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I have spent the last five years building this truck and it is time to document it somewhere with people who might appreciate it.
The story starts with me wrecking my 1984 CJ7 (rear brake cylinders popped and I hit a building instead of rear ending a truck.) No one was injured but the Jeep was a loss, rebuild-able but not worth the effort. Bought it as a toy for the sand dunes but at almost 6' 3" 275 lbs I really had a hard time fitting in a CJ7.
I really belonged in a truck according to my wife and she also much preferred a truck. She is very supportive of garage time and lending a hand on projects and is very capable of doing so. So we went out looking for something new(to us) and after a few different test drives we found this 1992 F350.
From the pictures on Craigslist we had very few details about the truck but the price was right so we went and took a look. What we found was a truck with a cab that was in perfect condition, doors with absolutely no rust or dents, a 460 that was very healthy, but because of the current owner the truck needed some TLC.
The first owner of this truck took great care of her. He worked at a Ford dealership and swapped in a completely new 460. Has tons of power and definitely was built right.
The second owner put a 4" all block lift front and rear with some big ol mud tires and ran it until the transmission and transfer case were toast. He had it for a couple of years, wish I could have bought it from the first guy, he at least treated her right.
I didn't document everything but I will do my best to show the process. We started by getting the lift blocks off of the truck. Very redneck way of lifting the truck and not safe. We also started assessing the rust on the fenders and bed.
In the picture below you can see the front lift blocks.
Again another angle of the lift blocks and rust issues.
Rear rust and the 4" square tubing lift block stacked on top of the factory block lift.
All of the rust that was on the factory tailgate. In Michigan this is a rare find.
Passengers side lift and rust.
Passengers front.
Whats left of the fender.
One more image of bringing her home nice and slow on the back roads. Didn't trust the lift or the transmission at this point. Just needed to get her home. Had a picture driving next to a smart car but decided to keep that one to myself. Don't need to start a MPG environment debate with this thread.
I didn't document everything but I will do my best to show the process.
[...]
One more image of bringing her home nice and slow on the back roads. Didn't trust the lift or the transmission at this point. Just needed to get her home. Had a picture driving next to a smart car but decided to keep that one to myself. Don't need to start a MPG environment debate with this thread.
[...]
love the picures and can't wait to see more, and please do show the truck with smart car, you won't hurt any feelings (ok perhaps those who drive smart cars as we run our trucks) but hey we all enjoy these trucks.
We paid $2000 for the truck. Put the jeep on craigslist and got $1000 for what was left of it plus a set of 35x12.50 15 inch Cooper Discoverer Radial SST.
The Jeep
The Tires
Mounted the tires on the rims the truck came with 15x10 8x6.5 steel wagon wheels, truck was looking better and functioning better little by little.
We also had a grill guard and roll bar installed, it was a dune toy. Put them on for fun and looked cool at the time. Ultimately they found their way to other owners, but served us well for a little while.
The front leaf springs were first to get removed and replaced. We found a brand new set NOS superlift 4" front lift springs for the F350 for $120. Best thing was they were within 10 miles of our house. Here it is with new shocks and springs in the front.
The rear leaf springs were next. While searching Craigslist an add advertising 4" lift rear leafs and u-bolts from an offroad place 2 hours south of us. They were asking $200 for everything. A customer had ordered the kit for their truck and had not shown up to pick them up. They had them sitting in the back room for close to a year and needed them gone. So a roadtrip quickly materialized. No loss of load carrying/towing capacity with these springs. Great deal and bolted in. Heavy duty and a great price.
A trip up to the sand dunes was in order.
Have you ever known something but simply forgot? Yeah happened to me. I knew about a transmission issue with the truck, however I forgot. Forgot because we were having fun rebuilding the crappy work the second owner put into this truck. It was driving great, but it did have a transmission issue, and transfer case issue. To the tune of $1800 for a complete rebuild of both. So we limped home from the dunes with big repairs ahead of us.
Found a deal on a c6 and np205 combo for $180 from another local Ford guy. So in it went, I was working with limited funds so playing the waiting game became a necessity. Got custom made drive shafts from a local drive-line business. The front drive-shaft has a cv joint due to the multiple angles. Dana 60 in front with a NP205 does not a straight line make. I will get pictures when it gets warmer. It works great and have had no trouble with 4wd or u-joints. The NP205 is great and strong.
This truck had a reverse full manual shift body in the current c6 that was not really what we wanted. Good for some, not really for us. Sold it for $200.
Sold! $150 for the tore up c6 and transfer case, well what was left of them.
The old tires that came with the truck I put on Craigslist for $100 obo because only three were good. I was willing to take much less just to get them out of my garage. In the picture you can see a white x on one of the tires. That is a pretty good size hole patched from the inside. Some guy called and offered $120 if I would hold them for him. So I did, and surprise he didn't show up. However he called the next day and said $200 if I held them till the end of the week. So I did and he actually showed up. He must have really needed those tires, I wasn't going to argue. There is a first time for everything I guess.
Sold! $60 for an old set of rusty rims that came with the tires. The cooper tires came mounted on these rims. No use for them, put them on craigslist.
Sold! $100 for the old rear leaf springs, wanted whatever I could get, first guy to show up gave me the listing price.
Front springs were sold for $80 and front lift blocks were scrapped. Maybe some say front lift blocks can be done safely, I however will not be responsible for letting someone do it. Sorry, it wasn't safe on this truck and they are gone and will never be seen again.
All in all parted out the jeep and all the used parts from the truck for roughly $4500. (had a few more jeep parts I didn't show because this is FTE) It worked out to be a great deal with very little money out of our pockets in the end. Seemed stressful at the time but worked out in the end.
My youngest brother was a huge Ford truck fan. He didn't think it was a real truck unless it was a Ford. We would spend countless hours working on his truck or mine. There was nothing better than going for a ride in one of our trucks or working on them together.
Unfortunately for reasons unknown to many he took his own life this past fall. He was 21. In his memory I cannot do enough or say enough to ease the pain of losing him, but this thread is for him.
He loved and lived for trucks and off-roading, as well as tinkering with his vehicles. He helped on a few of the upgrades and projects we have done to my truck as well as countless repairs to his own vehicles in his short lifetime. So he is a big part of the memories we have during this process. It is just a truck but his legacy lives on with me and he would have thoroughly enjoyed this thread. This is for you Seth, you spent many hours on this site and would have loved to spend many more.
Sorry, just wanted to share a little bit of why I am diving into this endeavor. He thought it would be cool to do a thread like this. He loved our truck, and many of yours as well.
Here is his first vehicle. 245,000 miles $300. 4wd 300 6cyl, manual transmission. It wasn't a real truck unless it had 4wd, (in his mind).
And his second. He called it his Exploder. Had 200,000 miles but got him where he needed to go. $400 is what he paid but had it for a couple years before scrapping it. Looked better on the outside than in.
We found him a 1994 F250 4x4 with a 351 for $1400. It was a good truck but the front end started falling apart and he sold it before we got a chance to fix it. He was not one to have very good patience. Here is a picture of a truck similar to what he had. The only difference were the steel wagon wheels, and no front bumper.
His last vehicle was a 1994 F150 4x4 351 automatic with working air and 105.000 miles on it $1,200. Was a great truck other than a small transmission leak. He loved that truck. Here is one almost identical. It was totaled in an accident this last summer. Everyone was okay just an unfortunate set of circumstances.
So this thread is for him. He would have loved sitting here and reading through it. He spent many nights admiring trucks and build threads on this site. I found many trucks from FTE on his computer after his passing. Coming here and sharing keeps my connection with him alive and well.
It is good therapy.
Found a local guy who did ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, u-joints, and rear wheel seals for $300. We bought the parts, he did the work. Great deal for everyone and made a good friend. With the suspension and drive line sorted out we started to eliminate the rust underneath. The frame had signs of undercoating but was very solid. Looked pretty good other than a little surface rust but needed to be wire wheeled cleaned for some rust converter and fresh undercoating. Wish I had pictures of the before and after but was to busy getting it done. However here is proof my wife is great help.
Life is about knowing people and making connections. We knew a guy who did body work and paint jobs in his free time. So off I went to get a quote for the body work and paint. I thought it was going to be a little cost prohibitive to get the whole truck repainted. However the guy looked over the truck and said he would buy new front fenders, weld in new rear wheel arches, pull the four or five dents on the bedside, remove all moldings and badges, weld any holes for $1600. So the truck was getting new paint and body work done.
Before.
After.
You can see we also painted the wheels black. Rust-oleum hammered black looked good and was very durable.
We swapped out the chrome mirrors for some f150 mirrors. The chrome ones were pretty loose and not reusable. Liked the look of the black mirrors so on they went.
That's a nice looking truck is that silver lake in the pic
Silver Lake it is. Grew up spending lots of time on the sand dunes. It is a favorite place for both myself and my wife. Lots of great memories, lots of different vehicles taken in the sand.
Yeah been there a few times I love it too but no matter what I take every time I go and see those nice sand rails riding wheelies up test hill I want one
Are those newer style dodge cab lights on the truck in the pic after it was repainted?
Trav
Good eye. I did replace the stock lights with LED Sky Pods. They have a built in backup light as well. They installed pretty easily after the paint job. No leaks, come with a gasket. I used a little bit of silicone around the roof holes for a little added security.
Not a great picture but one of the few I have of the top of the truck.
First, we took the family out to a local tractor show. There was also a RC air show going on. We drove in the wrong entrance unknowingly and kind of became part of the show. Got a little bit of attention, another guy with a Deuce and a half decided to park next to us. Before we knew it there we too many people around our truck and his to get back out. It was a fun day.
I built a wagon for my son's first birthday. He gets a little attention when we take this out. He loves it. Here is his ride next to ours.
In the sand
Again another cool picture from the sand dunes at sunset.
Drive train, suspension, everything completed. On to some of the mods and upgrades we have made. We used the tires we obtained in the Jeep deal for a few years while saving up for some new bigger tires. We wanted something nice and wide for our trips to the sand dunes.
We found a tire that met our criteria. Mickey Thompson MTZ LT375/65R16 (36X15.50R16) load range D, on 16x12 MT Classic Baja Lock rims with 4.5 backspacing -50mm offset 3,250lb load capacity. Ordered the wheels from 4Wheel Parts buy 3 get the fourth free. Saved $500+ on the set of tires ordering through Amazon. They were delivered by freight on a semi truck, strapped to a pallet. Stopped a lot of traffic that day.
Took the tires to Belle Tire and had them mounted and balanced. Used beads to balance them. Works really well and have been pretty satisfied with the results. I had never heard of this technique before they offered it.
Here are the tires stuffed into my wife's minivan. Only fit three across.
After mount and balance back in the van.
The new tires sitting next to the old.
The center caps that came with the wheels had no chance of fitting on the Dana 60 or the Sterling.
Had to cut out the center of each. They were nice and finished out the wheels couldn't leave them off, I had to at least see how they looked on the wheels.
Before
After
It is a small difference but I think it finishes them off nicely.
02-17-2015, 10:29 AM
So the truck was getting new paint and body work done.
