New truck: 79 1Ton 4x4

[flareside_thunder]

Likewise...if someone else doesn't pipe up with a solid answer drop surewhynot(Tony) a line...he'll most likely know.

 

[ford141]

K, thanks guys.

 

[ford141]

Update on the progress of the 1 ton. When I originally bought this truck I had planned to take my time, build everything right the way that I wanted it. I'm trying to build a house this fall, so I really didn't have time to work on it now, and I had the '77 for heavy hauling, general beating and off-roading while clearing/preparing land for the house. Unfortunately, last week the '77 finally died, which really put me in a bind. I've had to use my '05 F150 FX4 for hauling chainsaws/brushcutters/fuel/etc. in and out of my land, which is really hard on it. It gets covered in mud daily since there is no established driveway yet, and I've constantly afraid of rubbing a tree or scratching the paint. Don't get me wrong, it is a truck, and I use it like one, but when you spend $38K on a truck you try to keep it nice as long as possible.

So, ultimately I have decided to throw the F350 together and get it roadworthy as quick as I can so I can use it for the dirty work instead of the '05. The goal is to make it safe, reliable, and capable. Looks are not important at this point, but I'd like to make it look respectable, if for no other reason but to keep the cops from bothering me. I am also directing most of my cash towards the house at this point, so low cost is also a major focus.

I started into it hard last week. So far, I got the body from the cab forward patched back together enough to get it to pass PA inspection. Major issues were holes in the cab corners and floors. I have another rust-free cab for it, but don't have the time to swap it right now, so I did some Bondo art on the cab corners, and screwed some metal panels over the floors. Flame all you want, but the cab only has to get me past inspection and last about a year. The drivers side door was pretty bad, so I replaced it with a better spare that I had, and both front fenders got pitched in favor of better ones. I also had a spare '79 grille shell that was straight, so that went in along with grille and bezels from my large parts stash. I salvaged the hood off of the dead '77. Everything is getting spray-bombed Rustoleum flat brown for color uniformity. Here are some pics so far of the progress:

I scored a seat from a late-80s F150 from a swap meet a few years ago for $40, and since the seat in this truck was pretty much shot it got swapped out. This thing is really comfortable, and the material is still in pretty good shape.

More progress to come in the near future.

 

[ford141]

Haven't updated this thread in a long time. Here is how the F350 sits now. Been sled pulling with it for the last year. Got the old aluminum slots polished up and a new set of 33x12.50 Cooper mud tires on them. Still a piece of crap, but looks decent from a distant.

 

[LEB Ben]

I bet that thing is a hoss...I'd drive the piss out of it. Sweet rims, never seen slots like that with that much luster before. And the hood scoop, what's the deal with that? Functional or stick on?

 

[taxreliever]

Man, love that truck.....everyone on here knows that I think the 73-79 Fseries trucks are the best! Nice job...looks great. With a few flaws in the body and such, I might have gone with a black primer, but nonetheless...looks good. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Austin]

That's nice!!!

 

[ford141]

The hood scoop is not functional, it came on my old 77 (see avatar) and stayed on the hood when I swapped it over to the F350 since it is bolted through. It is an early 80s Mustang GT scoop. It will come off some day when I do the body nicer, but for now there are a lot of other things that need fixed before the scoop.

Oh, and that is NOT primer, that is gen-u-ine Rust-Oleum rattle can flat brown from Wally-world. Don't hate on my paint job, I shelled out a whopping $25 of hard-earned cash for that beautiful finish... Black primer is WAYYY overdone, there is already another '79 in my neighborhood in flat black. I'm starting a new trend....

The wheels were polished by a local place here called Aluminum Polishing Unlimited. They took them from a very neglected as-cast finish and polished them to a mirror-like finish. I'm thrilled at the results. You don't see too many slots polished up.

And lest you think that I paid big money for beautiful, original chrome bumpers for a beater truck, no fear. They are leftovers from my green '79 2wd that I removed when I swapped to '77 grill and a rear roll pan.

Some mechanical specs: Very mild 460 with minor exhaust porting, Comp cam, Eddy intake, Summit 750 carb, stock manifolds (to meet stock class pulling specs), flowmaster muffs. C6 slips in 2nd and 3rd. NP250, Dana 60 front, Sterling 10.25 rear with limited slip, 4.10 gears. Motor has had a bottom end knock for the last 3 years, hopefully it is coming out this winter for a much stouter setup.

 

[taxreliever]

The hood scoop is not functional, it came on my old 77 (see avatar) and stayed on the hood when I swapped it over to the F350 since it is bolted through. It is an early 80s Mustang GT scoop. It will come off some day when I do the body nicer, but for now there are a lot of other things that need fixed before the scoop.

Oh, and that is NOT primer, that is gen-u-ine Rust-Oleum rattle can flat brown from Wally-world. Don't hate on my paint job, I shelled out a whopping $25 of hard-earned cash for that beautiful finish... Black primer is WAYYY overdone, there is already another '79 in my neighborhood in flat black. I'm starting a new trend....

The wheels were polished by a local place here called Aluminum Polishing Unlimited. They took them from a very neglected as-cast finish and polished them to a mirror-like finish. I'm thrilled at the results. You don't see too many slots polished up.

And lest you think that I paid big money for beautiful, original chrome bumpers for a beater truck, no fear. They are leftovers from my green '79 2wd that I removed when I swapped to '77 grill and a rear roll pan.

Some mechanical specs: Very mild 460 with minor exhaust porting, Comp cam, Eddy intake, Summit 750 carb, stock manifolds (to meet stock class pulling specs), flowmaster muffs. C6 slips in 2nd and 3rd. NP250, Dana 60 front, Sterling 10.25 rear with limited slip, 4.10 gears. Motor has had a bottom end knock for the last 3 years, hopefully it is coming out this winter for a much stouter setup.

Gotcha on the color....still like it a lot!

 

[Austin]

Scoop: love it for some reason, and the paint around it's nice.
Paint: also drooling over it, for some reason.
Wheels: Sleep with one eye open, I want em!

 

[Evan's f250]

nice truck, i really like the wheels, were the original tires tht were on it bad? jw and lucky uve got all kinds of 73-79's even a 77 dump

 

[ford141]

nice truck, i really like the wheels, were the original tires tht were on it bad? jw and lucky uve got all kinds of 73-79's even a 77 dump

Ya, it was a real shame about the original tires, they were almost new with hardly any wear, and were holding air after sitting for 7 years, but they are dry-rotted badly with really deep cracks around the bead. I didn't feel safe running them on the road, although they would make great tires for someone with a woods beater.

I've got 6 dents all together, but only 3 are running, the rest are parts trucks. I bought the '77 dumper from a local farmer for $500 and drove it home after he push started me with his skid loader (flywheel ring gear was stripped). I fixed the ring gear, put new tires on it and have been running the wheels off of it hauling stuff for my shop. It only has a 300/6, but runs awesome and is indestructible. PTO driven hydraulic dump works great, too.

 

[Jolly Green]

Looks great, Eric.

Hey--you still looking to sell that 79 shell we talked about a while back?

 

[ford141]

Ya, I still have it if you are still interested. I don't get out to State College very often anymore since I transferred to another department here at work, but I will be out that way next week on my way to Scranton.

 

[73F100Shortbed]

Looks great

 

[Evan's f250]

Ya, it was a real shame about the original tires, they were almost new with hardly any wear, and were holding air after sitting for 7 years, but they are dry-rotted badly with really deep cracks around the bead. I didn't feel safe running them on the road, although they would make great tires for someone with a woods beater.

I've got 6 dents all together, but only 3 are running, the rest are parts trucks. I bought the '77 dumper from a local farmer for $500 and drove it home after he push started me with his skid loader (flywheel ring gear was stripped). I fixed the ring gear, put new tires on it and have been running the wheels off of it hauling stuff for my shop. It only has a 300/6, but runs awesome and is indestructible. PTO driven hydraulic dump works great, too.

ya thts too bad about the tires and sounds like u gt a good deal on that dump also. out of curiosity about how much did those new tires set u back? im guessing $800-900. they look great

 

[ford141]

$525 total for all four, brand new. They are blems, but I still haven't been able to find what is wrong with them. I figured for a truck that I don't drive very often, blems are fine.

 

[Jolly Green]

Ya, I still have it if you are still interested. I don't get out to State College very often anymore since I transferred to another department here at work, but I will be out that way next week on my way to Scranton.

I was out and not around a computer since Thursday. Did you head to Scranton yet?

I'll PM you.

 

[ford141]

I'm 90% sure we are going out there tomorrow. I sent you a pm.

 

[money_pit]

Ok, I wasn't sure when they started the D70's, must have been the 80's. There is no indication that anyone has swapped the axles, looks to be original.

Also, this truck has large swaybars front and rear. Would this have a camper special package? Reason I figure that is because my '79 F250 2wd had the front and rear swaybars, and it is a camper special. The 2wd also had factory overload springs in the rear which this truck does not have.

Any '77.5-'79 f-250 or f-350 4x4 truck could have the sway bars, it doesn't have to be a Camper Special or Trailer Special.