So my dad recently got a free high boy. If I do not buy it, its going straight to the scrap yard.

Its a 77-79, not sure exactly. It has a 390 that ran at one time. (Go Figure!) The body is multi-colored and some surface rust. It has brand new 33's on the back and pretty worn 33's on the front. Automatic transmission. And some steering componets are bad.

I have a buddy with a 2wd truck. I told him i'd sell him the rear tires for $100. And my other buddy has a HighBoy too that needs a rear axle, so I told him i'd sell him the set on this thing if I get it.

My idea:

Jack it up, put 44' boggers. Hydro-Assist. Roll cage. Suspension seats. Snorkle. Smoke Stacks. 1 Ton or bigger axles. Rebuild the 390. Paint the whole thing black and put a 9,000 pound wnch on it.

Now I want YOUR idea's. (And opinions.) And this truck won't have to be street legal. Is the high boy a good canidate for this project?

 

One question... other than the whole free thing, Why would you say you will part it out if you plan on keeping it?

This seems familiar to a thread a couple days ago about "HARDCORE" wheeling..! "Jack it up, put 44' boggers. Hydro-Assist. Roll cage. Suspension seats. Snorkle. Smoke Stacks. 1 Ton or bigger axles. Rebuild the 390. Paint the whole thing black and put a 9,000 pound wnch on it."

Got any pics of the truck the way it sits now???

 

In addition, that vehicle might only have one worthy component, and that is the transfer case. If it is a 205 it is desireable, but this is still a remote mount case, and it hangs fairly low. Some cutom work would be required to gain any real ground clearance.
If it has a full time 203, then you will pretty much be starting from scratch.
With a remote mount case, the breakover angle is gonna be poor, even with 44's it will still be rough.
Nowm this truck will have a closed knuckle front end and a rather weak D60 out back, so these will have to be replaced. The power assist steering is not gonna cut the mustard when it comes to 44 inch tires, so regardless, you will have to change the box, and install an integrated power steering box with crossover.
Not too many narrow rear springs are available to run 44's, but perhaps yuou plan on cutting the snot out of the box.
Then you come down to the 390. As mentioned there are some discrepancies with the year and engine in this rig, but even a nasty 390 is gonna have a difficult time motivating 44's.

 

You SURE its a hi boy?

 

No I am not SURE the truck is a Hi-Boy.

Also, the engine isn't its original.

Its a 205 transfer case.

Plenty of custom work going into it if I decide to do it.

My cousin will make me a deal on one of his sets of boggers. He has quite a few sets of tires 40's and larger.


And if you were paying attention, i'd sell these parts off of it because i'm upgrading to bigger stronger ones.

And because my dad could make money scrapping it. Why would he just give it to me? I don't have a problem buying it, its not like he would charge some ridiculous price.

 

CORRECTION! Its a '73. My buddy said it was the same of his truck so I figured 77-79. But I was off. :P

And he isn't really taking advantage of me, he did work for somebody and they couldn't afford to pay him so he accepted the truck. Like I said though, wouldn't be much.

I have kind of revised my plans when I got the truck to my house. Besides building the dream rig, i'll build a capable wheeler.

The steering box is bad aswell as the brakes. The engine has no spark but looks like it was built 10 years ago. Flaking paint..


I figure i'll still upgrade the axles though. 1 Tons or better.

I have a flatbed that was custom made for an old project a few years back. I've since let that rig rot. :P

But the bed is still shiny aluminum. I figured i'll strip the truck down to the frame and paint everything. Clean up the 390, get it running again and see where I take it from there. I'm thinking of integrating a roll bar into the flatbed.

And this isn't like a "Put all the parts on at once and take it wheeling" its like.. put one here, put one there.. wheel it there.. break it here.." Kind of project. :P

 

a pic of how it sits now would be cool

 

I'll get one up as soon as I can. By the time we got the truck off the trailer it was too dark to get decent pictures. The steering box is disconnected and it has no brakes so it was kind of awkward getting off the trailer. (Tilt trailer)

I'll take some pictures of how it is now, even though its uglier then road kill. And i'll strip some things down and take pics.

 

Oh and Tinian. These things I would LOVE to do.

And the reason I can't do most of these to my F-350 is because its my daily driver. I could do these no problem to this rig because it could be a trailer rig.

Why it WONT be my daily driver.

...its too fricking ugly right now. Haha. My F-350 has too much work making it nice. Mainly paint and audio. :P

 

God DAMN.

UPDATE TO THE VEHICLE:
Its NOT a highboy.
Its a '73 F-150.

My NEW plan:
Pull the bed, windshield (broken), bench seat and tires.

Put the tires off my Jeep on it. Put the flatbed I had made for another project on it. Weld on a headache rack aswell as a roll bar.
Build a spare tire mount.
Paint the cab.
Put bucket seats in it.

As you can see. The new plan. Much cheaper. And I could do it all in a weekend or two.

Hell I just might. Going to clean up a few things and try to fire it up tomorrow morning. If I get it running i'll fix the steering issue. Throw some brakes on it. Change out the oil and run it through my tank trap to see how it goes.

 

any idea of what the other fluids look like??? also, POST PICS!!! i love seeing cheap trucks....just like mine.

 

I'll make a new post that is correctly titled. And I now have the pictures on my computer. If you PM me i'll send you them but if you want me to post them you can wait until I do some more to the truck and make a build thread.

And my new plan is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less expensive.