Chevy/ Ford

[crashagn]

Been looking for either a 1 ton dually flatbed or a c60 grain truck. Most of the grain trucks ive found are wore out. That and the deck height is a bit higher. Either or the vehicle would be used 4-5 times a summer for wood haulin. Iam currently using a 1/2 ton 84 chevy with a hoist and i have bottomed it out many times and the jobs i have this summer and also the ole girl is getting wore out (looks wise).

Ive been gawkin at 2 different vehicles so far. - The Chevy i really like. Looks good, good price and looks clean.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/cto/1650626840.html

The Ford-
http://mankato.craigslist.org/cto/1641309487.html

Ive only had 1 ford vehicle in my life and it was a bronco 2 and i hated it. Iam not saying that i wouldnt give it another try.. just like having Husqvarna and Stihls on the same shelf. As long as they do the job then its all fine by me. My main question is.. is there a frame differance on 1 or the other that is better? Ive never delt with a 351.. how are there reliability compared to the ole 350- like is in my current 1/2 ton wood hauler and as well as my dirve dailey 98 1/2 ton. Needing more load capacity, flat bed, and fuel milage. Ohh and my tree take downs start in 3 weeks, so i need to get something quick. Not going to be looking at a trailor just because of the extra registration fee's. Not wanting a diesel because of the costs in rebuilding or replacement parts. Iam really a Chevy fan but would there be a dam good reason to get the ford over the chevy.. I Also called about the chevy and left a vm but no call back as of yet..

Chevy is sold... Sooo.... any words or cautious advice on the ford?

 

[stihlboy]

go get it that is a great price!

p.s. i have 2 motors for it

 

[crashagn]

UPdate..

After searching.. I finally came along like a good deal. 1980 F350 dually with flatbed. After 150 miles one way and $1000 cash. (Iam not going to mention the $$ it took to go trailor it home at 7mpg..at 45mph)

Owner says it had new brakes installed 2009, new fuel tank and the elctric hyd. pump was recently rebuilt. Near newer tires on the back. Load range E all the way around. Steel rims. Tommy Lift works great. 13ft deck with pressure treated wood in near excellent shape. Starts right up and purrs with the inline 6. 68,575 miles. Heater will cook ya out of the cab. Went out last night and all the lights work excpet 2 clearance lights and a reverse light is out.. not bad! The previous owner parked it last fall after hauling scrap iron. Went out 2 days ago and found out it would not go into gear. Only put 2000 miles on it. The truck came from a refirgeration company that hauled and installed compressors and stuff. I am now the 3rd and last owner

Now the bad..


Brake mastor cylinder needs replaced-$45. For some reason the clutch will not disengage. Gears grind when engine is running. With engine off it slide into all the gears. Started it up in 1st gear and drove around the yard and made it up to 3rd gear fine with out the need of a clutch.

Maybe a whole clutch set- $150, depending after i get the gearbox front plate off to take a gander at it.

Needs new shocks all the way around. and also under the flatbed some of the stringers are rusted through (easy to replace)

Ohh.. ya.. and the pics; (I was told i stole it for that price, i think i got 1 hell of a deal for a firewood truck to replace the 1/2 ton chevy)

 

[rmotoman]

Looks like a nice old truck. I don't remember the exact year but sometime around 1980-1983 they changed to a hydraulic clutch. So it maybe low on fluid.

 

[crashagn]

Looks like a nice old truck. I don't remember the exact year but sometime around 1980-1983 they changed to a hydraulic clutch. So it maybe low on fluid.

I was lookin at the Napa online website and the hydraulic "cylinder" they do have listed. I was under the truck this morning and i do belive its manual. Clutch pedal to linkage in engine firewall with a adjustment link that goes to the fork. Ive taken off the adjustable link, cleaned it up and lengenthed it all the way. Heck i even put a bar onto the fork arm and fastened it back as far as it would go till it stopped, and then started the truck up and same issue. I think we have a few Chilton books in a filing cabinet and ill to see if the truck is in 1 of them. The previuos owneer said he didnt do anything with the clutch and thought it would have the original. I got the whole truck underneath and engine power washed off about 30 minutes ago so itll be ready to pull into the shop so i can start the work. Might be wise if i do have to split the gearbox to just order a clutch set with throw out bearing and just do it....

 

[Chris Crouse]

Nice truck. I have two pickups with the 300 in them. I like them. If you get to the point where you want to spend a bit of coin on the motor search around on "fordsix.com" for suggestions. What gearing does it have?

 

[crashagn]

Nice truck. I have two pickups with the 300 in them. I like them. If you get to the point where you want to spend a bit of coin on the motor search around on "fordsix.com" for suggestions. What gearing does it have?

Did some lookin on different sites and foundhttp://www.fordification.com/tech/transID-man.htm

Looks exactly the same as what i seen when i was rolling around underneath it

NP-435 4-speed (New Process)
NP-435 gear ratios
1st - 6.69
2nd - 3.34
3rd - 1.79
4th - 1.00

 

[Chris Crouse]

I meant the rear end. If you have anything lower than 4.11s (which I bet you do since it's a one ton) kiss interstate driving goodbye.

 

[crashagn]

Ya i was told it takes awhile to get to 55 and don't be expecting to hit 65 without the engine screaming. And actually I got what i wanted. I dont want a big block or diesel because of the maintenance/repair costs and was wanting a straight 6. Did not want a automatic tranny.. Older vehicles i think it would be a nono just because of the heavy loads and may be to severe. I would rather replace a clutch then pay for a rebuild auto.. Not expecting to drive down a interstate with this. I got 12 tree's to take down this summer and after that i may only use it 4-5 times a year and the farthest ill be driving is 120miles round trip and thats it. The flatbed boards are pressure treated and in near excellent condition. A coupe of the steel cross runners do need to be replaced, they are rusted through. All in all easy fix and it's sitting in our shop waiting for me to work on the clutch. The only bad thing it the factory installed tommylift. No place for a receiver hitch.. but that would have been a "just in case down the road addon" and not really needed for this vehicle.

 

[Chris Crouse]

Sounds like we think alike. One of mine has a T18 trans and the other the ZF. Other than the overdrive gear in the ZF, the ratios are pretty similar between them (and the NP435 you have). There is a decent jump from 2nd to 3rd but that just means you have to wind it out to 2,800 or 3,000 in 2nd to keep on pulling.

I hope you don't have the hydraulic clutch in your '80 because they are more trouble than they're worth. If you do and you wind up having to work on the system be prepared to have loads of "fun" getting it bled.

Be prepared for mileage around 12mpg if you're lucky with your heavy pickup. You can get better performance and mileage going to an Offy "C-Series" intake with a 390cfm Holley carb, plus exhaust manifolds off a fuel injected motor. You'll have to decide if it would pay off in the long run for you. With limited use it probaby won't, so just leave it as is in my opinion.

 

[crashagn]

It don't have the hydraulic clutch. I looked and looked and only thing adjustable is the linkage to the clutch fork.. Kinda glad on that 1.. less 1 device that requires seals and maintenance.

Only thing I am planning to do with the engine is to put synthetic motor oil and new filters in (oil filter, air, fuel) and what ever fails will need to be replaced down the road. I was reading up that Ford recommends 50wt gear oil for the NP435?? Yet another weight of oil that will sitting on the shelf I suppose. I checked the gearbox top fill plug and it was level but a bit grayish in color.. With the mileage on the truck i may end up draining the oil out of the gearbox and rearend and replacing since it may have all been original. I wasn't able to find any logs hidden in the cab for dates of oil changes.

12mpg??? Thats what i got with the 84 1/2 ton chevy going downhill...

 

[Chris Crouse]

With yours being an '80 it may have a feedback "computer" controlled Carter YF carb on it. I don't know exactly when they were used. The YF is easy to rebuild but I have no experience with the feedback version. If it's running good then don't expect any problems with the carb in the near future.

As for the gearbox, I don't remember what I used when I changed the lube in my T18 but I'm sure I went with the Ford recommendation, and 50wt. sounds familiar.

If you're changing the tranny lube you may as well do the rear end too.

I'm anxious to hear why the clutch isn't working with it being a bellcrank setup. Not much to go wrong there.

I'm also anxious to hear what mileage you will actually get once you start using it. I would bet around 12 though. Glad to hear it will be an upgrade for you!

 

[Kevinjensen68]

that is a straight looking old truck i would have bought it :greenchainsaw:

 

[crashagn]

I'm anxious to hear why the clutch isn't working with it being a bellcrank setup. Not much to go wrong there.

Ive adjusted the clutch to were I can feel the pressure of the clutch when pushing the pedal. For some odd reason that i have never heard of before.. iam kinda wonder if the clutch didnt seize to the friction plate or something. The pressure is in the pedal, goes into gear fine with engine started, grinds when engine is running. Start it in 1st gear and get going shifts fine 1,2,3 and back down again.. dont have enough room in the yard to hit 4th.. no brakes so i didnt want to go down the country road and go around the section. I did "goose" it a couple of times while pushing down the clutch pedal in 2nd and 3rd to see if it would free up the clutch but still no go..

Fuel mileage.. Anything will be better then the 1/2ton Ive had to do all the work.

 

[headleyj]

That truck's been ziebarted - rust shouldn't be too bad

 

[crashagn]

Had the gearbox taken clear out of the pickup last weekend. Now since iam on vacation decided to get it done this morning. Throughout bearing was good. Now here's what i found. CLutch was rusted tight. After removing the pressure plate then I scene the issue. Had to remove the friction plate with a wide chisel. It had become "one" with the flywheel. 9:30 this moring called the good parts store and they had a clutch set on hand. About 10:30 got back and installed it, gearbox is put back in, Also a new U joint, and 8 Grade 8 bolts. The drive shaft dropped on me and i lost a few needle bearings. I dont mess with em so i instyalled a new 1. I really had more dang trouble with the gearbox crossmember and had to torch 6 bolts and on the drive shaft carrier bearing holder i had to cut off 1 bolt. Might as well put all new in. Put the bench seat back in and reconnected the battery and took it down the road. Shifts perfect.
Still need to put in a new brake resovoir, and 4 new shocks, but that will be for the weekend, off a 2 lights 2 replace and 1 reverse light to hook up. Another thing on the list is to work on the locking latch for the tommy lift. Just needs to good heat wrench tweaking and should be good to go. I also would like to mount a 4ft long underbody box if i can find 1 used somewere, or better yet 1 on each side to hold all my gear. That and i still remove the boom hoiist from the ole chevy and put it on the flatbed. I think i got the major fix completed and everything is downhill now

1000$- F350
128$- CLutch kit
22$?- u joint
7.98- grade 8 bolts, burrs, and washers

 

[indiansprings]

Got you a heck of a buy. The great thing is on those years you can do the work on them yourselves. Great truck, good luck on the rest of your maintance work, you can use it for years and stihl get your money back out of it.

 

[johninky]

Great looking truck. I still have a 66 Dodge Camper Special that has been known to sit for years before being used. Clutch in the old girl has never rusted to the flywheel so I wonder why the one in your Ford did. Any chance this truck was involved in a flood? May want to check the condition of the oil in the transmission and rear end.

 

[crashagn]

Iam the 3rd and will be the last owner of the truck, but who knows what it went through. Its not a matter of the checkin the oil.. Its gonna be all changed- rearend, gearbox and engine

 

[crashagn]

Update- Had to also replace both front calipers and brakes. Used it on 2 saturdays for a tree takedown and it worked awesome. Below is the 2nd saturday/ 2nd tree take down at the same place. I didnt get pictures of the 1st tree with it loaded but I went through the Elevator scales so I can find out how much wood I can put on. Loaded with wood- less saws and climbing gear and 2stroke fuel- 13,560. Unloaded@ 6570. So just abouts 7000lb. load. Not bad, but going up hills going down the highway and you drop down to 45mph. No big deal for me. The only thing I have left to do is replace both rear drums/pads and gear oil. Ohh and in the 2nd pic you will see the gvwr- Ive sanded that off and painted over.