H311RA151N : 1986 Ford F-250 XL

[H311RA151N]

[foamypirate]

Keep up the good work man. Somebody's gotta keep all this old iron on the road!

[H311RA151N]

Keep up the good work man. Somebody's gotta keep all this old iron on the road!

Thanks! Yep, I suppose your right. It's a job that needs doing.

[foamypirate]

Thanks! Yep, I suppose your right. It's a job that needs doing.

Much better than winding up in a scrap yard somewhere. I dig the 4 speed, 4x4 too, I'd love a truck like that. All my old trucks have been autos (my wife feels she needs to be able to drive all our vehicles and refuses to learn stick...blah). I just picked up an 88' Chevy crewcab (73-87 body style) that I'm working on getting back on the road.

[H311RA151N]

Much better than winding up in a scrap yard somewhere. I dig the 4 speed, 4x4 too, I'd love a truck like that. All my old trucks have been autos (my wife feels she needs to be able to drive all our vehicles and refuses to learn stick...blah). I just picked up an 88' Chevy crewcab (73-87 body style) that I'm working on getting back on the road.

The T19 behind the 460 makes for an incredibly capable truck. It has it's trade off of course but anything that doesn't involve pavement it seems to do effortlessly.

An '88 crew cab would go for a pretty penny around here. They sure are nice. Get the luxury's of a newer truck with the four doors but get a real quality piece of equipment being as it's made when they actually made trucks and not the plastic toys of today.

[Accrdwgnguy]

I'd just have a stickshift anyways. If the wife wants to drive it she'll have to learn.

[H311RA151N]

I'd just have a stickshift anyways. If the wife wants to drive it she'll have to learn.

Kinda hard to kill a V8 even at idle. She would figure it out!

[foamypirate]

Kinda hard to kill a V8 even at idle. She would figure it out!

Haha, that's true. I actually just picked up a 6.0 and 4L80E for the truck. Maybe I should swap the 4L80E for a T56. :P

[Accrdwgnguy]

NV4500. Put that truck to work.

[H311RA151N]

NV4500. Put that truck to work.

I've thought about it actually. It would have to be one from 1993 GM or so I've read as the 6.34 1st and reverse would still provide that "pull the world" gear. Actually I think 1st and reverse would be even slightly lower than my T19's... I did the math months ago which has escaped me since. But it's a swap I'd like to have and it'd be better all around. Never got around to which transfer case I would utilize but I'm by no means partial to my current chain drive aluminum cased Borg Warner 1345. It's doing great don't get me wrong, but gear drive is more my thing.

What I dig about the NV4500 is it's cast iron cased. Which is one characteristic about my T19 that I like. The NV4500 has an aluminum top cover but that don't bother me.

45mph is about 1800-1865 RPM. Which I don't like spinning it much past that cruising. The NV4500 would let me cruise at about 55-60ish which would do wonders for my impatience at times and MPG.

[H311RA151N]

I took it out for a spin yesterday. I'm not able to afford to drive it much even though fuel is $1.99/gal here at the moment so it's a rare occasion that it gets drove.

It did quite well. I even ran it out of fuel pulling a hill into town. Luckily I coasted to the top and there was an entrance to a farmers field I was able to pull into. With the return fuel system as long as the key is on the fuel pump is running. I let it sit there with the key on for about 3 mins and felt the fuel filter and it filled up so I knew I was good to start cranking it. It fired up with the choke pulled after about 5 seconds and I was clear to back it out onto the highway and pray that I made it into town. If I gave it more than a little throttle it started to stumble but I was able to get it up to about 50-55 by the city limits about a mile from where it died. It was still running as I coasted into the gas station so I had a little left but just a trickle I'm sure.

Anyways, with the new fuel in it it ran even better. Which it ran pretty decent before. It's getting dangerously close to time for me and this truck to take a 500 mile trip together which is nerve racking. I think it will make it. It seems to be running quite well and I know it's quirks pretty well by now. I'm not aware of anything that's weak on it which would cause a break down. And to date I've put over 1000 miles on it. So let's hope it makes it.

The new 14"x5" air cleaner helped some I do believe. The other air cleaner was just temporary. I had to purchase a 2" aluminum spacer so the air cleaner would clear the carburetor. Looks good I think. The 7.5l and 750cfm carburetor sucks a lot of air so I imagine it likes the massive filter.






Like I said, I installed a stereo and door speakers. I can actually hear it over the engine and tire roar.




Tires are aired up to 50psi as they should be. Every grease zerk is greased. Fluids are topped off which includes the front and rear diffs, transfer case, transmission, engine oil and coolant.

[H311RA151N]

Steering box needs a seal replaced. Should be the final fix for losing power steering fluid.

[H311RA151N]

Spent several hours today cleaning the underside. Still not even close to complete but it's getting there. Figured I might as well clean up the steering box and pitman arm real well too while it's off. Still got a bit to do as can be seen below. It had to be cleaned in order to change the seal but I guess I'm going the extra mile. What leaks will make it's self more evident once everything is clean. Which I imagine most of the caked crap everywhere was due to the power steering system leaking in about every location it possibly could for who knows how long.

[H311RA151N]

I wire wheeled the steering box and pitman arm down to shiny metal, lacquered, shot them with grey primer then later painted a coat with flat black. Still needs one more shot of black but they look much better.

Primer.



Primer.



As it sit's now, first shot of flat black.

[foamypirate]

Looking good!