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Today I took my 86 F250 4x4 into the shop to have a leaking axle seal replaced and the brakes done since one side was soaked in synthetic oil. So I hung around to see if there was a problem with the seal or what. Well, The mechanic had the hubs off. I got to looking at the shoes. What I saw was that someone had installed the primary shoes both of them on one side, and on the other were the secondary shoes. That's bad enough but here is the kicker. I have owned this truck for 10 years. I have never messed with the brakes. I had a axle seal replaced about 4 years ago. I have adjusted them a couple of times. The shop that found the seal leaking 4 years ago never noticed the shoes. So for 10 years I have been driving it that way. I have seen some stuff with brakes but never that. I'm feeling much better after getting the brakes squared away. Grateful I never had a major problem.
It's amazing what can slip past your eyes if you don't really look for it. My dad just had his 95 F-150 in the shop because of a coolant leak near the back of the block. We looked all over the 351 to try to find where the hell the leak was but with no luck.
It turns out it was a broken head bolt from the factory. Now my dad doesn't jump on his truck and when he bought it in 96, it had 5000+ miles on it. 11 years later it only has 56,000+ miles on it. The engine hasn't even had time to get dirty yet, but somehow we missed where the coolant was leaking from.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.