The parts truck

So with the truck on the ground, Mikey and family gone, and me left figuring out what to do with my new truck…I had time to think. Which, when you get to know me, you know that’s a bad idea. The truck originally came out of the factory with a 460, 5 speed, and was 4 wheel drive. Well, in my mind a 2 wheel drive is rather useless so that wasn’t going to change. I’ve wanted another 5 speed for awhile, so that’s what I decided I’d stay with. The 460 on the other hand….ya I wasn’t feeling it to have another gas motor.

One of my thoughts was to use the parts of my 3/4 ton to build the crew cab….but that just seemed, well….it left a pit in my stomach. I’ve had my 3/4 ton since 96, I’ve done a lot of work to that truck….and well…my dad gave it to me. So there’s a soft spot for it. So I couldn’t do that.

To solve my problem I had been watching craigslist and I came across a truck listing in OKC. As a matter of fact, it was thanksgiving day when I saw the listing. On craigslist was a 1989 f350 crewcab 4 wheel drive, 5 speed pickup….and it was DIESEL!!!! Oh…I had been wanting one of those. Even better…I could afford it.

What should have happened at this point, was someone should have slapped me upside the head and told me no. I swear the voice on my shoulder that usually says…look at the price…something’s wrong….was on vacation.

I email the guy….and to my surprise, he responds and I got the directions to the truck. I asked if the truck was road worthy to get from OKC to Tulsa, guy said absolutely. It ran great. So the next day, the wife, the kids, and I jump in the explorer and go get my parts truck. Understand that my requirements were this

• It run
• it drive
• it get me home

So I get there…late. It seems we forgot to grab the GPS….oopps.

When we pull up, the guy had the truck running. First things first….when buying a diesel, always make sure to start it cold, it can tell you a lot about the engine. Things I wish I knew then….

Ok the truck ran…check. It was in reasonably safe condition. That’s to say, the major components of the truck would still latch. I’m thrilled though…I have my donor truck with everything I need. I wanted out there before the guy could change his mind. Here’s what I discovered in the first 5 minutes of driving my new prize.

• It smoked…..like a freight train.
• the speedometer didn’t work
• the hood was on the brink of coming up
• at 55 mph the truck felt like it was gonna shake apart
• it smoked some more
• the right front shock mount was broken, and the shock was just hanging there
• 4th gear synchro was gone
• the clutch wasn’t fully disengaging when shifting, due to trashed motor mounts as I found out later

Fine…I had driven stuff this bad before, no worries. However, running home on the high way was out of the question. So Route 66 home it was. I stopped, topped the oil off and got a ratchet strap to keep the hood down. At this point, I discovered that the batteries were shot, so I had to jump it off to get it started.

So we head for home on the back roads, wife and kids following me. Smoke got better as I drove it…which was a good sign, sort of. I forgot about about the busted shock, but was reminded when I hit some railroad tracks at 50 mph. Ya…not zesty. On the way home, it got dark…turned the headlights on. One headlight pointed in the tree tops, the other straight down.

So 6 long hours later…I pulled into the driveway with my new bounty. The scary part….by the time I got to Tulsa I could drive the truck reasonably well.

On the upside, it has a very nice flatbed.

Next up…..disassembly…

More pictures located here