Looking for some education...

[tnthielen]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to the forum and I'm looking for some education from folks with a lot more experience than I have... So buckle up:

I inherited my late grandfather's farm truck. '89 F250 XLT Lariat 7.3 IDI 2wd 3-spd auto with 4:10 gears. It screams at 65 mph and gets 11 mpg city or highway. I thought it was 4wd but it wasn't. When I asked my grandmother why he didn't buy a 4wd, she said "It was more expensive and we couldn't pay cash for it." I then asked what if he got it stuck in the cornfield. She replied "Oh, he'd just pull it out with the tractor..." A farmer's wife through and through! A lot of wisdom from that generation!!

I recently bought a '92 F250 Custom 7.3 IDI 4wd with a 5-spd manual (my guess is it's a ZF5?). It's a supercab with a long bed and 3.55 gears and 255k on the clock. The interior is rough, but then I'm comparing it to my grandpa's XLT Lariat which Grandma always kept clean and it good condition. My plan is to keep the '89 cab and front end body panels, but move them over to the '92 chassis (essentially combining the best components from both trucks into one) so that in the end, I have a 4WD 5sp that will be more useful.

I have about 2 years before I begin this project so I want to do as much research as I can. The '92 runs like a champ, clutch will probably need replacing as sometimes have to really muscle it into first or reverse. Here is my wishlist:

- Banks Sidewinder kit (I have no idea what the standard psi is)
- 2-3" lift with beefier wheels/tires
- Banks Methanol injection?

Points of concern:

- When the body is off the '92 chassis, this seems to be a great time for any mechanical work
- At 255k do I need to invest in rebuilding the motor?
- With the power adder, do I need to upgrade any hardware? I've heard about ARP bolts, upgrading gaskets?
- New clutch seems to be a given, should I rebuild the ZF5? My info says it's all original...
- The motor rattles at warm idle about 550-600 rpm (aren't they supposed to? lol), but when I give it a touch more throttle to about 650-700 rpm, the rattle goes away. After running about an hour, it doesn't return, so my guess is it is just cold?

Goals for this truck:

- Occasional 4-wheeling (nothing major, truck is too long and heavy and my brother-in-law has a jeep)
- Not a daily driver (mostly once a week), but will drive it more in the winter so the soon-to-be-had Shelby GT500 will stay in hibernation
- Would like to increase towing capacity to around 11-12k

My Dad and I brought this truck back from Waco, TX on a trailer I rented (see pic2)

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and about an hour away from the Kansas/Colorado border, the trailer blew a tire (at 75 mph!) with no spare. Wonderful. So I got to drive the truck the rest of the way home. As we got closer to home and we gained altitude, the exhaust was getting more and more prevalent, which is to be expected since there is no computer to compensate. Now that I'm home, the truck is "rolling coal" at full throttle and even more so when under load. We went up in the mountains to get a load of firewood (see pic1) and it was really smoking even back at regular elevation. My understanding is that I can "turn the fuel down", but is this done at the injector pump? If so, how do I do it and how do I know where to put it? Because it's a diesel, I'm exempt from emissions testing in my county, but I still want it to be a little more efficient. I'm currently getting about 13-14 mpg empty.

I'm happy read and learn, but after a preliminary search through the forums, it is a mountain (all puns intended) of info to sift through...

Any advice or direction to other links are much appreciated!

Thanks for your help, guys!

-Todd

 

[PackRat239]

You have a very nice truck there. And it belonged to your grandfather, who took very good care of it before he passed on. And ONE OWNER! Are you SURE you want to tear it up?

 

[tnthielen]

Thanks! It was a heck of a find...

The one pictured is the '92 I just bought - 2 owners (actually more like one, father/son). The '89 I got from my grandfather has had a hard life pulling grain wagons, stock trailers, and various campers. 2wd, 3 speed auto with no overdrive and a 4.10 rear just won't work, and it sat for 10 years before I received it. The gray '92 has never pulled anything other than a travel-trailer and has never been off-road other than being pulled into the yard a couple of times... The transfer case and low range all work flawlessly...

Here is a pic of my grandpa's truck (hence the license plate):

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Since Grandpa's truck is an XLT Lariat, I want to keep the cab (it is sooooo much nicer than the gray truck) and front end (body-wise) and will paint the box/tailgate to match his. So it will still essentially be Grandpa's truck, just 4WD with a manual...

-Todd

 

[riotwarrior]

First welcome to Oilburners, take some time to go through the FAQ and tech sections and hall of shame too so you don't waste money.

Looks like you have some nice rides,

So for swapping the cab over you will find that it's quite basic, you will however need a few things.

Std pedal assembly,

Transmission tunnel cover for std, the C6 one won't clear the ZF

Tail shaft housing from a brick nose transfer case or tcase tailshaft housing up to 91 because it has the mechanical speedo.

There is likely some electrical to contend with as well. The OBS has a different plug setup for the chassis wiring that the Brick nose.

Why not restore Grandpa's truck, add a Gear Vendors OD and then you can increase mileage. Keep the 4x as is and you can use it for a work the $#!% out of it truck.

JM2CW

Again welcome to OB

Al

 

[Ruger_556]

'89 should have an E4OD shouldn't it? I which case something is horribly wrong to be getting 11 mpg...

 

[tnthielen]

Riotwarrior: The 2010 Sequoia you see (pic2) towing the new gray truck belongs to my bride. That's what she drives daily and what we use as our family truckster, tons more room than either of my 2 pickups with a 5 and 7 year old. It has a 10k towing capacity so that's what we use(d) to tow our recently sold 25' travel trailer and will use for our new (coming soon) 35' travel trailer. After we get the new camper, my car comes, that's the aforementioned Shelby GT500, then my truck project. I only have a 3 car garage and I can't justify keeping 2 trucks...

That being said, you bring up some great points:

"Std pedal assembly"
I was planning on pulling it from the '92, are you thinking I might have some fitment issues?

"Transmission tunnel cover for std, the C6 one won't clear the ZF"
Hm, I was (naively) thinking that the floors were identical. If not, can it be cut from one and matched to the other? At least the tunnel portion...

"Tail shaft housing from a brick nose transfer case or tcase tailshaft housing up to 91 because it has the mechanical speedo"
So my '92 has an electronic speedo? No easy way to swap them? I haven't taken the '89 gauge cluster apart yet...

Ruger_556: Well, it only shifts twice and there is definitely no overdrive switch anywhere. The door tag says "K" under trans... Not sure what it stands for though... the gear indicator only lists D 2 1...

-Todd