Armageddon Checklist (1 Viewer)

[coolant]

Hey everyone, I’m new here. Just picked up this ‘05 in Garnet Black Pearl with 200k on the clock, and I’m excited to have found a community that can help me take it another 200k. I’m based out of Bellingham, WA and I’m looking for a trusted local mechanic, if anyone’s got any intel there.

Overall, this thing is in pretty good shape, but it certainly has some things to keep me busy. Apparently it had a fight with a barbed wire fence at one point, and it has the scars to prove it. There’s a loose speaker connection. Shocks are a little loose too, but I’ve read that that’s an easy swap out.

Most of my wrenching experience has been on a 1970 F100, so I might need to learn a little more finesse for this truck. I need to get the timing belt done ASAP. After reading scottm’s write up I’m aware of just how different it is from the old Ford. Why’s that belt so tucked away?!

Anyway, my priorities for this rig are partly having a reliable way to get up to Mt Baker this season, partly building it out as a capable off-road camper, and partly having a bulletproof bug-out-mobile for when s*** really hits the fan. Why didn’t I pick up an 80? Because I want to live long enough to see s*** hit the fan. Driving is dangerous, kids.

First things on the to do list are to remove the running boards, find a set of rubber mats, replace the shocks, and seal up some of the surface rust spots on the frame. After that I might remove the weird multi-disc player in the center console in favor of a lockbox, adjust the torsion bars for a slight lift, and ideally find a good second hand rear bumper with swing arms for spare tire and jerry cans, but it seams like those have to be had new and for a pretty penny. There’s also some body panel cracking on the passenger rear corner that you can see in the last photo, so I’ll probably be poking around at some point on a fix for that. But it seems stable as-is.

I want to give a wholehearted thank you to everyone here who’s come before me. Your wisdom is indispensable. I’m looking forward to giving back what I can as I fumble and curse at this beautiful steel beast.

Until next time.

 

[planomateo]

Good looking Ford truck! Love the patina

 

[MongooseGA]

1- guns and ammo


Idk what else you need when #1 provides everything else.

 

[clrussell]

1- guns and ammo


Idk what else you need when #1 provides everything else.

This^

Also a 100 is a terrible choice for when shtf. You can’t go more than 200 miles with it without fuel stops

 

[LCMoneyPit]

Great color choice!

 

[GTV]

Nice rigs! I’ll be full time in Bellingham come next spring-ish.
If you know how to wrench don’t be afraid to dig in there yourself. For the most part I find modern Toyota trucks much easier to work on than the old stuff but there may be a few more steps involved. I just did my first timing belt job this summer and it wasn’t too bad but if you absolutely need a shop to trust there’s no one better than Torfab down in Everett.

 

[LCMoneyPit]

Nice rigs! I’ll be full time in Bellingham come next spring-ish.
If you know how to wrench don’t be afraid to dig in there yourself. For the most part I find modern Toyota trucks much easier to work on than the old stuff but there may be a few more steps involved. I just did my first timing belt job this summer and it wasn’t too bad but if you absolutely need a shop to trust there’s no one better than Torfab down in Everett.

I agree with you. @torfab did most of the mods on my 100.

 

[FJFOOL]

X3 on TorFab !!

 

[coolant]

Thanks everyone for the helpful info and enlightened perspectives on armageddon.

@planomateo It's nice that a vehicle can fully lean into a chaotic, worn out exterior and still look cool. I wonder if these 100 series will every reach those ranks.

@lawsklsux I do really like this color, it feels pretty mysterious. By the way, what's the origin of your name? I'm applying to law school at the moment so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It looks so much better without the running boards. I had one side off and one on and I was shocked at the difference it made.

@GTV Thanks for the encouragement! The real PITA is not having a proper garage to work in. I might get some help from my uncle there, as he's also been my teacher on all things mechanical over the years. It would save a lot of money that would be better spent on more maintenance of the components that I'll have access to when it's opened up anyway.

While I was under the truck pulling off the running boards I noticed that the muffler is rusted out pretty bad (I wonder what makes that rust so much more quickly than anything else) so a DIY timing belt job might be just what I need to free up some funds to replace that too.

 

[LCMoneyPit]

Thanks everyone for the helpful info and enlightened perspectives on armageddon.

@planomateo It's nice that a vehicle can fully lean into a chaotic, worn out exterior and still look cool. I wonder if these 100 series will every reach those ranks.

@lawsklsux I do really like this color, it feels pretty mysterious. By the way, what's the origin of your name? I'm applying to law school at the moment so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It looks so much better without the running boards. I had one side off and one on and I was shocked at the difference it made.

@GTV Thanks for the encouragement! The real PITA is not having a proper garage to work in. I might get some help from my uncle there, as he's also been my teacher on all things mechanical over the years. It would save a lot of money that would be better spent on more maintenance of the components that I'll have access to when it's opened up anyway.

While I was under the truck pulling off the running boards I noticed that the muffler is rusted out pretty bad (I wonder what makes that rust so much more quickly than anything else) so a DIY timing belt job might be just what I need to free up some funds to replace that too.

Stanford used to have an evil schedule where finals were the week after New Year's Day for the 1L year (2L and 3L finals were before the holidays). They pitched it as doing all of the 1Ls a favor by giving them more time to study for finals, but really all it did was ruin the holidays because everyone was so stressed about their first law school finals. Well, I needed to come up with a username for something over the holidays that year, and that seemed to fit with how I was feeling! Happy to chat about law school if you want to PM me with contact info.

 

[ramangain]

Buy a milspec trailer. Pack it with 2 of every functional part on the rig, a welder, and a full set of tools. Then hang out on the set of The Walking Dead and offer to find Rick Grimes.

 

[thebeedeegee]

This^

Also a 100 is a terrible choice for when shtf. You can’t go more than 200 miles with it without fuel stops

You can't eat bullets, and yeah I hope your permanent bug out location is within a tank of gas.

If s*** ever really does hit the fan you ain't really bugging out anywhere from around any major cities in my opinion. Any of y'all ever been in a major hurricane evacuation?You'd do better being somewhere you can hole up with the food, guns, water and supplies you need. Or bugging out on foot.


Nice rig by the way!

 

[daohaus]

Bumping this. After tonight's experience helping my daughter with a flat. What's a good roadside told should one pack with you at all times.
Here's what I'm thinking:
- full socket set
- breaker bar
- pretty bar
- assortment of straps/bungee
- lights
-assortment of fuses

Would love some ideas, as another mudder posted weight kills gas mileage so would be good to have the essentials to get you rolling to civilization/repair shop

 

[thebeedeegee]

Bumping this. After tonight's experience helping my daughter with a flat. What's a good roadside told should one pack with you at all times.
Here's what I'm thinking:
- full socket set
- breaker bar
- pretty bar
- assortment of straps/bungee
- lights
-assortment of fuses

Would love some ideas, as another mudder posted weight kills gas mileage so would be good to have the essentials to get you rolling to civilization/repair shop

I take all those things, and just a few specific things I would need based on the most common failures that have pretty easy fixes. For instance, snap ring pliers, a hammer and brass punch to help remove hub flanges in case one strips or you blow the front diff. Box end wrenches for removing drive shaft. A small spool of wire in case you need to bypass the EFI relay in the fuse box issue that causes a no start condition. A spare ignition coil. Tire plug kit.