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Just bought an '89 F-250 XLT Lariat 4x4 today. It's got a 460 with a 5 speed manual transmission. Body is pretty rusty, but fairly straight. I figure $550 for a running big-block manual trans truck was a worthy investment, even if it winds up just being a play toy for off-roading with. Surprisingly, it actually runs a lot better than my '85 F-150, and gets almost the same highway mileage... The fuel injection probably helps quite a bit with that.
I'm trying to find information as to which transmissions were available in this model truck, but the only things I've found were either a T-5 or a ZF.
It's got an almost granny gear first, but has an overdrive 5th. I usually start off in 2nd, but the 1st gear doesn't feel near as strong as some granny lows I've seen.
This thing has MASSIVE power, though... I don't think I've ever had a truck with that much kick to it before. Though, to be fair, I've never owned a big-block equipped vehicle before. This thing feels like it could pull my house down the road!
If anyone could help me figure out which one it is, I'd be very happy.
The door tag listing what's on my truck is almost completely gone, but from the shape of the transmission, I think it's the ZF. I've heard these are pretty good, and are fairly expensive to buy if you need one. Does anyone know how else to tell which transmission this is?
Wilde what kind of milaege you get? I know my trucks Gas mileage sucks, and i have the same kind of truck. But I wouldnt trade her for the World!
Well, my '85 gets roughly 11-13 (depending on driving conditions), but it needs a little fuel system and ignition work. The '89 actually gets almost the exact same mileage from what I've seen for myself, but part of that may be due to my driving style. I drive VERY conservatively, especially with manual transmissions, and I can squeeze an additional 3-5mpg out of a vehicle that way.
After I get a tune-up done on the '89, we'll see if it gets better.
Something I've noticed in vehicles I've rebuilt in the past, if you have a really strong engine (yes, even large ones) and it's kept in good running condition, and the rest of your driveline is kept maintained well, you can get good mileage mostly due to the fact that the extra power produced by the engine moves the weight of the vehicle easier.
My '72 K-5 Blazer had a 350 4-bolt that I built originally for my IROC-Z, and that was pushing near 400hp on mid grade fuel. I got almost 20mpg out of that old heavy 4x4 beast, mostly because I didn't have to give it much pedal to get it moving.
Granted, if you drive "fast and furious" you'll start watching your fuel mileage drop drastically in the larger/stronger engines, but as long as you keep your foot light you can get reasonable mpg out of anything. I've known people with 300-I6 engines and overdrive manual transmissions get 8mpg, just because they couldn't keep their foot out of the accelerator.
Could pass or pull anything but just not past a gas station. I recently traded it for a 92 f-350 dually with a 460 AT and us gear overdrive and with the overdrive off it is also 5:60 and runs 2500 rpm at 55 with the overdrive 1700 at 55 and on a drive today I could tell it was getting about 15 mpg