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Memories for us old truckers

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
A perfect tractor for pulling a two axle lowboy in city conditions.

That's a super nice truck and they have it priced right also. In my area that's a 15-20,000 truck running and driving. There's a guy by me with one that has a blown motor- and he's wanting $9,000.

I've never had a aluminum frame truck though, do they hold up pretty well, or get corrosion issues where the frame meets the suspension components/ 5th wheel/ and brackets etc.?
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,548
Location
WWW.
CO they all rot, aluminum or steel, but being where it's located or from the frame would be the least of the worries. Out here short WB like that aren't wanted all that much. Notice that it is a short hood W900.
 

56wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
2,074
Location
alberta
i worked on a few of the aluminum frame trucks. up here they corroded badly. the fifth wheel would lift off the top of the frame from the corrosion build-up. also, once the frame rails cracked they were throw-away. saw one that had a sketchy patch on the side of the rail but that was in the days before mandatory commercial vehicle inspections. its a good thing that inspections got that type of junk off our roads. the best use for aluminum frames was to be melted down and made into beer cans IMO
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,548
Location
WWW.
It just depends on the life a truck that has aluminum rails, I've seen several over years old that were in good condition. Double steel rails can be a bigger issue it really depends on the care
the rig receives. Keep them washed.
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
move was to happen today, something put a Hold on it. Only 220T, cannot see why route would affect it.

The MDOT computer system was all messed up today too. Couldn't get permits to go through, they wanted my crane to conform to their "allowed" axle set ups for permitted loads: 1-2-2 or 1-3-3 etc. Well I ain't moving the crane's axles, so they better get their system back working right.......
 

56wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
2,074
Location
alberta
we may have had more issues with aluminum frames up here because of all the road salt and calcium used in the winter. one guy i worked for was fanatical about keeping his trucks cleaned. they were nice to work on but we still had some corrosion issues
 

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,485
Location
Mo
Y Blocks, 239, 272, 292 and 312 the engine ford built that would grind it's self to pieces because of poor oiling. The only engine that I can think of that had a fix for no rocker oiling.
A line from lower oil rifle to the valve covers to squirt oil on the rockers. You could hear one driving by just a squeaking down the road, pull the valve covers and metal dust along
with rust. Removed a oil pan from a 292 that had 7 distributor drive rods laying in the bottom. And that guaranteed to burn you exhaust crossover that caused all kinds of vapor
locks because the fuel line ran between it and the right head.
I have some Y blocks after using one its like Ford to a giant step almost like they skipped some steps then they went backwards and made the FE. Their 4 times the engine that the flatheads were. I replaced a 292 with a 330 i was told several times i was going backwards they were right.
 

56wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
2,074
Location
alberta
IMO the fe series wasn't too bad. i worked at a ford dealer for 3 yrs and the only big problem i saw was whenever the wrist pin circlip failed, the wrist pin moved over and carved a groove in the cylinder wall. it only happened to the occasional one and that was back in the 70's when they were used in cars, pick-ups and medium duty trucks. IIRC they had some valve seat issues after unleaded fuel came out
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,548
Location
WWW.
The biggest problem with most Fords years back was oiling. The FE had oil rifle through the block from pump to filter housing of 1/2" diameter and 1/2" in and out of the filter housing.
Then it dropped in size to slightly over 3/8" back through the block from oil filter housing to main oil rifle. Main oil rifle was 1/2". There is plenty of meat in the block so it can be enlarged
to 1/2" just by drilling. The valve guides especially the exhaust would wear real bad. A big craze back in the 80's was to use Perfect Circle brand positive valve guide seals which made things
worse by cutting off any lube to the guide. The third thing that was a problem on most any FE Except certain 428's and all 427's was the bad tunning of the intake runners.
If a FE had a miss or loss of compression you could just bet it would be on #3 cylinder at least 85% of the time. The intake runner length and position on #3 caused a lean cylinder.
The best four barrel intake was the 428 Sidewinder Single 4BBL dual plane. The carb sat off to one side more than the other. Ford Knew there was a lean condition and that intake was
designed that way to tune runner length. The Sidewinder came on 68 and 69 428 Super Cobra Jet engines and was a factory aluminum intake medium rise. Big money to find one.
And is still the best aluminum intake for a FE.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Corn Flake and Pig Iron Express. Surprised not to see Green Barn in these!! Garroted freight. Ignorant Mother Lovers among other choice wording for IML.
 
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