Junkie truck for plowing?

[Conservation]

I just saw an 87 Chevy 2500 with a diesel and a plow. Body and seat are rough. Plow is a good sized myer fiberglass. Pretty big. Reverse is out of the trans. Plow is in decent shape. Tires decent. Transfer case works.
Guy wants $1000. Don't know what I could find a trans for that in a bone yard for. Could be good out at our property. If the truck died, or didn't work out, maybe I could adapt it to my newer truck or even the tractor.
More trouble than it is worth? Just what I need is another piece of equipment to maintain.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would buy it in a heart beat, no pun intended. Really though, a plow that works is worth the price of admission. If anything strip it of what is good like the plow, axles, engine, tires, ect and junk it.

As for the tranny I am betting its a common item like a Turbo 350 or 400. Those engines were not too powerful and did not really need much behind them.

Chris

 

[Conservation]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Heck, I could pick up a th400 cheap I think. If the truck dies, I still have the plow.

 

[MarkV]

For what it is worth I have a 88 C30 stake bed diesel and it runs the 400 tranny.

MarkV

 

[Diamondpilot]

One last thing I was thinking about last night is check the frame. These years, especially plow trucks, have a tendency to have rotten frames that at best would make them only safe to use on your own property.

Chris

 

[LD1]

No reverse on the 400's is pretty common. I could be as simple as a band is out of adjustment.

It's simple to diagnose. The Low and Reverse share the same band. When you shift the truck into D, it uses clutches and steels. When you shift into low range it also adds the band. This is for extra grip so you don't fry the clutches in L and it also provides engine breaking as the steels and clutches used in D are coupled to an overrunning clutch with no enging breaking.

Just take the truck down the road to about 20mph in L and let off the gass. If it coasts like you are in drive, then you have a problem with the band (maybe just out of adjustment) or a problem with the actuator. If it engine breaks like it should, then the promlem is in reverse only.

It the problem is in reverse only, It is more than likley something with the linkage or valve body like a stuck valve. I'd bet that none of the hard componets (gears, drums, etc) are damaged. If something major was broke, auto are extremly efficcient at taking themselves apart.

Just try the engine breaking in L and let us know what it does.

 

[Renze]

It the problem is in reverse only, It is more than likley something with the linkage or valve body like a stuck valve. I'd bet that none of the hard componets (gears, drums, etc) are damaged.

...Stuck valve... that reminds me of two weeks ago, when my brother asked me to help get his 1965 Zetor 2011 running, he needed it to do some landscape contracting in a small garden where his other tractors are too big.

The starter wound but no smoke. Throttle levers and rods worked. Then i took the inspection panel off the fuel pump governor and saw just rust...
We topped it off with a teacup of oil, fiddled with the rack into fuel position and started the engine. I had to push the rod back to prevent the engine to over rev, so i yanked it back and forth while the centrifugal weights sprayed dirty red oil over it. When it was keeping a stable idle, i drained the rust brown oil, put some new in it and voila: a dollar worth of oil fixed it !!


Sometimes you can get junk back to perfect working condition by doing the regular maintenance it didnt get for the last 7 years...

Start looking for adjustments and proper oil, before blowing money on a spare trans, i'd say

 

[crashz]

Old plow trucks can be a bit of a headache. Getting back that far in the years yeilds frame, cab and fluid line (ie brake and fuel) problems. Doesn't really matter what brand. I looked at a 1991 F350 Dump with only 42K miles this past weekend. While climding under it with a creeper, I grasped the frame rail and put my fingers right through it. Inspection over.

For work on your land, maybe body rot isn't too important. Or if you need to ocassionally run it on the road, you could patch it up. But make sure the frame is in decent shape and plan on replacing the brake lines at least.

BTW - I'm one of probably 3 people left on earth that still appreciates the old 6.2L diesel. Mostly sentimental reasons really. Some run forever with barely any maintenance. Others are constant problems.

 

[Conservation]

Great input guys. I'm going to see if I have time to go over and check it out tonight.

 

[powerstroke444e]

The differance between a $1,000 and a $3,000 plow truck is 6 months, as in November they seem to bring $3,000 for anything that runs.