Project RedHead, 4x4 F250 sclb, farmer's field find

[RenoHuskerDu]

This single cab long bed was languishing in a field near Elgin TX. I paid exactly $771 cash, no title. It was on the property when the owner bought the land. Bonded title costs about $250 in TX. All glass was good except the passenger window. We replaced it so we could move it out with other parts trucks.

My boys and I have done a couple of long build thread on FTE, but we'll do this one here. I've pretty much left FTE over their harsh corporate treatment of friends I made there, who were banned for (insert vague goolagtube community guidelines language here). We continued our friendship on Gab.

RedHead had been sitting for unknown years. The seller thinks she's a 1986 but I have not spotted galvanized body metal yet. But then I haven't looked hard for it. Initially I'd thought of her as a parts truck. We tend to convert Bullnoses to ZF5, and that clutch pedal box is gold to us for that process. On initial cleanup and stripping the interior, we found this floorboard rust (already treated with Ospho in this pic).

But with only 11k showing on the odometer, the apparent number of years she'd been sitting (14 year old tires), and the good looks of her 6.9 gray paint, we decided to pull her around the ranch a little and see if she would fire up.

She fired up in about 80' of pulling! Sounds sweet, no bad noises. But a large diesel leak where the injector fuel return hoses merge back into the fuel filter assembly. I'm surprised there is much volume there to leak, thought that was just fuel that leaked by the injectors on firing. I must be wrong because she ran fine. We kept RPM low to avoid throwing off all those aged V belts.

So I sold RedHead to one of my sons and he's going to put her back on the road. I spotted this fuel filter yesterday. Apparently it's replaced the problematic stock water separator. Anybody recognize this?

The bed is sweeet. No significant rust up front in the usual problem area.

The passenger window was broken by local ne'er do wells that tried to steal her. They trashed the steering column doing so. Obviously they were not experienced with how easy it is to bypass a Bullnose ignition lock as they failed, but they did most damage overcoming the steering lock. We have a spare in a parts truck.

Gaze upon her nice straight sheet metal. I'll keep y'all posted on progress. The brake pedal never came up, but she's not losing fluid. So wheel cylinders are probably seized. Coolant and oil still look good!

[Gary Lewis]

Sorry to see that you, and others are having problems with FTE. But glad you'll do your thread here as I want to follow along.

And Redhead looks to be a keeper. Straight and reasonably rust free. Too bad about the steering column, but you'll get that sorted easily enough.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Sorry to see that you, and others are having problems with FTE. But glad you'll do your thread here as I want to follow along.

And Redhead looks to be a keeper. Straight and reasonably rust free. Too bad about the steering column, but you'll get that sorted easily enough.

When a big corporation buys an enthusiast forum, so far in my experience it's always a turn for the worse. Witness MyTractor Forum. FTE spams my email with ads for new Furd products in which I would not be seen dead. Such as the Eco-Spurt crossover, 6M-hp F150 Shelby pickup, or coal-powered EVs.

But the worse aspect is the application of big corp diversity snowflake community guidelines instead of the common sense that a forum founder and his mod team can practice. I run a few big FB groups and my rules are simple: No cussing, no spamming, be polite. So far very few have earned the ban hammer, despite 10k members.

RedHead will roar again soon, but he's taking a back door right now to Pancho Loco the 84 F150 extended cab long bed 4x4 we scored for $600 a year ago. My youngest daughter wants if for a daily driver. We'll make that a project thread too.

[Gary Lewis]

When a big corporation buys an enthusiast forum, so far in my experience it's always a turn for the worse. Witness MyTractor Forum. FTE spams my email with ads for new Furd products in which I would not be seen dead. Such as the Eco-Spurt crossover, 6M-hp F150 Shelby pickup, or coal-powered EVs.

But the worse aspect is the application of big corp diversity snowflake community guidelines instead of the common sense that a forum founder and his mod team can practice. I run a few big FB groups and my rules are simple: No cussing, no spamming, be polite. So far very few have earned the ban hammer, despite 10k members.

RedHead will roar again soon, but he's taking a back door right now to Pancho Loco the 84 F150 extended cab long bed 4x4 we scored for $600 a year ago. My youngest daughter wants if for a daily driver. We'll make that a project thread too.

I think our guidelines are simple and easily complied with. And the vast majority of people have done, with very few exceptions.

As for selling, that isn't happening. Nor are we going to have advertising. No spam email and you get to decide what subscriptions you want to have.

Anyway, I'll look forward to the thread on Pancho Loco and will certainly subscribe to it.

[Rusty_S85]

How did you get your bonded title for $250?

When I did the bonded title for my '56 the surety bond that is required to get the bonded title is based off the blue book value of the vehicle. I ended up having to pay $800 for the surety bond alone as it was for a bond 1 1/2 times the blue book value of the car. Then I had to pay the tax on that same value listed on the surety bond for the title transfer aspect into my name. All said and done for my '56 it was right at $2,000 for me to get it all taken care of.

[grumpin]

When a big corporation buys an enthusiast forum, so far in my experience it's always a turn for the worse. Witness MyTractor Forum. FTE spams my email with ads for new Furd products in which I would not be seen dead. Such as the Eco-Spurt crossover, 6M-hp F150 Shelby pickup, or coal-powered EVs.

But the worse aspect is the application of big corp diversity snowflake community guidelines instead of the common sense that a forum founder and his mod team can practice. I run a few big FB groups and my rules are simple: No cussing, no spamming, be polite. So far very few have earned the ban hammer, despite 10k members.

RedHead will roar again soon, but he's taking a back door right now to Pancho Loco the 84 F150 extended cab long bed 4x4 we scored for $600 a year ago. My youngest daughter wants if for a daily driver. We'll make that a project thread too.

Both trucks look like great starts!

I like Pancho Loco!

[RenoHuskerDu]

How did you get your bonded title for $250?

When I did the bonded title for my '56 the surety bond that is required to get the bonded title is based off the blue book value of the vehicle. I ended up having to pay $800 for the surety bond alone as it was for a bond 1 1/2 times the blue book value of the car. Then I had to pay the tax on that same value listed on the surety bond for the title transfer aspect into my name. All said and done for my '56 it was right at $2,000 for me to get it all taken care of.

Rusty, that sounds terrible. What state is that? We're in Texas. I've done bonded titles on two trucks now and the value of the truck didn't affect the cost. The first was worth $10k and I paid $800 the for the second truck. For both the bond cost about $250, then there are of course DMV fees on top.

[Rusty_S85]

Rusty, that sounds terrible. What state is that? We're in Texas. I've done bonded titles on two trucks now and the value of the truck didn't affect the cost. The first was worth $10k and I paid $800 the for the second truck. For both the bond cost about $250, then there are of course DMV fees on top.

Texas, the same as you.

The process was as follows.

1) vehicle inspected by the police, vin number check make sure vehicle isnt reported stolen or has stolen parts on it.

2) Surety Bond that covers vehicle 1 1/2 times the value.

3) DMV fees

4) title transfer tax fee, this one was done at the court house.

Maybe urban areas is more fees and more tacked on to make the process more lengthy and costly but I had to argue with the guy at the bond place, he was using the average retail value and I told him that is too much the car has a seized engine from sitting. I didnt bother telling him I had already unseized the engine years ago. He then tried to use the low retail value and I tried telling him the low retail value is for a vehicle that runs and drives and this one doesnt. I couldnt get the value knocked down enough to get the surety bond cost down. I feel its nothing more than a money racket, felt the same way when they did away with the taxing you on how much you paid for a vehicle when you do the title transfer to the whole insane taxing you on the value of the vehicle instead even if you didnt pay that much. Same thing with the Texas Truck plates that they did away with some 8 years ago now, my registration used to be only $55 on my truck cause they taxed the GVW, now that they did away with the Texas Truck plates they now tax your vehicle based off value now so now my registration is up around $80 a year.

But on the bonded title, mine is one year I think before they send me a clear title. From there I am going to take it to the court house where my property is at and deal with some rural people for a change and see if I can get them to adjust the title to state the actual previous owner on the title. Hopefully they will be better to work with than the people in the city I encountered.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Rusty, that sounds terrible. What state is that? We're in Texas. I've done bonded titles on two trucks now and the value of the truck didn't affect the cost. The first was worth $10k and I paid $800 the for the second truck. For both the bond cost about $250, then there are of course DMV fees on top.

Texas, the same as you.

The process was as follows.

1) vehicle inspected by the police, vin number check make sure vehicle isnt reported stolen or has stolen parts on it.

2) Surety Bond that covers vehicle 1 1/2 times the value.

3) DMV fees

4) title transfer tax fee, this one was done at the court house.

Maybe urban areas is more fees and more tacked on to make the process more lengthy and costly but I had to argue with the guy at the bond place, he was using the average retail value and I told him that is too much the car has a seized engine from sitting. I didnt bother telling him I had already unseized the engine years ago. He then tried to use the low retail value and I tried telling him the low retail value is for a vehicle that runs and drives and this one doesnt. I couldnt get the value knocked down enough to get the surety bond cost down. I feel its nothing more than a money racket, felt the same way when they did away with the taxing you on how much you paid for a vehicle when you do the title transfer to the whole insane taxing you on the value of the vehicle instead even if you didnt pay that much. Same thing with the Texas Truck plates that they did away with some 8 years ago now, my registration used to be only $55 on my truck cause they taxed the GVW, now that they did away with the Texas Truck plates they now tax your vehicle based off value now so now my registration is up around $80 a year.

But on the bonded title, mine is one year I think before they send me a clear title. From there I am going to take it to the court house where my property is at and deal with some rural people for a change and see if I can get them to adjust the title to state the actual previous owner on the title. Hopefully they will be better to work with than the people in the city I encountered.

Wow. That's a huge difference. Another reason I like rural life. We even use a bond agent in adjacent Williamson County, which is going suburban now. I guess the low price I pay is fixed by Burnet County, where we live.

[Rusty_S85]

Wow. That's a huge difference. Another reason I like rural life. We even use a bond agent in adjacent Williamson County, which is going suburban now. I guess the low price I pay is fixed by Burnet County, where we live.

Thats what I suspected, I was waiting to have it done out of town I was content with just letting the car sit for the time being in the driveway blocked in with my truck. But someone filed a complaint with the city and they said I had to either prove it runs, get it registered, or remove it otherwise they will fine me $450 and haul the vehicle off as an abandoned vehicle.

I did escalate the situation a bit as I told the city worker that told me that, that if any of them tried to steal the car they would be treated as any other thief in my eyes. They didnt take too kindly to that threat like promise but I was upset that they were going to haul off my property as abandoned because it didnt meet their requirements to not be abandoned. They wont even let a cover be put on it, they had me pull the covers off two other vehicles which I told them no the first time. I could have started my 56 up, he asked me if it ran I said yes it runs, battery is currently dead it doesnt hold a charge more than a day but I can put the charger on it and start it right now. He quickly told me no it has to start on its own without me doing anything under the hood.

I wish I knew who filed the report cause that money I spent getting into compliance with the city on four vehicles three of which were under car covers, it put me back on getting my engine built for my truck. Now 2 years later I am just now at the point of finishing my engine if my builder up in Rhode island can get my short block shipped out.

But Im sure I made someone upset in the area cause they all are registered as antiques now and I got the cheapest insurance I could and dropped it after getting the antique registration done on it.