1981 F-150 Custom

[Archangel]

Typical farm truck - love it! Complete with mismatched mirrors and tires too!

But man, someone really don't know how to build stake sides - 2x4 rails with 2x2 poles, two 5/16" carriage bolts per junction (with nylock nuts and 1/4" washers), front and rear bed pockets are 6" deep and the middle is 5" or so, you put the lowest stake rail 3-1/2" above the bed rail and you leave again 3-1/2" gap between all the rails and you end up with 14" tall stake sides in the double-rail setup you have and 21" tall stake sides in the triple-rail setup. Tripples-rail stake sides are great for hauling hay bales or helping a buddy move, but they look like crap on anything that is not a dually. Stepsides usually look great with double-rail stake sides. Fleetsides like yours get the special treatment - double-rail stakes, with full-length lower rails and half-length uppers, ends up looking pretty darn sweet, even more so if you build yourself a matching tailgate Yeah, you can say I've been down that road once or twice

[HotRod_CrownVic]

Looks like a decent truck, and the price was right. You gonna leave it the way it is with the 300?

[boXman]

Well I took the tags and insurance off it....

Took it to see what it needed for inspection..

king pins, em. brake cables, spring hanger bracket LR, brake line along frame and across rear axle, rear brakes and cylinders, 2 front brake hoses, rear brake hose, one tank strap has all thread?, battery hold down, all emissions equipment, and the shifter is loose(pin is gone, has a bolt and nut).

Soo yea, don't have cash for that right now. Probly more work than it's worth. We'll see...I hate to part with it. Love that torque...

[Archangel]

Oh yah, the lovely PADOT and their vehicle inspection - too bad the only thing you can easily go without are the emissions shits and the battery hold down, the rest are all safety things... Spring hangers can be reinforced with 3/8" rebar, but that's about it, no way of going on the cheap side there.

[CheeseSteakJim]

Sounds like most of that stuff (brake lines/hoses/wheel cylinders/battery hold down/shifter pin/tank strap) would cost you easily under $200 to fix.

I bought my '85 for $200, put a $100 clutch in it, spent $200 on a new front end, and (just recently) a starter for $60. For $500 this truck has lasted me three years without any major hitch. I've beaten the everloving piss out of it and it's never left me stranded. I drove it with the bad clutch for six months before I was no longer able to climb hills and had to change it.

These trucks are cheap and easy to fix, and will give you years of reliability in return. Don't give up on that thing just yet.