Look what followed me home {Ford F250}

[Ryan03]

I got a call from my mother in law on Thursday night as I was driving into work in an ice storm. She said that a friend of theirs who lives close to me was plowing his driveway, and his plow truck died, he was fed up and just wanted it hauled away, as in free. I took down his number, and the next morning I was the proud owner of a 1979 Ford F-250 4x4, complete with a 400M, T-18 four speed, NP205 transfer case, and Dana 60's with 4:10s front and rear. The previouse owner recently installed a new Holley electric 97GPH electric fuel pump and Holley adjustable fuel pressure regulator, Reman 2bbl motorcraft carb, and a brand new Crown deep cycle battery. The Truck also came with a meyers 7.6 ft. plow, that is a little rough, however the E-47 plow pump was rebuilt before this season, and has a brand new motor on it. I installed a new ignition module from Autozone {$28.00}, charged the battery and the ugly beast roared to life, and then sputtered and quit. A quick fuel quality check found the fuel to be 2 parts water, 1 part gasoline, So I drained the carb, tank, and lines, and poured in some new fuel with a couple bottles of heet. I hit the starter push button, and once again the beast roared to life, and this time idled smoothly. Now for the bad, it needs front cab mounts, the paint job looks like it was done in an art class at an insane asylum, and the frame is badly rusted around both rear spring shackles, [one shacke broke as I was towing it home with my dmax] , and also on the drivers side right behind the cab. I have patched up some pretty ugly frames, but this one is beyond repair. I plan to either find a decent rear frame section from a donor truck, and do a rear clip job on it, or fab my own rear section from 2x3 or 2x4 box tubing. I also plan on shortening the wheelbase to around "106" from "133", so I was planning to cut it in half anyway. This truck will strictly be used for off roading and skidding logs on my property, not for street use. I am thinking welded rear spider gears, 8 inch custom lift, roll cage, possibly R-1 tires, and huge menacing custom mad max bumpers. If there is interest, I will post pics of the build.

 

[Renze]

I am thinking welded rear spider gears

That means, you want to lock the differential for good ?

Dont know how overbuilt these axles are, but in the Deutz D15 tractor (1200 kg ?)my father owned in the 60's, the halfaxles snapped when he took a corner if he forgot to disengage the diff lock...
Our later JD 510 (2000 kg)would only go straight ahead when the diff lock was engaged, and our current Zetor 5245 mfwd with loader (4000 kg ?) just takes a slightly wider turn and leaves rubber when taking a corner on pavement with diff lock and 4wd on...

 

[Ryan03]

I am not to worried about locking the rear, as this truck will not ever be registered or driven on the street. I have a couple of friends who have recently built similar off road only trucks, and have had very good results with both spooling and welding the rear ends, while leaving the front ends open. The Dana 60 is a very stout axle, not indestructable, but very stout indeed.

 

[pennwalk]

If there is interest, I will post pics

HECK YES!!! Looks like it will be a real interesting project.

Chris

 

[jamestaylor72]

Nice find Ryan !! I think it would be neat to follow your progress as well.

 

[dex3361]

I am not to worried about locking the rear, as this truck will not ever be registered or driven on the street. I have a couple of friends who have recently built similar off road only trucks, and have had very good results with both spooling and welding the rear ends, while leaving the front ends open. The Dana 60 is a very stout axle, not indestructable, but very stout indeed.

For a Dana 60 with lock in/out hubs you can get buy with spooling/welding the front and when you need to have it a little tighter turning just unlock 1 hub 3WD, and when going gets really tough lock both front hubs (4WD).

 

[Hookblock]

Well, I thought I was the only one that got into these kind of projects . I have a 78 IH scout plow truck, good frame, body is shot. Spent the first weekend trying to keep it running and the body on. First time out the rear quarters split from the hard top, both doors won't stay shut, drivers floor board is almost gone. It runs a lot better, same water to gas ratio you had. Bungee strap the doors, keep your feet up, it was a great weekend

 

[mikim]

I'm glad you guys are into that stuff .... personally if someone ever offered me a truck like that --- my first question would be "Why? What did I ever do to you?"

 

[Ryan03]

I'm glad you guys are into that stuff .... personally if someone ever offered me a truck like that --- my first question would be "Why? What did I ever do to you?"

The guy who gave it to me is a good friend of my inlaws, and also a friend of mine, although I have only known him for a few years, as I met him through them. The previouse owner has known my wife for her entire life, is a few years older than her, and realy loves to aggravate her. The more I think about it, this may have been done to get her all fired up, as she just loves it when I bring home treasures like this that obstruct her view of our pristine wooded back 40. I did call around to some salvage yards, and found everything from complete parts trucks to rear frame sections, prices for the sections range from $75 to $250, depending on the junk yard. I am hoping to be able to obtain a section by next week so that I can get going on it. My goal is to build a low buck functional off road truck for $1200.00 or less, by using used, scrap, home made, or horse traded parts. Wish me luck

 

[wushaw]

Well lets see the Dana 60s are great differentials, the t18 is a stout tranny and the NP205 is about as good as it gets in transfer cases.

I think you have a great platform to start with for a farm truck/toy