New Illinois member, 1985 F250

Hey there fellas, about two weeks ago I purchased a 1985 Ford F250. I drove out to the middle of nowhere in Ohio to a diesel shop that used it as a service truck, test drove it and bought it two days later. I have been interested in a bullnose for a while, a few years ago in high school there was one I'd see driving around and the styling grew on me. It's a 6.9 idi diesel with 4x4, 155,000 miles and it's a two owner truck. It currently has a service bed with a side mounted air compressor on from the shop, but I may swap it to a standard bed because you can really feel the extra 1250 or so pounds when braking. This seems to be a great forum and source of information, I'll do my best to respect and follow the rules and guidelines, have a nice day guys :) .

Welcome!

My truck wasn’t stopping so well, the calipers were stiff, replaced those and adjusted the rears and freed up the self adjusters and so much better.

Welcome!  I like the truck.  How 'bout telling us about it in a signature?  That way we won't have to wonder and can, therefore, answer your questions accurately.

And, where's home?  We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Members Map in the menu) and we could add you with your permission and a location.

Welcome!

155k? That engine isn't even broke in yet!

Great looking truck!
(as you can tell by my username, I'm the one here who isn't in to garage queens)
I see it's right at home, and marking its territory already.  

You'll do just fine here!  

Hey guys! As you've suggested I added a signature with some basic information about my truck. I am in Arlington Heights, Illinois if you would like to add me to the map! Also, once I get a bit more in my savings perhaps I'll have to try giving the calipers a little tlc - thanks for the suggestion (they probably could use it either way haha).

Thanks for the warm welcomes! :) At some point in the next day or so I'll write up a post about a diy dash restoration I've been working on the past few days. Also, it definitely is not a garage queen but I do intend to put some care into it lol, good to see I'm not alone in my goals though.

Ok, you are on the map!

But, here's a test for you.  Where do you go for pizza?  There in Arlington Heights, or do you do as we did when we lived in Elgin and go to Elk Grove?  

Seriously, now that we live in Okiehoma we order Lou's in, frozen.  Not as good as getting it there, but better than what we get here.  The only thing we don't get by ordering is the fabulous salad.  

Lou's is definitely one of my favorites, we have one less than five minutes away. I agree that it's not the same frozen, but it's definitely still better than most other frozen options. Bill's pub double layered pizza is my other go to for ordering out. I'll also occasionally get Giordano's or Gino's when I want something different. Illinois may not have much, but we certainly have some good comfort food! Hows Oklahoma treating you?

Ok, if you like Lou's you are a KEEPER!  Spent many happy hours in the old house in Elk Grove.  

Oklahoma is treating us well.  We both grew up here or near here, so when we retired while in IL, having lived a lot of places, we wanted to go "home".  We live in a small town, Skiatook, but are 30 minutes from Tulsa, so have most things easily available to us.

Shnawk wrote

Thanks for the warm welcomes! :) At some point in the next day or so I'll write up a post about a diy dash restoration I've been working on the past few days. Also, it definitely is not a garage queen but I do intend to put some care into it lol, good to see I'm not alone in my goals though.

Welcome to the forum.
Would like to see what you do on the dash (pad?) as I had one I started twice and did not turn out so good.
I will give it 1 more try with fleece blanket & fiber glass rosin.
I just have to be in the right mood to mess with the rosin ...... messy!
Dave ----

So I started by taking a dremel with a drum sander and carving out the vinyl layer along the cracks, you want a nice shallow riverbed shape if possible. Then sand it down and clean it, for filler I used bondo fiberglass resin jelly. It worked pretty well I'd say, only trouble is it doesn't always seem to like leaving a smooth surface. I then sanded and refilled as needed, performed a final sand and paint prep. I put on two light coats of primer, then three light coats of duplicolor vinyl/fabric paint.

This is the first filler application, pre sanding.

This is after the second layer of primer.

And this is after the third light coat of paint.
I wish I had a picture of it before filler and after sanding but before primer, but I wasn't really thinking I'd be posting this anyway at the time so I didn't think to take them. There are a few minor blemishes here and there, and on the front vent there is a slightly larger imperfection. Most of these are in places that I won't really see it though. It's not really a show truck, but I am glad to not have tons of cracks on my dash anymore. The mesh in the center had loads of holes in it so I just took it out with a cut off tool, I'm thinking that I may get one of those circular mesh speaker covers and glue it over the hole. Hope it goes well with your dash!
Also glad to hear you are enjoying Oklahoma Gary, I was born and raised in Illinois and at some point will probably look for another place to call home. It's okay here, but definitely isn't my first choice lol.

Ron - One of the guys on here, Ron/reamer, makes a dash patch.  You can see one of them here.

As for Okiehoma, we like it.  But then we grew up essentially here, and most people like where they were raised.  So it is surprising that you don't.  

Anyway, your dash repair looks good.  

Welcome Ron, I'm not far from you in New Lenox/Joliet area. Good work on the dash, I'm looking to perform some surgery on my cracked dash, hope I get similar results.

That's pretty cool, I have yet to look at the member map but was not aware so many people were familiar with the area! Nice to meet you. Also thanks guys, it was my first time doing something like this so I'm glad it went well. The gray duplicolor vinyl paint is lighter than the oem gray on my dash so I have a bit of a two tone sort of thing going on for the time being.