Allright, so this weekend I finally got my truck legal so I did some out and abouting in it. I noticed that when I'm doing about 70 on the highway every once in a while the roof will "pop". It's a noise that sounds like someone is shaking a cookie sheet.

Does this happen to anyone else? I know there's a dent in my roof on the drivers side that may be the root of the issue, but i was just seeing if this is fairly normal on these trucks or not.

Justin

 

yea it happens to me to.there was once an antenna up there,plus i found my 2 year old up there once.mine has a big dent up there. have to figure out how to remove it

 

At one time, someone dented the roof just enough to make it do that and then it probably popped right back into place so you may not even notice it. There is a cross brace up there right where your dome light is that is supposed to be up against the roof sheet metal. When it got dented in temporarily, the brace separated and now the roof can flex. Mine did that. You basically have to remove the headliner and then put in a spacer of some sort to fill in that gap so the brace is pushing on the roof again.I think I used some foam sound deadening material if I recall but I am not sure. I was replacing the fabric on my headliner and removing it is a royal Pain so not sure it is worth it unless you are going up there for something anyway. If wasn't replacing my headliner, i probably would have just lived with it.

I don't know, you "might" be able to remove the dome light and then get enough clearance to put something in there but don't know for sure. To get the headliner out, you have to pull all the trim, visors, dome light and then wiggle and fight to get the headliner cardboard piece out and it is easiest if you pull the seats. Like I said, a real pain unless you are replacing it anyway.

Good Luck,

Lee

 

My diesel had this problem when I brought it home. Drove me nuts everytime I rolled up the windows on the highway.

Heres what ya do:

take the headliner off and you will probably find that the rear roof brace (there are two, the rear one has the dome light) is seperated from the roof skin.

Get a piece of 2x4 and cut it to a length that is just shy of the distance between the floor and the roof at the brace.

Now depending on what autopart stores are avalable where you live, get your hands on "urethane seam sealer". ProForm part #224 works nicely, but any autobody grade urethane sealer should work.

Now apply the sealer to the brace where the OEM foam failed (use acetone or some other solvent to clean the surfaces before) and use the 2x4 with a wedge under it to prop the brace up. Don't push the roof up when you do this, just close the gap. Then leave it like this overnight (24 hours if possible).

Did this fix last summer, no more BONG anymore.

 

My SC roof has never done anything like that...after 24 years.

 

My 82 supercab don't do that. but I had a couple of vans that did it when the windows were down and I was going about 70.
I thought the top was going to blow off the first time I heard it.

 

Mine does it once in a while, usually only if I am on the freeway and theres a nasty cross or head wind.

 

Allright, at least it's a known problem. When I was up washing the roof the other day I noticed how flimsy it seemed, but it having a support that is no longer in contact makes alot of sense.

I did mainly notice it in conjunction with a strong crosswind.

I'll see if I can get to it by just dropping out the dome light as was suggested. If not everything else is in such good shape that i'll just leave it be.

Justin

 

I have been holing my tounge and this is not a flame. The 81 to 86 f150s are garbage. Just look in the local newspaper they are cheap to buy. They average $600 to $2000 in cherry condition. What do you expect from a cheap truck.

I redid my headliner while doing so ran cardboard between the support and roof. I used gorilla glue to hold it in place.That has solved the problem.

 

In case you didn't notice, every vehicle made during the 80's is garbage. Thats why we've got to make them better.

 

24 years of service for a $12000 truck..........garbage?

 

Yeah, i'm gonna disagree with you on the garbage part. The first one I had had over 380,000 miles on it before the motor wore out, and then after the rebuild it served me wonderfully until it was stolen and wrecked.

I purposely went out looking for an 80-86 to replace it with because of the good luck I had had with the 85.

And they're not necessarily cheap because they're junk. It's that they're in the "mid years" where the trucks aren't new enough to be worth anything but aren't to the point of being collectable yet. Case in point, the 73-87 GM. until about 10 years ago you could hardly give one away and now to find one in mediocre shape you're looking at spending about $2000 with the older trucks costing more than the newer ones.

Give it about 5 more years and I bet the prices on 80-86 Ford's start to climb again.

Otherwise I don't think this pop is a quality issue, it looks like it's primary cause was something falling on the roof which disrupted it's integrity and also having to do with teh fact that the truck is 21 years old. Stuff tends to wear out in that amount of time.

Everyone has their own opinions and you know what they say about those. . .


Justin

 

"Everyone has their own opinions and you know what they say about those."

I have never invested so much time into a old truck. When I was hunting a cheap truck for commute I decided the one I have. I suggest pull a 1979 a 1981 and a 1987 next to each other. You will definitely notice the difference in metal schedule and frame deterioration. The electronics are obsolete poor at best. You reference to chevy. Gm did not put EFI in trucks till 1988 body style change. Poor EFI design will keep this generation of Ford truck down. If you notice a lot of these guys convert to a carb. I am not going to loose sleep If this truck just up and quits. I do not put this vehicle in the same quality aspects as a yugo just a notch above it. Only thing going for this year model is age. Emissions controls will be exempt in 2 years and then people can do something. For right now they can save time and money and stay off this 81 to 86 f150 bandwagon.

I am sorry if I offended.

 

1980-1986 fords are NOT GARBAGE! While would have preffered some more stainless alloy , they are far from being garbage.

The simple fact of ford trucks is that they do not hold resale value as well as other trucks, also, there are a lot more fords that were sold than GMs or dodges, so yes the fords will probably be cheaper to find (although they are going for much more where I live), and there will be more of them because ford has outsold the competition for decades now.

If you are reffereing to build quality, I can tell you that the same steel and the same spot weilds (and the same lack of rust proofing) go into the trucks built before and after the 80s, just because a vehicle looks or feels different, doesn't make it so.

As a wrench man, I've seen how trucks "evolved" over the years, and theres a good reason why both my trucks are from 1986.

When was the last time you saw a rust hole in the chrome bumper of a ford truck older than 1987?