She's old, rusty, crusty, dusty and creeky (just like me) but WOWZY I'm in LOVE!!

[cowpuc]

Finding new pathways to CTFW on is not an easy endeavor.. I have always been one to struggle with change and giving up touring on a scoot has not been an easy task.. I am one though to not let lifes struggles keep my down,, for to long, so when living in a body cast for year while my back surgery healed, then Hand Surgery hit, then Brain fluid leakage hit,, then Heart Surgery, then Cancer Surgery hit with the resulting struggle of needing to sleep at any given moment (still think it all has something to do with physically getting old and worn out) required Tip and I to look for other ways to entertain ourselves - we started looking for new horizons..

First things first, for our touring needs we ended up with a really cool new car (first brand new car either of us ever owned) that we can sleep in AND it gets better gas mileage than any of our Touring bikes ever got (60 MPG)..

Further dreaming (NEVER QUIT DREAMING AND FOLLOWING THOSE DREAMS = IT'S THE SECRET TO A HAPPY/FULFILLING LIFE IMHO) brought us into a past love of mine = SHOOTING (see my other thread about that if your interested = turns out, there are MANY of us lop eared varmints with a love for that endeavor). Now that our home has a Gun Room that doubles as an Ammo dump,, it dawned on me that we are going to need a mode of transportation to haul us and our newly aquired artillary equipment out onto our thousands and thousands of land that we own (State and Federal Lands in Michigan are still owned by us tax payers) to enjoy our new hobby (we dont have a shooting range right out our back door like some varmints = yes @Sylvester - I am speaking of you!!

Having spent thousands of hours transversing those lands on a dirtbike in years past filled my mind with endless open fields and forests with area's PRIME for everything from tossing Clays to being able to safely shoot thousands of yards with a 556 or 308 (and even go Bass Fishing on small inland lakes that only a 4x4 can approach) but NOT in a brand new car.. So the search began for the perfect rig,, at a cheap price (I like the $1000 dollar scheme,,, never paid more than that for one of my 1st Gens so figured that was a good place to start for a 4x4). Also, just like my old 1st Gen's, the rig needed to be OLD so I could continue to run Historic Plates like on my bikes = 20 year plate for 35 dollars = my kind of deal.. Well,, here's what finally followed me home..

1982 Ford 250 ex Utility Truck w/ a hydro turn plow.. Carburated Ford inline 6. 4 speed manual w/creeper gear. Got brand new tires on her. Had to put a set of tail lights on her = got brake lights and tail lights now but still no blinkers (found the wire harness under her for the lights and WOWZY WOW WOW WOW, it was still functional except for blinkys.. Think I will stick a set of blinkers on her mirrors and wire em in.. Was missing her breather (PO only ran it turning the winter to plow his driveway and lost her original breather). Took a trip to the local junk yard, counter guy laughed at me and said DUDE = ITS 2019,, carbs been gone for EVER = good luck finding a breather for that thang.. A little humping around the yard and I was able to piece one together = including an almost brand new filter!! Walked back to the counter = $3 for all of it,, including a pile of breather stem bolts and gaskets!! Also got a new fuel tank under her!

Tip and I took er out for her maiden voyage yesterday before Fool turned down the heat and covered us in snow again.. We took her down to the lake to play in the beach sand = 4x4 works AWESOME!! Gotta LOVE the old style of manual transfer case and locking hubs!! Then we hit the north bound trails,, crawled down to a favored Bass Lake where the trail heading down to the lake was majorly root covered and eroded,, locked the hubs, stuck her in 4 DUBBYA D low range and IDLED back up over the roots and erosion with us both laughing as I held my feet over on Tips side to show her I wasnt even touching the throttle... Got stuck in 2wd in a sandy corner, got out, relocked the hubs, dropped her into gear and had to push a dead tree over to get out,, laughed as we thought we had dented our new trucks bumper = turns out the plow mount works like a cow catcher on a train and no visable damage,,, matter of fact,, I think the rig was telling us that it actually likes pretending its a Dozer..

The "boxes" look like they will easily hold our Artillery cases in safe mode behind locked doors and the other bins will hold a variety of Harbor Freight ammo boxes filled with ammo.. Thinking now of mounting a quick release electric Clay thrower system to her roof so I can slide a thrower on top and stand in the box and shoot pigeons. Also got dreams (never stop dreaming) of making a flip top on one or both of the upper bin lids to double as a bench rest for setting the bipods on the AR's on,,, always something aint it!!!

[BlueSky]

What! No power seats? No dual zone climate control?

 

Congratulations! That 6 cyl engine is one of Ford's best ever engines. Hope you have lots of fun with her!

 

I keep my old 2002 F150 4x4 mainly because we like to drive out on the 4 mile stretch of beach close by to enjoy the water and fish during the summer.

[Sylvester]

All I can say is hot damn that is beautiful brother. That Ford 300 ci six has lots of torque and will last longer than the eights. So happy you and Tip are out on the prowl. Live life to the fullest. Looking forward to Freebird's MD.

 

[slowrollwv]

Nice looking old truck Puc. I put over 350,000 miles on the one I had. I did notice that the front springs look a little weak and bowed. May need to be re sprung before the main leaf breaks and leaves you stuck out in the boonies.

[WRIDR]

O-Mi-Gawd Pucster; you've blown us awaaaay again!

 

How the Hazelnuts didja ever find something THAT perfect so SOON???!!!

 

Awesome; absolutely freak'n Awesome, Dude. She must have been sitting there waiting for YOU to show up!

 

Only flaw: far too much space begging for STICKERS. THAT's gonna take a while.~

 

Amazed Rgds, WRIDR.

[RDawson]

HHHMMMMMMM with that inline 6, double low, and snow plow I bet you'd have a good chance in getting all the way over to the Flyinfool's shed. You might even be able to push it over trapping that infernal machine.

[Flyinfool]

HHHMMMMMMM with that inline 6, double low, and snow plow I bet you'd have a good chance in getting all the way over to the Flyinfool's shed. You might even be able to push it over trapping that infernal machine.

 

NOt a chance, the shed was hauled in by a Chevy, aint no Ford gonna get near it........

[cowpuc]

Nice looking old truck Puc. I put over 350,000 miles on the one I had. I did notice that the front springs look a little weak and bowed. May need to be re sprung before the main leaf breaks and leaves you stuck out in the boonies.

Will definitely take a peek at those front springs Roller.. Even though this beast of an ex-Utility future is obviously gonna be spent putsying around in the sticks,, crawling up and down forest hills with an occasional stop for Bonnie and Clyde to haul out the artillery and toss some lead or to slide the 10 foot flat bottom skiff and trolling motor out of the back end of er and pursue some lunker Bass hiding in those previously inaccessable State Land ponds (no hard core trail running = those days went out with the ability to Tour on a scoot and drop tent all over the States and Canada), I will still take a peek at them to make sure this thing has a fighting chance of staying together..

Be it known though, I have always been one to live a little on the edge. One of the great advantages of riding a beat up ol, missing 2nd gear 1st Gen (and now this 82 Ford) was found in the answer to my 9 year old daughters question as we set up camp on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon after following deer trails to find it, the question being asked with WIDE EYES on her part = "Daddy, what happens if Beeg (what the kids named our 1st 1st Gen) breaks down out here and you cant fix her?".. To which I replied, "then we pack up what we can carry and Beeg finds a new home as The Goddess Of The Canyon until some Park Ranger finds her and donates her bones to a scrap yard - we take a bus home, find another Beeg and start all over again and THAT my dear little one is one of the greatest advantages to riding a bike that cost little, served its purpose and owes nothing".. This Truck is living on that same edge of destiny,, breaks down out in the middle of no where in a way that I cant reasonably repair it on the spot = first come first served to the scrappers with 4x4's and we start from scratch..

Back when our home's acreage bordered thousands of acres of State Land I was actually one of those lop eared scrappin varmints who hauled "left overs" in off public propery.. I ended up with several scrap cars and trucks, numerous snowmobiles and even a couple Boats.. Easy money and the Authorities were ALWAYS happy to oblige with the paper work making the scrap mine to claim. A relative of mine got involved with the "Animal Control" side of things sort of in the same way. He would get occasional calls from the DNR about domestic animals gone wild and living on Public Lands. He would go out and either capture or shoot the animals (his choice) and ended up with several pretty cool farm animals that he got to keep.. He "harvested" one REALLY BIG TEXAS LONGHORN that was WAYYYYYY COOL!!!