Post by jstas on May 13, 2021 8:02:44 GMT -5
So a couple months ago, I was bitching on Facebook about how the used truck market here is a total shitshow. I need a truck to haul big/heavy things and was, at one point, looking at an old Ford C600 COE with no engine and no utility body on it, just a rolling chassis and cab. I was gonna get that for the $4K they were asking for it and get it serviceable enough to get a Ford 7.3L "Godzilla" crate engine to shoe horn in. It was going to get a stake body from a local place up the street that said they could put one on for about $6K. So that was my "best option" for a "beater truck". I would have rather had the previous generation of the COE because they were lighter and looked like the popular 48-51 Ford F100. But I was going with what I could get.
The one I was looking at looked like this but needed new tires and the cab was bluish-gray:
So just as I was getting ready to pull the trigger after getting a reluctant OK from Jackie, Antny (amulford from the Polk boards) hits me up and says to call him, he's got something for me.
So I call him and he tells me about this beastly F250, extended cab, long bed he has. 2WD. Needs help but functional and worth the effort. So I asked what's wrong with it. He tells me it needs new brake lines. I was like, ugh, dude, which ones, soft or hard? He asks me to clarify what I mean and then he says "Oh, hard ones. For sure." Alright. If those are bad everything else is bad too. So I looked what it would cost to replace it. It's like $500 in parts for everything, soup to nuts, on the hydraulic side with new master cylinder, new hard lines, new calipers and wheel cylinders.
The truck also has some pretty bad body cancer on the driver's side. Needs the floor, rocker panel, sill and lower cab walls replaced. That's a lot of work too. The 351W also needs a new carburetor.
So I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said "Nuthin'. You take it, you fix it, you use it. If you end up not needing it anymore either give it back to me or sell it to someone who needs it or whatever." I was like, you don't want anything for it? At all? He said no. It's sitting here rotting, I'm not using it, I know you're gonna use it. So take it, you just gotta get it out of here. I told him I didn't feel right not giving him anything for it 'cause I need to insure it and it needs to be registered in my name so you'll have to sign the title over to me to do that 'cause I don't want a problem coming back to him if something happens with it. He told me he was fully intending to do that.
So I got a tow company and got the truck moved here last weekend. It's pretty beat up but fixable. So I started researching it and found out that this isn't a regular F250. In '83 you didn't buy a truck and tack on packages with a bunch of shit you didn't need. You got an options list and you checked what you wanted. Certain spec configurations would net you something special. Well this isn't a run-of-the-mil 3/4 ton F250 with a 6600 pound GVW.
This is an F250 HD with the 8800 pound GVW. That's just the GVW class, the truck is actually rated to a GVW of 9450 pounds of payload and should be able to yank a 10K pound trailer. I'll know for sure when I clean off the axle tag and get the gear ratio off of it. It's pretty much a commercial chassis with a pickup truck body on it. If I had the work done that I need done on it, it'd probably cost about $7500, at least. But it's work I can do myself so I just gotta get at 'er.
So Antny just gave me this truck to help me out. Of course I got a boat load of work to do on it and I need another project like I need a hole in my head but it's worth it. Especially since I can get many of the parts I need from LMC Truck and Rock Auto for cheap. It had a ladder rack on it too but it's not a cheap one from, like, JC Whintey (remember them?) it's a custom built one from 2 inch square tubing, 10 feet long and will hold like 5,000 pounds. So I can go and get 10-16 foot lengths of lumber...when I don't have to take out a second mortgage to get what I need...and I can haul it home myself and save $100-$200 in delivery fees.
I'm gonna fix it, get it serviceable again and slowly pick away at restoring it. Not going to be a show winner but with a 351W and a BW T18 Ford "Toploader", or, rather the heavy duty truck version of the BW T10 "Toploader" and what looks to be a Dana 60 rear axle it's a pretty stout power train in a very capable chassis.
The one I was looking at looked like this but needed new tires and the cab was bluish-gray:
So just as I was getting ready to pull the trigger after getting a reluctant OK from Jackie, Antny (amulford from the Polk boards) hits me up and says to call him, he's got something for me.
So I call him and he tells me about this beastly F250, extended cab, long bed he has. 2WD. Needs help but functional and worth the effort. So I asked what's wrong with it. He tells me it needs new brake lines. I was like, ugh, dude, which ones, soft or hard? He asks me to clarify what I mean and then he says "Oh, hard ones. For sure." Alright. If those are bad everything else is bad too. So I looked what it would cost to replace it. It's like $500 in parts for everything, soup to nuts, on the hydraulic side with new master cylinder, new hard lines, new calipers and wheel cylinders.
The truck also has some pretty bad body cancer on the driver's side. Needs the floor, rocker panel, sill and lower cab walls replaced. That's a lot of work too. The 351W also needs a new carburetor.
So I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said "Nuthin'. You take it, you fix it, you use it. If you end up not needing it anymore either give it back to me or sell it to someone who needs it or whatever." I was like, you don't want anything for it? At all? He said no. It's sitting here rotting, I'm not using it, I know you're gonna use it. So take it, you just gotta get it out of here. I told him I didn't feel right not giving him anything for it 'cause I need to insure it and it needs to be registered in my name so you'll have to sign the title over to me to do that 'cause I don't want a problem coming back to him if something happens with it. He told me he was fully intending to do that.
So I got a tow company and got the truck moved here last weekend. It's pretty beat up but fixable. So I started researching it and found out that this isn't a regular F250. In '83 you didn't buy a truck and tack on packages with a bunch of shit you didn't need. You got an options list and you checked what you wanted. Certain spec configurations would net you something special. Well this isn't a run-of-the-mil 3/4 ton F250 with a 6600 pound GVW.
This is an F250 HD with the 8800 pound GVW. That's just the GVW class, the truck is actually rated to a GVW of 9450 pounds of payload and should be able to yank a 10K pound trailer. I'll know for sure when I clean off the axle tag and get the gear ratio off of it. It's pretty much a commercial chassis with a pickup truck body on it. If I had the work done that I need done on it, it'd probably cost about $7500, at least. But it's work I can do myself so I just gotta get at 'er.
So Antny just gave me this truck to help me out. Of course I got a boat load of work to do on it and I need another project like I need a hole in my head but it's worth it. Especially since I can get many of the parts I need from LMC Truck and Rock Auto for cheap. It had a ladder rack on it too but it's not a cheap one from, like, JC Whintey (remember them?) it's a custom built one from 2 inch square tubing, 10 feet long and will hold like 5,000 pounds. So I can go and get 10-16 foot lengths of lumber...when I don't have to take out a second mortgage to get what I need...and I can haul it home myself and save $100-$200 in delivery fees.
I'm gonna fix it, get it serviceable again and slowly pick away at restoring it. Not going to be a show winner but with a 351W and a BW T18 Ford "Toploader", or, rather the heavy duty truck version of the BW T10 "Toploader" and what looks to be a Dana 60 rear axle it's a pretty stout power train in a very capable chassis.