What's it worth?

 

It's so pretty!
Shiny sells.
I don't like that haphazard wiring, and I'm not fond of that engine, but it sure is pretty.
Missing the A.I.R. pump . . . has the EGR been removed, too? That could get you into pinging territory.

 

I'm not super familiar with what should and shouldn't be on the 370. I never take enough pictures. He's asking 6k.

 

Valve cover sticker says "EGR/AIR" and there's an empty accessory bracket on the right side where the A.I.R. pump would likely have been, so no air pumped to the exhaust to passively burn off extra fuel, esp. during decel. AIR was a cheap, low-downside way of cleaning up unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust without having to resort to expensive catalytic converters and precise fuel control (ie fuel injection, mainly). It looked ugly because of the belt-driven air pump -- that used almost no HP -- and generally a lot of plumbing to route the air to each exhaust port (on the later models), so people removed it and all the plumbing a lot of the time, thinking they'd get better something -- fuel economy, power, something -- but none of that would happen. A good system, just ugly.

EGR dilutes the intake with exhaust, which reduces peak combustion pressure and therefore reduces NOx emissions. The engine will be tuned to operate that way, and if you just disable EGR it'll typically ping due to the over-advanced timing curve that is supposed to match the EGR conditions. EGR definitely costs (part throttle) power, and after the engine gets tired and starts having dirtier exhaust with oil residue, that starts to gunk up the intake too. It was a stopgap for NOx reduction until better tech came along a couple decades later, mainly 3-way cats.

You can disable the EGR but you often have to either re-curve the mechanical distributor advance or just retard the base timing to prevent pinging and/or detonation. It was a common thing back in the day. It's a compromise no matter what you do.

IDK, that real dump bed, good appearance, and Dayton style wheels . . . I don't think $6k is unreasonable. Depends on your local market, of course.

I gave $2700 for a '73 F600 with a hoist (not a real dump bed like yours) and I regret it, as my spreadsheet on it is now well over $6k and I'm still not driving it. I'd much rather have started with something like yours.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable either. A little more than I wanted to spend. But it's local and it appears to be a solid truck. Cab looks solid. Need to start it and drive it. Wheels look like one piece wheels.
TIres all look good.

 

Welcome to FTE!

F70 = F700 gas

A = 370 2V gas V8

V = Kentucky Truck Plant

DH0599 = 1979 numerical series, probably late '78 production.

158 = 158 inch wheelbase

M = White

F704 = F700 gas, 24,000 lbs GVWR

4A8
4 = Usually black vinyl. I don't have a decoder ring for '79
8 = Standard cab, cab and chassis vehicle

M = Clark model 285V five speed direct transmission

E3M
E3 = Eaton model 16244 two speed rear axle, 17,500 lbs capacity, 6.50 / 9.04 ratios
M = Ford 7,000 lb capacity front axle with power steering

24000 = 24,000 lbs GVWR

87 = Body Company. Almost certainly sold to whoever put that dump body on it, who in turn sold it to someone else. Probably.

A very good basic truck. 5 & 2 will make the 370 pull that 24,000 lbs. Slow, but it will work.

Condition looks great.

In addition to the AIR system mentioned above, it also appears the EVAP system is all disconnected. That could mean fuel fumes in the engine compartment, or a vacuum leak, or something else. A review of the fuel take venting might be a good idea.

The front wheels are 22.5 tubeless, but the back are 20s.

A dump body is great for gravel etc but limits what you can easily do with the truck. A dump bed like @asavage has is more versitile. My dad the 14' bed and several sets of side racks for various items from gravel to strawberries.

 

I'm mainly purchasing to haul scrap from the farm and the haul slag/gravel, etc back to the farm. Certainly won't be high usage.

 

Did you pass on that '73?

 

I'm on the fence. This one is certainly a nicer truck. but 3k more. The welded dump pivot was a bit of a concern.
The excess amount of silicon/gasket material on the intake was also a concern.

 

The old test drive, test shift, test brake, test start and test dump will tell the tale.

On the '73 that hoist does look a little scary and I'd like to inspect that more closely as the weld doesn't look right. Plus the rust.

The intake is always hard to seal at the ends. The recommended method is a bead of sealer on the ends--no gasket.

That '73 also has a governor setup on the distributor and a tach drive. But no governor on the carb, so......

Your brake drum situation will be easier to deal with on the '79 because of the Dayton style wheel. Chances are you'll never need them but.....

 

I appreciate the input. I'm leaning toward the f700, even at the higher price. As @asavage said, he is 6k into a 73 and hasn't driven it yet.

 

Well, I did drive it 90 mi. home, but it was scary and my To-Do list grew a lot on that trip. I haven't moved it since, just been fixing things as the weather allows. I will really need it later this summer, so I haven't been at it hammer and tongs, I've had higher-priority stuff to deal with . . . but, yeah, I regret buying this particular tool. It's my own fault.

 

The joys of 50 year old vehicle ownership..

 

Forgive my ignorance, what is the toggle switch under the wiper **** for?

 

IDK; I can't see it from here.