Another way OT question 1970 f-250

sorry, the f150 question made me want to ask mine -

Seriously considering buying an older truck -

1969 through early 70's f250.

I have zero experience with older fords other than memories of riding around as a small passenger.

Anyone own one? Is it hard to find parts for/maintain?

Any common problems to watch out for when buying?

It wouldn't be a daily driver, but more a weekend work truck.

any advice?

I have owned several 70's vintage ford trucks and there aren't any big issues with them besides the fuel mileage. 360 motors aaren't real powerful, but the 390 is a good one.

I owned several with the 360 motor back in the day. I believe that is why they made the rule to stop the engine before pumping gasoline at the self serve pumps. If you let a Ford 360 run, you would never get it full.

tough rugged old gas hogs. no real quircks that i recall,4 brl carbs could give you fits occasionaly but they all could.my advice would be to not buy one that had been wrecked in the front end.any twisting on the frame at the center of the twin i beams and they will eat tires (if you wind up with one with twin i beams).ive never had problems finding any parts,except brake boosters and the like.they are not hard to find but they made several different ones over the years.exhaust manifold gaskets give problems occasionaly.throw you a extra set of points and a condenser in the glove box and you were pretty much ready to go anywhere. other than burning gas about as fast as you could pump it in,some of the most rugged trucks ford made in my opinion.

Pretty good trucks. Yea the 360 was a hog. I'd suggest that you look just a tad newer, mid to late 70's. I never was a fan of the gas tank in the cab with you.

Rick

I live in the Northeast, I have had many! The problem here is rust, Bed, floors radiator support inner outer fenders etc... drive train was great.

thanks guys - some good info here.

- love the one about shutting the engine off to fill it.

mileage isn't a huge concern for what I'd be using it for - just running errands around town mostly.

I'll open my search to later 70's too - I was avoiding that because I'm mentally scarred from that era of vehicles.

Maybe the ford trucks weren't as bad as I remember every other vehicle being in the late 70's early 80's.

Ford in 1970 used three engines in the F250 the 360, 390 and the 460. The 460 was the only one that you could get from the factory with a 4 barrel carb. If you wanted a 4 barrel on a 360 or 390 you had to do it yourself.My dad and I both bought new F250's in 1970 both with 360's in them. I got better gas milage than dads but he had a 411 rearend and mine had a higher road gear in it. As far as I beam front ends we never had any problems but we did replace the stock shocks with the heaviest shocks that we could find.

if you end up with a 360, change the oil pump great engine about 12 mpg empty, down to 8 pulling a load
had a 68 F250 2wd, 360 auto, PB, manual steering
hauled 3 ton of stone out of the tipple 25 + miles a few times and the truck would set level
good luck
Ron

yeah - that comes with the territory.

I'm hoping to get lucky and find one that was "imported" from the south.

Otherwise - I may be taking a real long ride for one.

Don't limit yourself to the early 70's, as they were still simple, and reliable into the late 70's as well. Dad's got a '77 F350 with a flat bed with, I believe the 400 gas engine. The thing is a beast when it comes to hauling. Like the first reply to your post suggests, it's a gas guzzler but for what it will do it's a fair trade off in my opinion.

Too unless your just a fan of the Fords, the Chevy's weren't bad back then either. My first service truck was a '78 C30 with a 454 gas engine. Again it would drink the gas, but, being a service truck, I was also driving it around loaded all the time.

All that said when you get into the late 70's you have to deal with a little bit more of the emissions crap than was present in the earlier ones. Even then it's nothing more than a few vacuum lines, etc to deal with so with a Chilton's or hayes manual and a little bit of common sense and mechanical ability, repairs aren't all that bad for anyone to do.

I'm pretty sure the 300 I6 was the base engine back then. 1970 might have been the first year the 460 was put in a F series pickup, certainly not any earlier.

I have a F250 w/ 460 bought new in 1967, still have it. Tow a 5th wheel w/ it. Been a good truck.

JR,not a 250,but I have a'70 F-100(1/2 ton).Love it! Its one tough pickup.Owned it about 15 years.Has just over 150,000 miles.302,4s,No power steering or p brakes.About 12-15 mpg.Just a simple,basic,bullet proof old truck.Parts are easy to find and plentiful(but I've never needed any).Ford made a bazillion of them,there are still lots out there.I would be content to drive this one the rest of my life-Probably will......

Check the cab mounts. They're known to rust out. Then the steering column and shifter bind up.

I'd avoid the "power assist" steering in some of the four wheel drive models. Some of the parts are no longer available.

Here's my '75 F-250.

I"d stay away from a 78. Different front suspension (one year?) and bushings did not stand up. Large dealer (world"s oldest Ford dealer) sold me the parts, could not press them in. Sent me down the road to a boat dealer for installation.

dhermesc you are right about the 6 but he was talking about the v8's. When we bought ours you could have the 300-6 or 360 for the same price but the 390 and 460 were the other two engines that could be had. I liked my 360 but when was a year old I put Holley carb on it and put 21/2 dual pipes from front to rear with glasspack mufflers. I got around 18 mpg on open highway and 12mpg around town and would get less if I was pulling something.

if i remember, on the 460 engines around 1974, to meet emissions, they retarded the camshaft timing to meet specs, and it reduced the horsepower of the engine. by replacing the timing chain and gears from an earlier engine, it would wake up the hp on em.

A lot can happen in 45 years. The 460 was first introduced to the Ford division in 1968 and was only available as an option in the 1968 Thunderbird - in 1969 it was an option in other full size cars. It might have been an option in 1970 for pickups.

The vary best Ford truck i ever had was the 73 F250 4x4 But not the way it came from the factory . The 360 sucked in many ways including gas mileage and power . Fixed that by dumping a 428 SCJ under the hood along with revamping the C 6 tranny a bit by building it with six disc and plates and a trans go shift kit.The weak point was the Danna 44 hd ft axle as we would eat the spider gears . But back then the kit was cheap at 29 bucks my cost and took about three hours to change .Fuel mileage with the 428 was a lot better then the 360as i gained 5 MPG with the super snake .My buddy had a F250 just like mine but his was a 4 speed with no P/S we pulled his engine and used his block and installed a 390 crank with 67 390 GT pistons and rods and a set of GT heads and med rise 4bbl intake along with a 428 SCJ cam lifters . His weak points were the ft rear end same as mine and the short drive shaft between the trans and transfer case his fuel mileage was a bit better them mine was at 16-17. we probably would not have had the problems we did have IF we would not have been doing dumb things with the trucks like four wheeling off road pulling things we should not have been pulling .Mine was the best plow truck i ever had. The worst Ford was the 78 , ya know that when you buy a new truck that it is a SUN KISSED LEMON when it does not even make it home from the dealership and has to be towed back there the night ya TRIED to take it home ( LEMON LAWS were not in affect at that time). Out of the first 12 months while under warranty it spent four at the dealer 5 yes five transmission 7 alternators five traction loc rear ends two engines five power steering pumps ( they would BLOW ) and blow so bad that all that was left were the mounting bolts.and we will not get into the Myers Snow Plow that came with it , it was a good plow as long as it was not snowing. When the warranty ran out that is when the truck got some mods done to it like a 460 a hand built C6 Then and only then was it a good truck till it got totaled .

If you have any doubts:


http://books.google.com/books?id=eT7LT69STO0C&pg=PA173&lpg=PA173&dq=ford+429+engine+first+year&source=bl&ots=4Dwikt0G4i&sig=Kh4F6LicWwbrJX0maAQ0OjiEMYY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CgstUJGeMKLAyAHR8oCQCQ&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=ford%20429%20engine%20first%20year&f=false


The 429 and 460 engines (385 engine series) were introduced by Ford in the 1968 model year. The 429 was widely available in many models but the 460 was only an option in the Ford Thunderbird that year (also an option in most (all?) Lincolns in 1968). It was in no other Ford vehicle in 1968. Certainly not in a pickup in 1967.

I like the 73 & 74 years because they moved the fuel tank from behind the seat and in our state, 75 and newer have to go through DEQ. The 360 and 400 were no ball of fire from the factory, but you could build them to have lots of torque. The 6, 390, and 460 were all good engines. Really tough old trucks. Had a 77 that I rebuilt the 400 at around 70,000 miles and I put 300,000 on it with just normal maintainence. The 75 and newer had electronic ignition and there was an ignition module that could go out. If you carry a spare though, they last forever.

oh just buy one. i have had 74 250,76 250,
79 150,86 250,92 150,98 150 and now 03 250.
i have had the most trouble with the new one.
simple is better !! pjh--that is a sharp truck.