Is it worth the effort?

[Pa Pa Jack]

A friend has a 92 F-350 he is willing to give me to do some brush hog work on his land. It has a 460ci engine and a 5 speed manual tranny. It has dual rears and a flat bed. I get conflicting info when I run the VIN. He inherited the truck when his father passed away, and does not use it at all. It runs and I drove it around a little and it seems OK except it needs a little TLC in the interior.

My questions are, I assume it will tow my Mahindra 3016 and implements, but what max weight will it handle? Is the motor reliable? It has 86,000 on it. Any ideas about mileage? The GVWR on the sticker says 10,000. But the only gross weight for the truck itself that I can find says 5400. Does that mean I can only tow 4600? this stuff makes no sense to me.


Thanks in advance.

PS- It's a four door also.

 

[Highbeam]

What's the effort? What is the trade worth from you which is essentially the purchase price.

5 speed, dually, big gas engine, crew cab. 2wd or 4wd?, low miles, it's actually a pretty desirable truck.

10,000 GVWR means the truck can weigh 10,000lbs on the wheels. If it weighs 5400 then it can carry 4600 lbs of cargo. That is good.

It will tow a good bit also but I have no idea what your tractor weighs. If it is a 30 HP tractor then the truck will tow it easily.

That 460 is Ford's big block. It will drink fuel.

 

[Diamondpilot]

460 is a good motor but drinks gas. 8mpg is about it.

The 10,000# rating is the GVWR. That is the most it can have on its axles. It does not matter what it is, fat girls, gravel, hitch pin weight, ect. So the truck itself has to weigh more than that 5,400# empty weight. That was before the flat bed, just the cab/chassis weighs 5,400#. My F-350 weighs 7,600# empty and my Nissan Titan weighs 5,840# empty. Both short bed, extended cab 4x4 with the F-350 being a diesel. Only weigh to know for sure what it weighs is to take it to the scales like I do with all my trucks. My guess is this truck you are looking at weighs about 7,000# leaving 3,000# for payload, ect.

Now for the tow rating. My towing guide book says its rated to tow 10,000# and has a 4.10 gear in the rear. It will tow what you want.:thumbsup:

Chris

 

[mooseracing]

I would jump on that deal, but I am a sucker for a project. I have a 94 F350 but with a diesel, CC LB puts me at ~7600 on the scales. I can tell you that I have run the 8ft bed full of rocks or manure, plus my trailer with about 8K on it. Not speeding up hills loaded like that but it's cheap and reliable.

With the right hitch setup and trailer you should be able to pull any tractor under 15K lbs.

 

[tcartwri]

460's can use a stunning amount of fuel. They are not particularly strong either.

 

[HHR]

I have a 91 F350 with the 460 and an automatic. I got 11.6 mpg on a round trip to go get an IH 354 with a 2800 pound trailer.

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

I just talked to my friend, and the truck is TWD. I have agreed to clear his old pasture. It is about 18 acres, but it has been neglected for about 5 years. There is a lot of sweetgum growing and I am going to have to cut it as most of it is about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. I don't think my bush hog will handle it.

 

[clemsonfor]

460 is a good motor but drinks gas. 8mpg is about it.

The 10,000# rating is the GVWR. That is the most it can have on its axles. It does not matter what it is, fat girls, gravel, hitch pin weight, ect. So the truck itself has to weigh more than that 5,400# empty weight. That was before the flat bed, just the cab/chassis weighs 5,400#. My F-350 weighs 7,600# empty and my Nissan Titan weighs 5,840# empty. Both short bed, extended cab 4x4 with the F-350 being a diesel. Only weigh to know for sure what it weighs is to take it to the scales like I do with all my trucks. My guess is this truck you are looking at weighs about 7,000# leaving 3,000# for payload, ect.

Now for the tow rating. My towing guide book says its rated to tow 10,000# and has a 4.10 gear in the rear. It will tow what you want.:thumbsup:

Chris

This could have been a regular bed pickup converted to flat bed? Also your trucks that weight 7000+ lbs are new, my guess is that this is around the 20 yr old mark. Those as we have discussed were not as heavy.

 

[clemsonfor]

I just talked to my friend, and the truck is TWD. I have agreed to clear his old pasture. It is about 18 acres, but it has been neglected for about 5 years. There is a lot of sweetgum growing and I am going to have to cut it as most of it is about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. I don't think my bush hog will handle it.

Good decision, especially if you need a tow vehicle. I would too use a chainsaw on the big stuff. It cuts way down on the wear on your equiptment. Also i have driven over 2" stuff so i thought, that turned out to be 3-4"s after i look back!!! I have a light duty 4ft cutter, that big stuff really dents up my deck also! I cut all the stuff by hand thats to big, a job better left for the winter than these 100 degreee days. You can cut it all but the big stuff or drive around it and still do 90% of the job maybe and take the truck as payment under the agreement that you will come back when it cools off to do the manual labor.

 

[Beltzington]

Are the newer models EFI? My Dad owned a much older carbureted F250 with the 460 and it got absolutely horribly mileage pulling their RV, usually less than 5MPG. Not something I would want to use for x-county but for local hauls gas becomes a much smaller consideration in the total cost.