Gentlemen,

First post, and of course it comes with a question. I looked around a little online and here and can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for.

Intro: First Ford to be purchased this week. I like older trucks and I found one that fits me. I just sold my 2006 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon and I went looking for a truck to be my daily driver. I have been a pretty consistent Wrangler driver for almost ten years and now I'm down to one. Unfortunately I am stationed in NY and everything up here is rusted to death. Well, I found one that has only surface rust on the frame and still has paint on parts of the frame. The underneath side of the bed is mostly rust free and fender wells, inner and exterior, are completely rust free. It has the M5RD, 4.9 I6, 4x4, extended cab, short bed and just under 10k original miles.

The question: It is an older man's truck and has sat for the last several years. It needs tires now. I happen to have a set of 33x10.5R15 Super Swampers in my garage. Buying a small lift seems to be cheaper than buying new tires. The 2.5" Tuff/Rough Country lift says it will fit 32x10.5 tires. Anyone here run one of those kits with 33s?

 

It will fit 33s stock. Worst case from the knobby SS you might have to space the front bumper out an inch with longer bolts and washers. If you really want to level the truck out buy some leveling coils and adjustable camber/caster bushings. You have to be careful lifting these trucks because they will wear tires out from the TTB. A lift throws the geometry off.

Pics of the truck? How much are you paying for it. You know these trucks only have 5 digit odometers, it might not actually have 10k miles on it. It could be 110k, 210k, 610k, etc.

 

33s stock? I will have to look into that. Will an alignment not take care of the tires wearing out?

Pics will be posted Thursday or Friday. $3500. Yes, I know they only have 5 digit odometers but I'm pretty certain it's correct. The old man also has an 80s Case tractor with 2 hours on it, a dump truck with 5000 miles and they just sold his old Chevy with 8000 miles. He bought a bunch of equipment and then got out of the construction business. The interior has hardly ever been sat in. Only problem I found was the washer/wiper **** is broken. Any idea where to get a replacement?

 

Needed: washer/wiper ****. Anyone know where I can find a replacement? Looking around online doesn't seem to provide any answers.

 

Well, brought the truck home. Needs an alignment pretty bad and obviously I have to go through all the fluids over the next week or so while I'm waiting on registration to come in. PB is being stupid so I can't upload a picture.

I did do a VIN recall search and found that I need something with the ignition replaced.

 

Currently the only picture I have taken, I'll take more later. This is my old man truck, just as purchased.

 

Welcome to the world of real trucks. When you are fullsize, you rub on both sides...

Anyway, I had bought my wife a YJ and since talking in the Jeep community am amazed at hearing over and over lift for 33's. '80-'86 stuff 33's no lift, and '87 plus I like to space the front bumper forward a half inch with some old lugnuts and yer good to go.

By the way I love the grandpa style cap and running boards. I'd drive that no questions. Actually it needs a vertical bug guard then yer good to go. Also she'd be perfect with some dual whips off the mirror mounts.

Adrianspeeder

 

Nice truck to start with! When I bought mine it had 31's on it and it didnt look right to me. I bought 33's and it was all good, just a little rubbin on the trailing arm when I went all the way to the left or right. I have had no problems with the wear pattern and had the tires on since 03. As far as the **** your lookin for I have always had good luck with LMC.

 

Adrianspeeder, I'm not to far from you. I'm a Loadmaster on the Marine C-130s over at Stewart ANGB in NY.

 

I hope to get the tires swapped out tomorrow so we'll see how it looks.

I have some other things keeping me from doing much work to it this week and I badly need to change the fluids, belt and hoses. I may go ahead and order that lift this week though. Anyone know if I will have any problems with driveshafts or brake lines with a 2.5" lift?

Good call on LMC, I had forgotten about them.

 

Looks real clean...good find! Check out latemodelrestoration.com for parts. They have just about everything for these trucks.

 

Thats REAL clean. Nice score. I ran the rough country 2.5" lift in the front of my truck for years and hadnt had any problems except after whooping it pretty good it lost about 1" of lift. No issues with the brakes, driveshaft, etc. Just a new set of adjustable camber bushings to bring the allignment back.