1989 F250 Light Duty???
 

Hello everyone. I just joined the forum and just purchased my first Ford truck! To make a long story short; I was in the market for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck and I found a great deal that I couldn't pass up. I got a heck of a deal on an '89 F250 4x4 302FI 5spd. Come to find out, it's some kind of Light Duty F250? According to the VIN it only has a GVWR of 6,001 - 7,000 lbs??? Does anyone have any additional info on this situation?

Thanks.

Well, that truck is going to have a lighter duty strenth suspention, and maybe frame as well, but i am not sure about that at all right now. The fact is you can easily build up the leaf springs in any way you want. If hauling large farm loads, and trailers my favorite is leaf springs with seperate over load springs. This way the overoad helper springs are only used when loaded down heavy. This will give you great handling yet a great way to haul a lot. If the frame is built not as strong as you need it to be you can always add to it and double C- channel it, anything like that. But, just as well thats a lot harder to do and more time taking. You could easily beef up the clutch and brakes. Anything to help you haul more without over doing it. Hope this helps. At least with my f-150 that had a lower gvwr, when compaired to my friends, his had a stronger frame, better leaf spring suspention, better front suspention, and etc. I believe this is the case in yours. As long as you have the ZF 5 speed transmission, a 302 v8, and a pretty low geared rear end there should be a lot you can haul!

I'm pretty sure the frames are all the same between the LD/HD 250 and 350's. The springs are lighter, less leaves on the LD and the the rear axles are semi floating axle vs the full floating axle on the HD. The front may be a dana 44 vs a dana 50 on the HD.

Thanks guys. That truck does have 8-Lug axles and overload springs. But it is geared high. I definately need to get some lower gears. Hopefully it has the ZF 5spd and not the 1/2 ton Mazda R2. Do you all know if the gears from a regular F250 fit? Or do I need to look for some from a 1/2 ton?

I'm no expert, but I believe what you have is essentially an F150 with a higher GVWR. Do you know if you have the mazda 5 speed or ZF-5? What rear? My F150 GVWR is 6250 which I'm pretty sure is the heaviest you could get an F150 at the time

I was thinking the same thing about it being an F150. I even told my buddy after i drove it that it was geared really high - like maybe it had a 1/2 ton drivetrain in it. But sure enough, it's all original, matching running gear. It has 8 Lug axles and looked like a 3/4 ton when I looked at the undercarrage. It has leaf springs on the front. Tonight i'll see what 5 spd it has. I can get "regular" F250 gears very easily, but will they fit in this "mini" F250? I'd like to add 4.10s or lower.

if you changed that out to 3.55 gears you could get decent fuel economy and good towing. Not sure if you are worried about high way speed but, with 4.10 gears you could really tow some stuff very well! Now, if you are not worried about highway speed and its a pure farm truck you could put 4.56 rear end gears in it! Massive torque, but your top speed may be 55 or 60 mph if not 50mph. Low gearing is torque multiplycation:) Served me super well in the past. If it is the light duty rear axle in the back, you could change out the whole axle assembly to a heavy duty 250 or 350 one. Lots of great options. 302 is a great engine i know i enjoyed mine, but my drive train was geared to high in my truck as well. The mazda's M5OD (transmission) bearings are not able to handle large loads such as towing. You should be able to look under it and tell pretty easy. Thats great news. But, as far as affordable swaps, you could go with a four speed low gear (again if you are not worried about highway speeds) new process np435 has the lowest gear ratio's and are strongest built, but the borg warners T-18 and T-19's are great too! None of these have a overdrive. But serious towing power is very posible, let us know what you find out. A ZF transmission will cost more but you do get overdrive which is nice

buddy of mine had a 90 light duty F250. It had the HD Dana 44 TTB front axle and a semi floater 10.25 in the rear. His had the 302 and a zf...

I would say leave the front alone and switch the rear to a full floater. If you want to change gears, It is my understanding that you could put a dana 50 3rd member in your HD 44 housing. So I would say that you should find a truck with a full float rear and a 50 front and take the rear axle and the front 3rd member from another truck. I would say 4.10 gears would be a good combo for your uses. You cant swap in a dana 50 because the arms are different lengths IIRC.

or if you want to do it right, and if funds allow, find a solid dana 60 for the front.

But if you want to keep it simple, just swap in a full floater from a truck with the same gearing as your front and be done with it. No matter what you decide. Get rid of that semi floater.

Thanks for all of the input! Drew - this is great info! I have my fingers crossed that it is the ZF. If not, then it looks like the trans is going to be the first thing that will die on this truck. I don't really want to spend much money on this thing, but i think the gears are something i will have to do. I have found an entire rear end with 4.10 gears for $175. I think it's a F.F. I could pick up a third member pretty easliy too, but i don't know if i want to spend the money. Do you think just the ring and pinion from the D50 will work in my D44? Blue - if I can find some 4.56's for cheaper than the 4.10's, I will be ok with sacrificing the top speed. Thanks again for all the help.

Drew - How did your buddy's Light F250 hold up? Any major issues/weaknesses I need to anticipate? Was it able to do what a real 3/4 ton could do?

Thanks.

My F-150 has a GWVR of 6250.....

My 89 F250 is a HD truck, full floater Sterling axel with 3.55 gears. With the 302/aod it sux pulling anything! MPG is around 14. Best to go with 4.10 gears with the 302 engine so it can rev up in to its power band.

According to Wikipedia, my truck should have a GVWR of 8800. See if i listen to that stupid site anymore! It never said anything about a Light Duty. :-huh

I hear ya eddie. When I test drove this truck, my first thought was "this truck is geared too high"! I actually stopped and made sure I had it in first gear! I think 4.10's will be the best bet. Now i just have to figure out which ones will swap into my "whimpy" F250. :-huh

You would probably be fine with the axles and tranny that are in the truck unless you are going for big big loads. My friend and neighbor has an 89 250 LD 4x4 with the 300/5spd in it. He has used the truck since it was new for hauling firewood every summer and fall. Also had a 10ft camper and a 18ft boat behind it when he went camping. Only mod he ever did was air bags in the rear. He's never had an issue with it, still going strong. Don't know for sure what he has for gearing.

Farmtruck1, what's the gear ratio in your truck right now? And are the tires stock too?

The 300 big I6 engine is a good work engine, has torque down low in the RPM range, thats what gets the job done. My 84 F250 4x4 has the 300/np435 with 3.55 gears and that thing will pull and pull and pull....(hence the name of Blue Mule) may not be the fastest but gets the job done. Since I got the 89 F250, the 302/aod(orginal engine was 351/e4od and was blown) I am not liking how it pulls a load. Few weeks ago I took in around 3000lbs of junk to the scrap yard. The 302 just labored, unless I shifted the AOD manualy(not good on it and no OD at all!) to keep the RPMS up high. I do heavy load hauling sometimes and the 300 I6 will out preform the 302 V8, now empty rev that 302 up and the truck will scoot out!

I tend to agree with that statement. According to my '89 Light-Duty (F-350 and down) Spec Book, a semi-float 10¼" Sterling is rated for 5300# max, where the full-floater is rated for 6250#. I suppose the extra thousand pounds might come in handy for some, but when you consider that the static weight on the rear axle on a 250 might be around 2500# (that's a WAG...someone feel free to correct me), you can still put a pretty good bit of weight in the bed before you're overloading the LD axle.

For reference, the book lists the max weight rating for an 8.8" axle at only 3750#!:-hair

Pat

I'm not sure what the gears are. I'll let you know asap. Also not sure what the trans is either. I'm really hoping it's a zf 5spd and not the mazda.

When i test drove the truck, i could tell it was relatively underpowered until it got to about 2500+ rpm. I am ok with this because it has the 5 spd. But i knew right away that first gear was not low enough. I figured i'd just swap in some 4.10's because there are hundreds of real F250s around for parts. Now that i know it's not a real F250, i'm kind of nervous about finding parts and the strength of the trans/t-case.

One of the selling points of the truck is that it just had the trans and 302 rebuilt. But if it's the mazda trans, then it's a wash.

Oh well. We'll see how it does. If i kill it, then i know i need to start looking for a 1 ton!

Hey guys, I had a similar question when i bought my 86 f250, It was a diesel. Just so ya'll know from what i found out anyway. The 250 and 350 HD share the same frame, however the 250 LD is similar but less thick, you could get almost any combo of engine/axle/frame options, but ageneral rule of thumb is the diesels are HD frame (same as a 350), gassers could be ordered with either the LD or HD (I think it depends on GVWR) and the HD frame could come with the 44 or 50 TTB. Not to say a LD frame with good running gear cant tow or haul but they are different. It might sound kind of confusing but somebody correct me if I'm wrong

I have learned my lesson on wikipedia... On there chuck norris is ten foot tall.... I have found way to much stuff that people change to something totally false on there.

See, what engine you have does not nessiarily mean anything.. Torque multiplycation, trq mult., trq multi!, if you were able to get traction you could technically pull a rail road car with a four cylinder engine and some low low low gearing! Its all posible with torque multiplycation. Now lets say that your transmission first gear ratio was 5.72, your rear end gearing was 3.55, and you had the transfer case in high range(1:1). This gives you a crawling ratio of 20... Not bad. Your moving a Large hay wagon out in the field that has round bales on it... We all know it will pull better in a lower gear, so you put it in first and engauge the transfer case in low range. Lets say this is a 2.1 to 1 ratio, now its a crawl ratio of 43. ALOT better. Every little bit helps, lower gears make a world of difference. This is how farm equipment can rip down a house and this is how you do it.
The website below is for you guys to check out. Its great. Figure out the crawl ratio's for your truck. Automatics first gear ratio need to be multiplied by 1.5 or 2 because a torque convertor multiplys torque.
Novak Conversions - Gearing & Gearing Math for Jeeps

He didnt keep it all that long, he bought it for 600 bucks with what seemed like was a non existent rear main seal. you couldnt keep oil in it to save your life. He fixed that and drove it for probably about 6 months. It would probably last quite awhile. He had to do axle bearings on the rear axle, and the axle didnt win any popularity contest with me.

A full floater is the way to go IMO. I had to do axle bearings (wheel) on my 8.8 in my F150. I used it like a 3/4 ton often, later I blew the rear end out of it, I know the 10.25 is a stronger axle, but I still see no reason to have a semi-floater in a 3/4 or 1 ton. Heck, i have a full floater in my F150. lol

Besides, if you are going to change the gearing anyway, you could find a FF 4.10 rear axle for probably less then what it would cost for new gears and set up for your semi floater

Thanks for the info everyone. I will hopefully be picking up the truck this afternoon. Then I can figure out some of these questions. (It's getting a rear main seal put in). Here are the list of items that i plan on doing to it in the next few months:
- New Brakes (possibly lines too)
- New Accelerator Cable
- Front End Work (lots of play in steering wheel)
- Lower Gears (possibly alxes)
- Gooseneck Hitch

So, needless to say, i'll be on here a bunch in the future seeking more advice!

Oh, i'll post the trans/t-case/axle & gear info from the truck ASAP. Maybe it will be useful to someone like me thinking they're getting a true 3/4 ton truck.

Thanks again! :-X22

I have a 94 f250 hd with a 351, e4od, and 3.55:1 gears and it pulls fine. The only trouble I have had is hitting steep grades loaded (john deere 450 dozer and 16 ft trailer, about 18k) it pulls the motor down a good bit and sometimes will drop to second if it hits 45 or so. But small grades and flat land she will cruise easy at 65. I have been wanting lower gear since I got it but I don't feel like tearing into the mess in the front end.

What you have is a light duty of course. It probably has a mazda tranny in it as evidenced by the fact the gearing is to high already (ZF has very low 1st gear).

Not a bad truck, it will haul loads but the 302 will murder you with its lack of power. I never liked them in a truck, just not enough balls. Best thing to do is to seek a 351 swap or start doing headers, intake, exhaust, and throw the right gears in it (4.10s would be best).

For everyones info, in my research I have found: The HD F250 had a GVWR of 8600 (reg cab) and 8800 (x-cab), it uses the same frame as the F350, uses the sterling full floater rear and either the d44 or d50 (seems no rhyme or reasons to it either). It usually came with 3.55 or 4.10 gears, if it came with a stick its the ZF otherwise its an E4OD, you will notice right away when you see one as it sits MUCH higher than a lighter duty 250 and 150. The LD may also use smaller brakes/rotors as well. When you go the parts counter they will ask GVWR.

I have the 10.25 sterling semi-floating axle with 500K miles on it, change the lube every few years and its been reliable as can be. I have had 4 leaves added to the rear spring pack and have seen the truck leave the scales at 11,800 pounds. Also tow a GN deckover trailer with tongue loads up to 4000# The semi-floating axle is mighty tuff. I pull the axles every second or third oil change, lube and service the brakes, check for axle/pinion/bearing wear and put it all back together. I also have the I-6 and ZF trans, its a solid work truck still and doesn't bitch hauling a 2 yd salt/sand spreader.


Dana 44/50 axle usually follows HD gets the 50 as well as a LD with the 'plow package option'

Maybe there are different types of the light duty models but my friend has a 89 light duty 250 4x4 with the 300/5spd. His truck has the semi floating rear, the smaller gvwr and less leaf springs but sits at the same height as my 93 250 HD 4x4. Maybe it's cause I'm not all that mechanically inclined but I would drive it as is or sell it for a profit and buy the truck you really want, an F350 etc. Sounds like a whole lot of time/work, swapping motors, trannies, gears, axles etc just to get an HD vs a LD. Unless of course you like doing it!

Ive seen it every way under the sun, plow (or whatever) package or not some got the 44 and some got the 50. Like I said, no rhyme or reason to it-I think ford just tossed in whatever was handy.

Well, it was part of the 'HD front suspension package' included with camper and snowfighter and available as a toss in option pacakge, now another point, the LD tire size was 215/85-16(D) with 6800 lb gvw. and the 5300(r)/3850(f) gives 9150 pounds and adding the heavy axle takes the combined axle weight to 9900 pounds on a truck that weighs about 5500 pounds empty. I think that with the heavier axle, you also move from load range D to load range E 235/85-16 tires.

I'm also trying to recall back, the HD axle wasn't much cost and I bet if you wanted the bigger tires, they tossed in the HD axle and upgraded the tires.

Instead of a "LD 3/4", think of it as a "HD 1/2"!!! I realize it was not what you wanted for your application, but it actually makes for a nice package that bridges the gap between a 1/2 ton and a traditional 3/4 ton. At least you don't have the odd-ball 7 lug wheels of the '97+ F250HD.

Its possible, IDK for sure. All I can tell you is ive personally seen 8500+ GVWR with a 44 and a 50 on them before-like I said no rhyme or reason to it. Mine has every package on it under the sun and I have a 44 and I doubt anyone swapped it in.

I have an F250 which appears to be an HD version, the GVWR is 8600. I have a d50 front (checked the stamp), which everyone says uses a 6 lug spindle lock nut wrench. I get down to the guts and its a 4 lug nut. I bought a serp belt for it, guy asks the GVWR and I tell him. The belt is too small, which is why the PO had it routed incorrectly - rubbing a scar into the upper radiator hose (he had it running on top of the idler pulley, hitting the tensioner from the pass. side between the alt and air pump acc.). Anyhow the under-8500 belt was like 102" and the over-8500 belt was ninety-something inches. I guess I'm running the LD belt pattern (351 btw) because the 102 fits perfectly, and found what appear (to my untrained eye, this is my first such front end to work on) to be d44 parts used in my d50?

Now I'm afraid to order ball-joints and u-joints online, in case I get the wrong size because the lower BJ has different items for different front axle weights as do the u-joints. I can get a better price online, but not if I have to ship the stuff back to get the right ones. That cuts into the savings.

Biggest problem is the trans, throw out bearing will leak shifter will fall apart and trans synchro will fail. As far as the rest of the truck I haven't heard of many problems, the motor has less power but the 302 will run forever and I'm sure you can find some power options from the Mustang crowd.

My D50 IFS uses the 4 pin socket.
When ordering u-joints, the difference is, internal or external snap rings.
I've not had any issues with ball joints, have replaced them a few times, they just ask if its IFS and heavy or light and then greasable or non.

I order some stuff online but I've developed a relationship with my local NAPA, have an account, get a discount that puts them in line with auto-zone prices and as a side benefit, they deliver to my garage if I'm stuck in the middle of something. Its nice to dive in, call and order seals, ujoints, balljoints, gear lube, filters and oil, tear into it and a couple hours later the truck arrives and drops it all off.

TND - That's exactly what i'm afraid of! When it comes time for me to start working on the ball joints and bushings, or any front end stuff, i'm not going to know which ones i need because i don't know which ones i have! :-huh

Joe - Unfortunately, i think you're exactly right! According to the recipts that i got with the truck, it has the mazda R2 trans :-arrgh. The good news is that it has just been rebuilt with a lot of the items that you mentioned. Hopefully, it will hold up for a few years.

I'm supposed to get the truck back today. The i worked out a deal to have the rear main seal replaced at no charge. The scoop on the rest of the truck is as follows: 302FI rebuilt - less than 1000mi, 5spd rebuilt - less than 1000mi, New clutch, New headers & full dual exhaust, and much more.

Drives pretty good and runs great. I will need to do some front end work to get the slop out of the steering wheel. But it drives straight and doesn't wander much from what i can tell the little that i've driven it. I might try to post a pic if i can figure out how to do it.

How difficult is it to replace the ball joints/front end bushings?

Ball joints are pretty easy,
Remove brake caliper, lock hub, rotor and bearings
Unbolt and remove the spindle (big urethane hammer helpful here, never use a metal one)
slip the axle out and you're ready to attack the ball joints, try your best to extract the cotter pin on the top one, the lower is just a locknut, torch can be handy if you're very skilled to slice the nuts, easing removal. With some coaxing the spindle drops free, remove the snap ring on the bottom joint. The tool you will need is a C frame press, remove and reinstall with this tool takes about 5 minutes for both. The reinstall is tighten the bottom one first, then the top one to spec.

wirebrush the rusty parts of the spindle and put anti sieze where it goes into the knuckle.

I think we have the same truck. '89 f250 5.0L, mazda 5speed, leaking rear main seal. One difference is neither my engine nor tranny have been rebuilt. I'm not impressed with the 5.0L (302) in a truck. My '84 F150 w/351W has a lot more low end torque. Thinking about swapping the 351W into the '89.

Tell you what though, my friends dad had two trucks for his logging buisness, a one ton chevy Cheyenne with dual rear tires, a 454 v8, an automatic trans and four wheel drive. Here was the second truck: a 1990 ford f150 with a 300inline 6, mazda 5 speed trans, 4 wheel drive, etc. He was trying to tow his john deere 4510 4x4 tractor on a trailer. First of course he hooked it up to the one ton chevy, and it did not want to tow it well at all. He hooked the trailer up to the 1/2 ton ford and it handled it. Maybe not the worlds best but it towed it alright. He did many good size loads with that truck over and over. He ran 80w90 gear lube in the transmission when i believe it actually called for automatic transmission fluid. That transmission held up time after time, and so did the rest of the truck. It did idle funny, but in low range four wheel drive and 2nd gear it would really do great when he had to get to the equipment that broke down out in the woods. HE WOULD GET THERE, not much for back packing his tools to the equipment... That transmission should hold up a while, i loved my 302 in my 1/2 ton for many reasons, usually put out good power and always ran strong. If you are going slow like moving a hay wagon in the field you can always save on all of your drive line parts (including clutch wear) by putting the truck into low range. That works well, except for then you are using your four wheel drive. Good luck, i would not be so worried about it yet.