Murraymountain's 1978 F-250

Welp, weather was nice and in the high 50s today and is supposed to be for the rest of the week so I finally was able to really get my teeth into this thing today lol. The exterior of the truck is pretty much all gone now besides the bumpers. Hopefully those come off tomorrow. Not any good pictures cause it was dark and stuff.



Anyway, hoping to get the rest of the front clip off tomorrow. If I’m not too tired by then than maybe I’ll start getting the cab ready to be pulled. In case I didn’t say, I am going to frame with this and am going to have the frame sandblasted and repainted as well as having the body panels wet sanded and clear coated after the rust repair is done. Figure I might as well do all that while it’s apart. I plan to have the blasting and painting done as soon as I get the Troy Bilt sold. Should be one nice truck when she’s done!

I explained why this is all happening in the last post, so here's the progress as of today... Only the two front cab mounts are holding the cab back from being pulled!




Gonna have the frame and cab sitting side by side that way I can switch back and forth between working on the two. Pulling the motor/trans/transfer case is up next after the cab here!

Welp, next little update… I went round and round getting the two front cab mounts out. I finally got them and they are salvageable I believe. They were just REALLY rusty. There was a mouse nest in both sides. Anyway, I had a friend come over to help us get the cab off. Turns out it was wayyy heavier than I perceived. We were able to get it off and move it with only 4 people, but it was a struggle. Next time we’ll have 6 lol. We pulled it all the way to the back of the frame and then went off from there. The plan didn’t go too well at that point. We put the back of the cab on the ground and it tilted back too fast for our control. It then ended up on it’s back. Luckily no damage. From there we tilted it on it’s side to get it past the frame. I laid a rag down to stop any damage from occurring if it went faster than intended. Well it did, and when it did the whole cab shifted and when it landed, the only visible part at the front of the cab hit the rocks first and got dented and scratched up. Not terrible but a little bit of a bummer. From there we were able to put the cab back on it bottom, pick it up, turn it, and then walk it over and set it on the bricks.






So anyway, nothing major happened as far as damage goes. I did find that my transfer case is not connected to anything on one side and that is why my entire transmission would wobble when I gave it the beans.

Anywho, next up is stripping the cab completely and pulling the motor and trans.

yea from the looks of it my trucks much worse it needs cab mounts because the mounts on the cab are rotted off you can see the frame throught the floor of the cab

Welpers, little update here. I got the motor and everything completely disconnected and have the cab about 90% stripped. Just ordered up new Evilbay floor pans for it as I am planning on having it sandblasted in no more than 4 weeks. I mentioned 3 transaxles in the repair thread, and one of those are a FNR that will be going into the parts frame from the 3 Yard Machines I got for free in 2019. I plan on temporarily turning that thing into a roller and make it so that I can put the 351 on it so I can move it since I don’t have a engine hoist or stand.

Anyway, expect updates! Definitely gonna be working on it a little bit for the next few weeks!

Got a lead on a hoist I can borrow. Not sure if I’m gonna go through with the MTD engine stand thing but we’ll see. Anywho, was able to get the windshield out!




Finally got around to starting the rust repair yesterday! Got the back corner of the cab and most of the floor pans cut out. Just wrestling with separating the floor from the cab mounts. There’s spot welds all across it that no one ever talks about which makes it a pain to cut them out. Other than that there’s just a couple little holes that I gotta do a little cutting on and that should be all I need before I start welding in the new ones!







All that’s left as far as stripping the cab goes is the seatbelts and a few little clips here and there and that’s about it. Once I get all the rust repair done I’ll have the inside blasted and resprayed. I’m thinking I’m gonna do 1 thick coat of paint and primer on the interior and firewall, and 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of paint on the underside. Not sure what clear coat looks like yet. For the frame I think I’m gonna do a metallic black. 2 thick coats of paint and primer and then when the whole truck’s done I’ll go for some rust preventive coat of something. Anywho, hopefully we’ll be done with rust repair in a couple weeks!

Glad to see you making progress with the old girl!

Heh, so much for “hopefully we’ll be done with rust repair in a couple weeks.” However I did finally make a little more progress but nothing much. Got the rest of the cab completely stripped for sandblasting. The only thing that may need to be taken out is the brake light switch but that’s it. I finally had a spare day to get out my new spot weld cutters and new drill and have at it. It was a fight but I finally got the rest of those stupid floors up and out.





I started roughly cutting the new floor for the driver side into shape too and got one of two pieces I’ll need to rebuild the back seam. I haven’t done much more aside from attempting to pull the drain plugs on the coolant for a freeze coming. I got one side out but ruined the other one and the freeze happened with it not drained so hopefully it’s okay. It is in the plans to pull the engine this week one way or another and take it to the college I’m at and we’re gonna completely rebuild it there and it’s gonna help me complete the class and free labor. So it’s a win win win. Next semester we may do a thorough inspection of the trans and transfer case.

As far as when I’m getting it sandblasted I have no idea. The thing with that is that will be the heaviest, committed, crucial time for the whole restoration. I have to have all the paint on hand and ready to go the second the frame and cab gets done with the blasting and then spray it all and have a place indoors to put it as soon as it drys. It will be intense. I may be able to split it up between the frame and cab and do it twice to cut back on the intensity but we’ll see. I need to flip a couple vehicles before I’ll be ready for sandblasting. But anyway, there’s my little update for y’all!

Also, a year ago today is the day I got this ol’ gal!

Little update here. I finally felt like doing some body work so I sanded the cab mounts down and coated them in primer and cheap white paint. Just trying to stop them from rusting out after I put the floors in. They had a lot of surface rust and pitting was going on so I stopped it best I could. After that I went to the back and butt welded on the angle iron to repair the back seam. I welded it all the way down on both sides. After inspecting it I realized I didn’t really need to do both sides but I did so. Next time I am butt welding something like this I won’t do both sides. Next, I need to find a solid piece of flat steel and weld it in to complete the seam… then patch up the corners where the seam was rusted and then grind down all the welds and put some blue paint on the outside and some cheap stuff on the inside to protect it since the inside is getting blasted anyway.








Nothing else is new. When I sell the Explorer I’ll look into buying an engine hoist and blasting and painting and all that jazz. Maybe even a place to store it… that would be nice.

Excellent truck, exactly what I would have PAID for before i started my current project. I hope to finish it off this month, 24+ months later. I had to stop because of $$$ needed, plus, it turned out to be more work then I could handle.

Looks like you have an Eagle AWD too?

What you might want to consider is a dump bed, attach the bed sides to it, and install an oak floor. That would make and loading things easier and firewood easier. Firewood duty could make the truck pay for itself.

If you do not have dual fuel tanks, now, would be the time to add them. LMC truck sells the Bronco kit for the rear tank that takes it to 32 gallons?

Dump bed sounds cool. Not likely that I'll go through with it, but I'll keep it in mind. I was thinking a wood flatbed while I fix the bed itself.

I don't have dual tanks, but I do plan on buying the 38 gallon tank from LMC... 19 gallons just seems too small for a truck this size lol. I just need to get it some what together again first though lol. Too many projects and not enough time is really keeping this thing on the back burner right now unfortunately.

Got a wild hair about a month and a half ago and went ahead used redneck ingenuity to pull the engine without an actual hoist... I created a homemade stand out of some square tube... It worked out but it was super sketchy. Definitely the most weight this stand and straps could handle. Luckily it won't be pulling any more weight than this in the future anyway so we're good from here. Anyway the pics explain themselves. I chipped away at it for a few days but after about 4 or 5 days the engine was out!









And finally I moved the frame and engine on down out of the way since there's not much to do to them now until a later date. Have to do the rust repair on the body first.



And that's where we're at with this one. Planning on getting back to work on it pretty soon.

Been working on the rust some more. Finished the back seam. Still need to grind the welds down and seal it.




That's where I'm at right now. I'm gonna get the passenger side floor in too before I flip the cab back to do a full length weld underneath. I'll grind the ones up top down a little and then finish it off with sealer. Probably after I blast it though. It's getting colder this week so I plan on trying to get what I can done on it tomorrow and Monday.

That sort of inspires me to do a real repair job on my rusty Bronco II instead of scraping it. I just dread removing every thing and putting it all back. If I figure 40 hours, it turns into 120. :-D

I can not believe that tubing held, it has to be 2,000# with the full dressed engine, transmission, and transfer case. I wonder how much the strap helped by distributing the weight vs. a 1/4" cable or chain for the link.

I hardly use it, but, I never regretted spending the time and money on getting a 2 ton engine hoist. I am going to be using it soon to remove the bed of the truck I am working on.

JB_4x4 wrote:

That sort of inspires me to do a real repair job on my rusty Bronco II instead of scraping it.  I just dread removing every thing and putting it all back. If I figure 40 hours, it turns into 120. :-D

I can not believe that tubing held, it has to be 2,000# with the full dressed engine, transmission, and transfer case.  I wonder how much the strap helped by distributing the weight vs. a 1/4" cable or chain for the link.

I hardly use it, but, I never regretted spending the time and money on getting a 2 ton engine hoist.  I am going to be using it soon to remove the bed of the truck I am working on.

Seeing it all come together is definitely very rewarding. You really have to like fab work though. It's taken me over a year at this point to get to where I am on the rust repair and I'm not even close to 25% through the whole process. Of course it has been on the back burner since I got it taken apart.

I was very impressed it held as well. Definitely one of the top 5 sketchiest things I've ever done. So much to go wrong lol. It probably was close to 2k lbs. Maybe I'll get it weighed before I put it back in. I had like 4 straps on it and a come along to lift it. I had to put bricks underneath the oil pan and trans and jack it up with a floor jack and then lift with the come along to pull out the little bit of slack I had from the floor jack. The come along by itself just wasn't enough to lift it.

I said I wouldn't use it again after doing something that sketchy but honestly, being that it held up to that, I probably will use it again. I'll never lift anything of that magnitude with it again but it should be great for little V6's and 4 cylinders. Might use it on the Malibu. I made it wide enough to fit a car between for a reason lol. I definitely plan on getting a hoist but this will do for now long as I don't lift anything that heavy again. I was begging for trouble with that one.