Gary Lewis

Excellent! I'm looking forward to following the journey.

Not a bad price for that stuff. Some of the paperwork wouldn't be applicable, but it might be interesting nonetheless.

I'd jump at ceramic for $80. Well done!

The agent said we'll add the replacement value of the truck to the documented money you have in it and ask to insure it for that. So that's what we did. We'll see what they say. But I'm not sure "brave" is the right word.

Yes, Hagerty is into collector vehicles, and BB isn't one of those. It would boggle their minds with its "incorrect" parts. I want something I can use. As for just going with liability, Bob, I'll wait and see what the cost will be doing it this way. But thanks. Just got back from visiting the insurance guy. We submitted the form and will await the company's response.

Yes, that's just about right.

Thanks, Dane. But I'm not so sure. Here's their statement: And on Big Blue you don't have to be a "seasoned observer" to see the Bondo in the cab corners and over the wheelwells. Nor the peeling clear coat on the hood. (No, there should never have been clear coat on the hood, and I'm hoping I can buff it off.) Plus there are plenty of paint chips, and overall patina. And if you then look at the #3 & 4 descriptions together, necessary since #3 refers to #4, you see a more accurate depiction of Big Blue. "Incorrect parts"? Basically, Hagerty is describing collector vehicles. Ones that are striving to be "correct". But that's not what I want Big Blue to be. I want a vehicle I'm not afraid to take anywhere, meaning long trips or offroad, because it is ready and capable. There's no worries about whether it can make it, but there's also no worry that it might get a small ding.

Wow! That is a LOT of work. Well done! The TTBs and wheels look good. You are really going to enjoy it.

Jochen - It might be a wheel bearing, but it might simply be that the drum got wet and rusted while you had it parked. That isn't uncommon and the rust will wear off with a bit of driving. So I'd drive it and see. But if you are concerned and want to find out you should pull the brake drum. But some times getting the drum off is "fun". The issue typically is that the drum has worn and the shoes are down into the groove. Also, the part in the center is the end of the axle and not a dust cap. And many times there is rust between the axle and the drum. So you may have to pry a lot between the drum and the backing plate to get the drum off. Or, maybe you will be lucky and it'll come right off. Others might have a better idea on how to get the drum off. As for instructions, go to our page at Documentation/Driveline/Brakes. There you might go to the Rear Brakes tab and then the Drum Brakes R&R tab.

Jim - It would be nice to get that rear bumper made. You are right, if it locked it would solve that tailgate problem. And I don't know about the light blue, but I can ask. Yes, if you are in bright sunlight the black gets HOT! On Hagerty, I did print the eval of $12,500. (And the range to $40,800 if it is a #1; 31,800 as a #2; 12,500 as a #3, and $5100 as a #4.) And reading the descriptions it is at least a 3, but not a 2. But they said they have a historical view of values, but you need to join up. Ok, I joined Hagerty so I could get the history report on prices. Interesting. Here's what they say for Big Blue. Note how the prices went up soon after the pandemic hit. And, the highest prices are starting to come back down a bit, and that was as of January. And here are the descriptions of the categories:

Cory - That's an EXCELLENT idea! Thanks! I'll go do that just to be able to print it and take it with me. And Jim is right, it only had 245 HP when new. Let's see, 1/2 of 245 is 122.5. Add that to 245 and you get 368 HP, which is what Scotty said this one has. Jim - You are right about the tent and rack. But I'm not 100% sure I'm going to get our son to go with me, and without that I might not add them. (But I might get the twins to go. ) I'm just making sure that the cover I buy will work with the rack and tent, and it will.

I understand what you are saying about your truck, and I hope you don't lose it. As for Big Blue, I've spent the last two days looking at our credit card bills for the last 2 years, the Amazon/RA/etc bills, and even email back into 2017 between us. So I'm pretty sure I know almost exactly what I have "in" BB. And I'm not close to the ICON truck, but I'm at a level that I don't want to chance losing by someone hitting me and the insurance company saying they'll pay me for a beater '85 F250. And I have the cover and the Line-X in the #'s, albeit with an April 2021 date. However, I don't know if they'll cover the tent and the associated rack. But I have that in the right up so it'll come up in the conversation.

I have a Group 31, specifically an Odyssey Extreme 31M-PC2150, in Big Blue as the starting battery. Dimensions in the link, but it fits nicely. And it has 1150 CCA's. But it weighs 78 lbs, so make sure you battery tray is good. I'm using the later model battery tray, and here's how it fits:

Yes. And then if we have an accident they'll not be willing to pay. A few years ago we were driving Janey's GLK and were rear-ended. We wanted to have it repaired in the ONLY Mercedes-certified repair facility in the Tulsa area, but State Farm balked at paying their rates. I talked to my friend from church, the one I'm seeing today, and he assured me his company would. So when I met with the State Farm agent she said no insurance company would pay those rates. I told her that wasn't true. She asked how I knew and I told her. And, that ALL of my insurance would move over there. You should have seen her face! RED. MAD. UPSET. This is the first step along that path. And when they ask why I'm dropping my insurance on the truck I'll remind them of the conversation.

I was going to agree with you, but took a closer look and the top of the cargo light is intended to blend with the top of the cab. See if this helps:

Jim - I'm guessing Big Blue w/o the options I've added would be somewhere between $5K and 7.5K. And I know what I have in him. John - I'm sure someone will insure it, but at what price? We shall see in a bit.

I think you mean NP208, but the various transfer cases easily swap. I've moved an NP208 to where a BW1356 was, and put a BW1345 where an NP208 was. As for the tranny question, I'm not familiar with the TKO so will leave that to others to answer. But the $3K price is a little higher than I would have expected since a rebuilt ZF5 is going for ~$1900 + core. So if you assume that it costs $500 to get a ZF core you are at $2400. Maybe part of that difference is shipping? Still, if a TKO is a good tranny with the right gears and you are happy with $3K then go for it. But I'd compare gear ratios were I you. You can do that by going to Documenation/Driveline/Calculators and entering the info in the far right Other column towards the bottom. And ask others what they think of their gear ratios. For instance, I believe that 3rd gear on the ZF5 is slightly too tall if you are running 33" tires and 3.55 gears. Big Blue just doesn't like making city street corners in 3rd, but used to be quite happy doing the same corners in 3rd with the T-19. In other words, the ZF's 1.61 3rd gear is too tall while the T-19's 1.79 was just right.

Congrat's!!! You are going to love it.

1984 Supercab F250: $27K For sale, not sold. Excellent shape with 36k miles. Very clean. 1983 F250 2WD w/a 5.8L: Asking $4600 in CA 1985 F250 4wd with 19K miles: Extremely nice and asking $12.5K. But it is apparently a "light duty" F250 as it has the 5.0L, which wasn't put in the HD F250's. And David found these: 1983 Ford F-250 460 AC 4X4: Asking $12.9K 1987 Ford F-250 460 4X4 AUTO: Asking $15.9K

Guys, I need some help. I'm meeting this afternoon with my insurance man to figure out how to insure Big Blue, and I think I need to know what the base value of a truck similar to BB would be. By "base value" I mean a truck w/o all the additions I've put on BB as I pretty well know what they cost. And we are talking about a 1985 F250HD, meaning 8-lug wheels and 8500 GVWR, with a 460 and T-19. The body is very straight and there's Bondo in the cab corners and over the rear wheel arches, with some rust showing in the cracks of the Bondo over the wheel arches. And, if it matters, it is the Explorer package, meaning top of the line trim. So if you could take a look at what has sold recently that is similar I'd appreciate it. I'll do the same, and let's pool our info here. Links to your finds would be helpful. THANKS!

The Germans were big on having the battery under the rear seat. We had an Audi 100LS in the 70's and it had the battery there. (Speaking of that car, Consumer Report said don't buy it as these things could go wrong. And every one of them did. I fully agree with this statement on The Classic Car Journal: "I owned a 1971 Audi 100 LS, a two-door sedan, and to this day it remains the best and worst car I’ve ever owned.") Anyway, that's a good story, David. And a good remembrance of your father.

Morning, Scott. Thanks for the explanation on the bags. Makes sense to me.

Sam - The Motor Minder is mounted through the plastic collar with screws, and there are nuts on the back. But the screws had to be very short since the ignition switch linkage runs right in the center as well and I didn't want them to touch it. Seems to work fine. As for the power to the gauges, the lighting for all of the aftermarket gauges is via the dash lights circuit. And the power to the AFR gauge is only applied in Run. But the oil pressure and water temp gauges are mechanical, so have tubes running to them, meaning no power. Which brings me to a discussion about how to mount those three gauges. drilled a hole in the back of the pocket of the instrument bezel and ran the tubes, and the wires, through it. So if you wanted to take the bezel off you'd have to remove the bulb for the temp gauge from the engine and feed it back through the firewall. So when I wanted to swap from the burled wood instrument bezel to the black mesh one I decided to take a corner out of the bezel to facilitate removing the gauges from the burled wood bezel, as shown below. Then I cut a similar corner out of the black mesh bezel in order to mount them. And now I can remove them from the bezel if I need to, but you can't see the cutoff corner unless you get on your hands and knees to look under the dash.

When someone says something is "junk" on Facebook I usually move on as I know s/he isn't to be believed. They say the same thing about the 351M's and 400's, which is not true. So it doesn't surprise me that they say that of the M5OD-R2. But if I were building a mild Bronco or F-150 I'd seriously consider that tranny. And I'd look for a rebuilt one. On the other hand if I wanted a ZF I'd buy a rebuilt one with a warranty. And I'd buy from Midwest Transmissions. I've bought parts from them several times and they've always steered me right. And another guy on the forum bought one from them and it is working well. On that page you will see that currently a small-block ZF5-42 4wd is $1367. But don't miss the $1000 core charge, which means if you don't have an old one to send in it'll cost that much. So you'll have to add the cost of a used tranny, and it gets expensive. However, I bought my ZF for $500, found that the syncros were bad and it sometimes wouldn't shift into reverse, which turned out to be a broken reverse gear. So added another $1000 in rebuilt and parts, and got no warranty. Which may be an issue as the 3rd gear syncro isn't very good, although it may be wearing in.

Yes, it does look nice. The cover on Big Blue is natural aluminum, meaning not powder coated nor painted, and it gets grungy. So I really like the black finish. And the sight glass would give good peace of mind knowing it has lube. But tell me more about the Amsoil bags?