Old tow truck upgrades.

[HBarlow]

That's nice work you did on that old Furd, Nick. Was the original engine a 390 or 460?

 

[Mark31]

Hey, Folks!! We had Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Pecos Bill, and now we have Nick Isaacs!! Draggin skidders through rivers, dodging scales so he doesn't get caught over the 80k road limit with a 350, haulin enough hay to feed the county (which he fenced in) in two loads, overhauling engines on the side of a mountain with only an adjustable wrench and a pair of Visegrips, forcing his district to set up some protected parks so he won't cut all the trees!! I'm lovin it! GO, NIck!!

 

[NIsaacs]

That's nice work you did on that old Furd, Nick. Was the original engine a 390 or 460?

Thanks Harvey!



The orginal was a wimpy 360:-laf When I moved down here with it, hauling the flatbed full and a 35' Mobile Villa park model loaded, the 6% grades had me in 2nd gear. Now with the Cummins, with that same load (it really wasn't that heavy) I can pull 6% grades so fast I get the Bends!



I pulled the 360 after I moved and installed a 428 and used them (I used up several) until the conversion.



Thanks Shad!



I bought this engine brand new from Cummins Southwest (then) in El Paso, TX. It is a CPL 856, 180/457 rated, built on 07/27/89 and sold as a '90 model. The CPL 600 was the same except it didn't have the KSB so it was a little older, CARB wise.



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Nick,

I owned a Furd F-250 w/360 engine back in the mid-70s. It could barely gain speed empty. It was the worst tow vehicle I ever owned. Used oil from the day it was new and consumed gasoline at an unbelieveable rate. A truly sorry excuse for a truck.

 

[NIsaacs]

Hey Mark... ..... you can add two more accomplishments to your colorful description of me and my truck... . mud bogging and security patrol... . I will do anything once:-laf



When they pulled me out of the mud hole (backwards) both mufflers dug into the mud so deep that they broke off at the headers and shoved up threw the wood floor of the flat bed. So I drove home (120 miles) with broke off headers, I am still hard of hearing



Picture of my truck and park model that I used for an office (taken in 1991) I was there a year, what a wasted year... .



Nick

 

[JR]

The top left picture has a number wrote on the windshield. Please tell me you really didnt enter that anchor in a real mud bog... . :-laf:-laf

 

[NIsaacs]

The top left picture has a number wrote on the windshield. Please tell me you really didnt enter that anchor in a real mud bog... . :-laf:-laf

I did that was my very first time ever, of even seeing a real mud bog, I almost went home and should have:-laf



Nick

 

[JR]

I did that was my very first time ever, of even seeing a real mud bog, I almost went home and should have:-laf



Nick

They ARE awefully difficult to avoid once your there. I blame it all on the horsepower, booze and muddy girls in bikinis. :-laf

Theres a place down the road a piece called Yankee Lake. It started out years ago as a couple of mud pits and you were lucky if 100 people showed up through the course of the night. Its grown into a thriving buisiness for the owners theyve made all the right moves and improvements and now you could expect 1000 + people on any given Friday night. Trucks Gone Wild even shows up once a year with the tv cameras. Theyve got miles of 4x4 trails, several different pits from mild to wild and even a money pit that could net the winner anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand bucks depending on the purse. Theyve also got hill climbs, huge rock gardens for the crawlers, truck pulls, tractor pulls, and a 4x4 race track. You wouldnt believe some of the money these guys put in some of those rigs just to bring em out and DESTROY them on Friday night :-laf. I cant say much if I could afford it... .

The cool part is theyve got 2 full sized school buses with 4x4 chassis and big floater tires on them and they give people tours of the grounds. The drivers arent scared to run em through the pits and some pretty deep holes, occasionally youll see a logging skidder dragging one of em out of a hole that was a little too much. Imagine 30 or 40 drunks in a 4 wheel drive bus gettin er done... . :-laf:-laf

 

[NIsaacs]

Update: New stacks are on, looks and sounds good. Replaced the steering gear input shaft seals, Dodge box , fixed the SS White speedo ratio adapter and lubed the speedo cable and trapped another rat building a nest on the top of the engine:-laf Also changed the oil in both trannys from 15/40 to Valvoline synthetic 50 wt manual transmission fluid.

I might take it down to Dyno Days this Saturday and blow the soot out. It will be the 3rd time, the first 2 averaged 248/632, I have not changed anything power wise so I expect the same. It is always a fun day, check out all the rigs and talk shop about diesel power.

Nick

 

[AClayton]

Love that truck!!