CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Be careful making friends with Ford owners

I almost didn't get the call that night. My power was out and we get spotty cell service at the new house without wifi calling. A friend called me saying he was going to look for the other friend who didn't check in and to come looking with a chain saw if I didn't hear back from him.

I didn't think waiting was going to be a good idea and loaded up the gear in my M1028 and headed out. Found them both helping to pull a car out of a ditch 5 miles from where the trees were blocking. The Ford owner walked 6-7 miles down the road before the other one found him.
 
6.2 to the rescue! lol
 
I have yanked out a couple of Fords and Dodges with my square body using my SM465 1st granny low gear.
 
I pulled a bunch out years ago when we had some long winters (94-96) with my S10 rockin a 5sp manual behind a 2.8. Rolled up on a fish commission vehicle that tried to park to the side of the road and the passenger wheels went over a 2 ft drop hidden by the plowed snow. A guy with a full size crew cab ford, 2wd, was spinning his wheels...and the road was dry. The ford guy laughed when I told the officer I could pull him out. I had rolled the S10 a few weeks before (another story). Had plastic taking the place of the rear hatch window and pass side was all scraped up from flipping it on the side, windshield was cracked, so I could see why the ford guy was skeptical. Pulled the guy right up on the road with little effort, ford guy just shook his head and left. The real difference was the angle of the pull, but I didn’t hang around to explain. Also pulled out a Toyota pickup that got stuck trying to pull out a car with the S10 that winter.
 
Just remember, don't judge all Fords' capabilities by one wimp........
Angle of pull is important, but with my winch, the only reason I usually need to consider angle of pull is to make sure I don't rip the entire undercarriage out from under the pullee.

IMG_2830.JPG
 
Not sure what it weighs, I never weighed it.
Lot of story about that truck. It rides level with stock springs. However, the stock springs were ordered with the snowplow option. I custom ordered it brand new from Ford with the super cooling package, towing package and snowplow option. Not sure what they thought of a snowplow option truck going to Florida, but there it was.

It came into the Ford dealer on a truck, and I never saw it. It was sent to a truck body company across town who were waiting for it. It was a 3/4 ton long wheelbase, and they took the back body off, cut the frame to short wheelbase specs and put on a practically brand new short base body from a salvage yard.
Then it went back to the Ford dealer who painted the body to match the truck.

Then I went to work on it.

The bumper is 8 inch wide channel iron, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. I keep saying I'm going to measure it one of these days, but I never do. So far, it has taken out many trees that got in my way, went head to head with a logging skidder blade, and pushed lots of disabled cars and truck around.
No dents yet, although as you can see, it has lost some paint.

The winch is a 12,000lb hydraulic drive Braden, which is rated to 24,000lb, running off a PTO drive pump coming off a NP205 transfer case. I have the bypass on the control valve set so that it will not quite break the 3/8 steel core cable with a full spool.
It will break it after the outside wrap is off.
In the 30 years I've owned it, it has had some changes and rebuilds, but its still mostly stock.........Well original build, at least.

Typing this, started me thinking. The truck rode so well, and I almost never bottomed out the front springs, so I never really considered what all that iron actually weighed despite having been asked many times.
It was standard channel iron, and there are specs for that stuff.
I looked it up, and here is what is listed.
There are three levels of 8 inch iron.
C8 x 18.75........0.487
C8 x 13.75........0.303
C8 x 11.5..........0.220
The second number in each is the weight in lbs per foot. And the number after the dots is the thickness in inches of the flat front part.
If I had to guess, my bumper is the middle one, judging by the way it behaves when I hit something with it. I think the bottom thickness would have dented by now given its thinner than 1/4 inch.
However, the middle one is thinner than 3/8, and it feels thicker. So it might be the top one. Which would make it 18.75 lbs per foot. Its raining today and tomorrow, but I may get out and mike the thickness soon and measure the length while I'm at it.
Meanwhile, it and I are headed to the swamp tomorrow. My hunting camp is still open, and the river is only about 2 feet over the road right now. My 12.50/33s will get me in just fine.
 
Not sure what it weighs, I never weighed it.
Lot of story about that truck. It rides level with stock springs. However, the stock springs were ordered with the snowplow option. I custom ordered it brand new from Ford with the super cooling package, towing package and snowplow option. Not sure what they thought of a snowplow option truck going to Florida, but there it was.

It came into the Ford dealer on a truck, and I never saw it. It was sent to a truck body company across town who were waiting for it. It was a 3/4 ton long wheelbase, and they took the back body off, cut the frame to short wheelbase specs and put on a practically brand new short base body from a salvage yard.
Then it went back to the Ford dealer who painted the body to match the truck.

Then I went to work on it.

The bumper is 8 inch wide channel iron, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. I keep saying I'm going to measure it one of these days, but I never do. So far, it has taken out many trees that got in my way, went head to head with a logging skidder blade, and pushed lots of disabled cars and truck around.
No dents yet, although as you can see, it has lost some paint.

The winch is a 12,000lb hydraulic drive Braden, which is rated to 24,000lb, running off a PTO drive pump coming off a NP205 transfer case. I have the bypass on the control valve set so that it will not quite break the 3/8 steel core cable with a full spool.
It will break it after the outside wrap is off.
In the 30 years I've owned it, it has had some changes and rebuilds, but its still mostly stock.........Well original build, at least.

Typing this, started me thinking. The truck rode so well, and I almost never bottomed out the front springs, so I never really considered what all that iron actually weighed despite having been asked many times.
It was standard channel iron, and there are specs for that stuff.
I looked it up, and here is what is listed.
There are three levels of 8 inch iron.
C8 x 18.75........0.487
C8 x 13.75........0.303
C8 x 11.5..........0.220
The second number in each is the weight in lbs per foot. And the number after the dots is the thickness in inches of the flat front part.
If I had to guess, my bumper is the middle one, judging by the way it behaves when I hit something with it. I think the bottom thickness would have dented by now given its thinner than 1/4 inch.
However, the middle one is thinner than 3/8, and it feels thicker. So it might be the top one. Which would make it 18.75 lbs per foot. Its raining today and tomorrow, but I may get out and mike the thickness soon and measure the length while I'm at it.
Meanwhile, it and I are headed to the swamp tomorrow. My hunting camp is still open, and the river is only about 2 feet over the road right now. My 12.50/33s will get me in just fine.
I am a little confused, the only reason I would think of to do what you did is if you wanted a short wheelbase and heavy duty with the snowplow suspension and that combination was not an option
 
Thats exactly why I did it.
See, not confusing at all............

I had a '79 F150 I bought new and put a shaft drive version of that winch on. I had to put on heavier springs, but it worked well.
That thing was a tank. It was short wheelbase and easy to maneuver in the swamp. But, in 1980, Ford ruined the 1/2 ton truck. Trying to meet the newest mileage standards, they lightened everything. So, when I wanted to replace my 1/2 ton, I had to jump up to 3/4 ton to get an equivalent truck.
But they only make 3/4 ton in long wheelbase, and I had ridden in some friends' LWB in the swamp before and it was not for me.

So, I built my own SWB 3/4 ton.
The snowplow option was for the heavy springs since I knew I was going to put the winch on.

As for the porch, I have shot a deer while standing on it, rested my feet on while fishing off the hood, and spent hours over the years standing on it while working on the engine.
 
Thats exactly why I did it.
See, not confusing at all............

I had a '79 F150 I bought new and put a shaft drive version of that winch on. I had to put on heavier springs, but it worked well.
That thing was a tank. It was short wheelbase and easy to maneuver in the swamp. But, in 1980, Ford ruined the 1/2 ton truck. Trying to meet the newest mileage standards, they lightened everything. So, when I wanted to replace my 1/2 ton, I had to jump up to 3/4 ton to get an equivalent truck.
But they only make 3/4 ton in long wheelbase, and I had ridden in some friends' LWB in the swamp before and it was not for me.

So, I built my own SWB 3/4 ton.
The snowplow option was for the heavy springs since I knew I was going to put the winch on.

As for the porch, I have shot a deer while standing on it, rested my feet on while fishing off the hood, and spent hours over the years standing on it while working on the engine.
:pimp:
 
Top Bottom