Just thought I'd take the time to finally say hello.
I've been reading the posts on this forum for many months now, and have learned quite a bit of very useful 6.9 info. ( EX: I had no idea there was a CDR valve. Now mine has been serviced!)
Anyhow...I drive a truck locally for my small business,mostly moving cars/equiptment/etc. around on my big GMC rollback.
Late last summer I was told of an older F-350 (an '86) that had been stored high and dry, inside a barn since 1988.
When I had a good look at it, I was very interested.
It's an old "Hot Shot Express" (remember them?) truck. F350, 6.9 diesel, 4 speed manual, 3 speed aux trans (12 forward speeds!) 2 50 gal saddle tanks, a BIG 5th wheel hitch, AND....a SLEEPER! Best of all it only had 12,000 actual miles on it. The story goes that it turned up at a PA auto auction back in early 1988 with a bad engine,(I'm told Ford offered NO warranty for commercial use back then,especially if it was heavily modified like this one was/is) and was bought by the PO with the intention of fixing it and using it. Well the PO got it home to my area, NE Ohio, and took the engine apart. The engine had dropped a valve,destroying the piston,scoring the cyl wall,and hammering the head,so....that's where he stopped. In 1988!
The truck is in incredibly great shape,and since buying it (for $500 !!!) I've pretty much gone through everything on it: Brakes, clutch, axle seals, etc etc etc. Best of all, I managed to find an old E350 van with a 60k mile 6.9 in it. I drove it home and installed that engine in the truck. This is where this site really came in to play as a handy reference. You guys are a great resource for info on these engines/trucks, and I thank you!
I'll soon be putting the truck into service. I'm just getting ready to respray the body, and complete the re-do of the used 2 car 5th wheel trailer I purchased to use with it.
This rig should make a great addition to my business. I'll try to post some pics once it's painted.
Keep the good info comming!
PS..I'm no stranger to diesels....it's just that this is my first trip to 6.9/7.3 world. Question: If I treat it right with proper maintenence, ballpark,how many highway miles can I expect out of a stock 6.9 before a rebuild is necessary?
Thanks in advance! Hammermechanic

 

Welcome .... depending on whether or not you intend to turbo that engine, you should consider new head gaskets and head studs for turbo....... As for mileage that depends on the head gaskets........250K or better with proper updates.

 

Hammermechanic,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI forum.

Man what a find is all I can say other than you also stole the truck buying it for 500 dollars.

I would say you should be good for over 300,000 miles.
I work mine very hard, it made 300K before it liked oil more than fuel.
Still ran great, but high speed driving on the interstate it sucked down about a gallon of oil every 150 miles.

 

Hot shot express? Never heard of them. Could some one please elaborate, sounds very interesting.

And yes, great find!

 

Thanks all. I think I'm going to like it here.
Hot Shot was a generic term for trucks like this.
Mine happened to be an actual Hot Shot Express truck,which is where the term came from.(the stickers are faded, but the logo and ICC numbers are still visible).
Hot Shots were 1 ton duallys,usually Fords, highly modified with aux trannies, extra big fuel tanks, sleepers, 5th wheel horseshoes,lots of extra gages,electric lift pumps,CBs, etc etc etc, that usually pulled 40' open trailers loaded with light, but bulky materials, such as those big rolls of corrugated black drain pipe, hard plastic pipe, insulation board,and even the occasional closed trailer hauling potato chips, etc nationwide.
You used to see these trucks everywhere in the late 80's to mid 90's, then they just seemed to disappear, and I have no idea why. Seems like a really good idea, especially at todays fuel prices.
Just today out on I-76 I saw a full size tractor trailer hauling a load of rolled black plastic corrugated pipe and thought, Why? That load weighs nothing. It's like swatting flys with a sledgehammer!
Anyhow, thanks for the kind words!

 

Holly crap! Did that all come from factory??? Could you please post some pictures of that beast, it sounds like a real monster.

 

They are still out there.
One of my neighbors has 6 or 7 350, 450 and 550 trucks pulling 40 foot flatbeds and drop decks.

The coal mines, the power plants and some of the factorys around here pay big money to get machine parts picked up and back to town in a big hurry if they are shut down because of a breakdown.

One of the coal company conveyers burnt the electric motor a while back.
They were offering 700 dollars for someone to run down to Kentucky and bring back a 3000 pound replacement motor.

The trip down and back would have taken 12 hours driving time.

I almost went for 58 dollars an hour.

Another big hot shot item I see on the interstate a lot is fiberglass swiming pool liners.

Great big, wide, tall and long but very little weight.

But don't kid yourself about how much plastic pipe weighs.
It takes two very healthy guys to pick up one joint of 6" C900 water pipe.
And then they will not carry it very far on flat ground.

 

Ok...I just got home and saw the new replies, so I grabbed the camera and shot a few pix. Hopefully I can post them here! I'm going to try,so here goes:












Notice the 2 gearshifters? stock 4 speed plus aux 3 speed behind it.
All those xtra gages are:Oil pressure, oil temp,vacuum and water temp.
I changed the doors as they were dented from people whacking the mirrors as they came and went from the barn on various equiptment! They were stuck shut as well with a combo of 19 years of bees nests and cobwebs,which held moisture,causing the door edges and bottoms to rust.
Hood (and hinges) had to be changed as well as the hinges decided to quit working years ago, resulting in ME bending the hood while trying to close it!
As you can see I've begun to sand and prime the few remaining dents and paint chips, in prep for paint. Whole truck is going to be "easy to keep clean" white.
She's "turnkey", just needs paint, plates and insurance.
2 car Trailer is nearing completion as well. I just rewired and re-decked it on the last few weekends.

BTW....I had to build the little flatbed around the 5th wheel horseshoe, to restore "cargo carrying capacity" to the truck. Seems that if the "power unit" has no cargo carrying capacity it's a Tractor, not a Truck. Why does this matter, you may ask? Well, I have a copy of the ICC and DOT regs here. It seems that you must carry a mandatory $1 Million dollars liability insurance to drive a Tractor/Trailer without regard to it's GVW, and hold a CDL as well ( I already have one,thanks). But, if the power unit is capable of carrying cargo, it's a Truck and Trailer,which anyone can drive! Hence the little flatbed. (Aw heck,it'll come in handy anyhow)

So.......What do you think of my truck? Any questions? All for now, Bye!

 

I would be interested in the name on the auxilliary tranny and a pic of it if you could.

Nice rig.

I do think you need to raise the bed floor up though, that is to close to the tires I think.

Wonder why you do not have AC vents where the extra gauges are mounted?
I thought all XLT versions had the vents there.

 

I new a guy in the mid to late 90's that had a "hot shot express" service, although not that name. he had a 3500 dodge diesel with a 30-40 foot trailer. He would carry anything, anywhere, on a last minute notice for a price, that would fit on his trailer. Put over 200k miles a year on his truck. After 2 years, bought a new dodge, gave the 2 year old one with 400k on it to his son.

 

I once considered buying a 1986 diesel f250 that was an XLT lariat, the only real options it had were cloth seat, and cruise control, that one had no A/C either to my suprise. Its too bad the vents are in the way with an A/C equipped truck, that is a very handy place for auxilliary gauges.


Hammermechanic, nice truck. Does the second trans have a direct ratio top gear?

 

Yes, the bed may be a little too close to the tires. Right now, with the trailer's tounge weight pressing down on it I only have 5" clearance. My answer will be to cut out an area, say 12"x20" or so above each set of tires and add little "fabbed from sheet metal" wheel arches over the hole. As the lumber is 1-1/2" thick,(that'll give me 6-1/2" instantly) I wouldn't need much of a sheet metal arch at all to gain what I need,if any.
No A/C vents because it doesn't have A/C. The XLT center trim was installed by me as, whoever decided to help themselves to the radio that was in the truck were, shall we say, less that kind to the old radio surround!
Fairly certain that the aux trans is 1:1 in high gear. It's probably all "underdrive".I haven't been on the road with it yet,not even for a "shakedown" run.
I haven't checked to see what ratio my R&P are yet, although I'm predicting it's been swapped to a numerically lower ratio, as someone has had the cover off many moons ago, evidenced by traces of Orange Permatex oozing slightly around the edges. As it's been off the road since '88,I'm guessing the cover was off for a gear swap when all the Hot Shot gear was installed.
It would only make sense to do so, no?
IIRC the aux trans is a Spicer unit (there is an ID tag w/ model & serial #s) I'll have a good look and report my findings here.
On day one of my ownership I checked the fluid level in it, cleaning up the tag at that time. It's the real deal. There is about 18"-24" of driveshaft between it and the output of the 4 speed. U joint input and output. Mounting bosses cast into both sides of the case that have 2 vertical bolts on each that attach it to the rear most frame crossmember under the sleeper.
I'll try to get some pix of it to post.
All for now, gotta roll!