Papaw's F350 Dually

[ford4wd08]

As a few of you know from reading my Bronco II thread, my grandfather that I was very close with passed away last year.

He was a coal miner most his life, then retired to cattle farming which I cut my teeth on as a youth and teenager.

He had his own junk yards of Ford trucks. Most of his rigs were from the mid to late 80's.

All the trucks unfortunately due to to there condition were junked. There is one rig left that I am going to get and fix up. I have a lot of history with this truck. I rode with my papaw hauling cattle and hay many miles in this rig.

When I turned 16, he had bought an '05 F350 dually with a Powerstroke and I was left driving the old grey truck as we called it. Every other rig he had was red.

I hauled 100's of round bales feeding cattle in this thing and it was the truck I learned to drive a 5 speed in.

So as I get closer to wrapping the BII up, I'll be going to pick this rig up soon to began some work on it.

I can't find a lot of info on it. The truck was sold as incomplete rig from Ford, without a bed on it. He bought the aluminum flat bed to put on it and got adapters to make it a dually.

I know it has a solid front axle with leaf springs at all 4 corners, a 5 speed transmission with OD, a manual T-case, manual locking hubs, and the last year 460 with a 4 barrel holley carb on it.

If you look on Rock Auto or the like, there are a bunch of options that can come with F350 from engines to axles to cabs, etc. I'll have to wade through that.

It ran when I parked as the saying goes, if I remember correctly it had an electric fuel pump in the tank I replaced on the grass out in the field and got it running.

The engine might need a rebuild, but I'll work through that after I get it running first.

Anyhow, sorry for being long winded, here are some pictures.

If anyone has any ideas what this thing was equipped with, I'm all ears.

It looks like it has a duraspark ignition with the round coil type?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Love a bricknose flatbed.

Last year for the carbed 460 was 87, should be a ZF 5speed (which i believe was pretty rare early on, most still had the BW and NP 4speeds).

Should be a 10.25 sterling rear (unless the Dana 60/70 was floating around still in 87)

Probably geared with 4.10s, maybe a 4.30 but i think the 4.30 were mostly 2wd.

I like it!

 

[ford4wd08]

Once I get it home (who knows when that will be) I'll go through some stuff and see if I can't get it running.

I'm not sure if I'll restore it from the ground up, or leave it as a farm truck and just get all the mechanical stuff worked out and just drive it.

I remember it being down on power last time I drove it, but I have no idea what condition the engine is in.

 

[ford4wd08]

It is getting closer for me to bring this thing home......

Anyone ever build a big block Ford before?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I swapped a 460 into a 1978 f250 that had a 400. The compression was real good at 155 all 8 cylinders (altitude = 2920'). I decided to leave the heads on and replaced the main and rod bearings, water pump, intake, carb, and seals. Same basic technique as any other motor job. If you've done a rebuild or refurb on any other motor you shouldn't have any difficulties on a 460.

 

[ford4wd08]

I swapped a 460 into a 1978 f250 that had a 400. The compression was real good at 155 all 8 cylinders (altitude = 2920'). I decided to leave the heads on and replaced the main and rod bearings, water pump, intake, carb, and seals. Same basic technique as any other motor job. If you've done a rebuild or refurb on any other motor you shouldn't have any difficulties on a 460.

Never rebuilt an engine before.

I believe I can though. If I have time I can figure most things out.

Engine ran when it was parked. Was down on power it seemed.

I was thinking of pulling it and letting a machine shop go through it and maybe assembling the short block. Then I could take over and put the heads on and etc.

I would replace all seals and desmog everything and put a straight up timing gear set on it and recurve the distributor.

From what I can find on other forums that will give you quite a bit of power. I think the 460 is lacking on the exhaust side on the stock heads/manifolds.

I'm just looking for a good reliable torque curve. Don't care about high horsepower, just reliable and torque.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yes, a Cloyes timing gear set up straight. I wouldn't worry about the exhaust if its reliability and torque that you want. Headers won't help much in that regard and are prone to exhaust leaks.
First do a compression test and see where you stand.

 

[ford4wd08]

I'm not exactly sure of the miles on this rig. I believe the odometer has turned over, but I don't know how many times....

I'm confident I can get it to run. It always started when it had fuel getting to it. I believe this is a model with an electric fuel pump in tank and it quit working. I actually replaced one out in the field for it once upon a time.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Man, I love the bones of this truck. Love these body styles. Look at all of that aluminum. I bet this was a real beauty when new. Definitely worth restoring!

 

[ford4wd08]

Man, I love the bones of this truck. Love these body styles. Look at all of that aluminum. I bet this was a real beauty when new. Definitely worth restoring!

You won't find many out there equipped like this anymore. Leaf springs at all 4 corners. Manual everything.

It used to shine up real good when I was a kid. He had a matching aluminum stock trailer he pulled behind it.

The 87-91's are becoming my favorite full size rigs in the Fords. I don't know if it is because it reminds me of my granddad or my youth, but I want to get a F150 of similar vintage with a short bed and 4x4 to fix up too.... I'm running out of space for all of this stuff, and my wife is going to kill me.....

 

[Jim Oaks]

But, it's an heirloom with sentimental value. Their exempt from the wife rules. I know a woman up by Detroit whose husband brought home his grandfather's tractor. Does she want a tractor, no. But it was his grandfathers.

I had a 1989 Ford F250 extended cab 4x4 that I fixed up. Loved that truck and the body style.

All that aluminum will shine back up. I'm sure if you fixed it up and ever wanted to sell it, you'd find a buyer pretty fast.

Your wife should be glad you're not attached to the cab over sitting behind it. LOL.

 

[ford4wd08]

But, it's an heirloom with sentimental value. Their exempt from the wife rules. I know a woman up by Detroit whose husband brought home his grandfather's tractor. Does she want a tractor, no. But it was his grandfathers.

I had a 1989 Ford F250 extended cab 4x4 that I fixed up. Loved that truck and the body style.

All that aluminum will shine back up. I'm sure if you fixed it up and ever wanted to sell it, you'd find a buyer pretty fast.

Your wife should be glad you're not attached to the cab over sitting behind it. LOL.

Heirloom for sure. That and his Bronco 2 aren't going anywhere if I can help it.

As soon as I get the Bronco 2 going, it's going to be my daily driver. Then I'll have room to park the F350 in the driveway and work on it.

Wife just gets mad that I like spend a lot of time fixing and tinkering on stuff. She can't stand looking at a truck that has rust on it. It is a rare sight down here in the south lol.

Yes I let all the farm equipment go. Just kept the stuff I would use.

 

[jimd1050]

If 'rusty ol ranger' is right and '87 was the last year for carbed 460's, then that's an '87 and up grille and headlights, I just checked on LMC Truck, which is a decent source for body parts, btw 'ford4wd08' - replacement panels, trim, accessories, etc. Prices aren't too bad either!

 

[ford4wd08]

So.... Another update time.

Some mean ass kids broke almost all the glass out of this rig.... I would love to stomp their guts out, but oh well.

I'm going to pick rig up and bring it home on April 30th.

Luckily parts shouldn't be too hard to find. And it just being a cab hopefully I can replace whole doors to get the glass I need. A new windshield and back glass I'll most likely just buy new.

This one will need a lot of work, but it should be "simpler" than the bronco was.

I'll most likely have to rebuild the engine and put in a new clutch and fix the brakes. Everything else sort of worked at the time it was parked.

 

[ford4wd08]

Going to pick up the ole grey truck tomorrow. Hope to maybe get it home before dark tomorrow.