Jonathan/ F834

Hi, I'm Jonathan. I love my Ford trucks as a refurbish hobby, but they also have a purpose. I am a botanist and a plant physiologist, and my 4-door diesel was purchased as my field research vehicle for my master’s thesis project on the Arizona strip. I ended up working in the paper industry, but I still live to camp and explore back country, and I enjoy mountaineering, photography, kayaking, etc. Of course, I still like to get to remote plant habitats for species of interest as well. For me, going through life without a capable, dependable 4x4 is like going through life with a broken leg.

I love my 4-door diesel, but the wheelbase of the CCLB was just a bit much, and the power of the stock 6.9 was lacking when it comes to pulling our 1960 aluminum Streamline travel trailer through the mountains. At high altitude the NA diesel would struggle and smoke like the forest was on fire. It would do it, but it wasn't very fun, or safe. So I cut the frame down to a short bed and I'm in the process of building a totally overkill  400/800+ turbo’d 7.3 for it.

Enter truck #2. I got sick and tired of living with a broken leg (i.e., no 4x4 while building my diesel) and I have been wanting a smaller, light duty truck for different kinds of trips and work. A deal on two trucks (a 2wd and a 4x4 donor) fell into my lap and I am pretty close to having it converted and runable. My original hope was to frame chop it down to a short bed and make it very nimble. However, my friend who did my diesel frame is fighting stage 4 cancer, so it may very well not happen. As much as I love the truck, if I can't frame chop it I may consider selling and replacing it with a comparable Bronco. But one day at a time…

Glad to know more about you, Jonathan. And, I'm looking forward to meeting you in just over a month.

Masters degree: Cool! Probably one of the best-educated guys on the forum. Botanist: Interesting. I'm always wondering what a certain plant is - I'll bet you know.

Anyway, welcome to Bullnose land!