No it's still in the same place. The stock I used was left over from a power tailgate installation. It's bolted to the lip of the rail on top and to the bed floor via a piece of angle. Tire is held with 1/2" all thread. I used the reinforcing plate from a spring loaded mud flap bracket as a flat washer.


Alex, I'll try to post a pic by the weekend. I leave before the sun comes up and it's dark when I get home.

Well I now have hand throttle, using a vernier throttle cable I grabbed from an S-series International I found at the U-Pull-It last week. Had to make my own mounting bracket as my dash is all plastic on the bottom edge whereas the International's was all metal, but some pieces of flat stock that was leftover from when I made my battery hold downs came in real handy for that. I currently have my low idle set at 750-800 rpms, my cold-start idle is at 1100-1200 rpms, and with the hand throttle I can go from low idle all the way past 3000 rpms (which is where my water pump pulley starts slipping cause of the B-17 propeller that is my engine fan bolted hard to it).

That's essentially what the factory setup was IIRC, only it's stamped sheetmetal and has a hub formed into it so the wheel bolts up directly to it instead of using all-thread or long bolts... My wheel was on the front wall of the bed tho, kinda flat against the cab - this way I could still reach in the bed from the driver side in front of the dually fender (those fat things sure can get in the way when you're trying to guide something in).

I don't know if Ford ever used an 8 or 10 speed trans behind a BBF but it would be worth looking into. Medium trucks used 370's and a truckized version of the 429 both of which shared the same bell housing pattern as a 460. I would have to question the potential benefits of the swap though. A twin countershaft trans, even the smaller cased versions such as an RT6610 are quite bulky when compared to something like a ZF. The twin countershaft design, although strong, does consume extra torque just to turn it. Mounting would also be a big problem as would an air supply.:)

The F150 got a complete tune up with Motorcraft parts. I replaced the coil, wires, plugs, cap, and rotor.

getting ready for a long weekend.... finishing off the Head gasket replacement/head swap...

It may consume extra torque, but look at the advantage of less engine speed over time consumes less petrol, and creates less wear on/in the engine. On top of that, it would just plain be cool to have that 8 or 10 in there.
Also, I already have Air on board (Pneumatic Horn), and would just need the hose to the trans.
I googled to see if I could find any 385 bolt patterned medium duties with the 8 or 10, but came up empty. However that doesn't mean that there weren't any made.
What I do know is that I have found both the Fuller 8 and strait 10 with the SAE 5 and 6 patterns (8 bolt holes).
Does anyone know the measurements of the 385 transmission bolt pattern?

I didnt do anything to OFP, but I put it to the test for the first time since owning it. Hooked up a 7500lb camper and hit the highway for 158 miles, did about 65 and with the round trip I averaged about 8.7 MPG. truck did well but started to get a little hot in the desert, slowed down and all was good. Good day, I have a little more confidence to use the truck now!

See, this is what really sucks about the 460 - in the end your fuel economy is the same as if you had an F600 or F700 with one of them Brazilian diesel engines... Too bad it costs so much to register and insure a medium-duty even for personal non-comm use, or I'd have ditched my 1-ton for one of those long long time ago.

Truckerboy, the extra torque required to turn a twin-countershaft transmission is coming directly from the engine burning more fuel - so while you have an easier job at keeping the engine at its sweet spot at various road speeds, the engine will still burn more fuel than it would if you had a single-countershaft transmission behind it. In your case I'd be looking into auxiliary transmissions, there are plenty of single-countershaft 3-spd Brownies out there. Someone on the other diesel board I frequent installed one of those in his 1-ton dually behind the factory ZF5, he now has 15 forward gears and 3 reverse, and he can actually use all of them if he wants to - he can keep the Brownie in low range and shift the ZF5 from 1st to 5th, then put the Brownie in direct and the ZF5 back in 1st and start shifting the Brownie between direct and high to split the regular ZF5 gears, ending up with a double overdrive at the top. In other words his shift pattern is like this 1L-2L-3L-4L-5L-1D-1O-2D-2H-3D-3H-4D-4H-5D-5H - IMHO if you're looking for coolness that's a whole lot cooler than the 1L-2L-3L-4L-5L-1H-2H-3H-4H-5H that you get with a straight 10, besides with the Brownie you now got two shifters instead of just one :D

okay, But with that brownie, could I convert to 4x4 in the future?? I assume to make that happen, it would be the same as the Fuller 8 and strait 10's where it can be done, but only in a divorced setup.

Are these brownies able to run lo or direct for long periods of time, like around town? Like with a 10, just cause you have more gears don't mean you have to use them??

To my knowledge yes, the Brownie can run in low range for long periods of time - why you'd want that tho is beyond me, since when she's in low range even 5th gear on the main trans is still lower than what you started off before you added the aux trans - low range is pretty much for crawling around in fields and such, or for getting a very heavy load to move uphill.

About the 4x4 thing, the Brownie is a divorced mount to begin with, so to put a divorced transfer case behind it you'd need a very long frame. The guy with the Brownie has it installed in a 4-door truck, and the way his driveshafts are set up there's no space for a transfer case, so in a short cab long bed like yours I'd have to say not a chance if you try to divorce everything. Now if you have some adapter plate made so the Brownie bolts directly to the rear of the main trans (you'll need a 4x4 tailshaft housing for that) then maybe there will barely be enough space...I dunno, but even a straight 10 will be a hard fit in your truck length-wise.

Back on topic, I moved my CB speaker to center top of the windshield, right above where most folks have their rearview mirrors. Wires run from there to the left A-piller, then down, under and behind the dash, under the steering column and above the hand throttle, and then into the CB. Barely enough wiring, but it reached good and there's even some slack left. And speaking of the hand throttle, I had to cut my plastic cover panel for it, but since it was already cut to go around the CB speaker it now leaves more of the dash underside exposed that I'd like to see - next time I'm at the U-Pull-It yet another cover panel will be in order, this will make #3 for this truck (at least since I've owned it)... Oh well, perfectionism has its price I guess, lol.

ok, Then I guess I wont be goin 4x4 with it. Thanks man.

heres the perty stuff i spent a lot of time doing...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8273351_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2699706_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5671826_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6574531_n.jpg

seafoamed the truck and the lawnmower today.....lol, my neighbors love me.....
thats about it, finished priming the rear end, will be installing the right side brakes tomorrow, just about ready to start looking shocks and u-bolts !

Ran a tank through it just driving around the county (guilford and forsyth also.) Really seeing the need for that ZF right about now.