Well I'm finally getting around to building up my hunting truck, so figured I'd start a build thread. ***Disclaimer*** This will be a slow and steady process as I work in construction and don't have much free time in the summer. Personally I would be happy to be complete by this time next year. So if you're looking for immediate before/after, come back in about a year. Why call it Thunder Truck you ask? That nickname was given to the truck by my little brother when he was about 8. I had one exhaust manifold that rusted through and so it was extremely loud for a long time, not because it was cool, but because I was a broke high school kid spending his money on beer and girls. Now on to the fun part . . .

I will be combining 2 trucks into 1. Truck #1 is my first vehicle, owned it since 1998, hasn't been driven much in the last 8 years. 1984 F150 XLT 4x4 regular cab 8' box has had a few different motors but currently has a decent 351W with a C6 behind it.

Truck #2 is a 1990 F350 Custom 4x4 regular cab flatbed with 4.10 gears has a 7.3 IDI diesel that seems to be in pretty dire need of quite a few gaskets, tranny is shot. Picked it up for $1200, hopefully a good deal once I sell off some of the parts.Seems like you can hardly pick up a good set of 1 ton axles for that, has a D60 with king pins so thats a plus.

Here are my plans as of this moment: I will remove cab, motor, flatbed and the adjustable bumper (some call it a farm or girl bumper) from the 350 and try to sell whatever I can to recoup some of the cost of the truck. I will then put the cab and box from my 84 on the 350 frame, I've got a set of 315/75r16 duratracs that will be going on. I'll also see how stiff the 1 ton leafs are, may swap out to something a little softer down the line or need a slight lift in back since I intend to do a shackle reversal on the front. I haven't decided yet if I want to put in the 351W, I may have a line on a 460 with under 100k for $300 but the guy wants me to take the whole truck, wife may kill me if I have 3 inoperable trucks in the garage and barn. So for now we'll assume I will be putting the C6 and 351W in. I will probably spend a good portion of the next 4 weekends degreasing the 350, the guy ran scrap with it and I don't think there is an oil or lubricant that is not running down the side of this thing, it's ugly. I know everyone likes pics, so will post some up tomorrow evening to give an idea of my starting point. Wish me luck

 

Here's a couple pics of the old gal, body isn't bad for a 32 year old truck that spent its life in MN and ND winters. I'll be adding cut out fender flares so that should take care of the worst of the rust

 

Here is my frame donor, this is after the third powerwash and degreasing. I literally scraped 3/4" of grease and oil mixed with the sand and clay from the previous owners gravel road. The flatbed is a knapheide, so hopefully I can get a couple hundred from that once I get it cleaned up a little better and off the truck. It appears the truck was white originally, then grey then whatever you call this color. This is the good side of the truck

 

Well, weather has finally gotten crappy so things are slowing down at work. My wife has had some medical issues so that has made my already limited budget non existent. On the plus side it made my engine decision for me. I will be putting the 351W/C6 combo in as that will only cost me time and minor maintenance/incidental parts. Can't afford to shell out any money for a decent tranny for the diesel or to rebuild the one it came with. Anyone know what I can get for $$$ out of the 7.3 and the core for the ZF5?

So here is one pic of what I've gotten done so far, I've only had about 4 hours of time into it since this summer due to work and projects around our little hobby farm. Anyway, removed the flatbed, will work on getting the farm bumper off today. Hopefully I can get those sold right away to get some cashflow for this project.



I think I will also be removing the rear axle and looking for another one as this is a dually and the wheels don't track together, they are out about 2" on each side. Was hoping to take the frame somewhere any have it undercoated after stripping it down, but I think I'll be tackling it myself now to save some money. I've had decent results with doing skid plates and side steps with the old rattle can method so I guess we'll see how my skills are on a large scale.

 

Anyone know what kind of clearance I need to still fit the spare under the rear fuel tank? supposed to be -30 windchill the rest of the week so I don't really want to go crawl under the truck sitting out in the back pasture. The reason I ask is I've seen some higher capacity rear tanks (38 gal vs. the 18 gal) and that would definitely be a plus in every way except at the pump. from what I've found searching around they are not specifically listed for this year because of fuel pump/takup changes made in 90. I will be reusing that stuff from the 84 so shouldn't have compatibility issues that way.

Now is the time for these upgrades while I'm taking it all apart anyway! Hate to do things twice. Any help is appreciated, thanks

 

Woo-hoo! Sold the flatbed for 500 and the tranny for 100 so I can start buying goodies. First up I'm going to go with the front shackle reversal kit from sky's off road. I don't have the welding skills to make everything mtsstaging and can't find the measurements to get it made locally so I'm buying it.

Going to skip the bigger tank for now as I don't want the spare topside or bumper mounted.

next purchases will probablybe a shackle flip bracket for the rear, found measurements on that so I'll just get it made, and then going to get a 3" BL. Things should start coming together (or apart) quickly once I get to that point. Hopefully can get the idi sold in the next couple of weeks to get some money for these goodies

 

Found a srw sterling 10.25 with an open diff 4.10 for $150. Ordered the parts to do the rear disc conversion and will be pulling the LS from the dually axle rebuilding it with stacked clutches and putting it in. Also decided after doing some research that I will be doing the very common v/b code 99-04 SD leaf swap with the pmf suspension front shackle reversal kit. Wishing I could sell some more parts to make things come together a little quicker.

new rear end

 

Well, slight change of plans. Found a guy selling a FI 460 E4OD and radiator for $300 on craigslist. 102,000 on it. I'm excited, this is the way I wanted to go anyway. The nice weather has made me busier at work this spring than planned, but bookmarking some quality time in the garage this weekend. Teardown is going very slowly as the engine bay has been spray foamed so all the bolts require a little exploration to find to get it apart. Once I have something worthwhile posting pics of I'll get some new ones up.

 

Well it's been a while but I'm still plugging along. Here's what I've gotten done:

• stripped most everything off the frame
• disc brake conversion and new bearings/seals on the 10.25 srw axle, pulled the LS carrier from the dually axle
• painted front d60 and rear axle
• after some heavy drinking and heavy cussing chopped up my front frame horns to make the pmf suspension front shackle reversal kit fit to my liking
• installed ruffstuff rear shackle flip brackets
• installed 03 SD springs on all corners
• and last weekend bolted front d60 back on

This weekend will finish mocking up the suspension then leave it at that point as we are moving at the end of April. After the move will tear all brackets off and finish getting the frame to bare metal and prime/paint. Like I said, slow and steady. Life gets in the way a lot with 2 small kids and me out of town all week for work. On the plus side our new place has a 30x50 pole barn with concrete floor that I will have all to myself

 

 

 

Here we go, so to get the PMF bracket to line up ok on the original leaf hanger bolt I had to nip about 7/8" of an inch off the frame to get it to line up. Shackle isn't quite where I want it, at full droop it is about 1/4"-1/2" to the rear, sits furthur back with weight on it, but on a time crunch to get the frame rolling now so it will do for now. Also ran into the problem of the 460 not lining up on the frame perches for the diesel. Anyone know a good place to pick up parts E8TZ6028C and E3TZ6029B. Tough to find online, I'll try junkyards and dealer tomorrow.

 

Full droop