Here's what $1 will buy you these days

28HopUp · #1 01-02-2014, 11:09 AM

Over the holidays, a buddy of mine said that his wife's 1st cousin had a truck he wanted to get rid of. He lives about 5 miles from us, so Jack and I met up with him on Saturday. It is a 1993 F250 SuperCrew/long-bed with the 5.8L (351W), automatic tranny, and 2-wheel drive. The truck has 123K miles, and it is definitely a project. It won't idle right and the tranny doesn't downshift.

Jack wanted to find a winter beater he could wrench on, so he and the owner came to an agreement on price - $1.00! Jack followed me home, but we only got a mile away before the patched heater hose let go. We pulled into a neighborhood and let the truck cool off. The only tools we had were the few things the owner left inside the truck, which were a pair of pliers and a flathead screwdriver. We needed both to remove the hose clamps. I had a pocketknife on me, so I shortened the hose and Jack put it back together. The radiator still had some liquid in it ('looked like muddy Gatorade), and we got it home.

Jack and I have been working on it this week, and if the snow doesn't slam us tomorrow we plan to work on Saturday to fix the idle and determine what's up with the transmission. Hopefully he didn't pay too much!

nighthawk756 · #2 01-02-2014, 11:23 AM

Wow!! I can never run up on deals like that....that's great!!

MOstang · #3 01-02-2014, 01:36 PM

Always fun having father/son projects. Don't count on the snow not making things tough there if by what has/is rolling through here yesterday and today is any indication. Since we're used to the snow and lots of people still on vacation, it could be much worse, but plenty to keep it exciting!

28HopUp · #4 01-02-2014, 01:45 PM

Mike, I know what you mean. Around here they started putting brine down on the roads two days ago. DelDOT does a pretty good job of keeping the roads clear if they know the snow is coming. A couple of Sundays ago, the coating-1" that had been forecasted turned into 1 foot of snow. The roads were a MESS! I was in a 4WD F150, but my normal 30 minute drive home took 2.5 hours due to so many folks getting stuck.

Jack has been texting with me today as he works on the F250. He is replacing the fuel filter, which appears to be as old as the truck. He's working in the driveway in 30* weather, so I'm sure he's learning a valuable lesson. As a HS Senior, Jack has been accepted at 3 colleges so far. Working outside will likely confirm his decision to pick one down South!

MOstang · #5 01-02-2014, 01:50 PM

That's good to hear. Glad your road departments are still being proactive. Since the economy dipped here, the city departments pretty much don't plow until it's all over and forget about it if weekend or evening snow comes through as that wont be touched on premium time.

28HopUp · #6 01-07-2014, 03:35 PM

Jack and his cousin installed a new throttle position sensor and IAC last night, and the truck runs great. The bad TPS must have been screwing with the transmission, because it works fine now too. There is an oil leak at the front of the engine (bad intake gasket), but Jack has decided to sell the truck as-is once he replaces the two bad tires. He figures he can flip it for a little bit of profit, and find something else to tinker with. He has inquired about a 1986 Bronco II 4x4 that popped up locally for about the same price he should get for the F250. A 4x4 should fit his needs better. So the F250 will be hitting Craigslist in the next few days.