Me and my truck

[jiggiwdit]

This is my first post! Ive been a long time lurker. I read here and other diesel forums every day.

My name is Lee and I live in Meredith NH a small town on a big lake in central NH.

I was given my truck a 1986 f350 4spd 4x4 regular cab long bed a couple of years ago by my father. The truck belonged to his father who was the original owner. Its been in the family its whole life. It has 93000 original on it.

When the truck came to me it was pretty much a wreck. It was rarely used. Mostly to plow the family business and tow boats back and forth from the lake.The reason I wanted it was to plow my new houses driveway which is about 800ft long.

Before the first winter I started fixing minor things to get the truck ready for plowing. I didnt know squat about diesels so I googled 6.9l and oil burners came up. I joined several sites and began to read ALOT! Most of the time I just search and find out the answers for myself.

Like I said the truck was a wreck. Both tanks leaked. The oilpan was weak(still is), started like crap etc etc... Just lack of maitenance. Not to mention the massive amount of rust for being parked on dirt and grass its whole life.

This is just some of the things I have done.
2 new tanks(with senders and pick ups)
2 new group 31 batteries, battery trays
all new battery cables(made them myself)
new mitsubishi starter
new hypermax exhaust
new berus
new gp relay
seviced both axles with ujoints, bearings, kingpins
new brakes front and rear(rotors, drums, calipers, brake lines, hoses...)
Just ordered new injectors from Russ(typ4)
New tires

Thats just some of the stuff. You get the idea. I didnt realize how addicting it was to work on this thing.

My near future plans.

Change oilpan. I have the new pan just dreading pulling the motor to change a pan.

Fix whats wrong with my clutch. It grabs fine, just grabs close to the floor. Not sure if its bushings or the firewall is cracked or something else. Not really sure yet.

Tackle the rust situation.This is going to be a project. Ive actually been looking around for another truck to swap bodies. I think this one is to far gone.

My goal is to get this truck road worthy. It wont pass inspection right now because of the rust. It runs and drives really well. It would be nice to be able to use it more.

I just wanted to thank everyone thats helped me so far. You probably dont know you did, but you did. Trust me. If it wasnt for this site I would be lost.

Im sure we'll be talking soon.

Lee

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Well man, I guess you're now an official member of the OBN family? lol

Got some pics of your truck? Since you've been here so long, you should know by now we really like pics

 

[jiggiwdit]

I know, but Im so embaressed of her appearence.lol

Lee

 

[Agnem]

That's a heck of a lot of work to do without needing to ask a single question! Your either a very good mechanic, or an expert searcher. or both!

X2 on the pictures. Believe me, we've seen worse.

 

[jiggiwdit]

A little of both I think. I think excellent is a strong word. Capable maybe.

Lee

 

[trackspeeder]

I know, but Im so embaressed of her appearence.lol

Lee

Can't be any worse than my rust buckets.

 

[jiggiwdit]

Just looked at some of your pics. Changing that front clip did not look fun. Did you paint the frame?

Lee

 

[trackspeeder]

The front was painted with Por15,then over coated with 3M under coating. The 85 has a complete replacement cab. The original was beyond repair. If you closed the door hard the entire cab corner would bend. It was the perfect Flintstones mobile with no cab floors.

I will be updated the photos of the 85 soon. There is a large amount of work to do on that beast. But it should be road worthy by the end of next year.

 

[dyoung14]

The front was painted with Por15,then over coated with 3M under coating. The 85 has a complete replacement cab. The original was beyond repair. If you closed the door hard the entire cab corner would bend. It was the perfect Flintstones mobile with no cab floors.

I will be updated the photos of the 85 soon. There is a large amount of work to do on that beast. But it should be road worthy by the end of next year.

in your sig what do you mean power enhancement and a brain comming soon?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

PSD swap?

 

[jiggiwdit]

My doors aren't terrible. The bed is junk. The floors are not great. They were patched by someone once. The rockers have holes in them on both sides."A" pillars are smoked too. Oh ya, the front fenders suck also.

The frame is pretty rusty but no rot. Just surface rust.

Forgot to mention earlier that I also replaced both rear shock mounts they were completely rotted off. The shackles over the rear packs were completely rotted through so I replaced those along with the packs and u-bolts.

Lee

 

[oldmisterbill]

It sounds just like a typical New England truck-I have worked on many of them-you will need lots of POR15.A mig welder will help to.

 

[opusd2]

If you think your 86 is too ugly to post pics of, then look at mine. I took the ugliest view I could when I took the picture, which was easy because all directions are rough looking.

No matter how the rust makes it look like it has been beat, you've done hard work on it and should be proud. Who cares how it looks to other people? I could post a picture of my 77 or 73 Ford 4x4s and show you rust, Wisconsin style. But they are beautiful to me because I know how tough they are. The 73 I've owned since I was 16 and did a LOT of work on it. A lot...

My point is, show some pics of your handiwork! We want to see your ride. The rust will be transparent to us, we will see the beauty in the mechanical features.

Glad to see you joining in!!!

 

[opusd2]

I've never tried Por15 but always wanted to. Does it work as well as it is advertised? And is it expensive?

 

[jiggiwdit]

Wow my truck is better looking than that opus. My truck really has never worked hard. It just sat around most of its life.

I would really like to get it on the road. Your right it was and still is alot of work. It would be nice to legaly take it down the road someday. It runs and drives beautifuly.

Lee