Rembrant

There is a guy on the Flareside FB page that put a Bullnose body on a 4x4 Super Duty frame...but I'm not sure what year it was. I'll see if I can find him and direct him over here. I have no idea how he mounted the body, but the truck looks pretty good as it sits.

So the announcement is that I made a deal on a 1995 F150 swb 4x4 that will be 'blended' together with the 1980 Flareside project.. This thing is a bit rough on it's own, and it's been sitting for a while, but it has good bones which is what I needed...and it's running/driving...so that's a big advantage. A couple key things made me jump on this truck. It is a factory swb 4x4 with 5.0L / 5spd and 3.55 geared diffs. Has quad shock front end and both front and rear factory swaybars and a trailer hitch. I spent 20 minutes crawling under the thing checking out the frame and all crossmembers, and while it is rusty (as they all are around here) it appears to be solid. The cab is not bad, but the front fenders and quarter panels are trash. I should have it by Friday, if not early next week. I didn't look all that close under the hood...but the good news about the 5.0L in 1995 is that is definitely a roller engine, and I believe came with the HO/351 firing order? That bad is that I believe the 5.0L was still speed density EFI in 1995 when it was mated to a 5spd (And MAF/Sefi when mated to the auto?, and they were all MAF in 1996?). So my tentative plan is to Bullnose swap the front clip since I now have everything to do it, and swap the 1995 Styleside bed for the 1980 Flareside bed. This won't be happening overnight of course...this might take me 2 years...lol, but this is the plan as of today (ask me again tomorrow). Later on, I would swap the Bullnose cab on there and the 300/6 DSII, etc. I know the front end of the frame on the '95 is different, but it's very easy to deal with. But back to the 1980 Bullnose... I finished stripping all of the good stuff off the old frame this morning, including the SBF engine perches (people do seem to look for those from time to time) and the TTB beams, rear leaf springs, etc. I cut the frame in two and hauled it down the hill for scrap and made a whopping $26 bucks! That 40 year old steel will be repurposed as something useful I'm sure. I already started cleaning up what good parts I do have, and scrubbed 40 years of grime and overspray off both chrome bumpers (SOS pads). After the dry out again I'll treat the backside with Ospho and I'll power ball some polish on them and see if they shine up a little better. Anyway, that's where I am as of today (We are on vacation/"staycation" this week).

Gary, my parents didn't raise a quitter, they raised a procrastinator!!...lol. I'll be submitting mine this week sometime. I'm on vacation so I should have time once I'm done chopping up an old Bullnose.

OK gentlemen, Change of course here. The 1980 frame is toast. The more I worked on it and took things apart, it just kept getting worse and worse...and I actually have a high tolerance for running rusty junk...lol. Anyway, I found a couple more bad spots...they weren't all visible until more cleaning. (By the way, I NEED to buy a needle scaler...). The front left corner wasn't just cracked...it was basically broken, and had been patched under the steering box previously. Anyway, no big deal...I bought the truck mainly for the Flareside parts anyway, and the body parts are worth saving/re-using. So, plan B...stay tuned...I have something in the works as a donor frame/chassis for this '80 Flareside.

I wonder how well that bumper would polish up? Some of those scratches might come out. I don't really have any idea what these bumpers are worth, but I do see people looking for them every now and then. I'm pretty sure that I did see them in the LMC catalog the other day, in both chrome and primered.

I use my 1/4" ratchets A LOT for this very reason, on all bolts. My 3/8" doesn't come out unless the hex head is 9/16" or larger.

Ha. People do that a lot, don't they?...Post trucks for sale without looking at the title. This one is a nice old rig though...interior is super nice too.

Not a bad lookin' old Bull. F250 2wd I'd say...maybe a camper special or something like that? The long "F" in the F250 badge tells us that the truck is 1982 or newer, and the guys can correct me here, but I believe the remnants of that upper molding/trim tell us the truck is 1984 or older. Somebody else might be able to narrow it down further than that with the paint colors and combination;). Nice truck though.

My truck is named the "Blue Mule" after the Truck in the movie White Line Fever (1975, I think). I believe the original truck was a 1973 COE Ford. As a kid I was absolutely crazy over car and truck movies and shows...Smokey & The Bandit, The Dukes of Hazard, etc...I was obsessed with this stuff as a kid, and remained so well into adulthood...lol. I had a Blue Bullnose flareside back in the early 90's, and it too was referred to as the "Blue Mule". It was just one of those movie names that stuck in my head. If my truck wasn't blue I likely wouldn't have named it at all...lol.

Dave, I was able to talk to the guy with the orange Javelin this evening. It’s a ‘72 AMX with 360/auto.

lol, OK...never mind. I knew the cable went to the transfer case. When you said it went to the tail shaft, I thought you were talking about the transmission tail shaft. Sorry. I'm a 2wd guy, remember?>..lol.

Ahh, OK...I thought that the speedo cable went to the transfer case in the Bricknose trucks. My bad. Now I see what they did. So you have a ZF-5 then, correct? Do you know if they did the same with the M5OD-R2 as well?

OK, I thought so. Where is it driven from?

What drives the speedometer in your '87?

Hey Jim, While you're on the topic of Bricknose transfer cases, I have a question...or questions... So the Bullnose 1/2 ton trucks used the NP208 T-case? And then in 1987 switched to the BW1356? On the 1987-1991 trucks, the speedo cable went into the transfer case, correct? What T-case was used from 1992-1996? Can a speedo cable be connected to them or do you specifically need an earlier T-case? At some point they switched from having a slip yoke in the T-case to a fixed you with a splined driveshaft?

If I can get my hands on a couple crossmembers, I'll figure out a way to fix those horns...lol.

Ya know, now that I think of it, I probably can straighten the horns. Hmmm. It looks like the front right corner hit something at some time. There was a vertical crack just forward of the steering box that was welded...not sure if that was there before or as a result of a bump to the front end. The easiest way to explain it is that both horns are bent towards the driver's side. I'll have a look at it tomorrow again it is currently sitting outside the shop at my work. The driver's side horn is actually tweaked downwards a little bit as well. I have a good straight bumper and I actually have a nice spare front crossmember...this truck did not have one installed when I got it.

Wow they are getting expensive aren't they?

Correct. I guess the rationale is that while they both create sparks, a recip is minimal by comparison. I've used a recip at the junkyard before, but only on easy stuff like sheet metal or to chop off a bent driveshaft...that's easy peasy...but the blades dull quickly and bend even quicker, so they're not my favorite thing to use,.

They are not allowed. No grinders, no torches, and no jacks.

Shaun, as we say around here..."Don't even talk!"...lol. I drilled out 23 frame rivets in my '84 Flareside, and that was indoors on a concrete floor with a stool to sit on, and even that was UNfun. On top of that is the heat...while probably cool by your standards, it's 85 during the day here now, and 100 with the humidex. I really don't want to do that laying on my back in the gravel with the hot metal filings/shavings falling on me...lol. Gary and Shaun...thank you for making me see something that I was overlooking... I had disregarded the frame in that 1986 Bullnose at the junkyard as it is one of those uncommon Bullnoses that one never sees around here...it's a Supercab with the short 6 1/2 ft bed. My thoughts on shortening a frame were always regarding the standard 133" regular cab frame which would have to be cut aft of the rear cab mount. That's easy. But a Supercab with a short box?...I guess it would have to be shortened forward of the rear cab mounts crossmember? I never really thought about that one. Are the frame rails even parallel under the cab? They DO start to narrow further forward don't they?... Hmmm.... But...even the rear section of that frame might be a good candidate, thanks for mentioning that Shaun. I too have seen them chopped off behind the cab like you mention. There is the 1996 F150 there with what looks to me to clearly have a southern frame under it, but it has already been shortened...and they did a very nice job of it, but I don't want to shorten a frame that's already been shortened...lol, and of course it also has the front crumple zones, so while it's basically very solid, it's not a good candidate for me. The crossmembers however are very nice, if I can get them out of it... Jim, On the Det Cord... I'm not familiar with using it...but agree it would make quick work of it...lol. I'm basically limited to hand tools and a cordless drill, a cordless recip saw, and a cordless 1/2" impact gun. They will lift the body off a truck for me, but I have to cut it loose. I may have another look at the '86 and the '96. The bed bolts and cab bolts can easily be deal breakers. There is a relatively good chance that the cab bolts would spin out...but if they don't...they're miserable to try and cut with a recip saw...BTDT. Bed bolts almost have to be drilled out... Anyway, you guys have given me lots to think about....thanks for that...

I don't know...it's quite a bit different from the old 40amp 1G that is still in my '84, and that's about all I know. I was just curious what it was, and if it could help me ID the year of the engine in any way...although it doesn't matter much really. The engine appears to be an '84-'86, with it more likely being an '85 or '86.

The Swiss parts of the frame appear to be in good condition...that is, the frame rails themselves are mostly fine. It might need a patch or two in the rear, but that's just typical stuff for around here. That doesn't bother me. That's relatively easy Saturday afternoon stuff. The Mildly bad is that it needs a couple crossmembers. The one under the rear of the cab is bad...and they always are around around here. Eventually the cab mounts fall right through the crossmember. That's not the end of the world...they can be fixed with the frame saver kits...or just steel plate. I don't mind doing that. The difficult part is that the angled brackets are bad...or the gussets that run from the bottom of the frame rails to the bottoms of the crossmembers. These are unique pieces...the ones under the rear of the cab have the access holes for the cab mounts, and the ones aft of the cab fit against the gas tank. Thankfully they were the same for 17+ years....but getting them is the hard part. They're surely not easy to remove from a parts truck. The worst part so far are the front frame horns. They're bent...both of them, significantly. Straightening them is not really going to work. I can cut them off and replace them...and the passenger side seems very easy...it's just a piece of bare channel really, but the driver's side is a little more complicated with the steering box structure. I stopped by the junkyard today on the way home from a small trip, and the parts I need are all there...nice condition stuff too, but how to remove them?...That's a lot of rivets to drill out while laying on your back in the gravel...lol. There's a 1996 F150 there with what appears to be a southern frame under it. Crossmembers are mint...so I'm contemplating laying in the gravel... There's also an '86 there with perfect front frame horns. I guess if I can get the two core support bolts out, I could cut the horns off with a recip saw?... I really don't know...I'm just rolling it all around in my head.

With the tires and winch combo, clearly this truck is a heavy duty offroad machine, right?...lol.

At that price no wonder they're out of stock. Sheesh.