First time haulin' in the pickup

[Bushmans]

Well it might be a 4 door short bed but don't tell it that it's worthless cuz it doesn't know any better.
I like the 4 door for hauling the family while pulling the camper and also for sticking all my gear inside because the back is too loaded up with wood to fit the gear. Sometimes you have to compromise. I've hauled firewood, topsoil, mulch, lumber and lets not forget the huge loads of muddy boulders i dug up from a farmer's ditch to build my retaining wall. I put airbags in the back springs so I could hold a little more! My old ride (88 chevy) decided to retire!
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[Whitespider]

Last summer the 5-year-old (then a 4-year-old) got a hold of a rattle-can of orange paint and did a bit of custom paint work for me... sort'a adds character, don't ya think?

 

[stihl023/5]

Nice Ford!

 

[philoshop]

I'm definitely down a man card or two right off the bat. Mini-van:msp_scared: '01 Chrysler Town & Country bought in '08.

In my own defense though, it's a 3/4 ton frame with good tires and springs and it'll haul stuff or pull the trailer when I need it to. The rear seats came out the day I got it, but I really like my heated leather front seats on a cold morning.:msp_biggrin:

After 35 or so years in construction, it was starting to beat me up just getting tools in and out of the old 150 all day. Bad knees and an arthritic hip. Now the basic tools for electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc find their own place on the back floor and their easy for me to get to. Kind of a small rolling shop.

That first move to a mini-van, about ten years ago, was painful to say the least. But since I was already starting to suffer from Middle-Aged-Man disease (the one where you become invisible to younger women), I made the leap and haven't looked back. On the other hand a guy down the road has a nice-looking older Ford one-ton, dually flatbed I'm kinda lookin' at. Need to get those man cards back and all. But I cut mostly in my own back yard and the kubota takes care of that. The wood trailer wasn't even registered last year.

Thanks for starting the post Whitespider. I guess I've been looking for a way to confess my sins. Please don't ban me from the brotherhood.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Pulled up to the gas pump the other week after hauling in a load of locust. Guy pulls in next to me and before he gets out of his new truck, out from underneath the rocker panels low and behold a step bumper descends and locks into place on the drivers side. Freaked me out. Kind O like my grandsons Transformers or something. I says to the guy, Wow, thats different. He says yea, there cool Huh? But then he says he's gonna take em off, they have no safety features on them and he could accidentally retract them and could pinch somebodies foot if it got caught in there on the way back up. Says theres a newer version out with a sensing thing a ma jigger that if it hits resistance on the way back up they will reverse. Are you kidding me! Not to pinch anybodies nerves(no pun intended) that have electronically descending step side bumpers, but I am thinking, buddy, you've got more money than brains. Now, now, Dusty, I think to myself, I have to remember, I am a dinosaur in my thinking and soon to be extinct What a world.

 

[philoshop]

I call 'em yuppytrucks. As in, "yup honey, let's go antiqueing and we'll take my truck".

 

[Steve NW WI]

Ever since about $3 a gallon, my truck doesn't move unless it's workin. Well, unless it's pullin the boat, but the truck's still workin, even if I ain't!

Spidey - what ya got for tires on that thing. I'm looking for a new set, and the Wild Country MTs I always liked are NLA, and their newest mud tire looks pretty girly IMO.

 

[Jakers]

Ever since about $3 a gallon, my truck doesn't move unless it's workin. Well, unless it's pullin the boat, but the truck's still workin, even if I ain't!

Spidey - what ya got for tires on that thing. I'm looking for a new set, and the Wild Country MTs I always liked are NLA, and their newest mud tire looks pretty girly IMO.

them look like old school bias tires. most likely a 7.50x15 or so. depressing pricing out new tires aint it steve

 

[Jakers]

slap some chains on her and she will be unstopable

 

[ppkgmsy]

"Now, now, Dusty, I think to myself, I have to remember, I am a dinosaur in my thinking and soon to be extinct What a world."

As a buddy of mine puts it, "We're Briggs & Stratton men in a Microsoft world."

 

[naturelover]

Fords sure do like to rust though....

My little weekend spring hanger job just got a little tougher, may have to add a plate behind it.

Only got 111k miles on it, but the frame sure don't look like it.

Least on the older F-150's, you could bolt in a half frame. Not so on the Rangers...

So, don't look like the Ranger is ever gonna be hauling much wood.

 

[Steve NW WI]

them look like old school bias tires. most likely a 7.50x15 or so. depressing pricing out new tires aint it steve

Yup, almost hate to put $700 in tires on a $1000 pickup, but I can always swap em to the next one unless I get something fancy with the 17 or 18" rims.

I ran a set of the aforementioned Wild Countrys on a 76, 82, and 87 Chevs before I wore the tires out. The 76 got rearended by a milk truck, the other two just rusted away above the tires. Still miss that 76, but not the 8 MPG outta full time 4x4 and a built 406.

 

[beerman6]

I'll confess, my 01 3/4 ton Ram has a short box,but it's had enough firewood dropped in it that OHSA made me put stickers on it warning that children may drown in the water that it holds in the dents...

 

[Whitespider]

Spidey - what ya got for tires on that thing

them look like old school bias tires. most likely a 7.50x15 or so

Jakers has it correct, they’re old school bias ply tires, ya’ just can’t beat ‘em for raw traction in mud and snow.
Cooper Courser Traction 7.00x15’s
The sad thing is, Cooper don’t offer them any more, they quit making them a couple years after I bought mine. Last time I looked around I couldn’t find any 15-inch, bias ply, traction lug tires… so I try and be reasonably careful not to destroy one.

 

[ajr]

I havnt bought a new set of tires in over 5 years we have a local guy that has used and blem tires you can get a decent set of 265 75 16 tires 70% tread for $100 also tractor car tires. Never had any problems

Sent from my HTC Hero S using Tapatalk 2

 

[zogger]

Yup, almost hate to put $700 in tires on a $1000 pickup, but I can always swap em to the next one unless I get something fancy with the 17 or 18" rims.

I ran a set of the aforementioned Wild Countrys on a 76, 82, and 87 Chevs before I wore the tires out. The 76 got rearended by a milk truck, the other two just rusted away above the tires. Still miss that 76, but not the 8 MPG outta full time 4x4 and a built 406.

I have some nice ones now, but they are on a roller I bought to either try to get it running or use it as the basis of a rebuild with my other truck as a component parts truck , both mid 80s diesel chevies. Ha! I just got the first one, the 1/2 ton, cranked with an outboard tank sitting on the roof, it needs all new lines, lift pump, etc. Leaks and sucks air all over...IP was functional enough I drove it to town a couple weeks back twice, but then it sucked air again...made it back close to home and used the deutz tow truck and a chain the rest of the way...

The newer roller one is a 3/4 ton in pretty good visible shape, has dual shocks all around, lotsa springs.....it sure sems nice and strong just looking at it..that is a 4 speed... 37 inch goodyear oz militaries, full set of 5, near almost brand new perfect. Ill call them, 4 at 95%, the spare at 100%. Like I paid used prices for the tires, and got the matching nice wheels and the rest of the truck for free. Also grabbed a set, from another place, of four matched mud wheels and some super swampers with some sort of visible tread, those are 33s. Most likely put tubes in them maybe, dunno yet, two hold air good, the other two..meh.

 

[brenndatomu]

Jakers has it correct, they’re old school bias ply tires, ya’ just can’t beat ‘em for raw traction in mud and snow.
Cooper Courser Traction 7.00x15’s
The sad thing is, Cooper don’t offer them any more, they quit making them a couple years after I bought mine. Last time I looked around I couldn’t find any 15-inch, bias ply, traction lug tires… so I try and be reasonably careful not to destroy one.

Man, you can have them things! Back in high school I had a 1980 F150 stepside 4x4, it had bias ply mudders on it, and front steering linkage was a lil loose. I could hardly keep that thing in my lane on the highway, it was scary! I bought a set of Wild Country MT radials for it, I kid you not, I thought the tire shop had given me a different truck back! It would run straight down the road with no hands on the wheel! I Really liked those tires, no more bias tires for me...

 

[Whitespider]

Man, you can have them things! Back in high school I had a 1980 F150 stepside 4x4, it had bias ply mudders on it, and front steering linkage was a lil loose. I could hardly keep that thing in my lane on the highway, it was scary!

You have to set the front end up differently with bias ply tires... a bit more caster with a bit less camber and toe-in, then they drive just fine. The idea is to get the footprint flat on the ground because bias ply sidewalls won't flex and roll like radial tires do. The front end alignment specs for near any vehicle built in the last 50-years is assuming radial tires... throw them specs in the trash if'n ya' run bias ply tires. Running old school tires, ya' need need to set your your front end up old school... if you don't have the means to do it yourself, you'll need to find someone from the old school... Good Luck With That!!!

 

[Blazin]

Tires, blah blah blah...You put any wood in that wheelbarrow yet? Pics?

 

[Whitespider]

L-O-L
Yeah, the boy and I went into town and retrieved the blow-down ash from the MIL's yard today... sorry, didn't think about pics.