Resurrecting dad's old 68 F-100 4x4

[hfdco4]

I would say, go and jack up the truck and weld the perches back n place till you can get good ones. If you pull it back in and weld the cracks you should be good to go.

[JoshT]

Having bent like that, even if I were able to bend it back and weld it, I'm not sure I'd trust it. If it were my only ride I might chance it, but its not even the only truck. Push come to shove, dad's got a spare truck I could borrow if my ranger dies again. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I've found a couple of possibilities, but need more info before I make a move on them. Still hoping I can find a set of used coil buckets from a donor truck, barring that:

• I'm looking into the buckets that James Duff makes for Early Broncos. Need to get some measurements from them to attempt to compare to mine.
• 73-79 coil buckets. Stil hard to come across, but I have come across a donor frame and a truck that might be cheap enough to get for parts and upgrades after I remove what I need. Maybe even potential for frame swap if it's a later model with "factory" disc brake front end and wider rear frame/axle.
• Fab my own. Not something I really want to attempt, but it might be the best option.

Basically any of the above I'll also have to figure out upper shock mounts. If I get 73-79 buckets I might be able to adapt the factory one to fit, and if I build some I can definitely take the factory parts into account.

Got a bunch of thinking and studying to do. In the mean time I'll probably just fire it up every other week and put it around the yard.

[hfdco4]

If you pull the buckets off the truck and get good penetration, you should be fine. I would add the plate to the bottom so the bucket has the support again. But if you have access to a newer frame I would go that route as you would get lots of spare parts. Just my two cents.

[JoshT]

I don't particularly want to do a frame swap, but if I end up with a donor frame it might happen eventually anyway. In the short term I'd pull the coil towers and make them work.

Might not have do do all that though. Member over on FTE saya he has a set from a 77 4x4. I've looked at pics of 73-79 front suspensions, while there are differences I think I can make the spring towers work fairly easily. He's going to send me pics in a couple of days and, after a visual comparison, I think I'll have coil spring towers on the way next week.

[hfdco4]

Up to 79 should work.

[JoshT]

Past time for an update, but I've finally got an update to give. So here goes...

I had sourced a set of spring towers from a member of FTE, but then Covid-19 hit and he wasn't sure when he'd be able to get to and ship them. Was willing to wait, but then a set of towers popped up on eBay for about the same price,so I quickly got a refund and purchased them. Finally got my parts a couple of weeks ago and have been busy with finishing up the school semester and work since then. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my job considered essential, so I don't get a Corona virus vacation to fix the truck, but heavy on work because high-risk employees have been sent home and that is a large portion of our workforce apparently.

Maybe a better look at the broken spring tower:
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I'll post a picture of it off the truck in a few days.

New spring towers:
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IIRC from a 76 according to the eBay listing. Not an exact match, but look like a suitable substitute.

Old spring towers removed:
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Pulled the power steering pump today and started cleaning it to reseal. Also started cleaning the frame where the spring towers mount. Tomorrow I plan to move shock towers to new spring towers. Also waiting on a new power steering hose. I bought one from a local store back when I thought it was a leaking hose. Unfortunately that was months ago and I just found out yesterday that it was the wrong part in the box. Of course no one local had the correct part in stock, so waiting on it to be delivered. Hopefully this time next week everything will be back together.

[hfdco4]

Keep plugging along, you are making good progress.

[Jsupreme]

This is awesome!! Keep up the good work!

[Texasranger]

Pulled the power steering pump today and started cleaning it to reseal. Also started cleaning the frame where the spring towers mount. Tomorrow I plan to move shock towers to new spring towers. Also waiting on a new power steering hose. I bought one from a local store back when I thought it was a leaking hose. Unfortunately that was months ago and I just found out yesterday that it was the wrong part in the box. Of course no one local had the correct part in stock, so waiting on it to be delivered. Hopefully this time next week everything will be back together.[/quote]


I have a 1972 that has power steering in it. It leaks and I think I need to reseal it as well. Do you have any information about what kit to buy, or any tips on the rebuild?

[hfdco4]

Keep pushing forward and you will get there. Take your time with the clean up and be sure all your surfaces are smooth for the seals. Cant wait to see the pics of the new buckets installed and the truck back on it own feet.

[JoshT]

Well due to covid and school things have been slow on the F-100 this year. Haven't gotten to work on it much or, as a result, drive it much this year. It sucks but it is back to being mostly driveable now.

When we last left off back in may I think I had just gotten the coil spring towers I needed to repair the front suspension, and was planning to reseal the old power steering pump. Well by the middle of June I had the front suspension back together and weight on wheels. All I did on the power steering pump was to replace the reservoir seal and one other seal on the inside, decided I wasn't familiar enough with them to go further than that and didn't really have the place and tools to do it. The seal fixed the Power Steering leak, but still had trouble with the power steering to I ended up replacing the pump, still not right but more on that in a bit. Time for pictures.

Busted tower removed from frame:
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My original modified spring towers next to later model towers, driled holes for the shock towers and almost a perfect match:
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Everything cleaned, spray bombed, and ready to reinstall:
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New parts installed:
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Now while doing that work I didn't want to loose the slight lift that the modified towers gave. I scratched my head for a bit over how best to regain that 1" or so lift. Thought about a spring spacer, but didn;t like it. Considered making a spacer block to put under the lower spring seat, couldn't find the materials I wanted to use and didn't have the right tooling to make it. Was going to use Moog CC814 which is listed as stock replacement. After digging in the coil spring chart I found CC816 which is approximately 3/4" taller and rated about 250 lbs higher on load, but spring rate is identical. Decided it give it a try, truck is sitting about the same as it was before and still rides good.

[JoshT]

I'm thinking that the P/S pump was damaged when the hose blew, or the hose blew because the pump was damaged. Either way I replaced the pump and it made a difference, still not perfect seems like I need to play with either idle speeds or pulley sizes but I'll figure that out later. Even then I had a catch in the steering. Fixed a clearance issue with steering wheel adapter and column, but still had a catch. While fixing the suspension I also ordered parts to install a stock style steering damper, unfortunately no pictures of that installed. Well upon crawling around under the truck I noticed this:

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New damper and mounts. Bad weld broke loose on the mount, it bent the rod and dented the body of the damper. Got repalcement parts, just haven't had a chance to install yet.

This happened on my way into work overtime on Halloween morning:

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I know not a bumpside, not even a Ford, but it's what gets me to work every day so I can afford to work on the Bumpside Ford. About 5AM I wa driving into work and a deer decided to sit on my hood. Wasn't going to fast and almost (but not quite) got stopped in time to miss it, so damage wasn't as bad as it could have been. Deer kept running with a nice bruise, the car wasn't quite as lucky. Hood, headlight, grill, and radiator support needed replacement, fender was just tweaked a bit. Before accident the car was in better shape than appears from picture, low light and dew settling on car makes it look way worse. Took to body shop the following week, was informed a few weeks later that insurance wanted to total it due to money. I wasn't going to let that happen so I took it back before they could total it and did the work myself. Fortunately a local junkyard had the big parts I needed in the right color. Into the repair for ~$600 total, professional repair was pushing it over $3000 and still climbing. Not complaining about their price and they probably would have done a better job, but I couldn't let the insurance company put me into a new car payment or cover that repair bill out of pocket.

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Next projects are suspension and brakes on that car and probably power windows on the truck. At almost 150K on the car its due for tires and brakes again. It's also needed an alignment for years, so I think it's time for some better shocks and struts along with a few other upgrades while I'm at it. I'm juggling my options on power windows for the truck. It's definitely getting them as it'll make life easier for me driving to work (security checkpoints) and the driver side regulator needs replaced anyway. I love the ingenuity of the the home brew conversions I've seen, but not really liking the execution. I like the Nu-Relics kit, but don't like the price or their switch options. Looking into a third option, but having trouble getting information from people. That could be due to the holidays, but don't want to say more until I know more.

[hfdco4]

Keep plugging away man. Glad the springs worked out. As for the windows, I would imagine that a set up from a 1980 to 1995 F series should be the easiest to adapt since the window sizes are so close. Good luck.

[JoshT]

I did consider that. I actually purchased a set of those power window regulators for modification. I do not like any of the ways I've come up with for making them work. Considered cutting the motor section off and welding to the original regulator like a member here did, mine are made a bit different than his were though and I didn't like the way it would end up. I also considered modifying the late model regulator to work. Couldn't come up with a satisfactory way to mount it to the door at the correct angle and the arm was too short. It would take tools and equipment that I don't have to make a mount I was satisfied with and more modifications in the door that would require more parts. By the time I bought the tools and other parts to make it work and be happy with it, I might as well spend the money on the Nu-relics conversion regulators.

Like I said I am chasing a lead on other parts that might make for a cheaper bolt-in swap. It's something I've known about for a while, but didn't get serious about it as an option until the weekend before Christmas. Sent out some e-mails asking for information, but haven't heard anything back yet. I'm going to give it next week for the holidays to be over, then I'm going to try again. I'll make a separate thread and post more about that when I know more.

[hfdco4]

Great, I will be waiting to hear and hoping.