Hey Brett_Murphy I bought a truck too...

Kinda funny that they are pretty similar colors and options...

I had been looking for a cheap, rust free, 4wd for general hauling around the house and taking my kid hunting and fishing. After months of looking, I found this ol' girl on Friday and brought her home on Sat.

Basic info: 1991 F150 4x4, auto, reg cab, short bed, PW, PDL, A/C, hitch. She used to be white but is painted red at somepoint. Shame as I'd rather have white. Asking price was $2k, I got her for $1500. I don't think that's bad for a running, rust free 4wd, but I'm smitten with her so I may be way off base. I told my wife the weird thing is I am more entertained with a $1500 beater pickup than I would be with some expensive new car.

Pics:

The list of things to do includes:

• Change all fluids, oil, transmission, transfer case, diffs and coolant.
• The brake fluid was disgusting, its almost black
• Spark plugs and filters
• Two transmission issues, first is that it has somewhat hard upshifts if I am easy on it. But if I am hard on it, then it seems to shift better. I’m hoping a fluid and filter will help in that area.

• The gear selector isn't working. You know the little section on the column where it shows what gear you are in. Right now you have to do it by feel. Not a problem for me. But if I let someone borrow it, I don't want them driving around in 2nd all day.

• Aftermarket radio isn’t working. It seems to work, but won't hold a station. Its annoying. I looked at the radio yesterday and thought the antenna wire was just not making a good connection, but that didn't fix the problem either.

-Power door locks don't work

-A/C doesn't work (this will be a new area for me as I've not done a/c work before) Seller said it needs an compressor, we'll see.

-Seller said the passenger side power window worked intermittently, but it seemed to work fine yesterday. I'll keep an eye on it though.

Parts wise

• It came with a new tailgate that I need to put on
• remove the chrome doo-hickies (technical term) above the windows
• I need the piece of black trim down the passenger side.
• Steering wheel needs a recover, or a better cover
• Seat cover (don't really need it, but I know the one I want. It’s the same one my dad had in his truck when I was a kid)
• Driver side taillight is cracked. Still works just cracked.

Other stuff

• It came with a 3" body lift in the box, I'll be selling that
• It also had some red body mounts, but after doing research they aren't for an F150 they are for a Ranger or Blazer.
• It came with a rear window, the one on it splits right in the middle to open up the back, so it has 4 glass panels. The new only has 3 panels. I'm not really sure why I'd switch as it seems like a lot of hassle, so that may get sold too.

Here are my questions:

-My owner’s manual lists the amounts but not the weight of the gear oil for the diffs and t-case? Here are the amounts, what weight should I be using in each? I have oil 5 quarts, t case 2-3.25 qts, front diff 3.6 pints, rear 5.5 pints, coolant 14 quarts, and transmission 16.2 quarts.The transmission is 16 quarts of Mercon fluid, 16 Quarts is that correct?

-Any idea on what might be causing the hard upshifting?

-I’m sure I’m not the first to have the gear selector on the column not work, tips?

-Lastly, A/C, where do I start?

I absoluetely love these beater truck threads as I'm in the market for one for this winter, unfortunately in SW Michigan I'm outta luck for rust free in my price range. I'll be closely watching this thread! Good luck and cheers.

That is funny, they look quite similar!

I'm not really up to speed on my truck yet (still waiting on delivery), but I did find a semi-local guy who parts and restores 1992-1997 Broncos and F-150s, so I'm going to give him a shout for any parts I might need.

beater truck = how can you go wrong? if it's running and can tow guess what, it's still worth more than book simply because someone can run their business out of it...

Real trucks are awesome because they are the most honest vehicles out there. They're made to work. The competition between the big three has evolved them to be really good at their job. That's why beater trucks rock, because you can just use them exactly as they're intended to be used without any worry.

Comparing my Dodge to a new Tundra was really interesting. The Dodge is a work truck, there are little things throughout that point to decades of experience of what trucks need to do. The Tundra was built by people who build cars, and it feels like, well, a big Toyota. That's not necessarily a bad thing (see the recent Camry review) but I know which one I'd rather have on the job site.

I adore those era Ford trucks. I love the clunk you get with the door handle. It's metallic and solid and reassuring. I notice things like that.

My old roommate had a similar truck 94 extended cab f150, put it through hell and the truck never complained and just kept going, only thing that finally took it off the road was a head on collision with a drunk driver in a Tahoe going 40. My roommate escaped with only a broken nose, his ford, not so lucky. I'm typically a dodge truck guy but that generation f150 is hard to beat.

Well I got started last night.

Coolant change and rear diff change. Coolant was dirty but not too bad. Rear diff was dirty and a little milky on the bottom. But the gear teeth all looked good so that was a nice find.

I wasn't able to get the filter for the transmission but it should be in today so hopefully I will get to that and the plugs tonight.

I found an F150 forum which has been helpful. The gear selector problem is most likely a little cable in the steering column and is pretty common.

I'm thinking the stereo problem is with the wiring to the speakers, the speakers themselves, or the deck. Sound at the speakers is the same with the radio or with a CD. I think whoever wired the speakers did it wrong. I'm going to look into that after I get the maintenance issues done.

I, too, am looking for a beater truck for the winter. I will probably even go south for one (I may call upon some GRM folk to check them out for me if possible). I figure I can get a fairly solid, rust free, southern truck, protect it once here (truck bed paint on the rockers and rust prone areas), and drive it for a winter. If I need to sell in the spring, I can hopefully break even or make a couple bucks in the process since everything up here in the same price range is rotted out.

Nice truck!

In reply to CGLockRacer:

If you need eyes in the Raleigh, NC area, give a shout. There are a few of us here.

In reply to CGLockRacer:

I wouldn't look around Knoxville for cheap rust free ones. My search lasted about 4 months, and every truck I looked at had some kind of rust. Most of the Ford's had the fender well rust, but its still rust. The Chevy/GMCs I looked at were nice on the outside but really rusty on the frame. My truck was listed in the Knoxville CL, but was still an hour drive away. And from the paperwork it looks like mine spent most of its time down in GA.

With that said if you need some eyes in this area just let me know.

Well got I got the transmission pan off and the new filter in. I got to the last bolt to put the pan back on, like the last one of 20, and the threads in the transmission appear to be stripped. It looks like the most common fix for when one of these pulls is a helicoil insert. I've never had to do a helicoil before, but you gotta start somewhere right?