I have a full front clip in fiberglass if you are interested. Thanks for your time.

 

Thanks bud, but I think my front sheet metal is in good enough condition to keep.

 

Hey guys, I was cleaning up my labtop for the trip and came across a couple of pics that didn't get posted. So...

Here's a comparison shot of the stock steering shaft and the Borgeson shaft.
<a href="http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r19/jokerforever/?action=view&amp;current=SN851051.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r19/jokerforever/SN851051.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And an installed pic of the Saginaw steering pump.
<a href="http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r19/jokerforever/?action=view&amp;current=SN851050.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r19/jokerforever/SN851050.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Now that the unit has some miles it has developed a leak. It looks like it's coming from the shaft of the pump. It's not that bad so I'm letting it go for now. I guess that it set on a shelf for too long and the seals dried out.

 

I have a couple questions, You said that you took spacers from your front wheels? How thick were they and why did the fronts have them in the first place? I noticed in your picture that the original studs extrude beyond the face of the spacer, how does the rim fit up against it or does it even? looking at the photo I don't see how it does.

Thanks,

ZJ

 

No, the front didn't already have spacers on them. I had bought the spacers because the H2 wheels had the wrong backspacing. I needed to get the tire further away from the suspension because when I turned the wheel to lock the tires rubbed on the spring. After I got through winter I found a set of wheels with the right backspacing. The spacers are 1.5" aluminum units I found on Ebay. They were cheap and of questionable quality. We discussed this at length in this thread
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...elspacers.html
I wouldn't say spacers aren't necessarily a bad thing but I would say you'd want better ones that the ones I have. I made a choice and I'm taking a chance. I wouldn't suggest you follow my lead

The studs only protrude maybe a 1/8" past the face of the spacer. There were recesses in my wheels, both the H2s and the new ones, so they mounted flush.

 

Quick update.

I didn't get much done on the truck this summer. There was too many other projects, roadtrips and general life concerns. The truck is in need of a little TLC at this point. I have a rear main seal leaking, the power steering pump is leaking more and more and the transmission looks like it has a bad solenoid pack that needs to be replaced. I'll get to it all in time. The trans will be the most important and as soon as I get the time and money (hopefully next pay check) I'll get that done.

One good thing. I was given a topper. It's a factory topper from the 70s. Doesn't exactly match the lines of the truck but at least it will keep the snow out of the back this winter. When I get the chance, I'll flog it in the same simi-gloss black I spray bombed everything else with. But as you can see the snow is on the ground and I'll be at a work stopage until the spring

 

The winter hasn't been that bad so far. It has kept me inside most of the time but I was able to get some work done. Small stuff really but at least it's forward progress.

One weekend I used a overhead hoist at work to pull the topper off. After a little sanding I flogged it with the same simi-gloss black I've used on everything else. Doesn't look good but it'll work for what I'm doing.




Also, on one of the warmer weekends (when it was all the way up into the higher teens) I fixed the trailer connector. I pulled this out during the summer. When the PO installed the lights for the gooseneck he hack the crap out of the harness.

I rewired the whole thing and using some weather pack connectors reinstalled the gooseneck connector in the bed and the stock connector in the bumper. I figured I'd installed it there so if a drag the tail end while offroading I wouldn't rip it off. The only problem was the cheap imported hole saw I had wouldn't even think about going through the thicker metal of the rear bumper. I ended up drilling a ton of small holes and then cutting the rest with my Dremel.

It was slow going and suck being out in the cold that long but I got it done.

 

As in all things, life changes. Being active duty military, life can (and will) change fast and more dramatic than it does for most people. This time it was a good change. I have orders out of North Dakota! And to make it better they're to Florida!

So here to the big move . I completed part of it two weeks ago. I don't sign out of the base until the end of this month but took the last couple of weeks off. I took a load to North Carolina to be stored at my folk's farm until we get down there, buy a house and can setup our new life. So here is the story

Well, all stories have to have a beginning and here's what I started with


Yep, flat tire and temps in the negatives. But at that point there were a few weeks until we hit the road. I took it down to a local tire shop. I couldn't find anything in the tire so they broke it down. Looks like a bunch of sand and dirt just got down into the bead and unseated it. No big deal, just time consuming.

The following weekend we made a run down to Bismarck and spent a little money.


I've been needing a car trailer for years. With Uhaul wanting over $800 to rent one from here to NC, and still having to pay again when it was time to get the load to FL, I was able to justify this to the wife. It's an 18 footer with bobtail, tool box and a 7K rating. Just what I need to haul anything under a 3/4 ton truck.

The weekend after was the big move. I started out using the winch from the Jeep and a snatchblock to loaded the 59 onto the trailer.


From there I cleaned out the garage. I don't have pics of loading but here's what it looked like this time last year.



Believe me, I gained a little more since then. Just imagine a 390, C6, cherry picker, engine stand, air compressor, three part rolling toolbox, spare 35" and 33" tires, four large totes filled with tools and engine parts, and a half dozen boxes most of which a needed help to lift. I also loaded all of the ammo I had stored in my basement. I'm a Republican. I have a lot of ammo. The truck was on the overloads even before the trailer was hooked up. I also loaded a bunch of larger items in the car and even strapped down an 8.8 axle onto the trailer too. I was loaded down.

So I threw some old CBs into the truck and Jeep, wired up a new brake controller, topped off the air in the tires and we hit the road. Me in the truck with the dog and the wife following in the Jeep with the kid.

It took us seven hours to get the first 200 miles . A nice little blizzard decided that that day would be the best time to blast us with snow, -20s and sustained 30 to 50 MPH winds. And to top it all off I my trailer brakes didn't work and the CBs would only put out and receive when the vehicle were within a few car lengths of each other. The adventurer begins...

They closed the roads on us. Rightfully so. It was so bad I couldn't see past the end of my hood. There was I time were I was literally navigating by my GPS. We spent the night in a Red Cross shelter in Grand Forks. The whole town was sold out of hotel rooms and if it wasn't for them then we were going to have to sleep in the trucks.

I was much clearer the next day. Here's a rest stop in SD.



We ran into some sleet and freezing rain through MO and Il but it cleared to a light rain in KY and TN



The weather finally broke when we woke up in the hotel room in TN.




This small, clear hotel parking lot was the first time in six months that my two year old son has been able to play outside. My wife cried and I saw my son grow three inches in three minutes as he ran around. Locked in a small house in the great white north is nowhere to raise a kid (no offence to those that chose to live in that climate but it's not for me or mine).

Crossing the mountains wasn't nowhere near as hard as I thought it was going to be. I couldn't find a grade that the 460 couldn't accelerate up. I even showed off to a couple truck drivers and a few new diesels .




Going down the other side wasn't the chore I thought it was going to be. I would have liked the peace of mind of having working trailer brakes but I didn't need them. I geared down, lightly squeezed the brakes when I needed them and let them cool as much as possible. No problems at all.

All the time my poor wife was following me while listening to the same Mickey Mouse DVD over and over





She really is the greatest woman in the world and I'm the luckiest man for her loving me.

This was not an easy trip. The first day on the road was enough to make me want to quit but we kept moving forward and we got there. The truck never skipped a beat. With all of the weight it rode like a Town Car. Oh and speaking of weight after I got to NC I weighed it. I had already pulled the box of ammo off and it came in around 350-400 lbs. Without that, combine was 15440 lbs. Just a little over the trucks rating. The scary part was the rear axle had 6700 lbs on it. My 35s have a D rating. Only 3K each, oops .

I know one question that will come up. MPG. Well, it's a big block, 4x4, 1 ton Ford. I expected it to perform well. I expected it to run the 1800+ miles and five days it took for this trip. I expected it to carry the weight, run up any hill in its way and stop when needed. I expect it to do all that and burn the crap out of some gasoline while doing it. It didn't disappoint in any regard. The worst tanks were 5.5 and 5.6 MPG. Most tanks were in the 6s and low 7s. The surprising thing was right after I crossed the Ohio River into KY the MPG shot up well into the 8s I even had tanks in the 9s! That's what I get running unloaded up here in ND. There's really something to say about that damn northern blend gas. Give me some good southern high test .

So I parked the truck and trailer, spent a few days with the family, left the dog for a cousin to care for and loaded the wife and kid into the Jeep for the trip home. Nothing too exciting about that ride except my poor wife was as sick as she could be. Looks like she caught a stomach bug and was miserable the whole trip.




Well, as for this thread, it's not going to die but it'll be a while before another update. In a few weeks we'll make our way to FL. From there we have house hunting, getting settled, and starting my new job. I'm thinking I'll get up to pick up the truck and car in the Fall. The big thing is finding a house with a little land so I have some where to park the rig.

Oh yea, and drinking beer on the beach, enjoying the warm sun and knowing that I'll never have to shovel snow again

 

where in nc are you headed? i am from the raleigh area

 

We've already been there and back. My folks live in Salisbury. At the end of the month we're heading to Florida