To Keep the 1994, or to tow the 1994?

[O'Rattlecan]

I just made the biggest, most expensive mistake of my amateur car career.

My 1994 is without a motor, and I rebuilt one about a year ago. I was finally ready to commit to installing the motor back in today, and I even recruited help. My friend arrived and I was ready to push the truck back into the garage for a day of work.

Pushing manually didn't work, and I blamed it on flat spots on the tires. I put a little air in the tires and still had no luck. I blamed it on the hill and that we just didn't have the strength to push it. So I got my red truck and pushed it.

Guess what? Whoooooops..... I left it in park, that's why it wasn't giving. The thing slid and the transmission is totally seized up.

Do I keep the truck? Do I buy another truck and put the motor in it instead?

Pros:
Good looking wheels
Very clean interior for a 20 y/o truck
sentimental value
rust free (not matching) bed
immaculate aluminum tailgate panel

Cons:
Rust on the cab corners and front fenders
Panels don't match, would eventually need a complete paint job
Rust on the frame
Broken windshield
Crappy headlights

I can't decide whether I want to be done with it and have it towed off to truck heaven, or if I want to take it to a transmission shop and let them deal with it. To be perfectly honest, my free time is practically zero at this point in my life, and it was a wonder I even got a day blocked off to reinstall the engine. I want to have a 'project truck' but I don't want a ground-up restoration project. I want it to run and I want to be able to drive it.

Ryan

 

[slmann]

if the 94 goes what would you replace it with and will you actually replace it with another project?

we have the Mustang and while we can drive it, most of the time we don't. I have thought about getting rid of it but it's paid for and if it was gone I don't know that I would ever replace it with anything else. I would probably want to and would talk about it but wouldn't want to fork the money out for another project/toy.

 

[O'Rattlecan]

Our car situation right now is not ideal. I have the 05 F150, and it's a supercab. It fits the carseat but just barely. The Mustang is kind of a novelty, but Erica really really loves it. If I got an older F150 running and made it the 'family truck' I could probably get away with selling the 2005 and replacing it with a more practical sedan or explorer or something.

But I guess I didn't phrase it right. I'm not looking for a 'project.' If I got another truck, I'd only buy it because it was rust free and I could swap the motor directly in.

Ryan

 

[john112deere]

The wise choice would be to dump the truck, sell the motor you built, and wait until your kid is old enough you have some free time again.

Me? I'd keep it anyway.

I'm a sentimental SOB when it comes to vehicles.

 

[Beach66Bum]

I would try and find a truck with a bad/dead engine. I've seen some nice 20 year old trucks that have been considered junk because the engine is burning blue and leaking oil.

 

[O'Rattlecan]

I would like to find an old truck with a siezed up engine or something, but old trucks around here aren't in very good condition because of road salt. I'd probably have to travel south to find something that would be rust free on the body panels with a blown head gasket or something.

Ryan

 

[O'Rattlecan]

Man I'm sentimental about this thing. I went in the garage and looked at it some more, and I don't know if I can get rid of it. I'm thinking about having it towed to the transmission shop and asking if they can rebuild it or put in a junkyard or remanufactured one. I was going to rebuild the transmission as my next step, but I didn't expect it to happen quite like this.

Ryan

 

[SuperCab]

Fix the tranny. Worst case you broke the park pawl and it got caught and stuck the whole works.
You can't completely destroy a transmission by pushing it in park.

No need for a full rebuild if it is in otherwise good condition.

 

[m78]

I'd ask a transmission tech what pushing it in park could have caused. I can't see it being anything bad. Those trans can take some pretty good abuse.

 

[SuperCab]

And what do you mean by its seized up? Will the shifter move? Maybe it's just bound up from being pushed. Try jacking it up to let the wheels turn and let the stress off he drivetrain?

 

[Fellro]

I agree, the trans won't be trashed from just pushing it while in park. Chances are, the pawl is jammed at worst. You can't seize a trans just doing that little. Typically, it will break the pawl rather than seize things.

 

[m78]

Probably bent it or it's linkage to the point it wont come out of park.

 

[O'Rattlecan]

I'll call a shop and ask what my options are. No, it won't budge out of park on the column. The transmission was not in fantastic condition before this issue, so I'm not exactly wanting to put any money into it. It had been shifting rough for the last 50,000 miles, and it has 236k miles on it total.

Ryan

 

[slmann]

maybe put in a trans from a junker just so you can drive it and then rebuild the other trans when you can the way you want it done.

 

[johny89]

have you looked at al linkages to trans, mine was heavy to change aswell after an engine swap, one link had jumped out of its holdings... btw i would just keep the truck and repair it.

 

[aussie_f350]

My old truck would jam in park if I parked too hard against a gutter or something, shifter cable was just stretched, put in new one and was perfect

 

[BuzzGun79]

Agreed on Matt's & Roger's post....

 

[LEB Paul]

If it has no motor in it at the moment the trans will move on the mounts and make it extremely hard to shift because the linkage isn't lined up right.

+2 on not hurting anything besides the park pawl pushing in park. Jack the trans up some and see if you can move the gear select by hand. I believe those trucks also have a shift interlock, meaning there is something that won't allow the gear shift to be moved if your foot is not on the brake. These fail too, making it impossible to shift. My experience with breaking a parking pawl has been that the truck will still roll while in park, not that it jams up completely.

Grab a junkyard/craigslist trans and swap it in if it is bad though.. shouldn't take but a couple hours even for inexperienced.

Basically what I'm saying is don't give up completely yet because you had a bad day working on it, there are other things you can still check.

 

[smokey]

I'd keep it. Like the others said linkage sounds like its jammed up its all. Block it up and unhook the linkage and see if it will shift by hand.

 

[Lost]

Man I'm sentimental about this thing. I went in the garage and looked at it some more, and I don't know if I can get rid of it. I'm thinking about having it towed to the transmission shop and asking if they can rebuild it or put in a junkyard or remanufactured one. I was going to rebuild the transmission as my next step, but I didn't expect it to happen quite like this.

Ryan

A Ford reman will be less and have better warranty .. Here luck to get 6 month warranty and $2000 and I install the Ford trans multi year and Better support.


I still have my last 3 trucks . And many boxes of parts . But its coming to trying to drive a 20 plus year old truck 15000 plus miles per year and keep it decent .
My 95 300-6 gets 15 strong mpg . The F350 4x4 crew cab At work I get 13 mpg depending on trip and parts way easy to find.