hey, just thought id make a thread on my f150 trail truck im building to go some mild trail and mud bog riding. I baught it 2 weeks ago for 1000$ its a 1986 4x4 single cab short box with 302 efi and standard 4 speed, geared pretty darn slow wich is excellent for my application.

In this tread i will post pretty much everything i do to the truck everything i install/repair. I am not a professional and most of you might not like my methods of doing things i have some redneck in me lol. if you have any advice to give me shoot it!

list of things i will be doing
- body lift 3"
- suspension lift (mos likely 4" may consider 6" on stock ttb)
- Thew repairs here and their Including redneck bodypanel patching lol
- Bucket seat swap
- Possible front bumper fab
- exhaust

I will most likely be doing other things have not figured out evrything that needs to be done.

Anyways just a quick run down of what the truck will be doing is manly trail riding and mud bogging. I Doubt it will see the road again after this winter since i plan on running it this winter so i don't have to beat my freshly painted dodge dakota in the NB salty roads. Any tips and advice are welcome!

 

I already started the project without the camra being ready lol.. anyways i took some pictures of what i did in the cab, wich was install some bucket seats out of a thrid gen camaro that i had left over that were in pretty decent shape!.






well thats what it looks like to date, i hade to put 1 inch spacer blocks on both the passenger and drivers side between the rails and seats because on the drivers side i couldn't adjest the forward backward motion cause the lever was hitting the side of the seat. On the drivers side i was able to save the complete mechanism to move it forward and backwards, the bearing inside were in excellent shape, i just had to make one L shaped bracket to the floor and sit it on its side and weld it to the floor so it would sit at the right angle and be able to bolt up properly, its fully adjustable!

On the passenger side though the bearings and bottom part of the rails were completely shot, i just made my self some 4 brakets out of 2" square tubing and welded them directly to the top part of the rail where the seat would sit evenly on the floor, i just had to make one of them a we bit smaller than the others so it wouldn't rock back and forfth.

So the passenger side seat is not adjustable forward and backwards, but no stress i woun't be sitting their :P and its still more comfortable than the bench seat!

Hope it hold i hade a 300 pound guy sit in it and jump up and down, nothing brok and i only weight about 150 lol so we should be good to go!!

Next will be setting up a custom center counsole, moste likely making it out of mdf wood cause its cheap and simple just like me!

 

here are some quick pictures of just what the truck looks like right now!



It has a 9" rear end and already has 10"wide wheels wich is a good start i guess

 

okay well apearently i had a long weekend woohoo! so i decided to get some work done on the ford today...

I took the box off and started on the body lift that should be most likely comming in tomorrow!

Its pretty much ready for having the body lift installed i just need the parts lol, the bolts were pretty darn rusty and had to cut a thew of them. Is it normall that i had to cut into the floor of the cab in the pedal area on drivers side and same area on passanger to get to the bolt for the body mount?

Anyways i have also have a bit of patching to do on 2 of the crosses on the box, i wll try to get some square tubing the same size and cut one one part out of tube so its makes a U shape all the way across and just cut the length i need, cover the cross with that piece and weld it over.

here are some pics of what it looks like right now



















I also installed a radio yesterday :P!!!

 

Looking good, still looks like a solid truck. I can't wait to see the final set up.

 

Looks like those seat brackets you rigged will punch holes thru the floor. Might want to redesign them

 

i will take my chances they feel pretty solid, like i said i had a pretty heavy guy sit in them and they held up fine... If they let go i will get a plate of steel i dono a 3-4" squard and put it between the brackets and floor where i can so it supports a bit wider.

I have the body lift installed on the cab, it was pretty easy, i can't believe i paid 160$ for a thew plastic cylinders and bolts that i could have done myself for 50-60$, oh well.

My friend was supposed to get me some tubing at his shop but forgot now i won't be able to get the box done this weekend.

i think i am just gonna work on it sunday and just clean the frame up with pressure washer, grind the rust with a brush wheel and sand blast the rust spots and rattle can over them, i also have some new brake shoes to put in the back and i took the flexible rubber brake line in the back out, it was leaking will try to find one this week end and get the rear brakes set up and that should be it untill i can repair the box.

Oh yhea gotta do the exhaust, i decided to forget headers for now, might wanna be upgrading to a 351w if i can find one in decent shape, or even beter a complete parts truck with a good 351 already in it. So for now im taking out that cat and muffler, my god that magnaflow stainless mufler is crap their is no rumble at all coming out of the exhaust.

Will most likely be doing the box during the week since i am switching from night shift to day shift this week, WOOHOO!!

 

I agree with this statement, that bracket assembly looks like it needs something to distribute the forces and add some structural integrity.



For example, I''m sure you've noticed the underside where the bench bolts in, there are (at least) two front-rear U-bracket-type of supports under there where the seat bolts on.

It's good you had a 300 lb guy bounce on it but the NHTSB (and the insurance companies doing an after-the-fact investigation) is (are) gonna be more concerned about what happens in a severe impact and who is to blame for injuries suffered....

 

alright i got more stuff done during the week and took a thew pictures tonight with my new blackberry

Last saturday i messed around with the exhaust tried a thew things out, # 1 tried taking out the cat and just ran it with a magnaflow mufler that was already unde their, it barely rumbled, #2 tried a cherry bomb also had barely a rumble, #3 i tried no cat no mufler, it was loud but sounded like crap, #4 i tried just a simple gutted cat with no mufler and that was the best reslut for sound. I put a gutted cat under their with some 3" exhaust i had left over and modified the tail pipe a bit in the back and their she is the best i could do with what i had!

On monday i friged around with the rear brakes, replaced the rear pads, replaced the whole line frome the valve thing up front all the way to the rear axle, i also replaced the flexible rubber line cause it was cut off.

Threw our the week i sand blaster and grinded with a wire wheel the whole rear frame section of the truck and gave it 2 coats of cheap black spray paint.

Tonight i messed around with the rotten crosses on the box, i went to buy some tubing yesterday but when i found out what price they wanted for 8" of tubing i pretty much laughed in their face, way to much in my opinion. So i scavanged the our crap section out back in the woods at our house and found an old bed frame lol. I cut up the angle bar to the length i needed and placed 2 pieces per cross and welded it inplace, i only got one done tonight but will do the next one tomorow! and hopefully by the end of the day i will have the box back on than i think i am going for a nice ride in the woods on sunday with her!!!












and thats the way it looks to date

 

alright been a while since i posted or took pictures... but i did take a video!

Stuff ive done since last post are,
- replace the throwout bearing in the transmission wich did absolutely nothing the wining sound is still their,
- i also raised and replaced my front bumper with another one i had, fabed up some brackets and welded them to the frame so i could bolt it up nicely,
- I also repaired my rear lights but still have no reverse lights,
- Purshased a roll bar to put in the box, will be installing soon!

I also sold a thew things i had liing around the house and will definetly be purchasing my suspension lift soon!!

Anyways here is a small video clip of the truck i took today, we went for a small ride in the woods and had our selfs a lil fun!!

here is the link ---> 86 f150 4x4 - YouTube

 

Hey, guys,

jlc84cam350 started this thread in 80-86 but he didn't get a real good reception there, I'm moving it here (with his permission) as I think his project fits in better here.

 

Welcome to the offroad forum. Looks like a nice start to a decent project. What are your plans for it?



Ill second this. It needs some more support.

 

what size tires do you wanna run?? with a 3" body lift you should be able to clear 35's with a little trimming which with a TTB is all id wanna go...

 

Im going either 33-35" most likely 33", i want the lift just to clear obstacles and etc, i guess the less stuff that drags in the mud the better too.

Found a 6" sky jacker lift with rancho shocks, its the cheap set up with lowering brackets for the radius arms, but its only 250$ if the guy can eventually contact me ive sent like 10 emails.

 

so you want 9''s of lift to run 33's???? better rethink that game plan hoss. a 3'' b/l will fit 33's no problem. 33's and 9''s of lift will look more retarded than corky from life goes on trying to fill out a tax form....