1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[BigBlueF250]

Come to Oregon and you'll never want to go back to California

[1971ford]

You're probably right...

[koch68]

I just read through this entire build and its a great truck. I really like how when you want something done you get it done. Very cool truck. And your race truck is sweet to.

[1971ford]

Thanks!

Washed it... dreamed of driving it... the usual.

[CrypticRacer13]

Not much longer and you can wash more then the driveway dust off her

[1971ford]

Hopefully!

I'm just about done rebuilding my dirt bike, and almost done with the "final touches" on the Land Rover till it sells, and I'm on summer break in a couple weeks... So I'm going to start giving the highboy some serious lovin'. Small things right now obviously, don't have a transmission yet, but theres quite a few things I want to do to it before it's going again anyways.
Expect to see it evolve into more of a trail worthy beast.
Heavily considering even a full blown cage after miraculously not rolling it on the last trip to the mountains. We'll see how bored I get this summer

[BigBlueF250]

Wing nuts!!!

[1971ford]

I was looking at some pictures of me driving the truck on the trails... found a little motivation to work on it today. It's hard to get motivated with no tranny though.
Washed it again, then started the tank sealing process to seal the galvanized tank for diesel. Done cleaning and rinsing, now I need to let it dry out then start prepping it for the coating... then coat it.

Also borrowed a buddy's sawzall and cut out the bolt that was keeping me from dropping the transmission, so the transmission should be on the ground tomorrow.

I guess I'm going to rebuild this transmission. REALLY don't want to as it'll be a big waste of time/money in the end but I don't have a choice if I want to drive this thing any time soon. I'll have to put off my 5 speed dreams.

Atleast If I rebuild this transmission, I can be driving this thing again in a couple weeks.

[CrypticRacer13]

Driving it with a rebuild auto will be worth the money just to say your driving it again.

[1971ford]

Now working full time at the welding shop, AND starting back up making pizzas again at night... 8AM to 10PM work days... It's worth it when I think about driving the highboy again
And on top of that, my land Rover is supposedly sold... very serious buyer and should be seeing the money Wednesday or Thursday. There's another $9k to play with, although it all won't be going into the highboy.

Today I finished the tank sealing process. The gas tank is now completely sealed inside so the diesel won't break down the galvanized coating. Then I tackled the wiring mess that's been in the back of my mind since day one. Started over and now have very clean rear wiring.
Wiring disaster


Then I installed the tank and crossmember, cleaned the truck up a little bit and pulled the front diff cover. I'm just going to replace the pinion bearing and run it again, unless I decided a d44hp or d60 would look better under there. Worked a little more on getting the transmission ready to drop as well. It will be on the ground tomorrow night looks like.


Once I get the money from the Rover I will be ordering $1k in parts for the transmission then it's just a matter of putting the transmission back together with the goodies and getting it back in the truck and driving the hell out of it while i continue to dump money into it.
Transmission is getting a high performance torque converter (either BD or spec-rite, calling both tomorrow and picking one) which will be around $600, a master rebuild kit with red eagle clutch discs (about $220), a trans-go shift kit, updated reverse servo piston so i don't lose reverse for a THIRD time, and fluid.

Should be driving it in a few weeks. So I'm trying to get major progress done while I wait for the money and parts to arrive so when I get them I can get the tranny done and in and drive.
My list of what needs to be done, though, is a page long.

[fomocoguy]

Glad to see you're making some progress! She's been down too long. Still looks damn fine though! Makes me flirt with the idea of polishing up my slots and finding some tires for them.

[killakobra]

from what i hear the reverse servo piston's are a common problem. i personally helped fix one on an 01 dodge

[1971ford]

Rover is officially sold. Ordering all the tranny parts today except the torque converter. Dropping the transmission for sure tomorrow (no more putting it off!) so I can get the torque converter on it's way to either BD performance or Spec-rite converters to have built. Then once my parts get here I can rebuild the tranny. Then once the new torque converter gets back I can get the transmission back in.
After talking to my buddy who's "famous" for having one of the top 10 fastest cummins trucks in the world, and a few others, i've decided the transmission build will consist of the master rebuild kit, red eagle clutches, trans-go shift kit, updated reverse servo piston (can't wedge or flip!), and a BD or spec-rite torque converter. I've called both torque converter companies and spoke with them... Spec rite has a "93 % efficient" converter for $780, and BD has a 89% "efficient" converter for $680. Problem is, the whole "efficient" thing is really a sales pitch and doesn't make any sense in the real world so I can't go based off that. I think it come down to picking and choosing which company name to send my money too. Either converter is going to work wonders.
Build will be over a grand. Oh well, it will be worth getting much more power to the ground and not worrying about losing ANY gear again.

Picked up a set of 16.5x8 steel wheels from a buddy today, plan is to have them sandblasted, I'll be installing beadlocks, then have them powdercoated. Not sure on colors yet. I'm thinking either black wheels and black beadlocks with all the Grade 8 bolts standing out, or black wheels, and beadlocks painted red to match the truck but not sure if that is too much. Not usually a fan of blacked out wheels, but all the grade 8 bolts might look pretty sexy

[fomocoguy]

Black steelies are awesome. Beadlocks are that much cooler, but imo the red would be a bit much, although I might paint one and put it on the truck to be sure of how it will look before powdercoating.

So the rover just wasn't quite right for you? Did it not perform as expected?

[1971ford]

Yeah I'm afraid the red may be too much. I think the 32 shiny grade 8 bolts per beadlock will be enough bling for the wheels on top of the black on black.


The Rover was AMAZING, some of the most fun times i've had in a vehicle... and that says quite a bit having had a off-road race truck and the cummins highboy. It was extremely capable, pretty damn reliable, extremely well built, got me through trails i should NOT have tried (trails that my buddy in his linked front/rear, stretched samurai on 39's wouldn't try), and on and on...
Just a few reasons for selling, though... 12 MPG's drained so much enjoyment from driving it. I'm perfectly fine with even single digit mileage (like the race truck was), IF it's fast. The Rover was the slowest vehicle i've ever driven.
I had 4 or 5 times on the trails where I either teetered on two wheels and almost went over, or everyone around me ran and jumped on my sliders because I was going to roll. Its almost like it's too capable for what it is. The high COG and smaller tires almost got me in trouble many times. Finally realized that If i keep wheeling it, i WILL roll it, and the will be worth about $4k after parting it out.. if i'm lucky.
Another reason... I didn't build it. It was VERY well built, but i didn't build it. Couldn't stand it. Someone would ask if i built it, I'd have to say no. I can't stand that. Half the fun is having pride in the vehicle you BUILT.

So even though the Rover was unbelievably fun and I'll miss it every day, the risks, fuel mileage, "bought not built" factor, and that I got $9k for it to put into my pride and joy (highboy) and another build makes it worth it. Going to start building a Ranger extended cab 4.0 5-speed I-beam race-truck after the highboy is squared away.