pontiac59
11-28-2007, 10:23 PM
Well, the usual fiasco, the guy who answers the phone Monday says just show up, I get there and no one has a clue I'm coming. But that's good in a way - no one had started the truck in weeks, so I got to see it started from a complete cold condition.
It took cycling the glow plugs a number of times and playing with the throttle to get it going, but once it finally started, it runs good. It's a former Air Force truck, J-code 6.2, 3.73 rearend. It even came with a full tank of fuel - around 30 gallons at like 3.50 means the gas alone would cost more than half what I paid for the truck.
It has the dual battery option, JB7 brakes with hydroboost (work very well), and the rear tires are brand new; the fronts appear to have some use but not a lot. It does drive, it goes fine forward, but will only barely roll in reverse and any incline stops it cold. Apparently it spent the summer as a lawn crew truck, so the kids driving it were beating on it towing a trailer load of mowers from place to place cutting grass. That would explain the trans. Fluid was red but smells odd. With no plates on it I didn't try to drive it anywhere to check the no high gear situation.
The rust is minimal - the only bad area is the left front rocker and outer floorpan. What's funny is that part of the floor is one of the few places not rotted in my current truck. But it's all stuff that can be bought. It towed reasonably well - and I still can't complain about the gas 'burban, it towed that truck fine even up some steep hills. Stopping was another story, especially on roads that had been sanded, but I went easy the whole 45 miles or so. Given the US Gov't plate on the dash claims 5600 lbs, I figured it would want to push me around some.
While my first priority is the transmission, I had some dumb questions to ask...
It appears the rear doors were swapped out.. the panes have electric defoggers in them, but they're not connected to anything (also keys don't work in the lock and right door doesn't latch right). And there's no dash switch. I've never seen these on barn doors before. Anyone know how to hook them up so they work? A switch and wiring is no big deal, but looks like I'd have to solder wires up on the glass (probably a job best left for a warm day).
It has idiot lights for temp, oil, and amps - if I want to change those to factory gauges, can I just swap in senders for gauges and use the existing wiring? Any of those gauges diesel-specific?
It appears the PS/brake boost lines feed around in between the fan shroud and radiator - is there a fluid cooler in there?
It's a real stripper, even radio delete, but did have the RPO codes in the glovebox showing the 6.2 diesel, special paint, and some other things. I'm wondering if the differential is a posi or not - would it state that next to the code, or do I need to look up the actual code numbers?
I guess that's it. I have some work cut out for me, especially if I want to try and pull more MPG out of it, but at least it's safe on the farm.
It took cycling the glow plugs a number of times and playing with the throttle to get it going, but once it finally started, it runs good. It's a former Air Force truck, J-code 6.2, 3.73 rearend. It even came with a full tank of fuel - around 30 gallons at like 3.50 means the gas alone would cost more than half what I paid for the truck.
It has the dual battery option, JB7 brakes with hydroboost (work very well), and the rear tires are brand new; the fronts appear to have some use but not a lot. It does drive, it goes fine forward, but will only barely roll in reverse and any incline stops it cold. Apparently it spent the summer as a lawn crew truck, so the kids driving it were beating on it towing a trailer load of mowers from place to place cutting grass. That would explain the trans. Fluid was red but smells odd. With no plates on it I didn't try to drive it anywhere to check the no high gear situation.
The rust is minimal - the only bad area is the left front rocker and outer floorpan. What's funny is that part of the floor is one of the few places not rotted in my current truck. But it's all stuff that can be bought. It towed reasonably well - and I still can't complain about the gas 'burban, it towed that truck fine even up some steep hills. Stopping was another story, especially on roads that had been sanded, but I went easy the whole 45 miles or so. Given the US Gov't plate on the dash claims 5600 lbs, I figured it would want to push me around some.
While my first priority is the transmission, I had some dumb questions to ask...
It appears the rear doors were swapped out.. the panes have electric defoggers in them, but they're not connected to anything (also keys don't work in the lock and right door doesn't latch right). And there's no dash switch. I've never seen these on barn doors before. Anyone know how to hook them up so they work? A switch and wiring is no big deal, but looks like I'd have to solder wires up on the glass (probably a job best left for a warm day).
It has idiot lights for temp, oil, and amps - if I want to change those to factory gauges, can I just swap in senders for gauges and use the existing wiring? Any of those gauges diesel-specific?
It appears the PS/brake boost lines feed around in between the fan shroud and radiator - is there a fluid cooler in there?
It's a real stripper, even radio delete, but did have the RPO codes in the glovebox showing the 6.2 diesel, special paint, and some other things. I'm wondering if the differential is a posi or not - would it state that next to the code, or do I need to look up the actual code numbers?
I guess that's it. I have some work cut out for me, especially if I want to try and pull more MPG out of it, but at least it's safe on the farm.