Hello,

I haven't been on here since I was looking for answers with a 7.3 F250 a few years back. I've driven a truck for a living for a long time. The boss has decided to buy a customer's 1987 L9000 single-axle daycab. I haven't driven one of these old Louisvilles in years. Until I took this one for a spin today. Last one I drove was an Aeromax tandem daycab (1994 model, I think), that I ran daily for 5 years. But that was a long time ago.

A few questions for those of you who have more experience than I have with the Louisvilles:

1). There is a lever on the right side of the steering column. Round ****, pulls down and up. I thought it might be a tilt steering lever, but it doesn't seem to be that. I didn't have a lot of time to look today and see what it went to. The Aeromax I drove had a tilt lever on the other side. What the heck is it?

2). Cummins power. What engine options were available that year? I didn't have much time to spend with it, just a little while this afternoon, and put less than 20 miles on it, and only half of that pulling a trailer. It's pretty weak, so what smaller Cummins engines were put in them that year?

3). This one doesn't have intermittent wipers. A friend of mine restored his mother's 1964 Impala SS that his dad bought new, and brought it by to show me last weekend. The car didn't come with intermittent wipers, but he added a new switch that looks factory on the outside, but has the intermittent feature. Is that something that could be done to this old Ford?

4). Is there a good source for aftermarket parts for this 30-year-old? Or manuals? We have a great Ford/Sterling/Western Star dealer here in Greensboro, NC (Piedmont Ford), that I'm sure will be an asset in the future.

This truck won't be put into daily service, but will still be used fairly regularly. I haven't had much time to mess with it and look it over. Seems like a pretty solid truck, even with the 794K miles it has. A little play in the steering, and a worn out seat, and some other little things that need to be fixed. Exterior looks great. For $3500, I guess he did ok.

I look forward to any tips and info you kind folks can provide. Thanks so much.

 

The lever on the right side of the column is the “Johnson bar” or the lever that applies the trailer brakes without applying the tractor brakes.

The engine will be an 855 Cummins. It’s either a NH230 or an NTC350. Being a single axle I’d guess it’s the NH230. So, 230 horsepower.

I’d venture a guess that the windshield wipers are air powered. Turn the **** to the right the faster the wipers wipe.

 

Some had two speed electric wipers like my 86 L8000 but my 88 L8000 had air air powered.

 

I appreciate the responses. I should have taken some photos to show the lever. The lever I was talking about isn't the trailer brake hand valve. This one is mounted toward the bottom of the steering column and pulls toward you and down. (Like a slot machine lever).

Wipers aren't air-powered on this one; they're electric. Just low, high and off. I've used air wipers before. These are definitely electric.

Thanks for the engine info. It's pretty weak, so the NH230 sounds about right. I noticed it's geared pretty low, too. 65 mph it was turning about 2250!

Thanks again for the responses. Most appreciated.

 

1980/89: Intermittent wipers not offered for F or L series trucks, CF600/800 only.

 

Thanks for the info. Would it be possible to add an aftermarket switch that would delay the wipers, like my friend did with his '64 Impala?

 

Maybe, but who makes the switch?

 

That would be the question. Surely it's possible. I dunno.

 

Not sure how the plug ins work on the switch. But the F series & bronco in 78/79 used plug in delay switch to get intermittent wipers. Find one in the junk yard & see if it works.

 

Thanks for the tip. I may just do that. Just to see what happens. Need to pull it out and see what the plug looks like and if I can find something to match.

 

If I remember right Louisville has a turn to the right **** type of switch. The interment type switch turns to the left for the delay and right to normal low & high.

 

May be. I'll have to do some checking and figure it out. I'll post some pictures of the old girl tomorrow.

 

Been looking up engines. It's NOT an NH-230. I don't know my Cummins engines as well as some. From what I read, the NH-230 was naturally aspirated, and this one has a turbo. NTC 350? I dunno.

 

L10 or a C series?

 

After going through some of my own personal sales literature, it appears that most likely it's an L-10 (Hell-10 as they were often called). Makes the most sense from what I've been looking at.