Hello from Mt. Vernon, MO.

I've been hitting this site for awhile and getting info that I've needed, over the last couple of years. Only now have I decided to join, as I have some questions.
I've owned a few Ford trucks over the last 35 years. I've owned a 68 Ranger with a radically built 390 (it would smoke a Chevy 454 SS.) A 1973 Explorer, burnt orange with white stripe and a mild build 302. 1985 F150 XLT Lariat. Black with a fuel injected 302. Just a beautiful truck. The truck I have now and, have had for the last 10 years, is a step side 1983 F100. It is currently black and has a 73 351 Cleveland 2v engine and a FMX. I've done a few things to it since I first bought it but, nothing major. I paid $1200 for it. Not a bad deal at all.
I'll be posting some questions in the forums, before long, in hope to getting some answers as well as getting to know the folks here.

 

Welcome!  Glad you joined.  

Mt Vernon.  Want to be on our map?  You can see it at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu.

That's a nice looking truck, and I'm sure you already know that you have an earlier grille - besides a Cleveland that didn't come in a truck except in Australia.  But, the grille looks great!  In fact, it is my favorite.

Anyway, welcome and I look forward to your questions.

Hello Gary. Yup, the grille is from an 80-81. I thought some one would point that out, LOL.

Add me to the map.

You are on the map.  And, you are close enough that normally I'd invite you to the show in Sept, but it is unlikely that it will be in-person this year.  However, if so then we'll do it virtually and now that you are a member you can join.  

I see you're in Skiatook. I use to skydive down that way at the airport. I'm often out of town as I work for the Union Pacific. However, if I am in town, it would be a pleasure to come on down that way for a truck show.

And Gary worked for the railroad too.
Small world.

Another beautiful Flareside!
Welcome to the thickening FOG.  

I swear I'm beginning to be non-plussed by these things...

Welcome!

Yes, stop in if you are down this way.  Email me through the forum and I'll see it pretty quickly.

And Jim is right, I come from a railroad family.  Father and brother were engineers on the Santa Fe, now BNSF.  And I worked for them 18 months while in college as a brakeman.

Speaking of Jim, he's coined the term Flareside Owner's Group, aka FOG.  Carl Sandburg said "The fog comes on little cat feet", but around here it is coming on lots of rubber tires.  Quickly!  Didn't know how many Flaresides there were out there until recently.  Wow!

Was that flare side bed swapped on that truck from a style side?
I ask because I don't think I have ever seen a flare side with moldings before?
Nice looking truck
Dave ----

Hey Gary, I started with Sperry Rail Service in 1987. Tested many miles on the the BNSF. I use to test down in Tulsa out of the Cherokee yard and onto the many subs as well as other states. I hired on with the Union Pacific a few years ago. I'm, currently, in Louisiana. My territory is LA, AR and, TX. I test the same route over and over. Funny that I use to test (ultra sonic and induction test for internal defects in rail) these tracks 30 years ago when it was the Southern Pacific.
Now, on to the question "was the bed swapped." Yes, it was but, not by me.
A little history on the this truck. The guy I bought it from put it together with his father in 1999, during his senior year of high school. He grew up in Mt. Vernon, MO. I bought the truck in Joplin, where he lives now with his wife and children, in 2010. He bought a new truck and gave the F100 to his wife. She must had threaten him with divorce. She got a new car and I got a great deal on a truck.
The truck was a styleside with a 232 and a 3 speed manual. They swapped the column and dash cluster from a donor. Paint was maroon. He told me that he bought it from his uncle. The original engine was blown. His father had a 351c 2v from a 1973 Torino sitting in the garage. Low power engine for sure. They swapped the cam for a mild RV. It has good low end torque but, falls flat at 4-4500 rpm. He told me that the FMX was already bolted to the engine. They put a shift kit in it. Before installing the engine, the truck was painted black. The interior remained maroon. (I got a wee bit intoxicated one night and sprayed painted it black just see how it would look. It wasn't all that great to start with. All new interior is on the list.) As per his history lesson, given to me, it was sitting across from the neighbor's driveway one fateful morning. As the neighbor was backing out, he failed to apply the brake when most needed and smashed the bed beyond repair. The guy must had been late for work as he had to had been backing up quite fast to do severe damage. So, as the story goes, a new used bed was in need. The guy who hit his truck had a bed and offered to paint it and put it on for him. I guess this kept the insurance company and local law boys at bay. All and all, I think it looks better with the step side bed. However, the bed did not have the wood parts. They put a 3/16th sheet of steel diamond plate in it. That is a lot of weight. I'll be swapping that out for the sooooooo freaking cool wood. In the process I now have a large sheet of steel diamond plate. BONUS!!!
The truck has been sitting in the barn for the last two years. It will be moved, when I get home, this coming weekend. The barn is getting a cement floor poured in it (40x50.) Before moving the truck, I have to install a new key barrel and ignition switch, as well as the radiator. New ignition parts will arrive on Monday. The new radiator, an all aluminum 3 row, from Champion Cooling Systems will arrive on Wednesday.
Yup, I'm about to spend some big bucks on her. I recently spent a few on my 1968 FLH Electra Glide and some on the my wife's 08 XL Custom Anniversary. Put a few into a 1977 XLH as well. My poor 05 Fatboy got nothing. It shouldn't feel so bad as my old 1972 Norton chopper has been feeling just as lonely. Same with the 1980 El Camino SS. All in good time.
Anyway, that's the story of the truck. She is now embarking on towards a new chapter that might be told when I am gone and she moves on to a new owner. Long may she live and roll!

Cool story
I thought so starting life as a style side before the flare side (step side is chevy) as it had style side moldings on the cab.

THe wood floors are nice but you cant use it and not hurt the wood. Beside its a lot of money to go back wood if you don't have any of it.
I have a ribbed metal floor from a style side on my flare side only because I did not have the $$ to go back with wood.


From the out side it is just another flare side pickup, trash in bed for the weekly trash run.

Dave ----

My bad on calling it a step side.
This truck will never be used for hauling stuff. I got a 2001 GMC 4x4 for that. Although it is a pain to load and unload as it has a 9 inch lift kit under it. The wife hates it and at my age it's getting harder to get into it. Time to put a step on it.
I went through the thread on your truck. Hats off to you for such a great job. I can imagine that you get a lot people asking about it. It is a head turner.

Yes, neat story on the truck.  Glad you got it, and then got it fixed.  Quite a story.

On the rail inspection, I've often wondered how that worked.  So you do ultrasonic and induction.  Do you use induction on only the welded rail?  Or can you do it on the other?

I worked the Scanty Pay in '65 through '68 summers, and a couple of winters during that time while I was going to college.  Worked the mainline from Ark City, KS to Purcell, OK, which were the division points at the time.  And that was about the time they introduced the welded rail to that division.  I will never forget riding the rear car of a 1/4 mile set of cars of welded rail out of the yards.  We went from Track 8, down the lead to the double switches out to the main and then to the siding.  To see rail stacked side-by-side probably 6' wide and 3' deep snake out of there like that was mind boggling.  

Induction testing has been in use since 1928. It was developed by Dr. Elmer Sperry. He founded Sperry Rail Service. He died a year after. I worked for them for near 32 years before hiring on with the Union Pacific. Induction was the sole process for rail flaw detection until the 1950s. Sperry Rail Service along with Floyd Firestone developed the first UX hand test scope. This was the Reflectoscope. We used the reflectoscope up into the 1990s. Sperry developed the first roller search unit. Roller search units are still used to this day as the transmission method of passing high frequency sound from a transducer to a medium and back when the sound encounters a reflector in the rail. We still use induction in some cases but, it is now a secondary test to compliment the UX test. It would be easier to show a couple of videos of what we do. The first video is a railbound car. Induction worked great on these old cars as you set could up a pre-field by inducing around 2300 amps into the rail before the test equipment that is under the trailing truck. These cars, also, use UX. Test data was presented to the test operator via ink and paper tapes. When I first started in early 1987 we were using vacuum tubes in the test box. No computers. Now every thing is computers and computer screens. Plus, we lived on the big rail cars. I spent over ten years on one. Home away from home. The second video is closer to how we do it now. These days we stay in hotels. I've seen my field of work change drastically over 33 years. It is about to take another drastic turn as artificial intelligence has been developed by Sperry Rail Service to replace the human link in the system. Although, a person will be needed to verify suspects. Like many professions, the rail tester will fall prey to technology. Glad I'm nearing retirement.
I've tested through the areas you mention. I have tested near all of Canada and, every inch of rail in Mexico all the way to Guatemala. I've been on every railroad and have tested in every state except for Alaska and Hawaii. It's been a lot of years and a million miles. It's been fun. Another six years to go.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYQDaXr1t1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6VbgL3TXAs

That is really interesting!  Thanks for the info and for the video links.

I had no idea that the crews lived on those rail cars.  Nor how they worked.  But the newer vehicles sure seem to have made huge changes.  Vacuum tubes on a rail car!?!?  I wouldn't think they'd last long with the motion.

We used to talk about wheels that had been badly flat-spotted breaking the rail as they turned so there would be breaks X inches apart.  Did you ever encounter that?  Was that an old wives tale?