1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[robroy]

Good evening Ryan,

That's looking extremely nice!!! How many hours did you invest in the body work and paint? You make it look easy, as usual.

Robroy

[1971ford]

Thanks Robroy! Body work was about 15 hours, maybe a tad more. Paint was 3-4 hours including taping off and wiping down. Figure 20 hours maximum for everything.
It's pretty straight, however i know where the flaws are of course. I know i could of spent another day or two and could have gotten it incredibly straight, but I started thinking show truck not 4x4, used truck...
If I painted a street truck this way I would probably put more hours into it getting it dead straight. Robroy I think if you went this route painting your truck it would be just as amazing if not amazing..er. Theres a few things I'll tell anyone who plans on painting there truck this way that will probably eliminate all the orange peel that i got. I wish i painted the race truck first, because i would of learned these things and the '69 would look even better! Doesn't really matter, just more wetsanding and buffing later
I will be painting the race truck next.

[CrypticRacer13]

Truck looks bad arse Ryan, my fav build by far lots of ideas stuck in my head now!

[stephen44]

..... Theres a few things I'll tell anyone who plans on painting there truck this way that will probably eliminate all the orange peel that i got. I wish i painted the race truck first, because i would of learned these things and the '69 would look even better!....

I'lll be doing mine at some point - can you spill the beans plesase ?

Yours looks fantastic though - love the color - is it a single stage ?

[fomocoguy]

Wow that was fast! Your truck looks great Ryan. I like the wheels with the painted centers more than I do the all chrome version of that wheel. Nice!

[1971ford]

Thanks Mike!

Stephen I'll have to put together a little thing on what all i did as there are several people asking what exactly i used and did to paint the truck. I'll get back to you soon
It's single stage, it's a paint made for coating boats, pretty durable, and shiny... mix it with interlux thinner and you're good to go..

Thanks Joe, I can't decide what style wheel i want to run on the highboy ultimately. These are just the race truck's 4 spare wheels . Aluminum, painted steel, paint/chrome like these, so many decisions...
I do like the look of these, but i want to see what other styles of wheels wold look like under it. The color of a wheel changes everything on a truck!

Anyways, today I ran a tube from vent bowl to vent bowl on the carb so if i bounce the truck a little on a trail, fuel won't splash down the carb, flooding it. Then I cut away material from the flatbed so the wheels can tuck without hitting the flatbed. Before, the wheel would hit the flatbed 2x4 with very little "flexing" going on at all. Now the tires clears and hits the wood... until i lift the rear a little anyways.

Then I was with some buddies and when we got bored

[robroy]

Good morning Ryan!

I approve highly of your creative parking strategies! Your new paint's looking fabulous. Like the other guys who have asked, I'll be curious to hear all about what you did!

I kind of think that "Fresh Paint" is a term that must apply only to Bumpsides that have had the good fortune to spend most of their lives in areas with car-preserving climates like yours! I've usually heard "Fresh Paint" applied to newer cars that haven't had time to accumulate the rust problems that most Bumpsides have by now. Of course, for most Bumpsides "Fresh Paint" is but the final step in a long rust repair and body work process.

Robroy

[1971ford]

Thanks Robroy

Anyone feel free to ask more questions about the painting process but I'll try to cover as much as i can.
Used an inadequately sized craftsman 120V air compressor with too little CFM to keep up, a $5 inline water separator attached between gun and hose, air regulator that came with the spray gun, and the famous harbor freight purple gun that i bought a couple years ago...
Compressor ran A LOT while painting it. The paint would of layed out with less orange peel if i had a bigger compressor (more CFM).

Used Interlux brightside paint. This color is Fire Red. Roof is off-white.
Get the interlux spray thinner with it. You want to thin it so its something like 2% milk, or something like 10% thinner. I just eyeballed it...
Dont shake the can. Stir it. pour some paint into a tubaware or paint mixer, stir, pour in paint gun. Grab a piece of cardboard and spray on it while adjusting your gun settings. I didnt really know what i was doing. Set the gun to where it seemed like it was pretty good to me and then sprayed the truck. Did about 5 coats, used I think a quart and a quarter. Remember, all i had to shoot was the hood, lower valance, fenders, outside of doors, cowl, and cab corners. Not much at all really.

Let it dry for a day then drove it around. Oh man all the horsepower gains were great


Cleaned up the engine compartment a little bit. Still looking pretty good


Then headed over to Rockerdog's house and snagged the lock set (door locks and ignition) from his parts truck and put the ignition cylinder in as soon as i got home, feels great to not use a screwdriver


Also snagged the f250 hood emblems


Then spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the np435 getting it ready to swap in


Gears look absolutely perfect. Should be nice and QUIET


Then snagged a hilift jack off craigslist for $40, completely disassembled, cleaned everything, fresh lube and re-assembled. Works perfect. Probably better than new..
Need to mount it to the headache rack now

[averagef250]

"Gears look absolutely perfect. Should be nice and QUIET"

Check the bearing clearance, gears don't wear.

[1971ford]

Ahh, ok.
One of the gears in the np435 currently in the highboy has wear on the very edge of the teeth like it has been ground quite a bit. This one doesn't have that wear. It makes sense that the teeth don't wear down, though.

How do i check bearing clearance?

[Ranchero50]

Do the gears 'wobble' on the mainshaft?

[averagef250]

Ahh, ok.
One of the gears in the np435 currently in the highboy has wear on the very edge of the teeth like it has been ground quite a bit. This one doesn't have that wear. It makes sense that the teeth don't wear down, though.

How do i check bearing clearance?

OK, something has to be REALLY messed up to get gear tooth wear. gently bar the guts in the tranny back and forth with a screwdriver with an indicator on a gear or the input shaft. It's best to stand the case w/guts up and rely on gravity to push everything one way.

Just saying looking at the gears says nothing about a stickshift unless the tranny is a total loss (very, very bad condition). Bearing clearance, synchro clearance, shift fork wear- Those things can quantify the shape of a tranny and are easy to check.

[1971ford]

Thanks for the info!

Here's a big update...

Installed procomp 4" lift springs. Took quite a bit of work and time, everything is in this thread http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... 90#p559490 .
Also installed new Rancho shocks with stem-loop adapters up front, then made a upper shock crossmember for the rear and welded that in. I bolted some long travel bilstein 5100 shocks up in the rear, and added 2 leaf springs along with a u-bolt flip with new u-bolts thanks to Alcan Spring.

Then cut the yokes off my now too-short front driveshaft and replaced the old paper thin tube for a 2.5" schedule 40 (almost 1/4" thick) section.... I can finally not worry about bending my low-hanging driveline on rocks.

Then i went wheeling!

[cheek]

Looks like you had some fun Your truck looks awesome!!!

[robroy]

'Evening Ryan,

Most excellent photos!!! Mixing a truck like you've made with being out in the woods is a great combination, especially in this time of year. I'll bet the air smelled nice up there.

Robroy