New User - 86 F-350 6.9 Flatbed

mikekozak · April 20, 2023

Hey folks,

Thanks for this community full of helpful information. I'll soon be asking for help.

I've got some acreage I work in Central Oregon. I have a 95 F-250 460 but very recently added an 86 F-350 Flatbed. It's my first diesel. And worse, it's my first manual.

I had to have someone test and drive it back for me. And I've had to get right on the highway with it for my first time out.

Thankfully, to my limited but growing mechanical skills, there are similarities to the 95. I replaced the tie rod ends, drag link, and steering box and the steering is greatly improved (still need to replace the gear in the 95, which now feels like a kitten in comparison to this beast). This helps a lot with still being new to managing shifting. No tach. With the pipe that's on it, it's always loud, though the pipe is nice for my dry country work and not catching the fields on fire.

There's a few things that certainly need addressing and I'll likely break out into some threads per job as I look for some suggestions and advice.

Big on the list right now is fuel.

With the flatbed, there was what I will delicately call a "custom solution" put together for the filler neck. It's real slow, there's no vent tube from the valve back to the neck or any arrangements so filling is painfully slow. I'm looking at getting a new filler neck and some appropriate hose and connectors to get this square.

It was also knocked down to a single midship tank at some point. There's no aft tank.

The fuel tank selector is there but does not do anything. Best guess is that it was disabled or bypassed when the rear tank came out as it can be switched without killing the truck.

Then there's the fact that the gauge doesn't work. I'll have to open up and see what was done with the selector to see if I am wired properly to the gauge for a bypass.

I may look to throw in a triple aftermarket gauge setup to provide me tach (maybe Autometer alternator sensing), oil pressure (T off to leave the existing setup) and maybe fuel as well? We'll see as we get along with it.

Cheers.