Welding Tips and Tricks

My new rig

That's quite the rig you've got there. Yours or company rig?

Its mine... spent a good piece of this summer building it

Very nice looking rig - I'm a little jealous except for the fuel mileage - living this side of the pond with our fuel prices rules out most full size trucks - excuse my ignorance but on that year is it still got the reliable 7.3 diesel or are you into the drive by wire computer crap generation on that ? I don't really follow the model years now - they all look the same ! is it the 88 shape ? - last full size I owned was a 76 F350 - miss it for towing - don't miss the 460 drinking ! only slight negative while the rear bench area is great for purpose it gives it a horrendous departure angle - unless it could be made to fold up / in somehow.

noddybrian wrote:Very nice looking rig - I'm a little jealous except for the fuel mileage - living this side of the pond with our fuel prices rules out most full size trucks - excuse my ignorance but on that year is it still got the reliable 7.3 diesel or are you into the drive by wire computer crap generation on that ? I don't really follow the model years now - they all look the same ! is it the 88 shape ? - last full size I owned was a 76 F350 - miss it for towing - don't miss the 460 drinking ! only slight negative while the rear bench area is great for purpose it gives it a horrendous departure angle - unless it could be made to fold up / in somehow.

Fuel mileage is about 9- 10 mpg, its got a 7.3 diesel, no turbo, its a 1990, so its your basic motor, and its your basic truck without all the frills, no AC, it has a radio, and regular door locks and windows. not a whole lot of junk to go wrong that I cant figure out on my own.

Its geared real low, which suits me fine, everywhere I go is up over a mountain, down the other side up over another one, and when I'm off the road out in the mines its usually some crazy ramp some cat made with a dozer, and mud.

My last one was a 73 Ford F350, I built a 460 for it and ran it about 10 years until the welder burned up, at that time things were pretty slow in the mines and I couldn't justify rebuilding the welder or buyin another one so I put a dump body on it and sold it. That one would hop over the mountains with the greatest of ease, but I kept tearing up trannies and rears. I would get about 10 mpg with that one as well.

As far as the workbench, that is a necessity fro what I do. I rebuild a lot of teeth and tooth bases on it, and other parts as well, Its also doubles as a fryin pan sometimes...Ive shined it up a few times and made breakfast...bacon and eggs and toast....grease it up with some butter and use the weed burner to cook...not sure what you mean by departure angle.

I wish they still made trucks like that - manual windows / locks / no computer bull s#it - nice - bit surprised about the mileage - I figured the 7.3 would do better especially if yours is a non turbo - guess the terrain & low gearing plus loaded weight hurts it - but still thought it would do more than a big block - mine used to average 8 > 10 mpg - now average fuel price here are $7.20 a gallon hence I don't use it anymore. by departure angle I mean when you drive up a ramp / incline / obstacle the long low overhang will dig in the ground - apart from that that & I understand the need for it I really like the truck - like the led work lights too - I have some on a small telescopic mast so I can get them covering a better area while not glaring in the face so much - amazing how lighting is changing now.

noddybrian wrote:I wish they still made trucks like that - manual windows / locks / no computer bull s#it - nice - bit surprised about the mileage - I figured the 7.3 would do better especially if yours is a non turbo - guess the terrain & low gearing plus loaded weight hurts it - but still thought it would do more than a big block - mine used to average 8 > 10 mpg - now average fuel price here are $7.20 a gallon hence I don't use it anymore. by departure angle I mean when you drive up a ramp / incline / obstacle the long low overhang will dig in the ground - apart from that that & I understand the need for it I really like the truck - like the led work lights too - I have some on a small telescopic mast so I can get them covering a better area while not glaring in the face so much - amazing how lighting is changing now.

They still make em like that, thing is now I guess its an option I guess, since the plants are set up to put the expensive extras on it, makes it easier for the dealer to sell one right off the lot. As far as fuel mileage goes you don't buy and build a rig that's gonna be used in the strippins with that in mind...you build it for dependability, durability and for what you gonna do with it. It goes slow up the mountains for sure but it don't have to get me there fast it just has to get me there and back home everyday. $7.20 a gallon is crazy I'm glad I'm here and not there...I'm assuming this is England where your from. The weight and the high gearing is most likely why I tore up the trannies and rears on my old one...it weighed just shy of 12000 pounds, this one weighs 13700 and ive still got enough weight capacity left for a boom yet as its licensed for 14500, that's further down the road, some of those tooth bases weigh about 500 pounds when we get done with em.

The low over hang hasn't been a problem yet, and it wasn't on my old one and that one sat even a bit lower at the ICC bumper....the lights are great, love em to death, I had 7 or 8 of the old Halogen lights they lit the place up like the surface of the sun, and they made some good heat on a cold night as well, you could stand 10 feet away and be warm from them, made great hand warmers too. But I kept killing the battery and the alternators drawing that much power. These are movable somewhat so you can move em around to suit the situation. I put some pics up earlier in the week that show some of em lit up on a night shift job...the one not lit up I didn't have hooked up yet, but the way I was workin in that bucket it wasn't needed anyway, and that's another thing I did is put each one on its own wire switch and fuse, Easier to track down a broken wire blown fuse or whatever, and each switch is right by the light itself. This way if one fuse blows only one light is out not 2 or 3 the one I really need to use, amnd its easily fixed, and I do a lot of night work and day shift I usually start at 5 or 5:30 am... and I like to see what I'm doin...and sometimes Ive been noted to work til the next afternoon from the morning before just depending what it is and how fast they need it

Nice setup.
Still should be getting better mileage.
Have you replaced any of the fuel system? Or timed it?

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That truck is something that EVERY bloke needs! I reckon you have more real estate on the bed of your truck than I do in my whole garage/workshop! Haha! Love it!!

79jasper wrote:Nice setup.
Still should be getting better mileage.
Have you replaced any of the fuel system? Or timed it?

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Thank you...other than the routine fuel filter changes, oil filter changes, air filters etc no I haven't done any work on it. when things slow down a bit I'm planning on a good tune up or whatever you would call it. I did put a few more leafs on each side in the rear springs, that improved the milage a little bit, seemed to make it roll a bit easier and the front end aint so squirrely like it first was. Another thing I am trying to get used to is an automatic transmission, first one I ever drove is on the Dodge parked next to it...still tryin to figure that out after 6 years...and this one is even more of a challenge with the weight. I guess I will figure it out.

OzFlo wrote:That truck is something that EVERY bloke needs! I reckon you have more real estate on the bed of your truck than I do in my whole garage/workshop! Haha! Love it!!

Thank you....you think that when you start building somethin like this you got all kinds of room...til you start fillin up the space with toolboxes, a tree for the leads and such and then start fillin the toolboxes...you wonder where all the space went...sort of like a garage. Whats on it is what I need for now, and there is a plan in place for a boom when the time comes

Should be the c6 trans. Pretty durable. Could upgrade to a newer auto. Or a 5 speed if you feel like rowing gears.
For i.p. and injectors, look into Conestoga diesel, r&d IDI performance, and there's a guy that goes by typ4 on some forums. Those 3 do better parts than you will get at the parts store.

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Not sure how practical a newer auto would be as they will likely require a stand alone computer due to the 7.3 being mechanical injection - if it has a C6 in good shape I'd keep it - just change filter / fluid & maybe add a bigger cooler - I like the boom idea but the weight is adding up & will only increase as the amount of spares / tools accumulates ! I figure a 1ton is going to be on or past it's limits - that's why many service trucks start out with a heavier truck to allow for " upgrades " !

thats an awesome truck! I bet it took a good while to put together? How long have you spent on it?

noddybrian wrote:Not sure how practical a newer auto would be as they will likely require a stand alone computer due to the 7.3 being mechanical injection - if it has a C6 in good shape I'd keep it - just change filter / fluid & maybe add a bigger cooler - I like the boom idea but the weight is adding up & will only increase as the amount of spares / tools accumulates ! I figure a 1ton is going to be on or past it's limits - that's why many service trucks start out with a heavier truck to allow for " upgrades " !

Correct. But they also ran the e40d behind the IDI. Which ran it's own computer.
But those standalone trans computers sure are nice. Offer way more tuning/control than stock. Lol
Wouldn't be a big ROI though, so I would understand leaving it be.

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Right - I forgot they used the e4od behind the 7.3 - slightly surprised as it's not got a good reputation here with heavy use but I'm basing that on very limited experience as in the UK there are very few full size trucks around & of those Ford is the least popular - I ran one for a while but can't afford the fuel now - that was dead reliable - 460 with a C6 in front of NP205 & Dana 60's - towed all sorts with it - good truck - I doubt the OP will want to change much as it's simple & reliable now - what I've found is the more you change a truck from standard the bigger & more expensive the headaches get when it's broke ! I wish I'd figured " KISS " years ago - also jumping trucks & playing with them in the sea is bad but when your young it has to be done !

True there. Lol

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ollie81 wrote:thats an awesome truck! I bet it took a good while to put together? How long have you spent on it?

Thank you, it took about 7 weeks to build, I built it last summer, needed to take some time off work for some other issues, stayed off til i got it done,its a long story.

Popeye, next time I'm in your neck of the woods (only God knows when that might be), we're going to have to cook something with that weed-burner, and throw back a beer or three.

Steve

Otto Nobedder wrote:Popeye, next time I'm in your neck of the woods (only God knows when that might be), we're going to have to cook something with that weed-burner, and throw back a beer or three.

Steve

Sounds like a great idea, there is quite a few deer around around here that need to be ate, and some snappin turtles and even a 450 pound bear we saw a few weeks ago out on a job we were workin on...only 30 feet away...big ol thing and very handsome...for a bear