Build Anyone recognize this 80

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Godwin said:
After the Pig trip we, @cruiserinsanity and I, said no more towing with the 80. Then he found 1985 Ford F250, straight 6, with Warn 8274 in Knoxville. Only 300 miles away, but hey, it has a tow bar, that should work. We drive up and meet Mike the 81 year old man that's selling it. It cranks up great, the inline 6 has gobs of power, shifts good enough, kinda sloppy (transmission mount is not bolted up), no parking brake, brakes are kinda soft but grab at the bottom, brake MC may be leaking or not, no two tires match in brand or age, spare is rotten, and right front tire is cracked.

Prudence would say, "Just go home, leave this with Mike." Prudence missed out on the trip. Gavin works a deal and we hitch it up. Well, the short drive, never over 30 mph, tells me that tow bar towing will not work as the F250 was pushing the back of the 80 around, as bad as towing the Pig but with a different element of sketchiness. The short drive was to be to a Harbor Freight to pick up tow lights but I plugged an Ace Hardware into the gps instead. Short drive was very informative.

Where was Gavin and his girlfriend during this short drive? In the Ford working the brakes and lights. That's was one option we considered. Gavin sits the cab while the Ford is towed and works the lights.

Option 1 out. Option 2 find a tire store and purchase at least one good tire. It's now past 1600 hrs in Knoxville and stores are nearing their time of closing but we find a Discount Tire, two tires for $280, no deal. Firestone next door, one tire for a decent price and the counter guy was good to work with. New tire mounted up and we rolled back the 300 miles home. 16 hours on the road. Sorta of a mini-version of Roadkill Garage.

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Discount tire was over $400 for two tires
 
Godwin said:
After the Pig trip we, @cruiserinsanity and I, said no more towing with the 80. Then he found 1985 Ford F250, straight 6, with Warn 8274 in Knoxville. Only 300 miles away, but hey, it has a tow bar, that should work. We drive up and meet Mike the 81 year old man that's selling it. It cranks up great, the inline 6 has gobs of power, shifts good enough, kinda sloppy (transmission mount is not bolted up), no parking brake, brakes are kinda soft but grab at the bottom, brake MC may be leaking or not, no two tires match in brand or age, spare is rotten, and right front tire is cracked.

Prudence would say, "Just go home, leave this with Mike." Prudence missed out on the trip. Gavin works a deal and we hitch it up. Well, the short drive, never over 30 mph, tells me that tow bar towing will not work as the F250 was pushing the back of the 80 around, as bad as towing the Pig but with a different element of sketchiness. The short drive was to be to a Harbor Freight to pick up tow lights but I plugged an Ace Hardware into the gps instead. Short drive was very informative.

Where was Gavin and his girlfriend during this short drive? In the Ford working the brakes and lights. That's was one option we considered. Gavin sits the cab while the Ford is towed and works the lights.

Option 1 out. Option 2 find a tire store and purchase at least one good tire. It's now past 1600 hrs in Knoxville and stores are nearing their time of closing but we find a Discount Tire, two tires for $280, no deal. Firestone next door, one tire for a decent price and the counter guy was good to work with. New tire mounted up and we rolled back the 300 miles home. 16 hours on the road. Sorta of a mini-version of Roadkill Garage.

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I hate it when Prudence does that!
 
Scored a Puma 12v compressor a couple of weeks ago. I have one mounted in my FJ60 and it's been great for airing tires. When we went to Choccolocco I dropped tire pressure to 15 psi and needed to air up at the end of the day. Not having a working compressor I had to bum one from someone. I've found the tank on the FJ60 compressor to be unneeded so with this compressor I've split the tank from the pump. Did a little test fitting and I think I can mount it in the right rear quarter panel cavity. Wiring and a switch will be easy.

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Tested the lockers in a muddy spot today. Actually when I drove through the low area I was not expecting mud since we've been under an extended drought. Lock the CDL, that helped. Lock the rear, that helped more but the left front had dropped into a hole. Lock all three and spun tires because the hole that the left front was in was keeping the 80 from climbing out. So back up, take a different line and pull through. @cruiserinsanity was with me at the time. He knew what the mud was and that the 60 was likely to get stuck. It did and he called for a pull. Hooked up the 80 and gave a gentle pull and the 60 was out.

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Godwin said:
Tested the lockers in a muddy spot today. Actually when I drove through the low area I was not expecting mud since we've been under an extended drought. Lock the CDL, that helped. Lock the rear, that helped more but the left front had dropped into a hole. Lock all three and spun tires because the hole that the left front was in was keeping the 80 from climbing out. So back up, take a different line and pull through. @cruiserinsanity was with me at the time. He knew what the mud was and that the 60 was likely to get stuck. It did and he called for a pull. Hooked up the 80 and gave a gentle pull and the 60 was out.

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Just following your footsteps
 
Godwin said:
Scored a Puma 12v compressor a couple of weeks ago. I have one mounted in my FJ60 and it's been great for airing tires. When we went to Choccolocco I dropped tire pressure to 15 psi and needed to air up at the end of the day. Not having a working compressor I had to bum one from someone. I've found the tank on the FJ60 compressor to be unneeded so with this compressor I've split the tank from the pump. Did a little test fitting and I think I can mount it in the right rear quarter panel cavity. Wiring and a switch will be easy.

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That's where and how I run mine. The only thing I left was the copper line with cooling Finns and the pop off valve. then plumed it to the out side
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It's just a little to wide to fit so I made this cover
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It does three things makes room for the copper line lets it get plenty of air and helps keep it cool.
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On off switch is behind the OEM access panel and the air line lives in there as well.
Super happy with this set up and it been working great for 5 years.

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Godwin said:
Tested the lockers in a muddy spot today. Actually when I drove through the low area I was not expecting mud since we've been under an extended drought. Lock the CDL, that helped. Lock the rear, that helped more but the left front had dropped into a hole. Lock all three and spun tires because the hole that the left front was in was keeping the 80 from climbing out. So back up, take a different line and pull through. @cruiserinsanity was with me at the time. He knew what the mud was and that the 60 was likely to get stuck. It did and he called for a pull. Hooked up the 80 and gave a gentle pull and the 60 was out.

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I absolutely love seeing this father and son work. Made me very happy to read that post.
 
I added a couple of upgrades to the passenger side cargo area, a 4x4 labs basket and the Puma air compressor. We've had some old scrap metal lying around for years. It's heavy angle iron with pre-drilled holes, may have been bed frame parts from surplus from an old hospital, at least that's what I've been told. Since I had it I decided to try to put it to use. I cut a section ca. 14" long, split it lengthwise and used the two straps as mounts for the compressor. The 4 holes in the base of the compressor lined up well enough that i could bolt the straps to the compressor. From there I did a test fit of the compressor in the quarter panel cavity and marked mounting holes on the bottom of the 4x4 basket which was bolted in place on the wheel well. I removed everything, drilled holes and bolted the straps to the compressor then to the basket. Wrestling a heavy, ungainly bulk into place to bolt it down was a royal pain but @cruiserinsanity helped make it happen. I now need to wire up the compressor and finish out the airline connector.

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This afternoon was spent swapping out the old, leaky, glob of grease steering box for a (hopefully) better one. The old has some play in it. The splined u-joint did not want to separate from the box, but I was able to knock it off the steering shaft. I had a spare u-joint and I installed that one with the replacement box. Haven't had time for a test drive, that will come tomorrow.

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thatcabledude said:
^Your bump stop lol
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Yeah, it's just floating around in the spring. I can't keep it jammed up enough to hold in place. So far doesn't seem to matter
 
Godwin said:
Inner fenders are also rotted out, but I have replacements. I'm really dreading doing that job.
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I figured you cut that for better access to the steering box.





:hillbilly:
 
Godwin said:
Inner fenders are also rotted out, but I have replacements. I'm really dreading doing that job.
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Did that on my wife's 80. I can tell you that it's time consuming, but it's not too bad.

I think it was @thatcabledude who recommended using zip ties to hold the ABS junk hanging in place while I pulled everything on the DS side. If your rig still has the ABS unit, the zip ties worked like a charm.
 
Old Nick said:
Did that on my wife's 80. I can tell you that it's time consuming, but it's not too bad.

I think it was @thatcabledude who recommended using zip ties to hold the ABS junk hanging in place while I pulled everything on the DS side. If your rig still has the ABS unit, the zip ties worked like a charm.
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Ha! I remember that… The dangling conglomeration of crap!
 
Old Nick said:
Did that on my wife's 80. I can tell you that it's time consuming, but it's not too bad.

I think it was @thatcabledude who recommended using zip ties to hold the ABS junk hanging in place while I pulled everything on the DS side. If your rig still has the ABS unit, the zip ties worked like a charm.
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ABS long gone.
 
thatcabledude said:
Ha! I remember that… The dangling conglomeration of crap!
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Yep. Should have just pulled it all. I'll get to that one day... lol. @Godwin is already there.
 
Old Nick said:
Yep. Should have just pulled it all. I'll get to that one day... lol. @Godwin is already there.
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Stuff deleted

LSPV
ABS
Alarm
Cruise control
 
Godwin said:
Stuff deleted

LSPV
ABS
Alarm
Cruise control
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Those deletions sure do simplify things. Alarm is long gone... stupid thing. But, the cruise on my wife's rig still works well... when it goes kaput, I'll pull it too. The ABS is still working too... but it's only a matter of time. Read through the hassle that it is to clean out the ABS module under the hood, and it doesn't seem worth it to me.
 
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