Bought first diesel today

70Post455

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I just bought my first Diesel PU today. I purchased a 1987 F250 4x4 6.9 Banks turbo regular cab automatic.
This is a one owner truck out of California with no rust. The owner and his wife are older and retired and just moved to Iowa 2 years ago to help his wifes parents out. He just recently (2 years ago) bought a new 2005 F250 crew cab power stroke.
The owner was showing me receipts from the last 3 years where he did a complete rebuild of the 6.9 engine, also installed new heads, new fuel pump, new water pump, new glow plugs, new radiator etc….
He also rebuilt the transmission C-6, put on new brakes, calipers, and ball joints and tie rod ends. He also rebuilt the Banks sidewinder turbo to the tune of $800 bucks, and put on new Michelin tires about 5000 miles ago. He said there is less then 5000 miles on the rebuild and front end.
He also had the passenger seat filled to the ceiling with new in the box Motorcraft parts. He said the A/C was not working but all the parts were in the cab to fix. I did remove the boxes of parts and there is NIB Motorcraft A/C compressor, A/C compressor clutch, A/C compressor Disc and Hub, A/C pulley and also a new Fuel Sender unit, plus many more parts, and a few left over parts from the rebuild kit.
He told me he was selling it as a parts truck because the tranny was slipping again after the second rebuild and he was to the point where he did not want to stick any more money into his old die hard F250. The paint is faded and the interior will need a new seat and cleaned up. He had a construction company in Modesto California and this was his company truck. He did say it was used daily and worked pretty hard and did have 318,000 miles on it.
I am going to have the C-6 Rebuilt and then I plan on painting the truck and fixing the few things that still need fixed. I also am going to change the oil, oil filter and check the radiator to see if it has the correct fluids to avoid cavitation.
I called on the truck last night and took a day of vacation today to drive the 140 miles to go get the truck. He had it listed in the paper for $900.00 bucks as a parts truck, because of the transmission problem. He told all about the rebuild of the motor and turbo and new parts after I got there, so I did not hesitate and handed over the greenbacks and loaded it up and brought it back home. He said he wrote the truck off over the years through his business so it did not owe him anything. I am as excited as hell and will have many questions over the next few days.
Also the truck started with ease and the temp here in Nebraska is 30 degrees. I know that is not real cold, but it did not hesitate at all either time I started it up today.
 

lotzagoodstuff

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$900: great score. I would love to have a 6.9 C6 truck as they are indestructable and easy (read cheap) to fix when they do break.

R. J.
 

suv7734

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Nice find! Do some troubleshooting on that C6. There is a unit mounted to the injection pump called the VRV (vacuum regulator valve) and it can cause all kinds of symptoms if it's shot or not adjusted properly. It controls the vacuum modulator which can also cause problems if it's bad. Lots of good info here to keep you reading for hours.

Oh and Welcome!
 

h2odrx

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Nice find! Do some troubleshooting on that C6. There is a unit mounted to the injection pump called the VRV (vacuum regulator valve) and it can cause all kinds of symptoms if it's shot or not adjusted properly. It controls the vacuum modulator which can also cause problems if it's bad. Lots of good info here to keep you reading for hours.

Oh and Welcome!

That is what i was going to say VRV shot? $900 steal even if it was beat, but just rebuilt!!!;Sweet
 

70Post455

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Thanks for the replies. As for the tranny, he did tell me he had overfilled it on purpose since it started slipping in reverse. I pulled the dip stick on the tranny and he does have it overfull. Also the tranny fluid was a little dark and did have a somewhat burnt smell to it.
I have been able to drive it a little and have not noticed any slippage, but I have only driven it 2-3 miles max since I have not insured or tagged it yet.

Another thing is I do really like this truck, but wow these old Ford Single cab 4x4's are a pretty rough riding. Is there any tricks to smooth them out at all?
I have debated on transfering the rebuilt engine and turbo over to a very nice 1987 Crew Cab dually 2wd I can get my hands on.
Anyhow just some random thoughts.
TIA,
Tom
 

6 Nebraska IDIs

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WOW you stole that truck!
You even got a steal if it was just the engine with the turbo, being rebuilt is a bonus.

Where you at in Nebraska? Im gonna assume you're somewhere either way north or you're down around me somewhere.
 

70Post455

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I live in Columbus, NE. This truck was listed in the Omaha World Herald last Sunday under the heading Truck Service, Parts & Tires. I actually seen the ad on Sunday night. I called on Monday night to see if he still had the truck. He did and he proceeded to tell me about the engine rebuild and also the front end rebuild etc....
I told him I was going to take Tuesday off and drive over to look at the truck. I used our other truck and my car trailer and drove over to Brayton Iowa to meet the guy. He is retired and moved to Iowa with his wife two years ago from Modesto California.
When I was there he started to show me a couple of the receipts for the rebuild and the new $800.00 bucks he spent on the radiator and the bill for the turbo rebuild and so on. He said that he used the truck hard over the last 20 years because he was an owner of a heavy const company, however the truck is not all dented up and is very rust free, but is in need of a paint job.

Tom
 

6 Nebraska IDIs

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Ah,
columbus is a couple hours from me. I live in the south east corner of the state, south of lincoln by crete.
We've got a construction job out there right now but I wont be working out there, they already have operators out there and wont need anymore.
Shoot, thought i'd meet a member of the club. haha
 

70Post455

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Construction? Are you talking ADM's big addition? I know they are expanding bigtime and Menards is building a new store here also.

The Menards job is going on 24/7. They just turn on these megawatt lights when the sun goes down and keep on a building.
If you do get over this way let me know I would love to see and visit with someone who knows much more about these IDI's than I do.

I have been looking at Diesel Pickups for several years, and lurked on several Diesel sites to read up as much info as I could. I was originally going to go the PSD route, but the more I read the more I was wanting a 6.9 or 7.3 Ford IDI with a turbo to pull my trailers.
 

6 Nebraska IDIs

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I am in the dirtwork side of it, used to be a mechanic at my other job but this payed more for the short term. I believe our company is doing a railroad job out there.
 

bubbahzanetti

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trans problem

Hey guy
my C-6 did the same thing, the first time the builder did not flush out the trans cooler and it was blocked up. The trans simply overheated and died. After the flush out and rebuild, no more problems. great score, by the way!:thumbsup:
 

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