As crazy as it sounds, it's not built as a wheeling rig. It was done to make it more durable and easier to service, partly (the SAS part). Then when the 4.3 went, I couldn't swing a rebuilt 4.3 and had a 305 laying in the back shed. I'd intended to go that route, gathered up everything as I limped along the 4.3 (which never completely died) and then intended to do the V8 swap in a week (yeah right!). Opened up the top of the 5.0 to find #1 and #7 were full of rust, didn't bother taking the other head off at that point. I got lucky and found a low-miles 5.7 running as a yard truck at a junkyard, and got it for $500.
During this, I ordered tires, thinking I had enough clearance for the 35s, as the 33s were looking tiny. I then found out I was wrong, and the easiest way forward to get the 35s to clear was to go higher, so I went SOA, which in turn lead to steering mods, etc, etc.
At the end of it all, I appear to have something like 18" of travel at each wheel, so I could definitely use it to do some crawling, but all I would want to do would be trails and fire roads. Even after all this work- probably $5k in a truck that books out at $2k, I still don't have a car payment, so I'll call it a win.
I don't see getting rid of this truck, ever, so resale hasn't been a concern. I may well go to a 4BT or an Isuzu 4-cyl turbodiesel some day, too. That's been what I've wanted all along- a diesel, solid-axled midsize SUV with either no computer, or a computer I can hack and capture data on the fly with.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by 400_Fordman
Bookmarks