New Member - Hey!

Hi All, the name is Jake and thanks for the great forum!  Hopefully, I will make all the right moves as I do not belong to many forums.  As a matter of fact, the reason I decided to join this one is because so many generic searches keep leading back to this forum.  You all have been very helpful to my effort.  

First off, I am a very seasoned master tech including a former ford dealership tech and current ASSET trainer.  When I used to work in the dealership, I worked on a ton of the bullnose trucks!  I have not owned one in near 30 years, but recently, I inherited one from a piece of property that had several 89 to 96's but I got the 85. I rescued the 86 XLT Lariat Explorer that was loaded with damn near every option available with only 45K.  It is very solid with a near perfect interior.  It is a super trailering truck with quad shock and everything!  

The only catch is that someone put a plow on it and seems to have hit something with the plow frame that protrudes down below the front bumper and bolts to the front frame where the bumper mounts.  As a result, the right front "frame horn" ahead of the engine cradle is kind of crumpled.  With the exception of that, the truck is in very solid shape! My hope is that I can find a frame horn and weld it on there to get this thing perfect!  

It has been quite a walk down memory lane as I fix all the neglected stuff on this thing!  ten solid days of suspension and brake work as well as diagnosing power window and lock issues, heater core leaks, inop gauges, and converting the old inop radio to a newer ford radio head and installing a PM starter and Delco CS 130 alternator.  

Anyway, I digress.  I just wanted to introduce myself and say I look forward to contributing to the forum.  

Welcome, Jake!  Glad you joined.  

Sounds like you know your way around these trucks, but we'll be happy to help should you need it.

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

On the frame horn, later frames are different in that area so you need a Bullnose piece.  How are you going to attach it?  Fishplate?

Anyway, I hope you'll start a thread in the main section and show us how you do it.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome!

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the awesome welcome!  One of the biggest problems I have with forums is how stiff and condescending a lot of folks can be until they figure out if you have something to offer THEM!  LOL!!! Your response makes me feel welcome and I appreciate that!  

The truck came from and will be returned to Ludington Michigan to live on the family farm.  I have to tell you....when it was delivered, I was excited.  within days, I had the feeling like I was kicked in the groin!  I was a much younger guy when I used to work on these and have spent the last near 30 years training new technicians and running an on-site vehicle computer programming outfit.  Everything I touched on this truck takes me back to a place in time when I made these trucks hum a precision tune!  Man!  Every plastic piece on this truck is petrified and as good as I was with the 4180 Holley, I just had to throw a 4150 on there and now, I am thinking of putting a sniper system up top of that Vin H Windsor.  As for the frame repair.................

I was not a body guy, but I have done some pretty wild frame rehabilitations over the years on unreplaceable frames.  This is going to be a real challenge.  Finding the piece will likely be tough.  Fitting and fishplating this thing will be easy but doing it without sacrificing the structural integrity of the frame....that is the challenge!  I have a lot of dealer body shop and frame repair literature as I am a hoarder of old Ford Manuals.  The engineers in Dearborn put a lot of thought into the frame on these trucks.  One might say, it is their best feature!  Donkey-schlonging around with a repair like this would be frowned upon back in the day!  If this had happened back in 85, and it landed in our dealership, it would be getting a new frame.  Never-the-less, this one is getting fixed. You can bet it is going to be right and straight!  I would love to do a thread on the repair, once I find a horn, and then, settle on a method and figure out where the best attachment points are going to be.  I was pretty geeked that I might use the frame horn off of the 96, but you are 100% right!  Totally different!  Actually, much better!  It is a true accordion design for energy absorption!  I wish I could use both of them, but....than I have to monkey around with the steering box mounting, bla bla bla!  LOL!!!! Not going down that road!

Funny thing though....whoever ordered this truck knew what they were doing!  I kind of feel like this thing deserves a better rehab than "farm truck" quality.  I have been looking at what a lot of members are hauling out of forests and swamps and I feel like a complete douche for not taking this thing back to OEM! It is a truly solid piece!  Inside of the engine is 100% spotless, not a knock or tick or leak (other than a minor front pump leak on the trans).  I am dying to pull this asthmatic smog engine out and put a nice TFI 4 roller engine in there, but our governor is signaling that if she wins another term, Michigan will go green which means emissions and safety inspections and this thing has ALL of its original emissions in tact.   Even the R12 AC system STILL WORKS!  The previous owner cut the belt off and when I put it on, it blew frost out of the vents!  And this red velvet looking interrior.....kind of brings out the pimp in me!  LOL!!!!!!  

Anyway, I have blabbed enough!  Thanks again for the great welcome and yea, I am really looking forward to digging into this thing!  Tomorrow, I have to figure out an initial acceleration "thud" under my ass!  Radius arm bushings are perfect, so something under there is loose!  

Cheers!  

Thanks Dane!  I really appreciate the welcome!  

Thanks Scott:

"But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio"

Boy! I wish I could get this radio working properly!  I have so many cassette tapes I could have revived!  

I think you fit right in here. glad to have a former tech on board. I'm self taught purely out of my interest in these trucks. for some reason these have always seemed to look as a truck should. and when I bought my first one in 1991 I was hooked. oddly enough by its simplicity and the fact that its really a basic, working mans truck. almost agricultural even. that being said I still own "that" truck . it is still my old reliable friend. my children have all learned to drive on that truck . it has seen  me through a lot and every hunting season we go back out together and there seems to be a tradition in there. I have owned many trucks along the way and all have been either bullnoses or obs. generally I build bullnoses .

I think you fit right in here. glad to have a former tech on board. I'm self taught purely out of my interest in these trucks. for some reason these have always seemed to look as a truck should. and when I bought my first one in 1991 I was hooked. oddly enough by its simplicity and the fact that its really a basic, working mans truck. almost agricultural even. that being said I still own "that" truck . it is still my old reliable friend. my children have all learned to drive on that truck . it has seen  me through a lot and every hunting season we go back out together and there seems to be a tradition in there. I have owned many trucks along the way and all have been either bullnoses or obs. generally I build bullnoses .

Ya know, it has been a few years since having to work on a Ford product without any modules.  I used to say stuff like "I remember the good old days when cars were easier to diagnose and fix."  After spending a week and a half fixing all the electrical failures and wiring bug-a-boos with this 85, I have to say, I would rather work on a truck with a Smart Junction Box!  Every time I find a new problem (power door lock not functioning, power window issue, etc) I instinctively get out my IDS (Scan tool) and start looking at codes, data and using the Mode 8 to activate stuff, etc.  

This truck has really taken me back to my roots!  Back when a diagnosis meant you manually checked circuits and mechanicals!  I guess the thing that I really was taken back by was how frequently I find myself asking another tech to come over and help me do stuff while diagnosing.  When I had to diagnose an inop right power window, I couldn't just slide my PC over to bidirectionally move the window, I needed to park someone on the drivers side to hit the buttons when asked to or get out a broom handle and reach over like I used to back in the 80's!  LOL!!!!!

There are many things I do differently with newer trucks that I completely forgot about doing with this old thing.  I remember my immediate chagrin upon learning this thing had a leaking heater core!  For a few minutes, I forgot that changing this heater core takes about 20 minutes vs. a new 2022 which will take you the better part of a day!

If you do, let us know the first one you choose to play in it

I remember listening to the Shell Rotella Farther Down the Road cassettes in my dad's 83 over and over...

Jake Papageorge wrote

There are many things I do differently with newer trucks that I completely forgot about doing with this old thing.  I remember my immediate chagrin upon learning this thing had a leaking heater core!  For a few minutes, I forgot that changing this heater core takes about 20 minutes vs. a new 2022 which will take you the better part of a day!

Welcome aboard Jake!

This truck must have factory AC. They're the ones that are easy to change the heater core. If it's without factory AC, changing the heater core is quite a bit more work!

Welding in a new frame horn shouldn't be a big deal. Measure twice and cut once;). I cut a set of frame horns off an '86 and welded them on to a 1995 F150 frame that I swapped under a 1980 F150. It worked out well. I measured everything 20 times to make sure the bumper would line up perfectly with the Bullnose body.

Good luck with it and keep us posted on the progress! I'd like to see that frame work!

Welcome to the forum.

On the frame horn have you talked to a frame shop on pulling it back into shape?
If you have the frame books as they may not they could out it on the "deck" and make a few pulls, little heat maybe & measurements and be on the money to bolt everything back into place.

I come from a body shop back ground and why I say pull the frame.
I rolled a full cage Bronco racing off road. Frame shop pulled the cage back into place along with the fire wall so a new door would fit.
Added a brace or 2 to the cage and a few other fixes and had it back out racing in no time.
Dave ----