OS's F-150 Chronicles.

[OSRC]

Time for some bigger wrenches!

I'm not a mechanic by any means, let me put that out there up front. I'm not always 100% sure what I'm doing, but I don't mind trying and sometimes it works....and sometimes I have to have it towed to a garage or end up have stiches put in from a slipped wrench. Definitely not to the level of Indybama's truck, Ferp's lifted Subaru, or Hairba11's awesome Flexus, I'm just messing around in the driveway.

So long backstory, I used to be a Mustang and Miata guy having owned several of each in the past. Since I'm a family man now and need space, not to mention spending an inordinate amount of time playing with tiny trucks, I've been gravitating towards trucks lately. Can't haul softball gear in a Miata! To that end, I've now got three trucks and no cars for the first time in my life. My "good" truck is a 2014 Ram that cost me a fortune in 2020 and we use for family vacations and hauling the camper and what not. You know, truck stuff. Trying to keep the miles down as I have no funds to replace it since truck prices have gone past insane into just plain ridiculous.

My second truck is my Pop's 2003 F-150 - 5.4 auto FX4 package, pretty much loaded with everything but leather. He LOVED this truck, always told me it was his favorite vehicle he's ever had. "So much power" he would tell me.. He only drove it 2.2 miles to work a day before he retired, so by the time it came into my hands it only had 29k on it. He passed in 2020 and I promised him before he moved on that I would take care of it. And I have! It's become my daily driver for the most part, and I know I'm going to have a hard time parting with it whenever the day comes - I can still catch a whiff of pipe smoke in it from time to time and it's the one thing that reminds me of dad the most.




So anyway, to that end I'm doing what I can to keep it on the road. Over the past 3 years I've just done a few things to it. Replaced the rusted out exhaust with flowmasters, put some nice wheels and tires on it, and added a cover for the bed. It's up to 62k now and still runs and drives like new. As much as dad loved this truck, he didn't maintain it for crap. It never got washed unless I did it for him. He parked it in the grass for 2 years after retirement and with nearly 20 years of PA road salt clinging to spots, it just ate it up. Ford trucks are not known for their rust resistance, that's for sure. It shines up nice, but there's a lot of issues underneath. The rockers are long gone and are basically patched over, and the back of the truck is just a rust fest. Not good! I junked his last truck with 32k due to rust, and it still pisses me off - I'm determined to not let that happen again.

So after finding out the front brake calipers had jammed up and I wore out both front inner brake pads completely leading to some very unpleasant grinding sounds (and destroyed the Powerstop brakes I might add) I decided to park it and finally do some heavy lifting. It needs both front brakes completely redone and I need to do something with the rust. Here in PA, holes in the bed are not road legal and the bed is basically about to fall off anyway. All the supports underneath are rotted away, it had several huge rot spots and it was only a matter of time until it started going sideways. Wouldn't pass inspection this year anyway so it had to go. I had found a stepside bed in decent shape over the summer, and it's sitting behind my garage waiting install. Time to get to work!

My brother and I got the bed off this weekend. All the bolts came right -even the bumper bolts out to my surprise.


Lots and lots of rust. Literally showering the driveway! I was underneath and scraped/painted the chassis 2 years ago, but with the bed off I can get to all those areas I couldn't get to previously.



This is the only visible damage, the frame is starting to rot away just in front of the bump stop. I don't weld, so I might have to ask around and see if I can get a friend to weld on a patch.


Scraped, wire brushed, cleaned and POR'd everything and then sprayed with satin black. I'm not sure how much time I bought with it, but it has to be some.




And that's where it sits. I always thought it rode a bit too tall for the smallish tires, so I ordered a Belltech lowering kit for it. Just 2" rear and 1" up front - should be easy to install since I'll have it all apart - just shackles and torsion keys. Hopefully. We'll find out.

And then there's this piece. I've never not had a stick vehicle until 2 years ago and it is driving me nuts. So this popped up locally cheap(ish) and I had to have it. It's a '97 with 192k (!!) 4.6 V8 and a stick. I thought it would be a good parts truck for dad's truck since it has been garage kept and there's zero rust on it other than the rear bumper BUT it's in such good shape inside and out I decided to get it inspected and drive it around a bit. I drove it home, then straight to my local garage as the passenger exhaust manifold is cracked and needed replacement before inspection. That was more work than I wanted to take on in the driveway at 40 degrees, so I let the garage do it. I've barely driven it - heck, I've not even scraped the PO's Penn State stickers off it yet. It should be done this week after 6 weeks at the garage, driveable finally and we'll really get to see what it's like.



Twins! Perfect parts truck


Not 100% sure what I'm doing between the two anymore, time will tell.

[350TacoZilla]

Personal opinion from someone also dealing with rust on a regular basis, for your dads truck drive it occasionally in nice weather to keep stuff lubed and moving but garage it for bad weather and pile the miles on the parts truck.

[OSRC]

I wish i could, I don't have a garage unfortunately.

Haven't gotten much done on dad's truck, just been busy with the holidays. I did get the parts truck back after a new manifold and a bunch of front suspension parts were installed. It drives pretty good for a 26 year old truck, sounds great and drives decent. The stick is iffy though, I thought with 190k it would be floppy but it's very difficult to get into the gears at times, I have to kind of manhandle it. Been fun driving it around, I really miss a stick truck.

[OSRC]

I got Jr, the '97 truck back from the garage 2 weeks ago and have put about 200 miles on it. They put on a new exhaust header and replaced a bunch of front suspension bits. You'd think that with 190k it would shift a bit on the loose side, but it's very reluctant to go into any gear. Plus there's a lot of slack in the driveline so it makes it a bit tricky to drive. I'm getting the hang of it though, been driving stick since I was 14 and used to steal my mother's '82 Escort to sneak out and buy bike parts.

Removed the stickers, bug guard and the janky bed cover. Needs a good wax, but it looks great for a 97! Now I just need to find my old Pearl Jam cassette for the radio.