Mama woulda been proud

[Diesel JD]

Some people overfill the ZF-5s to reduce teh gear rollover noise and make them behave a little more civilly all the way around. I don't know if it's bad for them or not. Should definitely be ATF or equivalent weight oil in the ZF, unless it's pretty worn out and you're trying to nurse it along for a few more thousand miles. That's when people start going to heavier oils there, otherwise it's a mistake.

 

[Boston]

My first inclination is to do basic maintenance on it and see how it responds.
Works in a miraculous number of cases when someone is in the middle of telling me something wont run.

I need to read through some threads on here and figure out what front end it is and what transfer box its likely to be. The heater question might be answered depending on what RLDSL tells me he wants for that filter/heater. I think that steering gear box is next on the list after adding the WVO system to that second tank. I need to do a bit of plumbing on that but thats not so hard.

Still could use some info on a tank heater if anyone makes one, I could just modify bed tank with a heating coil and keep both stock tanks petrol based diesel
lots of options

speaking of which Nyteshades thats a nice paint job
right now this truck is flaking paint and rust colored with a little primer undercoating for variety thrown in

 

[94turboidi]

If its just having a problem in 4wd it might not be the transfer case at all. I had bad ujoints on the front axle and when I was in 4wd it was really hard to drive. I replaced them when I did the ball joints and its great now. These ujoints and ball joints in the front axles basically never get changed unless its by people like us on these forums that take good care of our own vehicles. I have 186,000 miles on our car and changed the spark plug wires the other day they were still mopar, probably original.

 

[BioFarmer93]

So I found an old dead Ford hiding in the backyard of a friends place. I was working on his house but by the end of the day we were working on some brews. So I asked about the ole dead truck and I seamed to hit a sore spot. "Wont run" was the rather gruff response. Naturally I piped in with "its a diesel". Guy looks at me like "so". "Your a chemistry professor, hows it you cant make a diesel run". Well that set him off some and next offer I had was if I could make it run I could just get it outa there.

OK

so now I own a free ford 1990 250 4x4 extended cab with a one ton package and a really nicely running 7.3 in it

looks like crap but runs like a top

transfer case is a bit sticky but I havn't really dug into that yet

I've got a handle on all the WVO ( waste vegetable oil ) I could ever want so I'm thinking if I can get ahold of an aftermarket fuel filter w heater I can use the duel fuel tanks and the heater for a simple conversion.

not having much luck finding an aftermarket filter/heater tho
and I would want to rig it in a duel filter system one for diesel and the other for WVO

I also want to get a fuel tank heater in that second fuel tank if there is a cheap one out there. Its not exactly my primary car but I would like it to at least be able to run it when its cold out

cheers
B

Hey Boston, welcome aboard.. I've had pretty good luck at this place- http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums for all things alternative fuel related. They also are into SVO/WVO in a big way, too.

 

[94turboidi]

I would try putting it in 4wd and leave the hubs unlocked and try driving it and see how it responds. Another possibility is to remove the front driveshaft and try driving it to see if you can isolate it to just the tcase.

 

[Boston]

its really hard to pull out of 4 wheel drive and not so easy to shift into it. I'm not sure if its the hubs but I'll play with them and see what happens when the time comes.

This truck does not start unless its plugged in for at least an hour if the temp is bellow say 50° F so I might spring for some new glow plugs sooner than later and check to see if the fuel heater fuse is good. pretty sure its got a really small one in the pump somewhere

anyone familiar with the fuel pump in this thing ?

and thanks everyone I'm pretty stoked to have landed this truck and I plan on keeping it for as long as I can make it run. Which will be until something really expensive gives out.

Its got some ugly cancer on it but I'll deal with that once its mechanically sound again.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Does the axle under the front of your truck look like the one under the truck in this picture or the one sitting on the ground in front of it?

You must be registered for see images attach

I know you cant see the one under the truck very well but its a twin beam design with a pivot point in the middle under the engine crossmember (this is an F250 front suspension) where the axle sitting in front of the truck is a single beam Dana 60 (D60) front axle that was pulled from an F350.
There are several differences between an F350 1 ton truck and an F250 3/4 ton truck. The most notable is the single beam Dana 60 front suspension. It boasts positively arched front leaf springs whereas the F250 twin beam suspension utilizes a negatively arched set of front leaf springs.

There is a difference with the rear suspension as well. That being the F350 has an extra leaf in the spring pack and the lift blocks over the axle are about 3" taller than the F250's.
Don't listen to the naysayers, I've seen more than one 1 ton optioned F250's in the last couple of years. They do exist. But those were all dealer conversions and even these conversions did not include the Dana 60 front suspension. These dealer conversions simply consisted of the F350 leaf spring pack and lift blocks for added towing capacity. All of these trucks looked like a cat in heat though because they sat so high in the back.

 

[RLDSL]

looks perfect

what do you want for it

ya I'm planing on draining whatever is in there anyway.
one thing that wasn't helping this truck out any when I got it was the transmission was way over filled
I think I siphoned 2 quarts out of it to get it down to were it was supposed to be

How does $250.00 shipped sound? MAke sure to look at the dimensions on that website and make sure that where you would be thinking of mounting the thing , you would have 6" clearance above it to remove the cap for changing filter elements ( or be able to rig a swing away bracket to tip it over )

 

[Boston]

this one sits level and I just ran out and checked
its a 250 front end cause the leafs are revers loaded ( curves up instead of down )
interesting that they all used the same rear end and yes it looks like its got several extra springs back there although it does sit pretty level

oh well I am continually humbled by the amount of specialized knowledge goes into being a mechanic

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

ok first things on my list with this truck is

steering gear box ( steering wheel has a mind of its own )

not sure what I'll find but the steering wheel has so much play its almost funny getting it to go down the road straight
cheers
B

RedHead Steering Gear is THE place to get the replacement steering gear.

That is something I also need to address.

 

[Boston]

sounds pricey
let me look around and see whats out there and I'll get back to you

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

this one sits level and I just ran out and checked
its a 250 front end cause the leafs are revers loaded ( curves up instead of down )
interesting that they all used the same rear end and yes it looks like its got several extra springs back there although it does sit pretty level

There's nothing wrong with an F250 and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise. F350's are overkill for 90% of the population. I see more people running dualies around here that never haul a load big enough to warrant it. Single wheel trucks will impress you if you know how to properly load a trailer.

 

[Boston]

No worries I'm content with a free running diesel F250 any day.

and ya I got loading a trailer down to an art. I used to live on a ranch for years and years. I'd never been pulled over to a weigh station in a passenger truck before but that last load of hardwood coming back from Missouri sure got there attention. I passed on four axles with about a hundred lbs to spare. I was biting my nails as I weighed out on that one, cause we used the volume and moisture content to calculate the weight. Fortunately we got it just right but it was really close.

I'm trying to keep the repairs to a roar cause I know how easy it is to start hemorrhaging money on a project like this. I'll check that site for the gear box and likely go used on the filter heater, apparently they come stock and there's bound to be a way to rig a second one to the block next to the first one, there is also a 96 model coolant jacketed heater available for $110. I might also look into an oil cooler bypass plate and run oil as the heating fluid rather than antifreeze. It probably warms up faster.

 

[grog85]

On the sterring box, you might check the sector shaft adjustment. There is a screw with a lock-nut on it, loosen the locknut, tighten the screw until you feel it getting tight, back it off 1/8 turn and tighten the locknut If you haven't found any slack in the rest of the steering, this is a possibility.

 

[zpd307]

your transfer case is hard to shift because the shift lever pivot is probablly all rusted up, my 90 was the same way. when i changed trannys i was surprised at how much rust and crap was inside the pivot joint.... try getting under there and cleaning it up. i was really surprised how easily it ws to shift into 4wd after i got everything cleaned and lubed up.