1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[salans7]

Of course this one has to be completely filthy, but it is the correct 1980 version. Looks like it's missing the lenses for the headlights and wipers though.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-1986-Ford-Truck-Dash-Bezel-Instrument-Cluster-Trim-Interior-Pickup-Molding/303797638746?fits=Year%3A1980%7CSubmodel%3ACustom%7CMake%3AFord&epid=1322233881&hash=item46bbc0165a:g:FfUAAOSwcMlfzOjD

[1986F150Six]

Rembrant wrote

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Your little 'saddles' are a great compliment to Framesavers Cory!  

Well, I'm trying to build this truck as cheaply as possible...lol, so one has to get creative. When I fixed up my '84, I found at that time that I could not buy a new core support in Canada. LMC has them for something like $169, and shipping within the US is cheap at like $29 bucks. However, shipping across the border the shipping was like $269 usd, and the whole works would end up being a $500-$600 bill for me, and I am for sure not spending that kind of coin on a truck like this one.

Or go this route!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OEM-Ford-1983-1984-1985-Truck-Bronco-Radiator-Support-F150-F250-F350/124459443382?hash=item1cfa5c64b6:g:9ZUAAOSwvL1fd53E

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm missing the "Ships Free to Canada" part...

More power to them!
I'm tempted to watch it, just to see how quick it sells.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I'm missing the "Ships Free to Canada" part...

Boy do I have a story about shipping to Canada...lol. I inquired about some very specific Bullnose parts from a company in the US. The "kit" is $39 bucks, but they have a $100 minimum purchase for international shipments, and they only ship UPS expedited priority, which would likely be another $50 bucks...lol. So I asked...maybe a dumb question, but sometimes retailers refer to international as outside of North America. Anyway, the guy replied and gave me a little bit of his mind about how much of a hassle it is to ship to Canada, and that it wasn't really worth all of the troubles. Ha! Anyway, no big deal...I know why some companies don't do it, but at least this guy was honest about it...lol. He directed me to a Canadian distributor to try, which I will. No big deal.

Anyway...that's not why I'm here!

About a month ago, I picked up some used 15x10 ProComp wheels for a good price. I have been watching the local classifieds literally for months for a decent-ish set of used 31" AT tires, and I was finally able to grab them yesterday, and got them put on the rims today. They're a bit weather cracked, but they were cheap and will be just fine for as far as this truck will travel within the next decade...lol.

I will put them on the truck soon, but I'm a bit limited at the moment with my lifting, so I was only able to mock them up this evening when I dropped them off at the shop.




Getting a bit ahead of myself here, I know...but finding a cheap set of 31" AT's and cheap 15x10's was sort of a side project as I knew they were going to take some time to find. Anyway, I have them now and they will motivate me to get the truck finished quicker (maybe, lol).

[Gary Lewis]

I think they look good, Cory!  I like them.  And I like that they are wide.  

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

I think they look good, Cory!  I like them.  And I like that they are wide.  

Thanks Gary,

I really wanted this particular set-up, with 31's on 15x10's. I would have stuck them on the truck tonight but I need to clean them first.

[salans7]

One of my favorite wheels for these trucks. They look good Cory!

[grumpin]

They look good! I like them also. Makes me want them for my Bronco.

[ArdWrknTrk]

They look great, Cory!

There's got to be a bit of good luck thrown in there with your searching to put that combination together.

Take it easy and follow the recovery and PT plan.
The truck isn't going to run away now that you've been treating it so well.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

They look great, Cory!

There's got to be a bit of good luck thrown in there with your searching to put that combination together.

Ha! Thanks Jim. There is some luck, yes. Do you know how difficult it is to find decent used 15" anything these days? How long has it been now since 15" wheels were the standard? 20+ years, I guess. On top of me searching for this stuff, there are many other guys searching for the same stuff so when it does pop up for sale it disappears fast. The only reason I was even able to buy the tires was that the guy posted them for sale early in the morning around 5am, and I saw the ad 20-30 minutes later and told him I'd take them without even seeing them...lol.

Anyway,...I'm having some fun with this stuff. I'm trying to assemble this truck on a budget, which takes a lot of used parts and my free labor...lol. I'll probably sell it in the end, depending on what I could get for it, but what I'd really like is a nice southern truck to work on.

Hoping for some decent progress on this truck over the X-mas holidays. Our work shuts down on Christmas eve and doesn't open back up until January 5th, so I'll have a good stretch of days with the workshop to myself.

[ArdWrknTrk]

"Progress" is good!

[Sac79]

As the page was loading and I just caught a quick glimpse of your pictures, I thought for a second that you had put duallies all round!

It should look really good!

[grumpin]

Rembrant wrote

Ha! Thanks Jim. There is some luck, yes. Do you know how difficult it is to find decent used 15" anything these days? How long has it been now since 15" wheels were the standard? 20+ years, I guess. On top of me searching for this stuff, there are many other guys searching for the same stuff so when it does pop up for sale it disappears fast. The only reason I was even able to buy the tires was that the guy posted them for sale early in the morning around 5am, and I saw the ad 20-30 minutes later and told him I'd take them without even seeing them...lol.

When I see the 20” rims on older trucks...

[ArdWrknTrk]

100% Dane!

Donk doesn't cut it.
But 17" rims with decent sidewall don't look too out of place on a lifted truck.  

[1986F150Six]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

100% Dane!

Donk doesn't cut it.
But 17" rims with decent sidewall don't look too out of place on a lifted truck.  

Ford thought 17" was just right:

https://horsepowermemories.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/1993-ford-lightning-tcb.jpg

[ArdWrknTrk]

At one point 16.5" rims were a thing.  💡
Now you can't find any selection of tires for them.


The big problem for our trucks is that metric lug patterns came before the shift to 17, so rims are scarce.

[1986F150Six]

I once entertained the idea of using Ford's 16" E150 alloy wheel on a F150...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-2006-Ford-E150-16-Machined-Silver-Aluminum-Wheel-Hollander-3552/283957311172?hash=item421d2cb6c4:g:6Y0AAOSwfPlfGf1b

[salans7]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

At one point 16.5" rims were a thing.  💡
Now you can't find any selection of tires for them.

My parts truck had a 16.5" spare tire/wheel. I went ahead and scrapped it because it's basically worthless. I've seen some nice wheels I'd love to have for my F350, but they've all been 16.5's and I'm not willing to put die-hard mud tires from Interco on the truck.

[Rembrant]

OK fabricators...need to pick your brains.

Something I will be working on soon is to build new steel bed sides for this old 1980 Flareside. Replicating the sides is not really a big deal...lots of people have done it before, but I'm a bit fussy in how I want them to look. I've checked with the three biggest sheet metal shops around here and bending the 16ga sides is not a problem, but the one thing none of them can do is the curl at the top of the bed sides:



Now, I can buy 1.5" OD round tubing with 0.065" wall thickness which is an almost perfect match for the factory curls, but what I'm wondering is what is the best way to attach them on to flat 16ga sheet metal? The obvious answer is to weld them, which is no problem...but I'm wondering what would provide the most seamless solution?

I think ideally I'd have a small section of the round tubing machined out so that I could but-weld the flat sheet to the tubing wall. I don't think that will happen. If I just lay the sheet on top of the tube and weld, there will be a lump there. I guess I can but the flat sheet up against the tubing so that they are sitting flush on top, but with a very slight valley between them...does that make sense?

Maybe I should draw some pictures...

[Rembrant]

Examples...any other ideas?