My Newest Acquisition: 85 F250 4x4

[Michael Dimock]

Bought a 85 F250 standard cab lariat 4x4 at the end of January and instantly went searching for a good forum. Wound up here and couldn't of been happier with the wealth of information that this site has. Finally figured that I should post up a thread of my own so here goes. The truck was up in Oregon, so I had my parents check it out and eventually purchase it. The PO had the block heater plugged in, so of course it started right up as only 2 of the glowplugs were operational! Also it was said to have some recent exhaust work done which involved welding up a blown out muffler! The oil was at the bottom of the stick and had the consistency of tar so an immediate change was in order. As purchased it had a Warn 8274 winch, bumper, and off road lights, fender flares (w/ stock 235's), air horns, plastic bedliner, nice aluminum canopy w/ interior lighting and wood paneling, rear airbags, and a cb. Drivetrain specs are: 6.9, T-19, Borg-Warner 1345, and D-70U/44 w/ 3.54's. The truck had 108,000 miles and the original owner took very good care of it (most recent owner not so much). Had spring bushings , rear brakes, and steering gear all gone through recently. When I arrived at my parents place I changed the oil w/ some 15-40 delo for the trip home and headed back down south. 8 Motorcraft/Beru glow plugs were immediately ordered, replaced, and the temp sending wire for the high idle/advance was hooked up. Cold starting was a breeze now! I paid my ridiculous CA registration fee and began driving it.

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[Cincinnati Guy]

Nice truck, but whats that white stuff?

 

[david85]

Nice truck, but whats that white stuff?

What white stuff? All I can see is rust free steel.....

 

[flareside_thun]

Dang that's a good lookin truck......what kind of CB is it?

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. Any questions asked here are never dumb questions... Only the questions not asked are dumb... Actually nobody here will refer to you as asking a dumb question. At least I never have seen anything like that. We all have the same interests her and thats to offer free help to others no matter how "smart" they are.... I learn something here all the time and welcome it....

 

[Michael Dimock]

Cincinnati Guy: thanks, it is snowing in the pic.
david85: the truck is as rust free as they come!
flareside thun: it is a Midland CB.
icanfixall: thanks for the warm welcome!


Some history now. My first vehicle was a 84 F350 dually 12' flatbed w/ 6.9, wide T-19, D-70 w/ 4.10's and 700,000 miles on it's second junkyard engine. Drove it everywhere and made use of the flatbed hauling gravel, manure, firewood (3 cords at once!), and brush around the property/work. It broke the fuel line going from the LP to the IP and when I reflared it had nothing but air in the fuel system problems thereafter. So, I unfortunately sold it and bought a 1310 International Travelette PU to accompany my Scout while it was being restored/driven/torn down again/ repeat a couple more times until present. Graduated high school, went to college at OSU for a while, and then got a job at IH ONLY NORTH and headed down south to my current location. Decided to go back to my roots and bought another Ford. Hey, they're all IH powered!

Wanted a turbo to eventually put on the truck so picked up a complete Banks kit from racer30. Thanks! Need to send the turbo out for rebuild to typ4 and pick up a set of BB injectors and return line kit in the near future. A baby moose pump from Agnem will finish out the arrangement!

The next item that was conquered on the never ending list was removing the soup bowl from the air cleaner and putting on 4" exhaust. Used the 55014 tail pipe (54387 was on back order), Dynomax 6" round welded muffler, 4' of straight 4" tube, and finished off the front of it w/ 3". The exhaust tubing coming from the manifolds was the only portion of the exhaust that was left stock. All the 4" will be used when I install the turbo and fab up the rest of the 3" down pipe.

 

[snaponprofile]

Nice truck, but whats that white stuff?

Snow.

Nice truck.

 

[Michael Dimock]

snaponprofile: Thanks!

Next, I yanked the canopy and plastic bedliner off. Both are for sale if anyone is interested. Tossed in my newly acquired toolbox/transfer tank combo that I got off craigslist so I could figure out what I needed to cut out of the tank to make it fit under the toolbox. The transfer pump is enclosed inside the toolbox when it is all assembled. A headache rack is in the works to go along with modifying the tank. To go underneath all that I will spray on some bedliner.

Will be using the transfer tank to house some WMO/diesel mix for longer trips as my short commute to work isn't long enough to be worth switching over to the WMO. That is as far as engine temps are concerned to efficiently burn the WMO. A filtering rig is in the works as well for my shops WMO that I have a steady, but small supply of.

 

[Michael Dimock]

Now for the opinions... The Toyo A/T 235/85/16's are almost done and I will be putting on new tires/wheels after I make the yearly trip up to Oregon in July for the Oregon Binder Bee (IH show). Going to go with some 265/75/16 Treadwright Sentinel AT tires http://www.treadwright.com/p-48-265-75r16-sentinel-a-t-e.aspx and new rims. Here is where I would like some others views as I can't decide between chrome or black steel wheels.
This: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRR-3987780/
Or this: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRR-3977780/
The truck has both "colors" on it so both would accent it accordingly. Opinions please?

 

[86truckpull]

Blacks the new chrome I think blacks better chromes to flashy

 

[mattplumber]

Sounds like a really nice rig that you happened to get before the PO took it over the edge with neglect.
I really dig the winch and bumper. The 8274 is one tough machine!
Any interior shots? Also I would go with the black wheels, chrome looks good on cars and rods but has no place on a work/farm truck in my opinion..............
Congratulations on your purchase! You came to the right place!

 

[bghnkinf350]

Odd man out, but I am digging the stock look with the fender flares. Maybe some new tires, but to me, that says no nonsense.

 

[SparkandFire]

Hey, nice looking truck!

Good to see another Grass Valley resident on here. although I am not up that way too often these days, I do still have a house there.

I miss my '86 more and more each day. Wish I would've kept it!

Your truck looks like a perfect sierra crawling rig, lots and lots of back roads up there to take you to many great fishing holes...

 

[flareside_thun]

Odd man out, but I am digging the stock look with the fender flares. Maybe some new tires, but to me, that says no nonsense.

I gotta kinda agree...maybe paint the stock steelies black and keep the hubcaps....But, since he's going with the Cragar's.....black definitely.

 

[Silver Burner]

Nice Truck! Welcome to the site! BTW, is that your real last name. Dimock, or are you really Michael "Death Touch"?? !! Sorry, Kickboxer is an awesome movie....