Sinking Creek 4WD Association

Since I will be home co-oping this fall I will have a lot of time in my garage. I was thinking of taking some peoples advice and stop wheeling my f150 and buy another old truck build it up while I'm home and just tow it around with my current truck so I wont have to worry about wheeling a DD.
I am looking for opinions on an 85 F150. It has a carbed 351Windsor with C6 transmission and a np208 manual transfer case. D44 up front and ford 9" in the rear with 36" mud tires. How would the drive train fair off road, would it be pretty strong for basic trails like pott's and uwharrie or would it be more trouble than it's worth with constantly braking stuff?

What cab/bed length is the truck--regular cab long bed? Any idea what gearing?

regular cab, not sure about the bed but I would probably pull the bed off and cut the frame down to right after the leaf mounts. Not sure about the gears but I wouldn't have a problem throwing a new set in if they are to high.

You should be fine for trails like that, just get the carburetor tuned real well so your not stalling all the time when you get off camber. Has the front been solid axle swapped or is it TTB?

it is ttb, I have also been looking at 77-79 truck that don't have the ttb. Should I try to avoid it or is it not that bad?

ridemx wrote:it is ttb, I have also been looking at 77-79 truck that don't have the ttb. Should I try to avoid it or is it not that bad?

Whether you go for the 77 or the 85 (swap) avoid the ttb. You can run it as is but I wouldn't plan on building around it.

As for the carb, Grubb is a perfect example of what can be done with a carb.....

how bout something smaller and lighter that can be easily towed with the 150? Jeep/yota/zuki? Get a yota weld the rear and you will go further than a full size.

shmoken875 wrote:

ridemx wrote:it is ttb, I have also been looking at 77-79 truck that don't have the ttb. Should I try to avoid it or is it not that bad?

Whether you go for the 77 or the 85 (swap) avoid the ttb. You can run it as is but I wouldn't plan on building around it.

As for the carb, Grubb is a perfect example of what can be done with a carb.....

I'll second that. I plan on running a similar quadrajet setup on my motor once it finds it way into it's new home.

Any F-150 from '73-79 or '80-96 will be a better build platform than what you have. Go for a short bed or cut a long bed down. The D44 and 9" are good axles if you keep the rest of your truck at the 1/2 ton level (i.e. light weight, 36" tires or less). Don't be afraid of the D44 TTB. In stock trim they are just as strong as the '78-79 D44. They do have one extra u-joint in there, but it's not something I would worry about. Where the earlier solid axle D44 is better is that you can easily upgrade to cromo shafts later on, and they 'generally' flex better. With that being said lockers, gears, hubs, etc will swap between a TTB D44 and a solid D44, so you move anything you buy for one to the other (with the exception of axle shafts.) Just some full-circle clips, 760x u-joints and good hubs will make a TTB D44 last pretty well even with stock shafts.

Of course the rear 9" axle will be good, mine is still running stock shafts and although I have twisted them they have yet to break. Plus, the sky is the limit on building a 9", if you have the money to spend they truly can be built stronger than any of the '1-ton' axles out there.

As for the powertrain, it sounds like a good combo. Make sure the tranny is in good shape, and you might need a deeper/different pan on it for steeper operating angles off road, of course a good tranny cooler will be needed too. T-case should be more than adequate as long as the chain isn't shot, it has a pretty decent low range for a stock case. As for the Windsor, everyone knows my thoughts on that, I'm very pleased with mine and I have another on the engine stand just looking for something to put it in. Swap on an Edelbrock Performer intake and a Q-jet and you'll be good to go. Make sure to have someone build/tune the carb that really knows what they are doing. That's one of the reasons mine works well is that it's setup properly for what I use it for. The few problems I do have with it are a result of not having a big enough fuel pump, not really related to the carb (running out of fuel on the big hill climbs etc). I know quite a bit about them and how to make them work, but I'm a carb neophyte compared to Terry, he's the one you really need to talk to about carbs.

Overall I would say you'd be happy with that '85 or any of the earlier F-150's. The money you put into that will take you a lot farther down the trail than what it would if you put it into your current rig.

Stinson wrote:how bout something smaller and lighter that can be easily towed with the 150? Jeep/yota/zuki? Get a yota weld the rear and you will go further than a full size.

As much as I love my full-size I also can't argue with what stinson is saying. If all you want is a capable rig a mini-truck can't be beat. It amazes me how well my bone stock tacoma does offroad, some lockers, a little more tire and gear and it would probably out wheel my '79. However, I didn't build my '79 to be an ulta-capable rig, mostly just for the fun and nostalgia of wheeling a vintage full-size. It too has surprised me with the places it will go though, there's just generally a lot more throttle, smashing, and abuse involved than if I were wheeling a mini-truck.

VerticalTRX wrote:there's just generally a lot more throttle, smashing, and abuse involved than if I were wheeling a mini-truck.

You wouldn't have it any other way...

TerryD wrote:

VerticalTRX wrote:there's just generally a lot more throttle, smashing, and abuse involved than if I were wheeling a mini-truck.

You wouldn't have it any other way...

Can you imagine if I wheeled a full-size?

Arya Ebrahimi wrote:

TerryD wrote:

VerticalTRX wrote:there's just generally a lot more throttle, smashing, and abuse involved than if I were wheeling a mini-truck.

You wouldn't have it any other way...

Can you imagine if I wheeled a full-size?

i dont think you having more than 75 horsepower would ever be good

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/rvs/1723756313.html

Just buy this and go wheeling.
Or would anyone want to buy this and part it out?