Gary Lewis

The springs on the 4wd F250's seem odd to me as well. And, they are pretty much flat when the weight is on them. Good plan to get the axles if he's giving them to you. As for the springs, instead of looking for the original F350 springs you could go with the longer SuperDuty springs, like I'm doing. You'll have to go with a reverse shackle kit. And, I'll let you know if we get out that way.

Sorry for the confusion. Good luck and let us know how it goes. In fact, post some pics.

What measurements would you like? I just measured and the frame horns on Big Blue measure 39 3/4" outside/outside. And Dad's measures 40". If that's what your truck has then this should be easy. But in Big Blue's case the driver's side frame horn was bent out 1 1/8" and that caused all sorts of problems. On a truck with a straight frame this should be a simple job, albeit with lots of work 'cause there needs to be rivets removed, new holes drilled, etc.

Good point, Bill. I assumed "rubber" meant the butyl gasket/glue. But you may well be right - as usual.

I'll try to answer some of the questions, with my answers in bold: 1. Do these trucks normally have dual batteries? No, auxiliary batteries were an infrequently-specified option. Big Blue has that option. 2. Speedo, tach and coolant temp gauges don't work. I hit the engine with an infared thermometer and it was reading between 175-190. This sounds about right but I'm curious what temp it should be running. Aftermarket tach pegs the idle a little over 500, and pretty steady. The standard thermostat was 195 degrees. But who knows what is in your truck. As for the gauges not working, there's no fuse for them. So if they aren't working then I'd bet it is the ICVR that's bad. Read here: Documentation/Electrical/ICVR. 3. Gear vendors Overdrive isn't getting power. Dunno 'bout that 'cause that's been added on. 4. Rear fuel pump isn't getting power. The wiring diagram is here on Page 105: Documentation/Electrical/EVTM/1985 EVTM. (Yes, your's is an '84, but I just checked the 1984 EVTM, which I don't have on line, and that page is exactly the same as the '85, which I do have on line.) 5. MSD spark timing unit. Any suggestions about properly using this feature? I don't know, but David/1986F150Six has an MSD ignition so he may know. 6. Drivers headlight fades in and out, never seems to get full power. If it is just the driver's side then you probably have a ground problem on that headlight. And it grounds using G801, which the EVTM says is on left hand inner fender behind the headlight. 7. Brake lights stay on after being parked. Eventually going out. The answer is in the next question - the brake light switch is on the brake pedal. If it is slow coming up then the lights will be slow to go out. 8. Brake pedal is slow to come back up. I'm going to bleed and see how it feels. I doubt bleeding will fix it, but it won't cost much so give it a try. Instead, I suspect a problem with the vacuum booster. Something is keeping the pedal from coming back up, and there's a spring that is supposed to bring it up. You should look at the General Brake Service tab to see if it suggests the problem: Documenation/Driveline/Brakes. 9. 4x4 transfer case is a little sticky. First time putting it in 4hi, I had to move it through the gears a couple times before it registered. I had it in 4hi (I believe) and gave it gas but it felt like it was in neutral still. But I did get it in finally and it digs! Warn hubs turned easily. Depending on the transfer case, there's a plastic shift fork that wears and caused the positions on the shift detent to be different than the actual gear position in the t-case. So watch to see if it seems off and you have trouble getting into 4Lo. If so then that's what it might be. But maybe it hadn't been shifted in forever? 10. Trailer wires. Messy. It has the circular plug in the bumper. I'm not used to this plug but I'm assuming I can find a converter to a 4way plug for my trailer. Yes, they make an adapter to convert from the round to the flat connector. I carry one in Big Blue as I only have the round connector. 11. MSD ignition has a bunch of wires coming out of it. Previous owner said it had been converted to EFI then back to carb? I'll take pics of this. 12. It needs tie rods. The steering is a little loose. Any recommendations for brands? Moog.

Jochen is helping his friend restore his '72 F-Series and had questions about installing the windshield. So I scanned in the section on that and added it to the website: Documenation/Exterior/Stationary Glass - Butyl Type Seal. (Yeah, that's a weird name, but that's the name of the section in the FSM.)

Jochen - I've not done that myself, so I scanned in the section from the factory shop manual on it here: Documentation/Exterior/Stationary Glass - Butyl Type Seal. And while that's from the '85 manual I'd bet it is the same for a '72. Hope that helps.

Poof, you are on the map.

Yes, but my tranny jack is about 4' high at its lowest setting, so has to be used in conjunction with my lift. So I didn't mention it.

John - Would you like to be on the map? Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu? I'd be happy to put you on. Congrat's on the truck! It is nice looking and should be very capable.

Advertised correctly. Wow! 1985-89 (or later) F150/350 w/a step bumper LH inner.

Matthew - That sounds like a good process.

Sam - You are now on the map - in Santa Fe. Beautiful country! Been there several times. And, we've even found Rancho de Chimayo north of there. As for the F250's front suspension, I'm sure it can be air bagged, but with great difficulty. We were recently discussing a coil spring kit for converting the F250, and if that can be done then you could bag it. But, that kit is over $3K. As for the '99 F350 axles, if I were you I'd get them. I think those will be the different bolt pattern for the wheels so you'd need to swap both front and rear axles so one spare would work on both ends. Plus you'd have to change wheels. And, get the front springs as well, if not the rears. I'm not a big fan of the 4wd F250's front suspension. There's nothing wrong with TTB's, and they work great on the F150's. And there's nothing wrong with leaf springs, which work great on the F350's with solid axles. But in my experience the combo of TTB's and leaf springs isn't a good one. The geometry is wonky. Big Blue had that suspension and it was very rough riding. Even when the sway bar was disconnected, although that helped a lot. And there was very little wheel travel. In fact, there was only 3/4" between the spring and the bump stop. So I'm swapping that suspension out for a '95's F350 front Dana 60 solid axle and adding SuperDuty springs as well as a reverse shackle kit. You can read about that on my thread here: Sky's Offroad Design Super Duty RSK Install.

Here's where we need a resident "historian" on here. Someone who will track the selling prices for these trucks over time so we can properly price what we have - in case we want to sell. It would require said someone to develop or use existing categories of quality. I think Hemmings has categories of 0 - 5. Unfortunately some of the categories out there are for judging cars with regard to originality, and many of our trucks are not completely original. So there would have to be work done to determine reasonable categories. And then it would take watching ebay, craigslist, etc to record details about when the vehicle sold, the final price, time on the market, etc. And the "time on the market" information is crucial as some vehicles are so special that it takes finding just the right person to buy them, and that can take time. But if we knew what the vehicle is really worth then maybe we would hold onto it until the right person came along. Any takers?

Yes. Depending on how you count, newest to oldest: 2015 F150 for towing 2014 Merc GLK (my wife's) for touring as it gets 35 MPG 2001 Subaru Forester (our daughter's, but she lives in Nicaragua, so...) Big Blue, the '85 F250 Dad's truck, the '81 F150 1969 Dodge SuperBee (not running) 1950 Chevy pickup (not running)

You beat me to it. But he's wanting to put a Cheby bumper on a Ford.

That's a really nicely done truck. And that engine is awesome! The colors on the truck aren't my favorite, but the truck looks perfect.

I haven't. But I've looked at them. The gauges remind me of the 70's gauges for some reason. Not sure why. But the accuracy is nice. However, at the price it is more than I want to spend.

Yes, I see what you mean. But, it does have the quad shock arrangement. And probably some of the underhood things would be valuable. Part it out!

Yes, it is a time machine. A very complex one. It is amazing to me what they were able to do with vacuum and simple switches and solenoids. But all of those vacuum hoses are suspect by now and would have to be inspected if not replaced.

Wow! Let me think. $24.95 + 5.96 shipping, or $289 and free shipping. I really like free shipping, but.....

Man, I knew things were bad, but not THAT bad. Yipes!

Thanks! Hopefully tomorrow I can get the cross member powder coated and possibly some painting done on the frame. I have gray POR15, but I need to do some SERIOUS degreasing to ensure it adheres.

I'm assuming by OEM you mean you have the Holley 4180C, as shown here: Documentation/Fuel Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Holley 4180C. Right? When the truck "stalls out" does it do so like turning the key off? Or does it kind of bog down and if you back off the throttle a bit it starts coming back slowly? Or, does it pop, backfire, and miss? Chris/ctubutis is fighting something very similar and I think his may be rust in the fuel tank plugging filters. But he has a mechanical pump on the engine, where you have pumps in the tanks. I would have thought that those pumps either worked or didn't, but perhaps yours is marginal and you just have enough gas to putter around and not to climb hills. Anyway, tell us more about the symptoms when the problem occurs.

Nice looking truck. Glad you joined us. How 'bout introducing yourself? And a signature telling us about your truck helps dramatically as we don't have to try to remember. Or worse, guess wrong and tell you the wrong thing. Where's home? We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to put you on it if I knew where. Looks like Utah, but do you have a city?