Thoughts on a heavy hauler...

The good thing about the 1980-1999 F-Medium Duty trucks is they all have a bullnose dash and door panels.

salans7 wrote

The good thing about the 1980-1999 F-Medium Duty trucks is they all have a bullnose dash and door panels.

Indeed... although the instrument bezel is different...

I decided to read up a bit on the engine the guy thought was in the ‘92, and it can’t be an 8.3L. The two diesel options for 1992 were 5.9 12v Cummins turbo diesel and 6.6 New Holland / Ford turbo diesel. Both are good. I actually know more of the 6.6 as Justin had one he was going to stuff in his F250 and discussed it a fair bit. It’s another de-tuned “dog” that will run forever.

Like you said, one of the hard parts about buying this type of vehicle is that mileage isnt always the best indicator. If it was a company tru k, the operator or operators probably ran it as hard as they could because they wont be paying the shop bill.

Another helpful tool for making your tank more portable is a home made gantry crane. I got one in the works and love the prospect of lifting heavy objects

I am going to go look at a 4th option today after work. Option #1 (the running IDI F450) the seller isn’t responsive. It’s not the end of the week yet but the lack of communication isn’t encouraging. I am flipping between spending more on something that’s ready to go (and crossing my fingers that expensive problems don’t crop up) and buying something cheap and spending the balance getting it where I want... this is a low-buck option:

This ‘95 F450 was a 460 truck that had a 5.9 Cummins put in it. The Cummins has been removed, and the rest of the truck is being sold for $750. The idea would be to drop in the running 6.9 IDI that I have. There are a lot of potential draw backs to this truck but I think it’s worth the 2 hr. drive to go have a look. I have a quote from a reputable towing company at $400 if I can wait for an empty truck returning from Vegas.

You can pull this off, Jonathan! Go to see it and take cash... maybe they will take less? Every little bit [saved] would help with the transportation.

Would you sell the utility bed? If so, that would help with the price.

I'm with David - I think it is a viable option.  You have the drivetrain to put in.  And you could probably sell the utility bed.

But, will you have to then make a flat bed?  Or?

Thanks guys! I think it is viable... and yes, I will probably attempt to sell the utility bed. That would leave me needing a flatbed, but I can make one, or perhaps pick one up at a junkyard, or see if anyone wants to trade. I consider the bed it has to be in the “con” column, but at least it does have some value.

My concerns are how well was the Cummins install done, and what all might I run into converting it to idi. If it is butchered or heavily modified that could be a deal breaker.

The other issue for me is that I will not have an Aeronose IDI core support. I will need to source one, or fabricate one using the bricknose core support as a donor for the drop down. I could front clip swap it, but that’s a whole other can of worms.

The EFI 460 wiring won’t do me any favors either, but all I absolutely have to do to run the IDI is one wire to the FSS and manual glow plugs (and the starter and alternator of course). If I want everything to work as factory, then I would need an Aeronose IDI harness, or dash swap and use the Bullnose IDI harness that I just pulled today. But that’s an even bigger can o’ worms.

This truck currrntly has a Gtrag 5 speed in it. I don’t know if it would jive with a 6.9 bellhousing, but I read it isn’t a great transmission. It’s inferior to the NV4500, which in turn is inferior to the ZF. It does not have a driveline brake. They guy said it has a line lock instead. So I will need to excercise some creativity getting the driveline in place.

More later this evening after I have a look.

Folks, the purchase was made and the 95 F-Superduty will be delivered Saturday. I found a company who will move it for $350.

There is a lot of bad news with this truck, and I almost walked away from it... but these three things sold me:

1. The seller had recently been driving it every day. It hasn’t been sitting very long at all.

2. The wheelbase is 137”, only 4” longer than a regular pickup. Many are much longer, and for me shorter is better.

3. The axle gears are 4.63’s (not 5.13’s). That is plenty of gear for what I need to move and will help keep the revs down on the 6.9L.

Some of the bad news is the service bed is only 48” between the tool boxes. The water tank won’t fit as-is. The bed will have to come off before I can haul water. The bed isn’t in the greatest shape, and won’t be worth a lot, but it looks like it will fit a standard 8’ bed truck which will make it easier to sell. As I suspected, the Cummins swap butchery was pretty bad. The top of the core support is cut, welded, now cut again for engine removal. The instrument cluster is gone and replaced with all aftermarket gauges. Interesting things have been done to the wiring to run the CTD alternator etc., this is going to be a big project and I am going to need help. I will post more pics and details later, in the form of a project thread.

Well, congrats?  Or Congrats!!!  Not sure which.

But, your plan is to put the running gear from the truck that you bought recently in this one.  Right?

As for the tank, what kind of a cradle does it need?  No chance the utility bed could serve as that, with a platform in the middle for the tank to sit on?

Thanks Gary, let the learning and entertainment begin as I pop open this can of worms!

The plan is indeed to use the engine/transmission from the red parts truck. I may opt to use a 460 ZF instead of the diesel one, but that, too, is something I already have. The DNE2 will be my chosen method of turning the 4x4 transmission into a 2wd .

The service bed is around a foot too narrow, so I don’t think there is any way to make that work. The tank is pill shaped, but has a built in integral fiberglass base. It just needs something flat to sit on and some good straps.

You have some work it sounds like but thats a great price for a solid vehicle. You can afford to modify it now.
This one will be built not bought, as they say.
A truck that someone has been driving is a lot safer bet than something thats been sitting and at the end of the day, any vehicle you get will have work it needs done. Once you sell the bed, youve really got a good deal.
Congrats! I probably wont have much to say to help you but Ill be watching to see how this develops.
And I might need to find out more about this shipping service.

Ok, I see what you are saying about the service bed.  A full flatbed would be nice, but to get on the road maybe just a few 4x4's?

Is this a CNC or a pickup?

Yes, this is CnC incomplete vehicle. As long as I have some type of fender coverage for the wheels and some lights I am sure I could makeshift a wooden beam structure to secure the tank to the frame.

LMC offers a 92-96 7.3 core support. Maybe it would work with the 6.9 (If your current one is too mangled)?

https://www.lmctruck.com/1980-96-ford/fd-1992-98-7-3l-diesel-radiator-core-support

Thanks. That’s good to know it’s available! The older ones are not. The Aeronose IDI wire harness is another story, but I will see how bad things are once the truck is delivered.

As I was looking over the truck to buy it, I had to shift gears a bit and quit tallying what all is wrong with this truck and start tallying is this $1,100 (delivered price) worth of parts. Especially with a utility body and Dodge 5 speed to sell off the bat I’m going to say yes it is.

Have you considered swapping the entire Bricknose cab over to the 450 chassis?
Seems like it would be easier than trying to patch that one up (and the harness is already there for the IDI)

The Bricknose cab is: #1-rusty, and #2-a supercab. Otherwise that might be on the table. I could try to source a whole cab, or a whole body, but the 1995 cab is clean, straight, and from CA with zero rust. I think it’s worth trying to make it work.

I guess I was paying more attention to the kids playing in it than to the truck itself.  

salans7 wrote

LMC offers a 92-96 7.3 core support. Maybe it would work with the 6.9 (If your current one is too mangled)?

https://www.lmctruck.com/1980-96-ford/fd-1992-98-7-3l-diesel-radiator-core-support

I've heard many times on the '92 - '97 FTE page that LMC has offers diesel core supports for that vintage.  And every time I've heard that I've also heard it corrected that the "diesel" core supports LMC offers are actually gas core supports, and that no diesel core supports are available.

But that's just what I've heard...

The picture shown in the link shows the deeper lower support for the much larger diesel radiator. If LMC is sending a gas radiator support while picturing a diesel one and listing it for a diesel, that's a huge issue.