Big Sloppy

Hi, new here, obviously.

I found you folks because I've been trying to dig up info on a truck I acquired.

I started calling the truck "Big Sloppy" 'cause it's a mess and it's huge.

Big Sloppy came to me because a friend saw my lamenting of the current truck market, both new and used, and not being able to find anything that wasn't rolling garbage for a reasonable price. So he contacted me and said "I got somethin' for you!" He gave me the truck and said I had to fix it. Only condition was, if I was going to get rid of it, either give it back to him or pass it on to someone who needs it like he did for me. OK, I can deal with that.

A few weeks, later, Big Sloppy arrived in my driveway for the cost of a tow.

Big Sloppy is a 1983 Ford F-250, 2WD, extended cab, long bed with the 8800 pound GVW rating. 351W and F code transmission so it's a T18 4 speed.

I found this forum because of the "Garagemahal" and looking up axle identification. The problem that Big Sloppy has is there's a good deal of rust on the underside. All the important parts still ring like solid metal so it's mostly surface rust from sitting. It has significant body cancer on the cab which is likely from the running boards being covered in junk while it sat for a couple years.

It's all fixable but the biggest thing Big Sloppy needs is the brake lines replaced. They're pretty rotten and since the lines are bad, it's a good idea to just replace the entire braking system. Thankfully parts are cheap. But without the complete sticker, it's been difficult to get the info I need as the axle code, spring code and DSO information are missing. So I don't know what axle it has or what size brakes I need for it and Ford doesn't have the info on record anymore and without the complete sticker, there's no info on it unless I take it apart.

Anyhoo, I joined here to hopefully pick some brains, get some help and maybe help out where I can too.


John

Welcome!  Glad you joined.  

Where's home?  I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could add you if we had a city/state or zip.

Big Sloppy should like a huge onion.  You'll cry peeling the onion, but you get to have a Bloomin' Onion every once in a while.  Many of us have been there and are doing that.  

But you should start a thread on him in the main section as you'll get more attention there.  Ask your questions there and we'll do our best to help you through it.

Home is in Gibbsboro, NJ.

Honestly, I thought my friend was just giving me a beat up old F-150 with a ladder rack.

I don't even think he was sure of what it was. He sent some pictures and I saw it was an F-250 and figured it was more capable than I thought, should be good for the Home Depot runs and such. When I got it here, though, I saw the GVW rating for 8800 pounds and was surprised and how "heavy" of a truck it was. But the missing door sticker parts really bummed me out. When I started looking at documentations, the number of different Dana 60's and the possible Dana 70 option and standard or limited slip with 4 different gearing options...yeah. I should just pull the diff cover and look at the stampings on the ring gear.

There's be lots of threads from me, don't worry!

Welcome!

John - You are now on the map.  And I know that area a bit.  Used to live due west of you in Kennett Square, PA.

On the axle, have you looked for a tag on it?

We!come John! (and Big Sloppy)  

As Gary suggested, look for a tag hanging from a stud on the differential cover.
99% it's a D-60, and will have left hand nuts on the left rear hub.

You will need to pull the axles out to get the drums off to change the wheel cylinders and shoes.

Welcome!

Well, the biggest problem is that my diff tag looks like this after I cleaned all the rust off it with a brass brush.




But, I remembered that if it's a Dana, there's a part number on the pinion snout and there is but they don't often give good info.

 

But there should also be a number on the axle shaft to the right of the "pumpkin" and...



...there it is!

It's not a Dana 60.

It is a Dana 61:
605040-5 Rear 3.73 Standard Low (4.10-) 30 Spline Dana 61 **Dana 61**

Not much different from a Dana 60 but gear and locking options are limited at best.

And yeah, I've done Dana 60's before, no fun. I gotta clean the rust off of everything and see what exactly is bad. At the minimum, I'm doing brakes lines and probably front brakes. Drums don't wear out as fast, usually.

But this guy has a pretty good process for replacing drum brakes on a Dana 60:

https://www.advlifestyle.com/tech-articles/ford-dana-60-rear-drums

Is the "Projects" sections where people start threads about their particular truck to have a place for all the info?

Glad you figured it out.  

As for the thread, you can put it wherever you want.  I put mine in the main section, but some put theirs in Projects.  However, this forum is a bit unusual as you have to subscribe to get email notifications that someone has posted in a thread.  So my thinking is that the most people will see a post in the main section than in Project.  Still, that's your call.  And, the moderators can move it later if you want.

I was going to say the BOM should be stamped into the right rear axle housing if the tag was missing, but I see this isn't your first rodeo.

Carry on!