Just depends which one we're talking about for me lol.. "Ernest" has gotten some work done over winter with a newer ZF5, new SMF flywheel and clutch and all that good stuff, new carrier bearing, U joints, and a new rear driveshaft yoke. Truck has always done me very well since I got it about 4 years ago with no working glow plug system and just general neglect from sitting in a garage unwanted and unused since it's owner passed away. The rest of the family was scared to drive it because it is so big, loud, and is a stick which they weren't comfortable with, they put the wrong glow plugs in it to try and sell it and feared it had other problems because it would only start if pull started but it was fine, just needed rid of autolites which must have worked once. Now it's biggest problem is the front tank sender doesn't work just reads empty no matter what but the back tank works fine. I just run it until I hit 300 miles on the trip meter and switch to the rear tank and know where I'm at until it's time to fill up. I'll fix that at some point this summer. I've done a lot to it.. it has a remote mounted donaldson 7405 main oil filter, a bypass filter/aux oil cooler, coolant filter, banks power pack exhaust, totally re-vamped ac, ranger vacuum switch /max ac mod, two big "helper fans" in front of ac condensor I can turn on if it gets hotter, nos IP with 70k original miles (as of now) from a turbo IP, pyro as well as tons of other gauges, I could just keep going on. It's for sure the vacation / tow the camper / go to the drive ins / get groceries "good weather" truck. For being N/A, it's towed about 4 tons between trailer/tractor on trailer and the camper and if you stay in 4th on hills you can keep at 55 / 65 if you want and don't mind the noise. EGT's get close to 1100 but I swear the banks power pack air lid thing helps with my egt's with the huge dryer duct piping by the radiator and the wider y pipe / larger exhaust. As long as you are on close to flat ground or smaller grades you can even leave it in overdrive comfortably.
But like I said outside of fixing the front tank sender, I have no further plans but driving it and letting it do what I need it to.
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And.... then there is "Lenny"..... Had it for a little over two years.
He's also had some major surgery over winter, some by me and some by Farmer Frank (a member here) I live near. I bought it cheap from a guy with more money then he knew what to do with and just needed a spot in the driveway for another classic car. Looking back, it wasn't cheap just because he was loaded it was cheap because they kept getting fuel in the oil and couldn't figure out why. I believe after they tried a new lift pump and changed the oil multiple times they just gave up and were making it someone else's problem. But a new IP and injectors from mel, a few hours of cursing from myself and it was fine again. I added a rear tank as it didn't have one, and also added an under the dash ac system which is awesome as it was a factory no AC truck. It's probably the coldest ac I've ever had. Right about when it was running good to be my main winter vehicle / work truck I hit a deer, and had to re-do the front bumper and some things but it still looks fine. Then the throw out bearing seized (hence the visit to frank's, I hate doing transmission surgery) and it got a new clutch and flywheel etc as well. Only issue I have with it these days is some gremlin in my steering every once in a while that might be a seized u joint in the front axle but it's behaving after some grease so it just keeps on working. It does ok towing as well, but with only 4 gears instead of 5, and being a 3.55 axle ratio instead of 4.10's like Ernest, it's a little more irritating to pull up hills. EGT's run a lot hotter as well, it just has a factory intake but the exhaust is off of a superduty (6.0 I think? It's 3.5 " from the y pipe adapter back, but still the restrictive Y pipe from the factory not the better one on the other truck).
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It's just ugly. I'd love to paint it or put a flat bed on it or do something to it. It's got no rust, lived 25 years in arizona and I wished the previous owners would have not started to sand and paint it and just let it be that deep blue on the back side of the cab whether it was faded and peeling or not. Something like that is my only plans for it, but I have reservations about putting money into it's appearance since it's my winter vehicle and I live in the rust belt. It doesn't exactly have a home in the garage.. Either my fiance's suv or my TDI get the last remaining spot, Ernest, my gasser and the VAC are permanent residents avoiding snow, rain, cold, etc. lol
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