Good old beater truck?

[winland]

I want to thank everyone for all of the great information.
Very helpful, even if I do not understand all of the initials and numbers, but learning fast.

I have seen a few nice trucks in my price range on CL.
Some of them have been "lifted" by 2 inches, some more.
How does this effect the hauling / towing ability of the truck.

Thanks,
Chuck

 

[cnice_37]

Lifts look great.

They suck when it comes to loading the bed with firewood.

They screw with IFS on the 86+ Fords.

But they look sexy.

 

[zogger]

I want to thank everyone for all of the great information.
Very helpful, even if I do not understand all of the initials and numbers, but learning fast.

I have seen a few nice trucks in my price range on CL.
Some of them have been "lifted" by 2 inches, some more.
How does this effect the hauling / towing ability of the truck.

Thanks,
Chuck

Lifts done right can be useful for installing oversize tires and wheels. Ground clearance, mud, crawling, deep snow, etc.

Depends on what you can expect to go through in your offroad travels. Example, I can guarantee you without a decent lift and some big wheels, around where I am on this farm, half the year you would get stuck with most factory stock 4x4 configs. Your frame is just gonna be dragging in the mud. Heck, you can get stuck here even with a 4wd tractor, done it.

This is why I only haul out firewood during the dry season. Up north, best time from what I remember is like fall, frozen ground, but snow not deep yet.

Stock is still good enough, just learn the limitations of your particular ride. Best way is just go out convoy with other off roaders and just go for it, push the envelope, until stuck, then get winched out, and dont go that far again. Im serious, you wont know until you get stuck a time or three.

 

[ropensaddle]

Lifts done right can be useful for installing oversize tires and wheels. Ground clearance, mud, crawling, deep snow, etc.

Depends on what you can expect to go through in your offroad travels. Example, I can guarantee you without a decent lift and some big wheels, around where I am on this farm, half the year you would get stuck with most factory stock 4x4 configs. Your frame is just gonna be dragging in the mud. Heck, you can get stuck here even with a 4wd tractor, done it.

This is why I only haul out firewood during the dry season. Up north, best time from what I remember is like fall, frozen ground, but snow not deep yet.

Stock is still good enough, just learn the limitations of your particular ride. Best way is just go out convoy with other off roaders and just go for it, push the envelope, until stuck, then get winched out, and dont go that far again. Im serious, you wont know until you get stuck a time or three.

Aww lol you ain't stuck nail it

 

[Rockland Farm]

Lifts done right can be useful for installing oversize tires and wheels. Ground clearance, mud, crawling, deep snow, etc.

Depends on what you can expect to go through in your offroad travels. Example, I can guarantee you without a decent lift and some big wheels, around where I am on this farm, half the year you would get stuck with most factory stock 4x4 configs. Your frame is just gonna be dragging in the mud. Heck, you can get stuck here even with a 4wd tractor, done it.

This is why I only haul out firewood during the dry season. Up north, best time from what I remember is like fall, frozen ground, but snow not deep yet.

Stock is still good enough, just learn the limitations of your particular ride. Best way is just go out convoy with other off roaders and just go for it, push the envelope, until stuck, then get winched out, and dont go that far again. Im serious, you wont know until you get stuck a time or three.

I guess it depends on where you live and gather your firewood . I see plenty of guys on here that use 2 wheel drive trucks or dually rear wheel drive trucks that to me are awful in the slippery stuff but it works for them . I had to laugh a little about the lift part though . I have a 78 F150 4x4 now with just a little extra spring in the rear for load carrying not lift . When I was in my late teens early 20s I had a 77 with 4 inches of lift and 36 inch tires that I could hop in and out easily and chuck wood into the back no problem . Now many years later I have the 78 with 33s on a relatively stock suspension that is heck for my old fat butt to get in and out of . And I swear with each piece of heavy oak I put in the bed the truck raises .

 

[EXCALIBER]

Ok I will say this about the lockers as it sounds like many of you have not done much off roading. Lockers will give you more traction in certain situations, like driving through terrain that is flat or straight up and down. Now take a side hill with a locked truck and your rear will want to slide downhill, where a open diff or limited slip will drive on the same side hill with no problem. I would suggest getting selectable lockers like ARB, or the limited slips. In most situations you will go further with them then a full locker.

 

[Blackdog87]

I went searching last summer for a cheap beater truck to haul wood in. I wanted a 78 F250 like my dad used to have. I passed on several just cause i hadn't found "the one". I wound up buying a 93 Dodge W350 with the Cummins 12v and a flatbed. It rides like crap empty but its a real work horse. Decent mileage, power and speed. I got mine cheap bc it's ugly and needed alot of little things. It's taken on a life of it's own and what was supposed to be a cheap beater is now basically my daily driver. If you go looking for a Cummins truck most of what youl find will be very overpriced modded to race (blow lots of smoke) but if you lay in the weeds for a while you can find em for a steal. I paid $1500 for mine and I'v got another $1000 into it. Only maybe $500 of that was needed to haul wood but i wanted to daily drive it too so i spent more on new tires and good batteries. I'm still a ford guy at heart but my 91 bronco left a bad taste in my mouth. Thing never ran right. IFS ate tires. EFI 351 was really thirsty. Dad had a 88 F250 with the 6.9. Reliable but slow. It would grunt and pull with a load but the cummins would be a mile away by the time the 6.9 got rolling.

 

[Rockland Farm]

Ok I will say this about the lockers as it sounds like many of you have not done much off roading. Lockers will give you more traction in certain situations, like driving through terrain that is flat or straight up and down. Now take a side hill with a locked truck and your rear will want to slide downhill, where a open diff or limited slip will drive on the same side hill with no problem. I would suggest getting selectable lockers like ARB, or the limited slips. In most situations you will go further with them then a full locker.

I agree .And lockers on ice are horrible in my experience . But I have to tell you a ARB or other selectable locker would most times double or triple the over all cost of the junkers I tend to look for in cheap wood haulers . In my experience which is not as extensive as yours probably when it comes to off road rigs . But I have had my share in the 28 yrs I have had a drivers license . And this applies to beater trucks for hauling firewood out of the woods in my area .Not to dedicated off road rigs for trail running .Is to do this -
1 buy beater truck of choice and make sure it is as mechanically sound as you can get it without turning into a restoration after all its a beater right!
2 I have found that a compliant suspension that lets me keep all four tires on the ground is the key to not getting stuck on the skidder trails I sometimes follow .
3 I stuff as big a tire as I can on the stock suspension that will fit without rubbing when loaded .
4 If budget allows I have found a winch on the truck to be far more useful than locking diffs . And useful in the wood lot as well .
Like I said this is what I prioritize for a low bucks beater . If you got plenty of extra cash then the sky is the limit. But then of course we are not talking low bucks anymore .
One more thought I have seen where too much weight + too much traction makes metal things go bang .Sometimes a little slippage is good .

 

[zogger]

I guess it depends on where you live and gather your firewood . I see plenty of guys on here that use 2 wheel drive trucks or dually rear wheel drive trucks that to me are awful in the slippery stuff but it works for them . I had to laugh a little about the lift part though . I have a 78 F150 4x4 now with just a little extra spring in the rear for load carrying not lift . When I was in my late teens early 20s I had a 77 with 4 inches of lift and 36 inch tires that I could hop in and out easily and chuck wood into the back no problem . Now many years later I have the 78 with 33s on a relatively stock suspension that is heck for my old fat butt to get in and out of . And I swear with each piece of heavy oak I put in the bed the truck raises .

I use a tractor now, and even then I avoid deep mud season. I used to use trucks/jeeps, etc beore. Cant use a tractor scrounging though, unless close by.

Oh for sure you can use 2wd getting wood, just limits you more, thats all.

I had a hotrod VW bus I made once though, with wheel adapters and some serious meats on the back, it was slick! A big baja! well, kinda sorta... Went off road great, plus it floated. They have nice clean ground clearance too. Hit an intersection once that was seriously flooded, only me and some guy with a BIG lifted truck made it acrosss. Funny as heck, I paddle wheel floated across, sort of sideways...none of the other people there tried it, including some trucks/SUVs, etc.

ya, I know it was dumb..meh, it was sport! Young, stupid, etc.

 

[BrokenToys]

I miss my 1969 GMC - 1 ton, giant V6 with the oil bath air cleaner with a flat bed ... that truck i severely bent and all being a jackass and trying to get airborne one night beach cruising. was really good at making right turns. straight? notsomuch.

but it could haul anything. i got it off an old clammer who has a PTO in it and used it to haul his clamboat out of the bay.

 

[Rockland Farm]

I use a tractor now, and even then I avoid deep mud season. I used to use trucks/jeeps, etc beore. Cant use a tractor scrounging though, unless close by.

Oh for sure you can use 2wd getting wood, just limits you more, thats all.

I had a hotrod VW bus I made once though, with wheel adapters and some serious meats on the back, it was slick! A big baja! well, kinda sorta... Went off road great, plus it floated. They have nice clean ground clearance too. Hit an intersection once that was seriously flooded, only me and some guy with a BIG lifted truck made it acrosss. Funny as heck, I paddle wheel floated across, sort of sideways...none of the other people there tried it, including some trucks/SUVs, etc.

ya, I know it was dumb..meh, it was sport! Young, stupid, etc.

I remember the old Pickup,Van and Fourwheel Drive magazine ( think I got the name right ) that had a fellow that went by the name Desert Fox who wrote about his off road adventures in a VW Bus .
I also new a kid in High School that had a VW bug that he used to take places you would hesitate to take a monster truck especially if he was fueled with enough of that Budweiser nitro .

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Found just what you are looking for: 1985 F-150 4x4 Farm Truck

1985 F150 4x4, 300 I6, needs nothing, $1200.

Bad thing is it's in Pueblo West, CO. Good thing about that though, almost no rust!

 

[missouriboy]

If it was me i would look for a F-250 from the years 1987-1997 and get one with the heavy duty front axle. I read on this thread that somebody said that the F-250 and the F-150 ifs front axle are the same that is wrong. look for the one that has a dana 55 front ifs axle i wouldn't listen to everyone when they complain about the ifs front axle. I have a 1992 F-250 with a 5.8 and 5 speed and 4.10s and it can haul a huge load.View attachment 272233

 

[tld400]

e

I want to thank everyone for all of the great information.
Very helpful, even if I do not understand all of the initials and numbers, but learning fast.

I have seen a few nice trucks in my price range on CL.
Some of them have been "lifted" by 2 inches, some more.
How does this effect the hauling / towing ability of the truck.

Thanks,
Chuck

If I was you I wouldnt buy a truck with not to much lift in it. The higher it is the harder to load by hand. If you want bigger beefy tires your beter off cutting outer wheel wells.They sell fender flares once you cut it out. The bigger tires will give you some better clearance and better traction without making truck to tall. Lifted trucks suck for firewood, I know because i have a dodge on 38 that i dont use anymore and just use a 2wd chevy pickup. 4wd is ideal but high boys are not.

 

[Blackdog87]

If it was me i would look for a F-250 from the years 1987-1997 and get one with the heavy duty front axle. I read on this thread that somebody said that the F-250 and the F-150 ifs front axle are the same that is wrong. look for the one that has a dana 55 front ifs axle i wouldn't listen to everyone when they complain about the ifs front axle. I have a 1992 F-250 with a 5.8 and 5 speed and 4.10s and it can haul a huge load.View attachment 272233

What is the difference between the two setups? I understand the 250 has a heavier axle but its still the IFS twin beam suspension isn't it? I never had problems with the axle itself, just the suspension setup. And iirc isnt there a heavy duty model F250 that had a solid front axle?

 

[howellhandmade]

I remember the old Pickup,Van and Fourwheel Drive magazine ( think I got the name right ) that had a fellow that went by the name Desert Fox who wrote about his off road adventures in a VW Bus .
I also new a kid in High School that had a VW bug that he used to take places you would hesitate to take a monster truck especially if he was fueled with enough of that Budweiser nitro .

The Desert Fox I remember had a 454 Suburban. I read that mag in the 80s, early 90s, maybe he had a bus before my readership. Lived in Baja, died on a dirt bike. RIP, that was some hilarious stuff.

 

[04titanse]

What is the difference between the two setups? I understand the 250 has a heavier axle but its still the IFS twin beam suspension isn't it? I never had problems with the axle itself, just the suspension setup. And iirc isnt there a heavy duty model F250 that had a solid front axle?

I know there was the option for the HD solid front axle for the 1-ton trucks not sure about the 3/4ton. My 89 f350(1-ton) has the heavy duty solid front alxe w/ leafs.

 

[fiasco]

Thats why i have the 65 no emission bs the 79 is ok but the 400 is too smogged of course with some Aussie heads it has potential. I have around 50k miles on the rebuilt 400 with no issues but it don't hold a candle to the 390 in my 65! I decided if the 400 lays down I will go diesel next

Good luck getting a 400M to blow up...one of the "fleet" I had access to in high school was a 79 F250 4x4 with the 400/auto. I was told that if the 400 blew up, we could drop a 460 in it. I couldn't blow it up, but did learn it would do 53 mph in "1".

I miss that truck a lot! Would love to have one with a 6BT swap!

 

[Rockland Farm]

The Desert Fox I remember had a 454 Suburban. I read that mag in the 80s, early 90s, maybe he had a bus before my readership. Lived in Baja, died on a dirt bike. RIP, that was some hilarious stuff.

Yep same guy . The bus may have been earlier . I seem to remember that he had all types of vehicles from old flat fender jeeps to dirt bikes .

 

[nstueve]

oh my gosh where to start...

Some of them have been "lifted" by 2 inches, some more.
How does this effect the hauling / towing ability of the truck.

NO! do not get a lifted truck. If you are throwing and stacking in the truck by hand you won't want a rig 6ft tall... I'm 6' 3" and my stock 88 f250 with 33in tires is about all the higher I would go. Good clearance for getting through the mud, snow, etc... and still low enough for fire wood chucking. Now if you were talking F150... Maybe a 2in lift would be ok since they sit lower to the ground. Keep in mind you have to lift every piece of wood higher to get it in the truck after a lift... Practicle is not as "fun" but it'll save your back and wallet in the long run... Plus lifts done wrong will just hurt your truck in the long run.

If I was you I wouldnt buy a truck with not to much lift in it. The higher it is the harder to load by hand. If you want bigger beefy tires your beter off cutting outer wheel wells.They sell fender flares once you cut it out. The bigger tires will give you some better clearance and better traction without making truck to tall. Lifted trucks suck for firewood, I know because i have a dodge on 38 that i dont use anymore and just use a 2wd chevy pickup. 4wd is ideal but high boys are not.

x2

What is the difference between the two setups? I understand the 250 has a heavier axle but its still the IFS twin beam suspension isn't it? I never had problems with the axle itself, just the suspension setup. And iirc isnt there a heavy duty model F250 that had a solid front axle?

TTB= twin traction bean and IFS= independent front suspension. Both terms mean same concept of front left and right tires moving independently from each other unlike a solid front axle where each will can "move" the whole axle. TTB on F150 and F250 does NOT mean the same suspension on both! D44 vs D50 axles, and axles are sprung by coils on F150 vs leaf springs on F250. Plus your knuckles are going to change... 5blot vs 8blot. Control arms are also bigger on f250. Same basic "TTB idea" with different parts.

And NO there aren't HD F250's with solid front axles. There is a HD F250 and it comes with a full float 10.25sterling rear axle so you can change axles without complete disassembly. You can see the HD hub stick out of the center of the rear wheel. The HD F250 also came with rear overload springs to help with heavier loads. It's also been said that some of the light duty f250's had M50D 5spd trannies... Which I would stay away from and get a HD ZF542 5spd personally (ZF's have a diamond pattern on the side of the tranny if you want to know how to tell the diff)...

If you ever want to know what axle or axle ratio is on a ford you can go over to ford truck enthusiasts forum and ask there. I the links on home computer to decode it all, but not at home right now...

I know there was the option for the HD solid front axle for the 1-ton trucks not sure about the 3/4ton. My 89 f350(1-ton) has the heavy duty solid front alxe w/ leafs.

correct. Dana 60 in F350's only. but both D50's and D60's in the f250-f350 are both leaf sprung.

Other notable things to look at when buying a truck...
1.) manual shift transfer case? 93'ish and newer trucks had push button 4x4 and the t-case motors to shift in and out of 4x4 are $150! and you can always count on your arm to shift yourself into 4x4

2.) auto hubs vs manual hubs - Again sometime in 93ish ford when to auto hubs vs manual lock outs. Hmmm... anyone want to take a guess why ford went back to manual lock outs??? autos are a PITA to deal with when broken.

OP, I would make sure for $2000 you are sitting good mechanicly before you look at astetics like lift kits, rust, and extra hardware you don't need.