.

I hope this helps. I'm having fun using that VIN decoder. Someone put paint over the VIN plate on my door, and I don't find one on the dash (partly painted metal and partly slightly cracked vinyl, with one of those "carpet material" protectors over it. Good thing the letters are raised, and there's some info on the Chilton's manual I just bought, as to where on the plate the various codes are stamped.

I can see I have a lot to learn. My friend's F250 (not a camper special) says 8,000 GVWR on the door plate. Mine is a Camper Special, yet the door plate is marked 06800 in that area. I'd have expected a GVWR over 8,000 on a truck intended for camper use.

Good luck with your truck.

Hey, the VIN decoder says I have a 4.10 limited slip axle. That's a bonus!

Lane

 

My old 75 had the tank behind the seat, never had the gas smell isue, but the main reason for discontinuing the use of that setup was safety. As far as I am aware, they never had a second tank factory, as the frames were too narrow, that was the reason for the tank behind the seat. 2wd trucks had a wider frame, so they set up the dual tanks on them different than the Highboys. 78 the frames got widened out, and so they moved the fuel tank to the frame.

 

well, funny story.

i went to shucks lookin to get a set of valve cover gaskets. bought them for what i thought was in the truck(400) i went home, tore into the engine, the time came to put on the covers, and they didnt fit!

well, turns out that the last owner was a bonehead and it is really a 460.

i'm kind of excited, but now i cant drive it because it is leaking oil like a siv. I swear that if i drove 15 miles, i would lose half of my oil(no exaggeration)

what do you guys suggest i do, i'm pretty sure that the oil pan gasket is bad, so i think that is the problem.

it doesnt seem like the heads are leaking, so would you tell me some tell tale signs so that i can look to pinpoint my problem.

all the linkage, steering mechanisms and axle and differential are all caked with the typical oil dirt mixture, inlcuding the underside of the block, so i figured i'd buy that engine degreasing foam and clean everything and then start it to see where it is leaking from.

any help would be much appreciated, sorry for the long post

mitch

 

IMHO, go to your local auto parts store and buy a gallon of B52 degreaser. (about $10 here). This stuff works wonders for me. Coat it down good and pressure wash it off. Then it might not be a bad idea, since youre already buying gaskets, to buy a master gasket kit. These always have little gaskets that you cant buy seperately. I would deffinately change the oil pan and head gaskets. This should either solve the problem or atleast tell you where to look. Best of luck.

 

Oh heres one other stupid question, I will understand if I get a smarta** answer. There isnt a chance that the oil filter is loose. This happened to me once I thought I had blown the engine there was so much oil. Check that and the oil breather cap on top of the valve covers. It might be something as simple as that......hopefully

 

the problem with pressure washing is, that you force in water.

THe motor only has 11,000 miles on its rebuild, so i would imagine that the head gaskets are pretty good, but you never know.

I'm gonna try watchin for the leak first, before i get into more work than i can handle.

 

Well.... first..... when something changes for the worse, always start by asking "What was I doing to it recently?" I assume it was not leaking like a seive before you set out to change valvecover gaskets and had your "wrong gasket" misadventure. Do you really and truly have the CORRECT gaskets on it now?

Are the valvcovers straight? Are they torqued properly? I know that sounds silly, but some people overtighten and then tighten more when it leaks, and they end up with warped sheet metal valvecovers and smashed/cracked gaskets. The good news is, you can usually straighten those stamped steel valvecovers.

If oil appears to be coming from the pan area, did you work on anything there recently?

I'm going to have to defer to the true Ford Guys on this forum, when it comes to changing the pan gasket. I don't know if this is easy to do in place, or if it's a jack-up-the-engine show. I'd guess off the top of my head that most rigs will let you change the gasket, even if it isn't possible to remove the pan without lifting the engine. Of course, if you go that route, and drop something into the pan, you'll have to lift the engine anyway.

Have you nailed down the source of the severe oil leak? That can be a challenge when the whole engine is oily. Sometimes a degreaser, steam cleaner or pressure washer helps you get a clean start. And leaks can be deceptive and/or multiple. I thought the power steering pump on my recently acquired '77 F250 was really spewing fluid. It finally got bad enough I could see it coming from the pressure hose. I replaced the hose and breathed a sigh of relief -- then I saw the truck still making little puddles of red ATF under the left front. Turns out the pump reservoir does have a drip, just not as bad as the hose was. You didn't bump the oil pressure sending unit, did you?

Good luck finding and fixing your oil leak(s).

Lane

 

after i drove it home, i drained the oil and replaced the filter. also, it did have oil leaking out of then the pcv valve, but i bought a chrome breather valve and sealed that up just fine.

why i think that it is the oil pan, because all the the leaked oil is congregated well below the valve covers and heads. the oil pan may even be loose, it may not even need a new gasket.

i think this because when i checked the valve covers, the gaskets were okay, but to make them properly tight, i could have put another two turns with the ratchet. hopefully its like that.

i hope its just the oil pan, beacause with the way my manifolds are set up, i could drop the pan without touching anything else.

also, its been sitting for almost a year, so it needs a tune up so bad, it almost doesnt run. i'm going to take it in, and maybe they will notice the problem.

 

If the '76 is the same as my '79 ... I just had the oil pan off my '79 (351M, 2wd). I had to raise the engine off the mounts about 1 1/2" to get the pan off. Had to take off the starter motor to access two of the pan bolts, and had to removed the rad for clearance to slide the pan out. In all, not tooooo painful an operation.

 

i just bought it yestereday, and i started with changing the vlave cover gaskets because it was already leaking.

it's definitely engine oil, and nothing else seems to be leaking.

 

my buddy scott(74fordtruck) was under there, and it seems that we will be able to drop the pan as is. i will jsut drive it up on ramps to get it a little higher.

 

i noticed that solenoid last night, and found that the guy had bypassed it totally, and is just running off the rear(aux?) tank. i would hook both up, but i noticed that he is missing the hose that goes from the solenoid to the engine, but otherwise i believe it would work.

also, there may be a faint smell of gas, but my engine is running so bad, that the exhause smokes you out.

 

[Originally Posted by STGFordCrazy04]

I would take out the in cab gas tank and use the rear. There is something unsettling about using 15+ gallons of gas as a backrest.

I gotta agree with that. If you're after 2 tanks, 86 the in-cab tank and either mount a tank in the bed or carry several of those red plastic 5-gallon gas cans. Just be sure that you tie them down good before taking off.