Oswald: Nothing Special's '97 F-250 Crew Cab

[81-F150-Explorer]

Ford had an aversion to towing with manual trannies.  They preferred automatics, as is seen in the owners manual specs.

If you look in the 1981 manual it specifically states "Do not tow with manual transmissions".
I think they had a lot of clutch failures at the time and would be my guess for the restriction.

With that said, I tow with my 1981 all the time. No issues with it.  But I do not exceed my trucks capabilities.  A F-150 isn't supposed to tow a single wide mobile home for example.


As for rust protection.  Spray wax and paste wax are your friends.  Wax everything including the engine bay. Also keep the drain holes open and clog free.  Galvanized primer in critical areas helps too. Paint is also your friend. If you have a new part that isn't painted, paint it before assembly. Water pumps, brake boosters etc. are commonly not painted and will rust.

Also check the seams where sheet metal is spot and pinch welded together. If needed, caulk them with something like "3M all around body sealant."  The drip rails on the cab are a common place for cracked sealant. Water leaks here can rust out the lower cab corners for example as the water runs down the inside of the cab sheet metal. The bed of the truck has similar seams that should be sealed as well. The sealer in the bed seams are usually "removed" by people dragging and hauling things, etc..

Hope this helps

[Nothing Special]

This truck now has a name:  Oswald.

Feel free to skip the rest of this post which has the LONG backstory on that name.

I've never really been one to name my trucks.  The one I have at any point in time has always just been "my truck."  My previous trucks have gotten names so to speak, but they haven't been particularly imaginative.  My first truck (an '85 F-250HD) is called "my first truck."  My second truck, a blue '95 F-150 SuperCab is called "the SuperCab" (although Lesley calls it "the blue truck").  My third truck, an '08 F-250 crew cab that I was able to sell back to Ford on a lemon law claim is called "the lemon."  My fourth truck, a '02 F-350 crew cab diesel, is called "the diesel."

But now I have two trucks, the '97 F-250 crew cab and the '07 Dodge, so "my truck" doesn't really work anymore.  The Dodge is pretty easy.  I call it "the Dodge".  But I've been struggling with what to call this truck.  "My old truck" doesn't really work because that also applies to all my old trucks.  "The Ford" doesn't really work because almost all of my trucks have been Fords (along with the Bronco and motorhome I currently have).  "The white truck" doesn't work for the twin reasons that "the diesel" was also white, and I don't expect this truck to be white when it's done.

So that's why it needs a name.  But why "Oswald"?  For reasons I'll put in my Bronco thread, my Bronco has come to have the name "Pluto."  Lesley is a Disney freak (and I'm at least an enabler!), so a Disney name seemed like a given.  While a '97 truck doesn't seem old on this board, "old" is the adjective that gets used for it the most, so the oldest Disney character floated to the top.

"But wait a minute" you say.  "Isn't Mickey the original Disney character?"  Well no, he isn't.  Walt's first work was animated "shorts" that would be shown before the main attraction at movie theaters.  Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was one of his first regular characters.  But when he went from California to New York to try to negotiate a better deal he found that Universal Studios (his distributor) had "stolen" Oswald from him (Walt had never copyrighted Oswald and Universal had) so Walt was out of luck (pun intended).  They had even hired away most of his animators.

So on the train ride back to California Walt came up with a new character, Mortimer Mouse (fortunately for him, his wife said something like "that's a stupid name, you should call him "Mickey").  And the rest is history.  But Oswald was still first.

An interesting post script to that story is that in 2006 Al Michaels wanted out of his contract with ESPN so he could move over to NBC and work with John Madden.  His request worked its way up through the ranks and eventually landed on the desk of Bob Iger, Disney's CEO (Disney owns ESPN).  Iger said that NBC could have Al Michaels in trade for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  No one knew what he was talking about (including NBC!) but Iger knew that Universal, the parent company of NBC, still had the rights to Oswald in spite of not having done anything with him for over 60 years.  So Disney got Oswald back, and Al Michaels became the answer to a trivia question!

So that's the LONG story.  And now I have a truck with a name!

[Gary Lewis]

I tow with a manual frequently and, so far, haven't fried a clutch.  But I do see how that could happen.  However, I also see how you could fry a tranny with something like a C6 that has no clutch in the torque converter.  So there's a real tradeoff there.

As for Oswald, that's an interesting story.  I'd heard of him but didn't really know the story.  Cool!  

[Nothing Special]

On the towing I wonder if concern over breaking driveline components with a clutch-dump is a concern?  Basically that the ratings are for people that don't know how to drive a clutch.  Or if it has to do with ability to hold speed on a hill without manually downshifting.  Basically that the ratings are for people who don't know how to drive a manual.

Whatever, I always thought that was pretty silly, especially in the case of an 8800 GVWR truck with a 7900 GCWR (I think the GCWR with the 351, 3.54 gears and an auto would've been 10,000 lbs).

[Nothing Special]

Well, Oswald got a little love this week.  No work ON him, that would be too much to hope for.  But at least he got to DO a little work.

We're at my folks cabin this week and I was putzing with a few smaller jobs.  I needed to split some wood which involved moving the log splitter around.  Then I needed to move the split wood out of the way, which involved moving my little utility trailer around.  And then I did some work on my boat which involved moving that trailer around.  As Gary knows, pushing a trailer off the front bumper is a LOT easier than backing a trailer, especially when it's a very small trailer that you can't see in your mirrors or over the tail gate.  Oswald has a front receiver while the Dodge doesn't, so he got to flex his muscles just a bit.  In spite of sitting in the woods for 2 months he started right up!

[Gary Lewis]

Way to go, Oswald!  

Yes, pushing in front is soooo much easier to guide than pushing in back.  So happy to have the front hitch.  

And that makes "work" so much easier.

[BigBrother-84]

Nothing Special wrote

As Gary knows, pushing a trailer off the front bumper is a LOT easier than backing a trailer

Couple of years ago, a friend of mine gave me a hitch to install on Big Brother's front.
Each time I need it, I grumble while remembering it is still on a shelve.  Shame on me.

[Gary Lewis]

Silly boy!  

[Nothing Special]

Pluto (my Bronco) actually had a front receiver before he had a rear hitch!

[Nothing Special]

About a year since the last post in this thread, but I've finally started on Oswald's restoration!  Or more accurately I've started working on him to get him ready for his restoration.  So far it's just disassembly.

But to back up a bit, I posted in June about getting Oswald out of storage, and other than a dead battery, getting him started, loaded on a trailer and brought home to start working on him.  

However, as discussed in these posts, my Dodge didn't like towing Oswald home.  The Dodge ended up in the shop for three weeks, getting a new transmission.  I needed a truck, so Oswald couldn't go under the knife yet as he needed to be the reliable drive-to-the-cabin truck for a few weeks.  Fortunately he was up to the task.  He even got to pull some bushes out for my son, but proved that he is tired when he couldn't spin the tires on wet grass.

Then the Dodge got back from the shop late on a Friday, so I drove Oswald to the cabin one last time (it's sad to have more confidence in a 27 year old truck than a 17 year old truck, but it is what it is).  Since then I've been driving the Dodge to try to regain my confidence, and also going on vacation, and to the cabin.

But today I finally started working on Oswald!  Nothing much yet, I just pulled the seats out, vacuumed up most of the mouse droppings (they are filthy creatures!) and started taking the dash out.

The overall plan for this project (in broad brush strokes) is:

Replace the rusted metal above the windshield, in the cab corners, and wherever else it shows up

Clean up the chassis

Repower him.  What with is still up in the air, but I'm currently leaning toward a 12 valve Cummins and a 5 speed manual trans.

Restore the front clip, adding an intercooler if I do go with the Cummins

Replace and/or restore the bed

The goal for this summer had been to finish restoring the cab.  But that was with the idea of starting work in early June.  The new goal is just to get the cab stripped out and removed so I can start trying to restore it next year.

OK, not much progress, and not a lot to show, but I do have one picture to document where he is.

[BigBrother-84]

Nothing Special wrote

About a year since the last post in this thread, but I've finally started on Oswald's restoration!  Or more accurately I've started working on him to get him ready for his restoration.  So far it's just disassembly.

There's a well known guy here who's pleased to tag every work as «Progress!».
So I'll let him call the shot.

Nothing Special wrote

I just pulled the seats out, vacuumed up most of the mouse droppings (they are filthy creatures!)

It's a chance you didn't choose to name Oswald «Mickey».

[ArdWrknTrk]

Progress is Gooood!





With the bed off it's rather easy to weld in new cab corners, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with panel bonding in situations where it isn't a life safety issue (cab & seatbelt mounts for example)
Doing a proper prep job insures a leak proof seal without any sealer, and I've seen sheet metal tear before the epoxy let go, as long as it wasn't a direct peel force on the joint.

[Nothing Special]

There are those who would argue that Mickey is the filthiest!  (I'm not one of them)

And I definitely agree it's progress!  But calling it "starting the restoration" seems like a bit of a stretch!  Anybody can take stuff apart.  We have yet to see if I can put body panels back together.  I think I'll be successful, but there's still a real chance that I turn Oswald into a pile of scrap metal.  So I don't think I can truly say that the "restoration" has started until I'm putting non-rusty sheetmetal back on!

[Gary Lewis]

The longest journeys start with just going out the door.  This is a start, but with many more steps to be taken.  

[85lebaront2]

My brother-in-law bought a Dodge 1500 with a 360 engine, ordered it with a tow package for pulling his 16' boat. First time he did this, the transmission started slipping on the way back. This is a post 1994 short bed 4WD 1500. Dealer told him he needed a transmission cooler, Robert asked if it was part of the tow package and was informed that it was. Robert pulled out his copy of the order for the truck and showed where trailer tow package was checked.

He had to pay for the transmission replacement, but after a lot of back and forth with Chrysler, he was reimbursed.

When we were clearing out dad's house in Virginia Beach, my brother Bob had a Tundra, Robert had the Dodge, and I was there with Darth. At one point we were shuffling trucks for loading, Bob said something on the order of move and let a big truck get in. I looked at him and said, "big truck, move that Japanese pretender and let a BIG truck in". Darth sits as high as the 4WD Tundra and Dodge, and he is a 2WD.

[Nothing Special]

85lebaront2 wrote

....  Darth sits as high as the 4WD Tundra and Dodge, and he is a 2WD.

Ride height is why Oswald is sticking with the TTB front axle.  He currently sits a couple inches lower than my Dodge.  I find it a lot easier to get into Oswald, and especially to load stuff into the bed.  I like the idea of going to a solid front axle, but I don't want a truck that sits as high as most newer 4WD 3/4 ton trucks.  I used to like that look, and I did lift my '95 F-150 so it sat as high as my '85 F-250.  But I want Oswald to stay at stock height.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Back in the '80's everyone on the job site was telling me to lift my TTB truck.
I asked them how many bundles of shingles, bags of concrete, 12' pieces of Sheetrock they felt like lifting chest hight or more... 🧐




🤡🤡🤡🤡

[Nothing Special]

Another week of poking at it, and quite a bit of time today, so it's time for another update.  As my son described it, I've got Oswald pretty well hollowed out now!  Or as I described it, I'm making quite a bit of progress turning Oswald into a pile of used truck parts!  (I sure hope I'm able to turn him back into a truck!)  I'm definitely past the point of no return.  Oswald will never be an old truck again.  Either I'm going to restore him or part him out, time will tell.

I've pretty much finished stripping everything out of the cab.  There's still some stuff attached to the firewall.  I think I'm going to leave the heater in place, but if I need to move it I can later.  And I'll be taking the master cylinder off when get to taking the front clip off and I may or may not take the pedals off then.

I wasn't able to get any of the seat belts unbolted from the floor, the bolts are all rusted in too bad.  I will need to get them out somehow, but that's a problem for a different day.

It rained last night and when I got the carpet out today I found quite a bit of clean water in the left rear door sill.  I'll obviously have to get that found and fixed.

And so I can look back and remember what parts I need to replace, the left rear seat belt is worn / chewed part way through and needs to be replaced.  Several of the screws holding the door sill plates down were rusted in and I wrecked them getting them out, but that's not a big deal.  The biggest disappointment was that I couldn't get one of the screws out that holds the transfer case shift lever boot, and I broke the screw boss out of the base.  I don't know if I'll be able to repair that or if I'll need to replace it.



The seats and carpet are in my basement (I don't want the mice at the cabin to be able to have their way with them) but the rest of the used truck parts are in the bed.

[Gary Lewis]

Progress!  I think you'll have a new truck one of these days, and be quite proud of it.  

[Nothing Special]

Before this week's update I realized that I have quite a few recent pictures of the driver's side of Oswald, but I haven't happened to take many of the passenger's side.  So before I started taking stuff off I thought I'd get this picture.  Yes, the fender flare is gone over the rear tire, but that wasn't removed in this project.  It fell off when too much of the metal is was mounted to went away.  This is the worse side, so it seemed worth a "before" picture.



Now see if you can tell what progress I made this week.  i know it's kind of subtle, but I bet a few of you will pick right up on it



OK, if you didn't catch it, I removed the bed!  That was a lot of putzy stuff, trying to get the tail light wiring out from above the receiver hitch and grinding off the bed bolt heads (and then sweeping up the grinding dust).  I looked at the nuts on the bottom of the bolts and realized I'd never be able to get a wrench on the back ones without removing the bumper and receiver, and the rest weren't going to go down without a fight.  So off with their heads!

It was still stuck down pretty good, but a bottle jack between the leaf spring and the bottom of the bed persuaded it to let go of the frame.  Then both of my sons were stopping by to pick up their dogs (both were on vacation at the same time so we had two extra dogs for awhile), so I enlisted their help (as well as Lesley and one daughter-in-law) to first carry the topper off, and then the bed.  And I only missed one zip tied wire run that started to pull tight as we started to move it!

I thought I'd include one more picture for those of you who don't live in the rust belt.  Part of me really wonders why I'm not starting this project on a truck from the southwest.  But here I go anyway!