1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[1971ford]

Got a little carried away, with getting carried away, with my "tranny rebuild".
Decided to repaint a few small areas do to flaws. That spread to welding up old "390" emblem holes (Cummins badges coming soon..), welding up old mirror holes, filler work on some minor dings, and DA'ing/blocking the whole truck as many panels had low spots. Repainting the whole truck now, but it is going to be straighter and nice than ever. Going to color sand and buff this time as well. A good friend of mine works at a high end auto body and restoration shop and we have been putting some long hours into getting the truck pretty dang straight. He's going to help buff it when it's done. I'm excited!
Also am going to be building a crawler so will no longer have a desire to get too gnarly with this truck on the trails, so I think I'm going to keep the slot mags and polish them up very nice. Also thinking about pulling the flatbed, applying brush on rustoleum and laying new wood.

Getting carried away.. But the cool thing is that once i get the money for the torque converter and once the torque convert arrives back here.... the truck will be all "done" and just how I want it, so i can slide the TC on and put the tranny back in and enjoy!

[1971ford]

Sand blasted the wheels and hood hinges. Hood hinges are getting powder coated right now in a semi-gloss black. Should look amazing!
The sand blasting was a very cool experience... They put me in the suit with pumped oxygen and all, inside the blast room and had the wheels and hinges completely blasted in a matter of minutes. Sand blaster the size of a fire hose is pretty cool... The best part, is the sand blasting and powdercoating was for the price of free! And was told to bring any other parts in I want blasted and I can have the blast room. Having connections is pretty cool... lets see what else I can get blasted and prettyfied.


About half way done with the body work.



Working on a transfer case support strut to keep it SOLID.

[dirtyf1]

I'm already jealous of your truck, but come on you can't just go getting free sand blasting and powder coating. it's just not right. but seriously i love your truck. it has me thinking bout getting rid of my titan and building the truck i want. and there is just something about drivin and old truck that just makes driving fun and enjoyable. so keep posting pics so I can keep dreamin

[koch68]

What radiator are you using? And why didn't you want to put a manual back in?

[1971ford]

Thanks!

Dodge radiator. Auto because it is easier to wheel with, easier to daily drive, "faster" in terms of 1/4 mile racing for fun, cheaper (was supposed to be anyways), less downtime , and a few other reasons. I think I explained a page or so back.

[koch68]

Got it. That transfercase bracket looks great! What are your next plans for the truck?

[1971ford]

Thanks.
I have a big list of what needs to get done, hanging in the garage. Just trying to knock one or two things out a day now.
Lots of things like body work and fabrication right now, as they don't cost much at all and allows me to save up paychecks for the torque converter, OD rebuild parts, gen 2 fleplate, driveline, etc. I need about $2-2.5k in parts right now and am splitting funds with my other 4x4 so it's taking a while to get the money together.

So right now its just more body work mainly. Going to pick up the OD rebuild parts so i can get the tranny all rebuilt and back in one piece and wrapped up while I wait for the torque converter. I'll do the KDP fix on the cummins at the same time.

[1971ford]

So much body work... Finally finished the body work on both the fenders and passenger door, finishing them off with wetsand 400 and being blocked for weeks with 220 and 320. They feel incredibly straight. I'm actually afraid I am putting way too much time into the bodywork/paint. I'm going to be too scared to take the truck through any trails.

Body work will be done this weekend then I can get my paint, shoot it, and put it all back together minus transmission. Still lacking about $2k for that to be done
Oh well, I have lots of little projects on the truck I have plans for while I save paychecks.

[1971ford]

SO... I was on craigslist bored out of my mind. Randomly searching for things I don't plan on buying any time soon.
Searched "dana 44 ford". A '78 f250 4x4 highboy ad caught my eye so I opened it out of curiousity.
1978 f250 4x4, with the desirable Dana 44, high pinion, open/flat top knuckle, disc brake, front axle, strong running 351, 4 speed, np205, dana 60 rear. straight body and good parts.

The price? $650 delivered. Called as soon as I saw that and 10 minutes later we decided he'd drop it off tomorrow afternoon.

$650 is what the front axle alone goes for. I'll sell the 351, 4 speed, np205, dana 60, and various other parts, scrap the body/frame and most likely be getting paid a decent amount to have a dana 44 HP front!!!

[FormerMarine1981]

Nice Score!!

[koch68]

Why can't I ever find craigslist scores. Im on there 2 hours a day

[1971ford]

I got lucky.

I realized he said $650 OBO after I told him i had 650 cash ready to go. And he said "you know it has no registration or anything right?" I bet i could have talked him down to an even smaller price.
It's sitting in the driveway ready to be torn apart!

[1971ford]

Swapped my 37's on the rear as one of the tires was debeaded, and had a little fun. Thought about swapping the front garbage swampers onto the rear so i could smoke them completely off but I already pushed it big time just doing a small burnout in my neighborhood. It's that last thing i should be doing right now but had to have SOME fun.

Not bad for stock gears, 37's, both tires spinning, and minimal throttle to not piss neighbors off TOO much.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3470963421845

One hour after that I had the front end torn apart to clear room to pull the drivetrain, front axle sitting on the ground, and the 69's axle ready to drop.


Random body work shot. Fenders are done, hood hasn't been started.


78 should be totally stripped down tomorrow and loaded up for scrap monday. Then I need to go sandblast the front axle and paint it, and rebuild it. Then high steer and steering setup 3.0 will be in the works.

[koch68]

I thought you sold your land rover?

[averagef250]

I thought you sold your land rover?

Yeah, that kinda looks like a disco sitting there in the driveway doesn't it?