Old Trucks are Tough

[farmboy12]

As some of you know, i have an '85 S10 run off road as a farm truck. No plates. It has what I believe to be about 130k miles on it. It's drivetrain is the 2.8l V6 with a 5 speed and 4x4.

Well, I did lots of towing with it yesterday, and it made me realize what all I've put this truck through. Remember, I've had it for a few years. It is all stock, with regular tires on it. I decided I'd list some things of done with this thing and hope some of you may want to chime in, and maybe list some things you've put your trucks through.

Lets start with the basics, lots of burnouts and donuts in the dirt. Lots of mud riding and riding in 2.5' creeks.

Pulled out many stuck things. A 2005 Tundra stuck in 6" of some slick stuff. The JD 455 mower with 1.2k behind it out of 4" mud that I was in myself while pulling. And the AC with the plow out of at least 2' of messy mud in a freshly plowed field.

Pulled many trees and junk out of the woods. By chain on the bumper. As well as climbed over downed trees just for fun.

Plenty of snow action.

And definitely the towing. I do not have a mounted reciever on my truck. just a put together attached to the bumper that sticks out behind it a good 5". This weekend I hauled 6 loads of compost. 2500lbs a load, and we unloaded by shovel from the back. So the tongue weight only got heaver, the guys also liked to stand on the tongue lol. I pulled this load up to 45mph in the field. And i did it through mud. I also moved the Sundowner(?) 2 horse trailer with dressing room. All this along with numerous smaller loads driven rough.

This truck has rust throughs in many places, and I am really surprised the bumper didn't fall off this weekend. I would never do this hauling on the road with this truck or from the bumper, but it still shows that even this rusted through truck is super tough.I can go into some other trucks we run, but thats for another day.

So does anyone else have anything they've done with their old truck that make for good stories and conversation?


Kyle

 

[RobertN]

I had a similar truck, back in '87 or '88, for a couple years.

The one thing that impressed me, was it handled weight very well. I used a similar year Toyota; I could easily out haul my bosses Toyota with my S10. The rear suspesion seemed pretty good. Mine was a long bed; it hauled really well. Even the 2.8l did ok.

 

[ultrarunner]

I liked my 91 S10 long wheel base and 4.3 V6 for the most part... it had a great ride and did everything I asked of it.

Two things that drove me nuts where electrical gremlins that popped-up... mostly in the cluster dash gauges... got to the point that I installed a mechanical temp gauge just to be safe.

The other thing is the best I could get was around 17mpg... I also have a 91 Silverado with a 5.7 V8 and it would get better mileage than the S-10... one was throttle body injection and the other port injection.

 

[WVBill]

I had a 60's F150 when I was stationed at Whidbey Island in the early '70s.
I was doing some landscaping and needed a yard of drain rock for a french drain.

So I went to the quarry with my F150 and told the yard man I needed a yard of rock, knowing I could easily fit a 36" square cube of something in the bed of the truck.

The guy looked at me and said "OK, son - pull around back and Jim will load you up." I did, and "Jim" came out with his front end loader full of drain rock and proceeded to fill up my truck bed - slamming the frame down all the way to the rubber bumpers sitting tight on the rear axle.

That little old F-150 was straining - good thing it was less than a mile to home... :laughing:

 

[JDgreen227]

I had a 60's F150 when I was stationed at Whidbey Island in the early '70s.
I was doing some landscaping and needed a yard of drain rock for a french drain.

So I went to the quarry with my F150 and told the yard man I needed a yard of rock, knowing I could easily fit a 36" square cube of something in the bed of the truck.

The guy looked at me and said "OK, son - pull around back and Jim will load you up." I did, and "Jim" came out with his front end loader full of drain rock and proceeded to fill up my truck bed - slamming the frame down all the way to the rubber bumpers sitting tight on the rear axle.

That little old F-150 was straining - good thing it was less than a mile to home... :laughing:

I could be wrong here, but a good friend of mine had a '75 F150 and that was the very first year Ford actually produced a model labeled as such. I don't think they ever produced an F150 prior to that.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

One of these would make a good off road truck:

MC151

 

[Taylortractornut]

When I was 12 Dad was spreading topping on the HWY 25 bypass. Dad brought home an 83/4 S10 with a 2.8 and 4 speed. It wasnt a pretty truck and had a few thousand miles on it and a red fender on it and alot of primer. It was blue for te most part. It had the standard tires on it. Dad bought it for 1200 for a spare truck. I had learnt to drive on an old AC tractor. Pops had me driving the little truck on all the back roads till i got good at driving. When I was 15 I got my permit and lisence and dad let me have it for my first beater car. My brother in the winter when dirt moving was slow he built street rods and mini trucks. One of his buddies had a large wrecking yard with several S10s with ground effects and such. I got a spoiler, Cab extender, sunvisor, and ground effects and We also added a nice set of wheels and a Bahama blue paint job. I put a million miles on it lol . Drove it all through HS and 2 years of college and a few years after. I got a work truck my last year of S I bought an 85 3500 Chevy 4 door ton with a service bed. I loved that truck 18 and had my own crew cab work truck.


I still own it and the OLD S 10 I crank them occasionally and go through the gears. I keep them thinking when I have kids they my want them.

 

[amazincaucasian]

'94 B3000 Mazda 4x4 with 31 10.50 Buckshot mudders
Since I bought it 6 years ago here's some things we've done:
-Roped a Limosine bull (very full grown) out of the bed and pulled him into a stock trailer.
-Drove through my pond to see if it would make it
-Winched a Powerstroke Ford out of the same pond that didn't make it. But in all the excitement the front bumper was tore off, so I had to make a "custom" bumper out of water pipe
-Pulled an 18' fuel trailer with diesel on the farm
-Yanked lots of trees off the road during the icestorm till we broke my good tow strap
-Pulled people out of the ditches every time it snows or ices
-Broke a horse to lead with it........ This wasn't a good idea
-Tied a horse I was shoeing to my "custom" tailgate........ This wasn't a good idea
-Hauled a miniature donkey home with it last week in the cab.......This wasn't a good idea
-Pulled lots of corner posts out and stretched wire too
-Pulled skiers and kneeboarders in the snow
-Hit a deer
-It always gets elected to boost whatever vehicle or tractor won't start
-Had the front tires 3 feet off the ground many times
And I've done all the repairs myself and I'm not a very good mechanic

 

[WVBill]

I could be wrong here, but a good friend of mine had a '75 F150 and that was the very first year Ford actually produced a model labeled as such. I don't think they ever produced an F150 prior to that.

You're probably right. It was the early '70s and the truck was at least 10 years old and a Ford. So was probably an F100.

 

[dgl24087]

I could be wrong here, but a good friend of mine had a '75 F150 and that was the very first year Ford actually produced a model labeled as such. I don't think they ever produced an F150 prior to that.

That's correct. In the 1975 model year, the F100's GVW (under 6000 Lbs.) required the use of a catalytic convertor and unleaded fuel. The F150's GVW (6050-6500 Lbs) allowed the use of regular gasoline.