Been using OilBurners for a few years now but never had an account or posted etc. Found this thread and decided to jump in because my wife and I just returned from a 13hr Roadtrip for a wedding in California in our 1986 F250 XLT Lariat SCLB 6.9idi/C6. I think it was roughly a 1600mile trip, and it did well, we started getting puffs of white smoke 11hrs into the drive out, so we brought it to Diesel Performance Specialists in Rocklin, CA, to have them check the fluids and injectors, they ended up repairing our vacuum pump instead and we didn’t seem to have issues coming home beyond insanely high shift points. (Assuming someone there tightened the modulator) We bought the truck for $2200, repainted it in our hangar, bought new leaf packs and some Bilstein shocks, seafoamed the oil changes (damn it was nasty), fresh bearings, rotors, calipers, brakes, mounted the HiLift, axe, fire Extinguisher and spare in the bed and mount the 5 6x16 steels on some BFG KM3 33x10x16. Planning on beefing up a second C6 we picked up as long as full rebuild, add overdrive, maybe a larger cooler with some braided lines. Looking at Solo Motorsports for the front suspension and steering, add Banks sidewinder along with a nicer IP and injectors and continue to build my perfect little mountain IDI. ... haven’t figured out pictures yet. But she’s Slate Blue Metallic eggshell
Our other beast is a 1997 F350 XLT CCLB 7.3 and is our recovery/ work pig. 4” lift that we would like to move to beefy Coilovers and have more of a 2-2.5” clearance, just enough to clear the 40x13.5x17” tires. Bought this in 2017, 345,000miles, and ran flawlessly. Replaced fuel pump, lines, tie rods, bearings, ball joints, anything that was broken or about to break was upgraded in small ways, and then we took it on a 4,000mile Roadtrip through the PNW for Thanksgiving 2017... I should say that was before the lift, tires, winch, service body etc.
I love my old Ford’s, and want a lot more of these dusty diesel 4x4s. I had an 1987 F350 CCLB with a 5.8 in it, I learned so much from how abused that truck was, replaced plenty of solenoids, ignitions, and starters before selling it for $1000 to my platoon leader, several trucks later I found myself in a 1990 Bronco with a 5.8 and low miles, replaced the fuel and brake system, cut and turned the beams, ran it on 35s and built a bumper for the spare and the 4 fuel cans I had with me. Regret trading it in for the airstream my wife and I lived in while working in CA, we tried to track it down but no luck. We needed a home at the time but I miss it! See you guys around