Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and new to truck pulling in general. I am looking into buying a truck to start out in the street stock big block class and then build the truck up as I go. I am a college student right now so my funds are pretty limited. I was woundering if you guys could give me any tips as to what years of trucks tend to make a good buy. Obviously it has to be a straight axle and it has to be a ford with 460 because I will never go near a chevy or dodge. I am pretty mechanically inclined and know my way around vehicals. I have one engine build under my belt but am by no means an expert so any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Jon

Hey Jon Welcome to the board. Where do you live? I think a 78-79 1 Ton, 4spd. Ford would be the best way to go. They have got everything you need to get started in pulling. a Lot of them have already had a 429-460 transplanted in to them by now. They never came with a 460 by the way. And they have the D60 axles front and back.

wow I didn't think i would get a response already. I live in Deer Grove IL its just a little town an hour east of the quad cities. I am going to college at the University of wisconsin Platteville. Yea all of the trucks before 1980 were fe or cleavlend engines but as you said the 460 swap is supper common. I want to stay with a ford because its in my blood, I have two trucks right know that serve as daily drivers for me and my brother one is an 89 with the good old 300 and the other is an 85 with a 400 that i just built (should have put in a 460 but i like the 400 cause its different) that I let my brother drive. I was thinking about building that as a pulling truck but I can't afford to have that truck broken down. Also the 150 frame just wouldn't take the abuse and neither would the 44 front axle

The Frame of a F150 will handle all the power you can give it up to 850 H.p. then you might go to a F250 frame after that . but the coil over front of the F150 is the hot ticket for the street class your looking at ..My Daddies Truck had the Dana 44 independent front end in and as long as your not hanging weight off the front bumper the 44 will hold up just fine.

Have to head to work will talk more about this later.
ShaZam

It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong and it definatly will not be the last. I plan on pulling the 85 a little bit in the stock small block class some next year but I have to build some ladder bars for the back because it was lifted. The previous owner put in a 3 pack of overload springs on top of the regular springs and they come into play when the rear sags about 2.5in. I was also thinking of running a rachet style locker in the 44. I have one in my 8.8 and am really happy with it.

Use the 85, you gain so much weight advantage over the earlier models. But get a 460 in it. Is it a 1/2 or 3/4 ton or what??

Travis

Hi Jon welcome to the board. There area lot of experienced pullers here with are degrees of varying knowledge. As with anything you will get a few different ideas on what and how to build your truck. That's why this board is so informative. We usually cover all the angles.
I personally have a soft spot for the 78-79 250s and 350s.
BUT if you look back a few pages and can find some of the video of Dan's Dads truck. You will be impressed. Some of those trucks up to 97 that have the independent frontends have a dana 50. They have joints and axles as big as a Dana 60. I think they would be another option and some of those trucks had 460's in them to.

After rereading your post, you have an 89, that truck should have the 10.25 rear so that would be the better starting point. Just get the 300 out and a BB in. Alot of the parts of these later model trucks are plenty strong and they haven't been worked like the trucks from the 70's era.

Travis

Draggin,

We still need to have a chat session.

Travis

Well...Putting a 460 in the 85 (1/2 ton) is not an option as the 400 in it has less than 800 miles on it. I thought about maybe pullling that in the small block class but I really don't want to destroy that one or pour more money into it. Also it isn't the best platform to dump money into as I live in the rust belt and the cab corners and doors both have rust spots. This truck was going to just be more of a trailer puller/farmtruck. As for the 89 it has the 8.8 rear axle in it and is two wheel drive so there is no point in spending time there and i would rather restore that truck someday anyway because it my grandpa bought it new. Thats why I figured I would go ahead and get a new truck and work on it over the next two years as money allows (I am a poor college student)

Many guys like the late 70's vintage Fords for pullers, but I run a 90 F250 (You can see a picture of it in the post "Daughters first pull". The chassis setup on it has been great even back when it ran it in the street class.

Now if you really want a late 70's truck, I just recently bought one from a farmer friend of mine and it is complete except for the transfer case. But, I just happen to have a couple of those laying around as well. I'll have the truck in about a month or so after he gets done harvesting. If your serious about this, shoot me an email. I have pretty much everything you'll need to get started. My email at loganwildman1 at verizon dot net. Replace the at with @ and dot with .
I also have 2 sets of headers, one set of Hooker in frames, and one set of custom made outside the frame, but these would most likely be too big for your initial application.

I'm located in northern Indiana. so it shouldn't be too far of a hike to come down here.

Alan

ALan tell me more about the outside the frame headers you have to sell.

Alright Alan I will be sending you an email shortly. A seen the pics of your truck, awesome looking truck. It looks like your daughter did really good to, congrats. I love the late 80's early 90's trucks myself but they are fuel injected, not a big deal but it will still burn money switching over.

Draggin,

They are 2-1/4 into 4 in. collectors with the evac tubes and check valves for the crank case and Ford flanges. They were built by a local gent that builds headers and some body fabrication as income for his drag racing addiction. I have been running them in the truck for 2 seasons. They are still in the truck, so I can get you a picture of them from the top side, and one from the bottom side. They are in great shape.

I'm going to sell them and go to uprights.

Alan

1 Draggin - the frame width changed in 80 so they most likely wont fit without modification. i know the 78-79 style dont fit the 80-97 without more than minor modifications. but not 100% sure about the other way.

Cory

Alan I dont know if you got my email or not because it is acting up but I would be interested in the truck.

That was going to be my next question. I didn't know if Alan's headers would fit my frame.
Poor old Jon. We probably have over whelmed him. He should have never asked us questions when it came to spending his own money. LOL !
Jon there are 250 and 350 80's model trucks that had the 460 in them and still carburated. I don't think the 460s got fuel injection until '88. I really think the independent Dana 50 truck would do a really good job. I have been hoping to see some one here in my area build one.

well it sounds like ill have to build one then. Im not sure when the hd went to fuel injection, I have delt more with the small block 150 type things. We have a lot of good build ideas though I am glad everyone is putting in their own .02 in.

I do believe your right about the frame width changing in 80. If I remember correctly, the frame in my 90 is about 39 inches outside to outside. I'm not positive, but I think the earlier truck frames were a little narrower. I'll shoot a picture of my engine compartment and you can compare it to yours, might give you a general idea as to fitment.

Alan

Check your email.

Dan has experience with this setup and I'm sure will share some of his knowledge on this. From watching some of the videos of his dad pulling, it seems to me that the caster/camber will need to be adjusted so that the tires are parallel to the ground when the front comes up. That means it will look dorky at rest, but that's ok cuz it' on the track that counts.

If you look for a 80's vintage F250, check the gvw, cuz I believe the light 250's had a D44hd in them and the 8800gvw trucks had a D50.

For your lockers, I'd put a lincoln locker in the rear (welded) and a detroit or equiv. in the front. Don't get a L/S diff.

Alan

Im the only local guy running a dana 50 up front around here. I think it helps keep the front axle from wrapping a lot especially if you’re running a class that doesn’t allow traction bars. Just make sure the tires are tipped out so that when the frontend lifts up they are straight with the ground.

And it survived an 8000# class last weekend with about 1400# out front and another 1000 behind the cab. the tranny didn’t fair so well when the homemade gear reduction between the transfer case and tranny exploded and locked up. but still ended up with a 3rd place finish.

Yea Im going to go with ratchet style lockers in the front and the rear. They are only a hundred bucks per dif and they will not distroy the rear end like the lincon lockers if they break. Plus if this truck ever sees any street time it wont be so hard on the axles like a welded diff is.

tell me more about these ratchet lockers. For a hunrt bucks, I can't help but wonder how strong they are. Got a link for them? And your right, if your going to drive it on the street, then you don't want a lincoln locker. But for strictly racing, then there is nothing wrong with them, and many a pulling truck has them.

Alan

Well I am looking for the website I got them from. They were made by richmond gear but the website I bought them had them cheaper than richmond's but when I find it I will post it. They work like just like a regular locker when going strait an when you turn the speed of the outside tire is faster than the inside so it pushes against some springs and makes space for the two steel plates to slide by each other. As you come out of the corner and the two shafts start to turn at the same speed the plates come back together and the two lock back together. It isn't as smooth as a limited slip in the turn with a manual as it sometimes it jerks just a little but in an auto you cant tell its there. I have one in my 1989 f150 and I have about 14000 miles on it and its probably the best 100 bucks I ever spent on the truck. As for durabilty, I have towed as much as 16000lbs (scary) and I have never had any problems with it, havent hurt anything in the rear and its only an 8.8 So I would recomend them to anybody. You cant beat welded diffs as far as low buck, but the gears are kinda of hard to weld up because they are harded and if you do a poor job and they break your out a fair bit of money to rebuild the dif.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words

http://www.powertrax.com/lockright2.html

OK here's daddies truck 3 years ago with the stock front suspension.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/f09f944d-7fe0-40c9-81fc-98b9016e9f2b.htm
See how the drivers tire tries to come off the ground

And here's it is with a 6" Center drop 2 year ago.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/5f3cd2f5-f8e0-4a4f-9d7a-8a35ce584583.htm
Wheel seem to stay put better.

And once again this year at Francis Creek.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/43cd116e-0233-4e9d-9202-99b401506c9c.htm



Dan

Those ratchet style lockers are like the Lock-Right lockers but the Lock Rights are 250 bucks.

yea I dont know where I got mine but I only paid like a hundred hundred and twenty for them

For some reason I couldn't play the last video clip. I wonder if any of the others had the same trouble. The first 2 ran fine.
Didn't you say your Dad's truck had a 44 frontend ???
I like it. I think it is very impressive for a street truck without hanging weight.

Yes I download the last one yesterday and it didn't seem to take on there Coding .. I'll try to down load it again ..

Yes my daddies has a 44 front it's the light duty F250



Dan