'76 Highboy Restomod/Overland Light Build

[Maroon96]

Got this old truck a little while ago, but it's at my dads and I didn't have time to take pics until now. It's a 1976 F250 that my grandpa bought almost new. He was downsizing and gave the truck to me. It hasn't been driven in the last few years, but was driven a little before that. This truck has been in the family forever and my dad and his siblings all drove it in high school. At some point, my dad replaced the power assist with power steering. The engine was rebuilt about 30,000 miles and years ago.

The plan is to keep the stock look as much as possible, with some enhancements. Even though it's my truck now, I'll always think of it as grandpas/the family truck because of the history. I hope to find a good balance between keeping it what it is, but still building it up some and making it mine. Some things I might do are a short lift, stainless rollbar/lightbar for KC lights, flush toolbox for recovery gear, second battery, and rock sliders or steps of some sort. Also, all the obvious things: bodywork, paint, new interior, etc.

As far as the overland light portion of the build, I want to increase the capability without going to crazy visually. I might add some mounting points for recovery boards, hi-lift, and other stuff on the inside of the bed. Plus do onboard air, rock lights, and receiver mounted winch.

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[Supercharged111]

Damn, that looks to be pretty clean. Nice blast from the past.

 

[Maroon96]

Yeah, the bed is probably the worst of it. It's from Texas originally and then spent some time in Utah and Wyoming, but hasn't seen much of the salty roads.

 

[Wiscoburban]

I have always been a chevy guy but I love those style fords. Thats a nice looking truck with an awesome history you have!

 

[Aarong23]

Those trucks were/are amazing machines. My dad had roughly a dozen of them when I was growing up. He always said they were the best off roading trucks because of their capability and durability.

 

[RichLo]

That is awsome! My first vehicle was a 1978 F-100 (square headlight) with a 289 and manual trans that I still have in my pole shed that I'll get around to restoring some day. I also have a 78 Bronco (round headlight) with a 400 small block and manual trans thats lifted at least a foot and has 44" mudders on it.

I love those old fords! Anything newer than 1980 I wont touch but those 70's are the coolest ford trucks ever made IMO.

 

[Aarong23]

That is awsome! My first vehicle was a 1978 F-100 (square headlight) with a 289 and manual trans that I still have in my pole shed that I'll get around to restoring some day. I also have a 78 Bronco (round headlight) with a 400 small block and manual trans thats lifted at least a foot and has 44" mudders on it.

I love those old fords! Anything newer than 1980 I wont touch but those 70's are the coolest ford trucks ever made IMO.

I remember my dad would always put buckshot 37s on his. It was crazy because other than trimming the inner fenders, I don't think he had to do anything else to make them fit. I believe the hi-boys came four inches higher from the factory.

 

[RichLo]

yea, I have the bushwacker flares on my bronco, the ones that you have to trim the inner fenders for tire clearance. It looks like it should have come from the factory with those flares and at least 40's on it.

 

[Maroon96]

Got to do a little work on the truck recently. After doing some research on wheel sizes/lug patterns, I found a set of 17" 07 dodge wheels on facebook that it looked like would probably fit. For $20, I figured it was worth a chance and picked them up. Did a quick test fit and they worked. The very next day I saw a new post for some used 35" tires for a 17" inch wheel. I'd been looking for a little bit already, and this deal just fell into my lap with perfect timing. Got all four of them for $200. Although the tires are fairly new, two of them were wearing funny/quicker than the others, which is why I got them cheap. I'm not going to be doing a lot of driving or any on the interstate, so they'll work perfect for me.

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Then over the weekend I put them on. The truck had a blown tire and the mirror was touching the wall. The other side was right next to the ac. So the only way to change tires was to somehow drag the truck out first. My dad got a winch for his jeep not long ago and that made quick work of it.

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Then I was finally able to get the wheels on. Not my favorite wheels, but I have to admit, they look better mounted than I thought they would. They are a narrower wheel and the offset is quite a bit different than the other ones, so the tires are kind of tucked in some. I'm not into the whole stance game, but it does look a little funny compared to the old ones.

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While rummaging around and cleaning out the cab/engine bay with a leaf blower, I found what I think is the keychain that came with the truck when my grandpa bought it.

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Also got a closer look at the bed and realized it wasn't actually a highboy bed. It came off one of the 2wd's or later year fords with the wider frame rails. It's got some homemade, angle iron bed mounts welded to the side of the frame here and there. I hope to find an actual highboy bed to replace it with. Or at least get a cleaner bed mounted a little more cleanly. But anyways, I asked my dad about the bed. He said the the original was beat to pieces hauling hay, firewood, etc. and ended up splitting a part. At one point, they hauled about 100 square bales with it. Stacked up on the cab and everything.

Besides the tires, I put a new battery in, topped of the antifreeze, and, with a little gas and starting fluid, it started right up. Only runs for a couple seconds while there's gas in the carb though. There seems to be not enough pressure. I ordered a new fuel pump since they're only about $30 and am going to drain the gas when I replace that. Hopefully that does the trick and everything else is good enough that I can start driving it around town or going out to the desert now and then.

Lastly, I snapped a picture of the door sticker for future reference.

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[Maroon96]

Since the last update: I cleaned, sealed, and painted the fuel tank, and ran all new everything from there to the carb. Including the fuel pump. The truck fired up fairly easily after a couple tries to get the gas flowing. I let it run for a while and noticed it was running rich and backfiring some. A couple weeks later I started it up and let it run again. The backfiring was gone and it seemed to not be running quite so rich.

Off and on, I have also been looking for a brake fluid leak.