Rembrant

Gary, I have thought about this and discussed with ACC, or at least the Canadian distributor, who was fairly knowledgeable on the topic. Forget about 1987 as any kind of reference...use 1988-1991. I have the same 5spd tunnel cover in my '84, and when I do finally order new carpeting, I plan to order it to fit the 88-96 tunnel cover. Everything else is the same. You'll have to cut the hole for the shifters and high beam button, but you'd have to do that with the 1980-1996 carpet anyway.

The only 5spd in 1987 was the ZF5, and if I recall correctly it was ONLY offered with the F350 2wd (and maybe it was only the diesel, but I'm not sure). Both the ZF5 and M5OD were not offered in all of the other trucks until 1988. The 5spd tunnel covers are all the same whether 2wd or 4x4, so that makes them a little easier to find.

Jim, I've seen A LOT of 1980-1996 Crossmembers like that, with the cab mounts poking through the hole. I was very fortunate that these ones were all still intact, albeit a little thin. At least they were worth patching, and I think now plenty strong. Welding overhead ugh... Been admitted to the burn unit lately??...lol. I did a lot of welding when I was younger, and did a lot of overhead welding with 6011 rods...I remember having burns all over my head and neck...lol. UNFUN. PS: I'm really loving the needle scaler. I've been using it steadily on all of these parts.

I removed 14 more rivets this morning! YES, it is a thankless task. That's 38 rivets this week, and I still have to remove all four leaf spring hangers, and I'm planning to remove the front cab mount brackets as well. This is middle crossmember, the one over the rear of the mid-ship fuel tank. It is in much better condition and only has a couple thin spots I'll have to patch and reinforce. Not so bad. Problem is...I got a twinge in my back while doing this, so I'm out of commission for a little bit while I wait for some pills to take effect. Off to watch Motor Trend for a little while...lol (Junkyard Gold, Roadkill, and Engine Masters). It took as long (or longer) to remove the four bottom rivets as it did the 10 on the top. That sh!t is UNFUN. Gary, it works super well, at least on the frame rivets. So this is my new procedure: Shave the top half of the rivet head off with my zipcut disk so I can locate the center easier, and center punch it. Drill 1/8" pilot hole, and then a 3/8" hole, both far enough through that they pass through the hole in the frame. One little touch with the air chisel, and I'm serious those heads launch into orbit...they just dissappear. The rivets in the crossmembers however are not as easy...the heads are harder to remove for some reason, and take some work. So 38 rivets removed this week, and according to my math, I'll have about another 30 or so to go. No big deal. No wonder my back is sore...lol. Happy Sunday guys. Thanks again for all your help.

Gary, The crossmember in question was the one at the front of the gas tank, which is also the one that supports the back of the cab. I removed all 16 rviets yesterday and the drill and air chisel method worked great. I will be using it again this morning when I remove the next crossmember...the one for the rear of the mid-ship tank. I also tried some 7/16" bolts and they fit very snug, enough so that a couple have to be tapped through the holes. Here is the angle bracket that I needed to replace, and you can see why. Typical rust belt stuff. They all end up looking like this in the salt. In any case, I had my good replacement from the junkyard that I patched up. (That reminds me, I guess that makes 22 rivets I removed, just for this one part of the job, and I'm only just getting started...lol). I ended up having to add some plates over a couple holes and thin spots, but it's back to be rock solid. It was pretty thin where the cab mounts sit as well, so I put plates on the back side and re-drilled the holes. It's not pretty, but the welds penetrated well and it's strong. I basically made my own frame saver kit but installed it on the underside instead of the top. The top is fine, but I didn't want to screw around with the body height, so chose the bottom. The driver's side was worse of course, but it's all good and strong now. Perfectly good for what I'm building, and besides...I don't have another crossmember to use anyway...not like I have much choice at this point! Anyway, coffee is brewed, I'm off to the shop to remove the next crossmember...fingers crossed it needs less work.

That's the one Gary! Thanks. So they want you to replace 7/16" rivets with 1/2" bolts, I guess? It makes me curious what size rivets I just drilled out? Were they 3/8" or 7/16"? The holes are 7/16". I assume they reamed the holes during assembly to get the 7/16" rivets in all of the holes? Surely they didn't all line up perfectly if the rivets and the holes were the same size... I guess the simpler question would be: Do the 7/16" holes indicate that the rivets were also 7/16"?

Ok, I must go digging through the documentation and see if there is a recommended bolt size when replacing rivets. I know on the ones I just drilled out of the frame and crossmember, the holes are 7/16", so I'm going to try and use 7/16" bolts just so that they are as tight as possible in the holes (same as the rivets are/were). As for the welding, yes I will grind where and when I have to, but I was able to weld over some of the rust the other day, which was cool, so I was just curious if I could do the same over Ospho. The reason I was curious is that since I'll be adding some plating, I'd like to Ospho the steel first if possible, but I didn't want to make it more difficult to weld over/through. Maybe I'll do some test pieces first and see how it works out. I plan to remove and repair the crossmembers this weekend, and get to work on the frame rails themselves next week. Installing the Bullnose frame horns is of little conern to me...that's a pretty easy job. I'm more concerned with my patching and plating. The frame and crossmembers have some thin spots which I plan to beef up with some new steel. I'm just going to lay some 1/8" plate over the thinner areas to strengthen them.

Does anybody happen to know if the frame rivets are all the same size? I mean for everything from the very rear leaf hangers to the crossmembers to the front coil spring and shock towers? The reason I'm asking is that I want to get some bolts to have on hand, and need to know what size to order. Also, any comments good or bad about welding over Ospho? I will be de-scaling my frame and many parts removed from the frame like spring hangs and cab mounts, and radius arm brackets, etc. Wondering if I should perform my welding repairs before or after my Ospho treatments? Any thoughts on the topic?

That's an interesting one...if it was a pair it would be worth grabbing for somebody.

It's really weird when us southern folk see a rusty frame on a truck, but it generally tells us not much will be of use or worth touching on that truck. However, with the constant influx of people moving to the south from out west and up north, rusty vehicles are starting to become much more common here. Shaun, You're in the smaller end of the funnel!! I definitely have southern envy when it comes to automotive steel. Back in about 2006, I bought a white 1997 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 in Florida, and I was so amazed at the condition of the frame...it was still black, with white stickers on it, and on the coil springs, etc. It was so minty mint I could just sit and look at it for days. The paint was chalky and flat, but I was able to buff it all out shiny again. Southern envy...lol. True story.

Ya, that's the catch. I've ordered from them a lot actually, but I have to be careful what I order so as to not get the shipping screwed up. You can play around with the items sometimes and get them arranged better, but not always. The difference for me up here is availability...we simply do not have access to the same kind of inventory sitting in US warehouses. There are some items, even popular brands too (like Dorman, for example) that I have not been able to buy locally, and had to order from RockAuto. And the pricing too. I'll bet that there are items on RockAuto where you might save 10-15% over buying locally in CT, but those same items might be 50% cheaper for me...but the catch is that the shipping is much more...lol. A lot of our cross border prices had to change after 2008 when our dollars hit par, but the exchange rate is not good for us these days.

It was in his video. The fact that the shifter is back close to the seat means that it is either the SMOD or SROD. The later 4spd/OD shifter base is closer to the dash like the T-18, T-19, or NP435. The fact that the shifter says "push" for reverse means it is the SROD (T170FS-RUG-SROD). That's why I said earlier that it is sort of a unique configuration as the 4x4 shifter is to the right of the transmission shifter. I believe Ray Cecil's '82 is the same. I don't know if it's considered rare or not...but I think it's fairly uncommon.

He has the SROD transmission. The shifter location is one indicator, but the "Push" for reverse is the confirmation. See below. http://www.f150hub.com/trans/t170-smod-srod-tod.html The SROD has a single rail shift mechanism with the short curved shifter back close to the seat.

Jim, we have a cutting torch but no plasma cutter. I will likely be using it for some of them.

Very cool project. It seems to be very intact for its age and condition...everything is there. The early 4spd OD 4x4 shifters always seem kinda funky to me with the 4x4 shifter on the opposite side (I believe Ray Cecil's 1982 Flareside is like this as well). Can't wait to see more.

Even the factory bars are all the same. All that changes is how they attach. The brackets that attach to the axle are different between a 9" and 8.8, but the bar itself and all of the other parts are the same.

I may try that. I have A LOT of them to drill in the near future, so if there's anything that helps I'll try it! I think I have about 50 of them to remove...lol.

My '84 F150 came from the factory with no swaybars, and I have installed only a rear bar. I found it made a big difference, but I did it during the winter with a bunch of other work, so it wasn't like did it one day and drove it the next. I bought both front and rear swaybars to install, but haven't gotten to the front yet...at this point and time, I'm basically leaving the install for the downtime in the winter. Do you have the 8.8 rear end or 9"? Swaybars are much more common on the 1987-1996 trucks and Broncos, so they're easier to find if you're looking for a set to install. The 1995 F150 I just bought has both front and rear factory bars.

Oh yes sir, lots of air, and I think three air chisels. I have a lot of them to do, so I'll try the chisels and see how that works. Thanks for the tip Gary.

No air at the junkyard. Only option is drilling. If you can get them dead center of the hole, the heads will pop right off...and then you just hammer it out. I actually don't mind doing them terribly when they're easy to access. Doing them overhead under a rusty truck at the junkyard though is not much fun...lol.

I certainly don't care to remove one of these brackets again, laying on my back in the gravel with hot metal chips and chunks of rust falling on my face...lol. This particular truck had the frame replaced at some point, with a southern frame or parts of a southern frame. The frame had been welded together under the cab, and a fairly nice job was done as well. So somebody either shortened a longer frame, or they simply replaced the back-half of it. It's a huge job, but not that uncommon...at least back in that generation. There are guys around that go down south and buy this stuff. A truck sitting in a southern junkyard, even if it has been picked clean to the bone still has a good frame;). Most of the time they're after truck beds, doors, and gas tanks, but the same guys will haul a whole frame back if they get one cheap enough.

You can't read VIN's on the frame here and they don't check them anyway, so whatever the VIN on the dash is, is the VIN of the vehicle. If you happen to know anything about the 1980-1996 trucks in the rust belt, you'll know that the frames have particular weak spots that rust badly (and quickly). Things like the upper shock mounts and rear leaf rear hangers are prone to rust and disintegrate. One of the worst spots (if not THEE worst) are the angle brackets at the ends of the crossmembers, particularly on the driver's side. I've looked at A LOT of these trucks and these brackets are often rotted out and broken. I needed one for the 1995 frame, and so off to the junkyard I went as I knew there was a 1996 F150 out there with what looked like a very nice solid frame under it. What a bloody hateful job it is to remove one of these at the junkyard...lol. I had to drop the fuel tank first, which was of course easy, but then you have to drill out the six rivets holding the bracket in place. I don't think I want to do that again...lol. Of course this bracket was not perfect itself...one edge was rusted and thin, so I did a little surgery on it last night. Just need to clean it up and paint it now. I'm going to remove the two middle crossmembers so that they can properly cleaned up and fixed up. I'm going to be drilling rivets for a month...lol. Anyway, it seems like WAY too much work for such a small part, but you can't buy them, can't find them, and it would be really difficult to replicate without a good example, and even then...still a pain.

Mine is a Spectra CU559 (Non-AC). It is literally identical to the old original 1984 radiator that it replaced. Link below. I've had it installed for 2 years now. No complaints so far. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=271941&cc=1121443&jsn=1

Nice truck Troy! Good luck with the sale. It's a beauty. What was the receiver hitch with the clevice up front for? Neat feature.

I ordered one from RockAuto and have been happy with it. It is exactly the same as my original 1984 radiator with the one small exception that my original did not have ports for auto transmission lines. I forget what brand it is but I can look it up.