Meet Clyde.

[Heirloom]

[dftuttle]

OK, so it's been a couple of months since I posted what I'm working on, but I have been making progress.
I figured out why the shifter would get stuck in 1st occasionally. The arm on the trans kept loosening up. Put a Nylock nut on that arm & the shifter is flawless.
I had given the old beast a tune-up a while back & I finally got around to cleaning up the carb. Big difference! It's been so long since I drove anything carbureted, I forgot what a tune up will do for you.
I had found a '73 F-250 at the bone yard that had the cab & fenders removed & it had the same size kingpins as my spindles, so 10 bolts & an hour later I was on my way home with the correct front end for Clyde.
Pulled in to the garage & blew the front end off of it again just stopping for a couple of pictures.





I figured out the old beam, the front one in the pictures, came from an Econoline. Probably an E-350.
I needed to remove the new bushings from the beams I had on the truck to reuse them. Hell, they only have a few hundred miles on them. Worked on it a little each evening putting it back together. It had new brakes, but it needed front wheel bearings, so I spent Saturday morning getting greasy packing wheel bearings. Then I spent Saturday afternoon at the Tire shop. 4 tires & an alignment later, he looks like this!



You might also notice that gone are the dentside mirrors. They were both cracked anyway. I found at set of mirrors on an old F-350 at the wrecking yard that looked OK, so I grabbed them. $20 each I think was a fair price. Had to make new plastic washers for the passenger side tho.
I also want to thank 67 F100 for hooking me up with a decent tailgate. Hope my old one works for your project. Your's look right at home on my truck!



Mostly just been driving it, working the bugs out. It exploded one of those plastic heater control valves the other day on the freeway. A warm day, so the valve was closed & running about 3000 rpm on the freeway. It was a nice day to pull off to the side of the road for half an hour & watch the world whiz by in their late model econo whatevers.
That system really needs a bypass in it so the pressure from the pump isn't deadheaded. Guess I'll make my own. Thanks Ford!
Last thing. Based on the rpm, it looks like I have a 4.56 gear in the rearend. 30" tall tire. 3000 @ 60 mph. I have a 3.54 to put in later. I get about 12 mpg. Anybody out there with a 6 without OD that would care to share their mpg???
Next up? I found the Energy Suspension is now offering PU bushings for the leaf springs. Got mine today. I might start the install on Saturday. I keep you all posted.

[CrypticRacer13]

Great start man, keep it up! Love seeing others builds keeps me motivated

[Ranchero50]

Welcome aboard, so we finally have proof that there is at least one rusty bump in California...

Keep chugging along, mine looked like yours several years ago.

[dftuttle]

Welcome aboard, so we finally have proof that there is at least one rusty bump in California...

Keep chugging along, mine looked like yours several years ago.

You can find rusty stuff if you know where to look. It's usually found in the beach communities.
Reliability is the name of the game here. I prefer it to look a little rough. Idiots get out of your way on the freeway if you are driving a big ole battering ram like this. Wait until I put a push board on the front!