That's a good looking truck. What are the specs on it? Motor, tranny and rearend?

What are your plans for it?

 

thanks 6cylbill, I did a solid axle swap (sas), with 8" lift, 35" wrangler mud tires, 4:10 gears with trac loc in rear, cam, intake, holley, and a 2500 stall. she is alot of fun to drive!!!

 

Thanks, Bill...

Its a f250 351, 4spd/granny, and I don't know the axle specs, whatever stock is. I've been using it for work for the last 5 years, and its getting rough around the edges (again). I recently picked up a cabover camper, and the plan is to set it up for hauling/vacations (reliabilty). Among other things, it started doing the intermittent headlight blackout thing recently ; the relay conversion mentioned in another thread is one thing I'll definitely do. (Thanks for the great tech articles, btw!)

I've had 80/series ford trucks since about 85... wow, has it been that long?

 

Here's my pride and joy: '84 F-250 4x4. Originally a 351W with a C-6, underwent a complete frame off restoration and was converted to a 460 with a ZF 5 speed. It has a 2 1/2" suspension lift with 33" tires; air conditioning, cruise, tilt, CD player...drives like a new truck.
Before the restoration:




After:






Yes, that's a five speed. I built the shifter myself to disguise the ZF to keep it looking stock, using the original 4 speed shifter as a pattern. It looks like a 4 speed but only I know the secret



My '87 F-150 shortbox which has been in storage for the past five years. It has 79,000 original miles, came out of Florida and has been stored winters since I've owned it.


My '92 F-250 diesel loaded down with junk. I think the total weight of the rig as pictured was around 18,000 pounds.


My '88 Ranger that I restored last year. The body is from a '92, chassis is '88.



And then there's this thing. Forgive me for polluting these pages with Chevy, but its such a fun toy I couldn't resist sharing. I built this one myself too, its a '89 Chevy S-10 body mounted on a shortened '75 Chevy K-10 full size 4x4 chassis. This one is just for playing in the mud, not street legal.

 

You have gorgeous toys, including that S-10! I really like that black long bed. I'd love to have that Ranger for a DD. What motor is in that S-10? I suspect a V8. What about the Ranger?

 

Thanks Bill
The S-10 has small block V-8 power. The '75 chassis was literally pulled from the weeds but the original 350 was sucking so much oil I could hardly keep plugs in it so I dropped in a 305 out of a '86 Caprice that I picked up for $25! I've been running that engine ever since. It's underpowered but gets the job done and despite countless wide open blasts pushing 5,000 RPM I can't seem to blow it up. That thing sits so high off the ground I have to take the wheels off and lower it down on blocks to get the engine out. I'd like to build a serious engine for it but for the few times a year I take it out, its hardly worth the investment.

The Ranger is pretty much my daily driver during the winter months. It has the original 2.9 V-6 with a 5 speed. I bought it with cracked heads and installed the World Products heads, been running it ever since without any problems. It has about 192,000 miles and is still running strong, doesn't use any oil and has strong pressure.

 

I'm very jealous (in a good way!). You can build that 305 for power. Me and dad built two hot rod 305's. They burned rubber with ease. They both blew shortly, however. Some people have good luck with 305's. Others do not. If yours is running good and strong I wouldn't mess with it. Maybe Cam it and run open headers for fun. The 305 makes less power than a 300 stock to stock, but you can build a 305.

I would really like to have that Ranger. What kind of tires do you run on it in the winter? For some reason that Ranger reminds me of a military vehicle. It would look great painted Olive Drab. How's it handle in off roading conditions?

Edit, by the way what are the specs on your '87 Short wheel base? It looks good, what size tires? Is it 4x4?

 

I do have headers running through straight pipes on the 305 which I think helped it wind a little higher, but otherwise it's completely stock. I almost bought a nitrous kit for it just for giggles but decided it wasn't worth it. The tires on that truck are 33x12.50x15 Interco Super Swamper Bogger TSL. They pull and dig like nothing else, designed specifically for mud bogging.

On the Ranger, I mounted a set of new Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT tires on it last fall (after that pic was taken) and I love them:

Those tires are larger than stock, 235-75-R15. They work great in the snow and are very quiet. That truck is a STX with the High Rider option. It orignally had a posi rear axle but that exploded on me so I stuck a junkyard open differential in, I think it has 3.77 gears. It handles great, I love it for a winter vehicle. I never abuse it off road though, that's what I built the S-10 for. I have a thread in the Ranger forum with pics from when I restored that truck:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...k-edition.html

The '87 shortbox is a 4x4 with a 300 6 cylinder and 4 speed manual. All original, the only factory options it came with were air conditioning and cassette. I added power windows, locks, cruise, and tilt from a junkyard truck. It originally had 235-75-R15 tires but they were worn out when I bought it so I switched rims and put on a set of 31x10.50x15 tires. Those tires only have about 10,000 miles on them but it's been sitting in storage for so long they are full of dry rot cracks so I'll have to toss them when I decide to start driving it again.

 

Here's my truck. My weekender, about 2k miles per year. Just past inspection after I replaced rear hubs, brakes, front rotor and pads, emergency brake cables...

My wife hates this truck... She hates the cap. I can't say I'm in love with the cap either, but it does keep things dry.

It has Diesel, C6,4x4 Tilt wheel, Cruise, air, no power windows... Retractable under hood light... Everything works... Thanks to the list I just fixed the cruise control today!

I wish the previous owner did not put on the flares and the aftermarket rims... I think part of the reason for the flares was to hid the rust... The rims are rusting, I treat them with rust remover and paint, then the still bubble up... This truck was a plow truck in PA, lots of salt...

How did Rowdyredneck fight the rust on his truck? What a nice truck he has, its what my truck wants to look like someday....

 

Thanks And to answer your question, New Mexico desert sheet metal
There used to be a local guy here in northeast Iowa who would drive down to Albuquerque, New Mexico about once a month and bring back a flat bed trailer full of rust free metal from the desert. It's amazing what people down there will throw away...I couldn't beleive how straight some of that stuff was. My truck was so badly rusted I ended up replacing everything. I got a used cab with air conditioning and doors plus a box and tailgate out of the desert for about $1,700 delivered, plus I put on new fenders and a hood. Even though it was a pretty straight body, the paint was faded and peeling so I had it stripped and repainted. I restored that truck about ten years ago and it has never been exposed to road salt since. I put it away around mid October and it usually doesn't come out of the shed again until the middle of May. I wish that guy was still around but the demand for vintage metal just isn't as strong around here anymore so he moved on to other things.

 

Here's my son's (Fomoco-Kid ) 86 F150 XLT Lariat its running a 72 302 and a c4 at the moment.

 

Picked her up for 650, hence my name...

now i've gone and messed up the tranny, so I went and pulled it out hoping I can find a guy to rebuild her, or maybe find a bolt in replacement as it is one of the fine POS SROD's I keep hearing about on here.







just finished with the new master cylinder and power booster the other day, she was sucking air when not depressed, and I used a lot of PB blaster to remove the lines from the original cylinder to no avail so I had to replace it too.

 

Well this is my truck 86 F250HD 460 4 speed 4X4







This what I bought it for mainly to haul stuff for my project car.




Insides not too bad


engine needs cleaning and need to replace a power stearing hose



and i think thats a retractable light.

 

You bought a 460 powered F-250 for a parts runner? It's a heckofa truck and I think it's great, but isn't that 460 a little overkill for a 9'' member!?

 

The 9" is for my 67 comet im building and I also need the truck for stuff around the house.
Dirt bricks and anything that wont fit in my fusion.
And the truck was a great buy its getting fixed up a little at a time also.