1971 f250 DESERT truck- 10/24 race prep

[fomocoguy]

Looks great Ryan! What is the trick going to be for bringing the ride height up? Do the desert guys just fab up some drop brackets for the spring mounts or something along those lines, or is it trickier than that?

[1971ford]

Thanks guys.
Yeah it is a great way to clean the bottom of the truck. My buddy played in some mud then when we went back through this puddle he was spotless

As for raising the ride height, ill get about an inch higher when i swap wagoneer leaf springs under my chevy main leaf. Those are a lot of thin leaves, plus my 3 short leaves i have and it should be roughly an inch higher. A shorter shackle would definately help and i think i can just move the rear eye of my springs to the lower set of holes on the shackels to go from a 7" shackle to a 6", which would raise it a little too. Then for even more lift I'd have to lower the hangers

[1971ford]

Today:


My gnarticulation!!! I could of gone much further if it wasn't for my bald tires. I was driving behind a lincoln town car up a mud hill, it made it and i got stuck. embarassing when you see a built truck get stuck after a car haha. My rear tires are totally bald and were slick as ice.



I know you guys are waiting for some video of it at speed on the dirt, I'll get some eventually. I really need new tires. Once i get up to speed i just float.

[robroy]

'Evening Ryan,

Those new photos are absolutely amazing--especially the first one. You're a talented photographer!

Robroy

[leavittt]

Here's some pictures I thought you'd like. The winner of the 1976 Baja 1000. Stock hood with the bracing cut out, stock fenders, a custom made radiator support & all it has on the front are coil springs with dual shocks! That definately wouldn't cut it these days! It's at the Harrah's Car Museum in Reno NV. We figured you could build a similar truck for not much over $10,000. Me and my brother have a spare 69 F100 we were going to build into a mild, old-school prerunner patterned after this one. We can't afford the $150,000+ all out race truck but we thought this would be good enough to hit 100 mph on a smooth powerline road! Anyway, I thought you'd like the truck.

[zakt]

Im in reno, I will have to go check that out (looks like a short bed)

[1971ford]

Yeah I have seen quite a few pictures of that turck floating around. Also there was a magazine article on it, had some pictures of it racing, it was neat. I had no idea it's in a museum in Reno, I'm going to go check that out for sure!

Today's progress:
^*%^&%(*%^&$^&(^(%&*^!!!!!

[GSequoia]

Bumpstops or limit straps not work out right?

[1971ford]

I don't have bumps or straps yet. But i haven't done anything more than a dirt road because of that.
I have only gone on one dirt road since putting these shocks on, and have barely even gone over a speed bump for the past week. Today i come out to my truck and have a nice surprise.

$500 for new shocks. I'm going to pull this one apart and try and find a matching seals somewhere so maybe i can re-use them.

[1971ford]

Yeah, I am going to pull it apart and take the seals to afew places to see if i can find any similiar seal. If i can then i will rebuild them, if i can't then the shocks are worthless. I would also re-valve them for my truck's weight specs but the chances of finding the right parts without knowing the brand of the shocks is pretty slim.

[1971ford]

I decided to put the dana 60 that mugwump donated to the '69 rebuild in the racer, since I'll be parting that chassis out, unfortunately.
Here's why I did the swap:
-New dana 60 has 4.10 gears, over the old 3.75's. Way better.
-The new rearend has POSI, unlike my lincoln locked old rearend, so my tires don't die twice as fast as they should and i have the ease of mind when turning now, it's wonderfull. Boy do i not miss the chirp chirp.
-The new rearend was stripped down, and coated in por-15. That's 20HP right??
-Old rearend had a rediculous axle seal problem, we've gone through 4 or 5 rear seals and can't find why they were blowing. Don't care anymore.
-When i took the vent off the old rearend, water came out.
-I have had a CLUNK that has been bother the crap out of me and i think it's in the old rearend. It might of been ready to blow.

Easy decision for a swap, right??


New U-joint, very shiny. + a few HP for shiny.

Other HP gains:

BUT, it was not all as smooth as butter.


The process went something like this:
-Pulled rearend out of donor chassis (if you are not familiar with Dana 60's, they, along with 2 wheels, weigh a metric **** ton).
-Pulled the rearend out of the '71 (Dragged it over the cherry picker legs, poor planning)
-Started noticing rearend differences, such as slightly different axles
-Center pin was stuck in old rearend. Had to make a new one.
-Started bolting up new rearend, found that hte u-joint was a 1/2" short on the d60 yoke.
-Bought new u-joint. Installed.
-Insatlled everything.
-Bled brakes
-test drove, wheel locked. FML.
-Pulled the hub and axle assembly off (good ol d60's).
-brakes were SHOT.
-Started swapping over backing plate/brake assemblies from old rearend.
-Bought a new seal for the old rearends drum, because we were going to use those drums on the new rearend because they are brand new and the new d60 hubs are worn.
-Installed new seal (5th for this drum). It got tweaked. removed.
-Bought 6th seal. Installed. Forgot to put the bearing in. Removed. Naughty words may of been said.
-Carefully installed seal with bearing in it this time. Finally got it. Put drum on new rearend, they do not interchange. Different rearends. FML.
-Grabbed the new rearend's drums. Replaced bad seal.
-Installed rearend
-bled brakes again
-Insatlled old rearend in '69 2wd chassis.

It was bad. so glad it is over.

Today i went for a drive and did some "testing" on the new rearend. Oh man the 4.10's and posi are AWESOME. Big power gain over the old gears, and it is more fun to drive without worrying about your tires going bald or stressing an axle. It really gets up and goes much better now.

[OldRedFord]

Is the clank gone?

[HayHauler]

The process went something like this:
-Pulled rearend out of donor chassis (if you are not familiar with Dana 60's, they, along with 2 wheels, weigh a metric **** ton).
-Pulled the rearend out of the '71 (Dragged it over the cherry picker legs, poor planning)
-Started noticing rearend differences, such as slightly different axles
-Center pin was stuck in old rearend. Had to make a new one.
-Started bolting up new rearend, found that hte u-joint was a 1/2" short on the d60 yoke.
-Bought new u-joint. Installed.
-Insatlled everything.
-Bled brakes
-test drove, wheel locked. FML.
-Pulled the hub and axle assembly off (good ol d60's).
-brakes were SHOT.
-Started swapping over backing plate/brake assemblies from old rearend.
-Bought a new seal for the old rearends drum, because we were going to use those drums on the new rearend because they are brand new and the new d60 hubs are worn.
-Installed new seal (5th for this drum). It got tweaked. removed.
-Bought 6th seal. Installed. Forgot to put the bearing in. Removed. Naughty words may of been said.
-Carefully installed seal with bearing in it this time. Finally got it. Put drum on new rearend, they do not interchange. Different rearends. FML.
-Grabbed the new rearend's drums. Replaced bad seal.
-Installed rearend
-bled brakes again
-Insatlled old rearend in '69 2wd chassis.

It was bad. so glad it is over.

Today i went for a drive and did some "testing" on the new rearend. Oh man the 4.10's and posi are AWESOME. Big power gain over the old gears, and it is more fun to drive without worrying about your tires going bald or stressing an axle. It really gets up and goes much better now.

If its not 1 thing, its 12 things Murphys Law FTW!

[1971ford]

Is the clank gone?

Haven't heard it I might pull the diff cover off the old rearend and have a look inside..

The process went something like this:
-Pulled rearend out of donor chassis (if you are not familiar with Dana 60's, they, along with 2 wheels, weigh a metric **** ton).
-Pulled the rearend out of the '71 (Dragged it over the cherry picker legs, poor planning)
-Started noticing rearend differences, such as slightly different axles
-Center pin was stuck in old rearend. Had to make a new one.
-Started bolting up new rearend, found that hte u-joint was a 1/2" short on the d60 yoke.
-Bought new u-joint. Installed.
-Insatlled everything.
-Bled brakes
-test drove, wheel locked. FML.
-Pulled the hub and axle assembly off (good ol d60's).
-brakes were SHOT.
-Started swapping over backing plate/brake assemblies from old rearend.
-Bought a new seal for the old rearends drum, because we were going to use those drums on the new rearend because they are brand new and the new d60 hubs are worn.
-Installed new seal (5th for this drum). It got tweaked. removed.
-Bought 6th seal. Installed. Forgot to put the bearing in. Removed. Naughty words may of been said.
-Carefully installed seal with bearing in it this time. Finally got it. Put drum on new rearend, they do not interchange. Different rearends. FML.
-Grabbed the new rearend's drums. Replaced bad seal.
-Installed rearend
-bled brakes again
-Insatlled old rearend in '69 2wd chassis.

It was bad. so glad it is over.

Today i went for a drive and did some "testing" on the new rearend. Oh man the 4.10's and posi are AWESOME. Big power gain over the old gears, and it is more fun to drive without worrying about your tires going bald or stressing an axle. It really gets up and goes much better now.

If its not 1 thing, its 12 things Murphys Law FTW!

YEP

[The400-100]

So, how much for the remainder of the rolling chassis? I am about to start some work on my 69 F100 and would hate to see your work be for nothing!