F350

1987 F-350 Crew Cab Pickup

Finally....some progress. July 12, 2006

Of all the vehicles I have, this one has been my favorite ever since I got it, 19 years ago, even over the Lowrider and the Mustangs. I guess it is the size, the fact it is handsome (my daughter called it "The Cowboy Truck" when I got it...she was 13 at the time), and probably has a lot to do with the power and sound I get from the 460 V-8 and the JBA headers and 4 inch exhaust system. I got it 9 months old, off a Toyota dealer's lot, for a WHOLE lot less than sticker ($10K less), and it has been totally dependable for all the time I've had it. It has been repainted twice, once when it was 3 years old, by Ford, when the clearcoat peeled off, and more recently, the whole thing was done as it had gotten a bit shabby over time. I originally justified it by having the boat I needed to pull, and the Ranchero I had before was not quite up to the task. It has a C-6 automatic transmission, and a limited slip rear axle, but is just two wheel drive. That's all I think I will ever need, since I just pull things around, and take a boat on trips.

With the advent of $3 a gallon gasoline, I have to do some things to it to make it a little cheaper to drive. I've just put larger tires and wheels on my commuter Lexus, which have brought its economy up about 15%. It will take more than that to improve the mileage of this truck, which is about 11 on the highway. When it was new, it got 13, but gas only cost 58 cents a gallon in 1988 Bakersfield, and didn't have MTBE. I had an auxiliary gas tank installed in the bed, behind the cab, which has a capacity of 90 gallons. When I hauled the now sold Van Cruiser to Seattle and Vancouver Island, it would make the entire trip with just one fuel stop....a significant purchase, but just one stop. I haven't used that tank in 15 years now, so it needs to be cleaned out, but the new boat coming in a couple of years will put this truck back into regular service, and its age will be fun to use to show how good Ford trucks are, as compared to their cars....!
After I vacuum it out, I'll put up a pic or two of the inside....it isn't original anymore.

My Chinese mother-in-law says it sounds and feels like riding in a 747...so high off the ground and so powerful sounding!! I love her!!

OK.....Finally!!! Just took these two a few minutes ago. It's time to smog it again...it hasn't been anywhere since the last time, two years ago. I had to change the carb studs....for some reason one of them stripped out in the Edelbrock intake. I got some that were a half inch longer, since I had to screw them deeper into the intake, and glued the stripped one into the manifold with JB Weld. Amazing stuff, JB Weld. I used some of it to restore a metal gasket that seals the EGR manifold, that goes between the carb and the intake. It was running a bit rough at idle when I started it a few days ago, and that turned out to be due to the rear of the carb not being held down to the gasket/EGR manifold tight enough. With a new gasket, new studs, and a couple of vacuum hoses replaced, it idles as smooth as a SHO engine now. Still thirsty, but hey...it's a 1 ton truck. After 19 years, 118,000 miles, and only two tune-ups, it starts at the flick of the key.
I have new front wheel center caps.....just have to find them!! Next spring it gets new Michelins...these are 12 years old and cracking

Since it is a late '80s model, the original clear coat didn't last very long. I worked a deal with the local dealer in 1991 when it started to chip off. (Usually only the original owner could get paint repaired under warranty when clearcoat failed.) Since I had gotten it within its original 2 year warranty, he agreed to repaint just the upper medium brown layer for nothing....the lower brown and beige was OK. That lasted for 10 more years, then that clearcoat started to chip, too. I got it totally repainted after dinging a rear fender while backing a car trailer (after bringing home one of my late '90s era fleet of 9 SHOs.) It took almost two years to get it done, but I got $8,000 worth of pearl painting done for no more than the insurance payment to fix the fender. It came out REALLY nice. I had saved a set of new headlights and taillights, and with them installed, it looks brand new. It has a pair of 2003 F-350 Lariat badges on the front fenders.

I've been planning forever to put an auxiliary overdrive transmission on this truck. The C-6 transmission is bulletproof, and it has a shift kit donated to me by an AAMCO shop back in the early '90s. So the drivetrain is fine, except for the worn out U joints. But at 3000 RPM at 60 mph, the gearing isn't right for this era of expensive gas. There are good RV overdrives out there (Mitchell Gear Splitters are made 50 miles from me) which I will investigate, and one of them will find its way onto this truck. I'm also considering having the rear axle converted to a two speed version. Then I'll be using it a lot more...I might even commute with it once or twice.....Yeah, RIGHT!! ;-) I used to do that, back in the early '90s. I made some furniture for my work place, and I took it there in this truck. It uses about 3/4 of one tank (it has two factory 16 gallon tanks) to make one round trip.

On Halloween night, 2004, I was taking it to work at 9 PM for a midshift, to pick up a heavy exterior wooden door that had been taken off a portable building next to my workplace. About 15 minutes after I got on the freeway, I heard a great swooshing sound and the truck lurched....I was going about 60 mph at the time. There was a strong headwind, and it turned out that the cap had blown off. I had forgotten that it had worked loose, and I had told myself to re-bolt it down. It blew off and shattered all over the highway (I-80) between Fairfield and Vallejo. I stopped and backed up, and called 911 to have the CHP come and help me clear it. Fortunately traffic was light, and there was no one behind me to be hit by the cap. They said they wouldn't give me a littering ticket, because I stayed to help clean it up. Decent!! I got this new cap for just $200, my insurance deductable. Pretty snazzy, huh? Center brake light and everything!!

Recently, it had its rear axle seals replaced....they had died of old age, and flooded the rear drum brakes with differential oil. I thought the rear anti-lock system had died, since I had no rear brakes. But after seeing oil dripping onto the ground inside the rear wheels, I knew what was wrong. All this happened in 2006. During its extended warranty period til 1992, it had the two front calipers rebuilt, and the power steering pump rebuilt. Other than a recent rusted water-pump to intake manifold tube problem caused by me not flushing the cooling system, and not replacing the alternator plug when I changed the alternator a few years back, which caused the new alternator to melt the old plug....scary when it happened, but easy to fix when I found what was happening....this truck has been pretty much trouble free. I wish the SHOs could learn from it. I also had to replace the ignition key tumbler lock assembly....it broke internally and just spun around...this steering column uses the turn signal lever to tilt the wheel....not the best design..it allows the ignition lock linkage to take a hit if the wheel is allowed to bang against its upper stop. I loaned it to a friend for a year or so, and he didn't realize that it would get hurt that way. But with the problems the new trucks are having regarding injectors and transmissions... (and costing twice as much as it did)....I'll just keep this one and update it for what I need to pull. Thanks, Ford Motor Company (of 1987), for making such a good truck!!