Hello FTE! This will be my introduction/build thread. I recently sold my 2007 F250 5.4 4x4 to pay off some bills and begin a new chapter. After searching for a while I found a 1987 F250 4x4 4 speed. The original owner had passed away in 2016 and the truck was auctioned in August 2016 I believe. Well after 4 months, I bought the truck in December 2016. I drove the truck straight home on a 2.5 hour drive with no issues! Well except for the brights kept clicking on and off and I had no clue why!?! Hey, I’m only 30 and I was unaware of where the bright switch was, apparently, I was stepping on it the whole drive home. So once I got home I found a pack of papers under the bench seat, no is wasn’t a wad of cash, it was every receipt for maintenance on the truck from 1991 till 2015. From what I gather, the original owner had dropped the truck off at the same mechanic for 30 years every May and said “Fix what needs to be done”. So I feel pretty lucky! Ok enough rambling….here she is…

 

Welcome to the '87-'96 forum!

Looks just like my truck, except the rear bumper.

What engine do you have?

 

The motor is a 4.9 inline 6 300....EFI. I had some trouble with identifying the transmission but after some research I have the NP435 4 speed. Its a lot of fun and I've learned to drive it the way the owners manual recommends......which helps a lot!

 

I’ve done quite a few things to the truck since I bought it, I’ll try to upload some pictures of my progress in order so far.
I decided to perform a quick maintenance on the truck, starting with the spark plugs, oil change w/filter, transfer case oil change, tranny oil change, fuel filter, and air filter. I ran into a some issue with the transfer case and which lubricant to use? It’s a BorgWarner 1356 and was told mercon atf? But the drain plug was stripped so I post-poned that for another time, same issue with the NP435 and which lubricant to use for that as well? Any suggestions would be great.
Picked up some gray paint for the wheels and pulled them off for sanding, cleaning, and paint. Same with the dog dish bowl hubs, cleaned them with metal polish and threw them back on.
Before

During

End product

I also started buffing and polishing the truck and ordered F250 emblems and a 4x4 emblem that’s currently missing. Here is a before and after of the compound polish job
Before

After-I’m pleased with the results

I've done quite a bit more, I'll upload them when I get a chance.

 

.looking good!


yes, the 1356 takes ATF, (I use the synthetic Mercon V)
The four speed gearboxes use an API/gl4 gear oil that would depend on your average temperature.
Too thick in bitter cold and the synchros drag a lot.
EP additives in GL5 can be corrosive to brass.

 

Looks like a good solid truck, got any big plans for it?

 

Thank you! Well I'm not really sure how "big" these plans are when compared to other peoples. But I will say that I don't mind a little hard work. I could scrub this whole truck over with a toothbrush and find it therapeutic So as long as I have something to tinker with or fiddle around on, I'm gonna do it! But I guess we will see. I love the look of an old truck even a lifted one. But I cant really do the lifted truck scene anymore, maybe a small leveling kit. I just sold my last truck that I loved but the lift was annoying.


Another thing a while back I wanted to clean up the headlights. Now I don't know how long term this is but I sanded the headlights and taillights with 400 grit wet and 1500 grit wet to remove old oxidation. Then shot some Rustoleum automotive clear coat over the lenses. Take a look at the picture...I think it helped some.

I forgot to take a picture of the other one done but you get the idea

 

Thanks for the reply, i'll keep this in mind when I attempt round two on the case and tranny. I appreciate it!

 

Looking good. I still have my '87 I ordered new.

 

Welcome, and great looking truck!
I had a good chuckle about the floor mounted high beam switch. I'm about the same age and did the same thing in my first car, a '73 impala.
Here is a site I wish somebody would have pointed me to long ago for TSBs and great info on updates and lube specs.
1987 F250 Technical Service Bulletins
It works for most vehicles, select a system and go!

 

Well I hope to keep this truck many years! What motor is in your truck?

I just pinned that site you gave me to favorites, much appreciated! What about you, do you have the 4.9 or owned one before? Any common issues with yours or things to watch for?

 

So I ran into my first real problem about 3 weeks ago. I noticed when driving my truck it would cut out and die while driving. I decided to look over the engine bay for any wiring problems and came across the ignition coil that is mounted on the driverside of the engine. I noticed one little wire hanging off of the coil and didn't know where it went, well after a couple of wiring diagrams I figured out its supposed to be wired into this (generic image)



I guess its a radio capacitor? To help with radio interference? I'm not 100% sure, but once I hooked this wire back up between the ignition coil and capacitor, BAM, no more problem!

Part of me doesn't believe that had anything to do with it stalling, but after fixing this single wire that is related to the ignition(ithink) I haven't seen any issues since. So just a thought for others looking for this solution. Oh and my radio seemed to have less interference too.

 

My daily driver is a 94 f150 with the 4.9L but the M5OD trans. Only 82k miles on the 22 year old rig but no engine issues really.
When I got the truck it had a CEL for the EGR not opening and it had overheated on the PO. They took it to a indie shop who replaced water pump and thermostat and it kept overheating. For some reason they didn't flush the cooling system, just topped it off. After I got it, a good flush with some "solder seal" flush additive (NOT a stop leak) and new coolant it was much better. Replacing the rad hoses and spark plugs helped too, no more overheating at all but I do have a tiny rad leak where the plastic is crimped on.
The check engine light took a bit more troubleshooting. There are many guides around on checking OBD-1 codes with a paper clip. Mine was due to a vacuum leak but before I went crazy on a bunch of rubber hoses, I read my "soup can" steel vacuum reserve canister was prone to rusting from the inside out. It looked fine from the top, just a hint of surface rust, but on the lowest end it had rust pinholes. I managed to salvage the check valve portion of the old can and used it with some 3" PVC and caps to make a rustproof replacement. My check engine light went away on the first start.


Bottom Side of vac can after light wire brush

Rust is really the biggest issues I have. The rear leaf spring shackle/hangers are prone to rusting out completely/breaking off and aren't fun to change, not sure if the f250 is as bad.


Driver side let go.



Passenger side was thinking about it.

The brake lines/fittings like to rust and blow out too.
From all I have read (a lot) and experienced with the 4.9l it's nearly bulletproof and should serve you well if maintained. I read somewhere these engines like old fashioned oil with zinc because of the flat tappet valves, I use Shell Rotella T5 10w30. Timing gears (some older ones were even metal), and non-interference valves make it hard to kill, not to mention the Ford I-6 design goes waaaay back so it's a polished design. If you haven't stumbled across https://fordsix.com/ check it out. I love mine, I wish they still made them!
Best wishes,
Zoidberg
Edit: Not sure about the capacitor, my radio kept saying TAPE even though it was only AM/FM so it was replaced with a $20 amp from Amazon so I could use my phone for music. It has no interference, lol.

 

Zoidberg,

Well I am fortunate enough to have gotten a truck that was decently cared for. I don't things there is much chassis rust other than surface. Same goes for the body as well. I'm actually in the works of reserving the patina that I have. Also I was told too that there are two things that survive a nuclear explosion, cockroaches and ford inline 6's. Bulletproof is what I've heard, even from chevy guys.

After some thought, I decided to take care of the back bumper. Part of me loves the old look of the truck, but at the same time I hate rust. So here's a picture of the white bumper



I started to sand down the bumper with 40 grit by hand and realized really quick that this was no ordinary paint coating. So with a carbon disc on a 4'' grinder, I began "chipping" away at the old white paint. I'm pretty confident it was some sort of epoxy coating.



Now I really can't remember what all I did but basically I wanted to polish the bumper by hand. I know I started with a course grit and through time I got to about 2000 grit on the bumper.







After many attempts and polishing, the bumper did not look the way I wanted. I've polished many stuff, but the bumper just didn't come out right at all. I don't have a picture of my finished polishing, so I used an 80 grit flap disc and went back down to 80 grit finish, and prepared it for paint. Pictures will be coming soon Also I only have one hole for a license plate light, i'm currently in search of a pair of nice round white LED ones to install on both sides. Till then, no plate lights for me

 

So just a picture really quick, here's is the finished bumper. It came out smooth and I'm pleased. I haven't washed the truck in 2 weeks so the bumper is dirty. Other than that it looks good.