What a great day!
I have been waiting for this to happen for a couple of weeks:
In 1997 my 3-year old son Sam and I went down and bought this truck new off the lot (he is now a Junior at Utah State University.) Here is a picture of him driving it when he was 8.
Besides the 'real' job, I have used it weekends at wife's sheep ranch in Tremonton. We have built a lot of fence just driving where we need to, gone deer & elk hunting every year. I suspect that it has pulled trailers 20% of the total miles. It is still my main truck, looks great and everything works.
at 75,000 miles I put a throw-out bearing in it (and replaced the clutch but it did not need the clutch--just made sense to do it.) Changed the plugs at 100K and 175K. No other service. Original brakes (freaked me out so I pulled the drums myself at last safety inspection.) Oil changes every 10K, no babying anything. Stock 460 is still strong, will pass almost anything on the highway except, of course, gas stations.
Everyone should own a great pickup like this one at some point in their life.
We can argue about what new trucks are the best, but I can vouch that this has been a beauty. I don't expect that I will ever own another truck this reliable and I am truly grateful to have had this one.
Mark
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> at 75,000 miles I put a throw-out bearing in it (and replaced the clutch but it did not need the clutch--just made sense to do it.) Changed the plugs at 100K and 175K. No other service. Original brakes (freaked me out so I pulled the drums myself at last safety inspection.) Oil changes every 10K, no babying anything. Stock 460 is still strong, will pass almost anything on the highway except, of course, gas stations.
>
Sounds like that 86' Mustang 5.0 HO GT black on black convertible I had. What a beast!! That thing scare me to death when I first got it since I hadn't driven a "real" muscle car in many years.
I bought the thing knowing the tranny was going bad (1st gear going bad and would sometimes pop out of gear completely).
I baby'ed that for about a year before it got really bad.
Went and got a 92' "tang" T5 tranny from a salvage yard. Let my neighbor put it in for me and while he was at it suggested I also do a clutch-pack and rear-main seal.
No problem!
I bought the thing with around 98K miles on it. It had around 200k miles when I finally let it go. After about 5 years I replaced the entire exhaust system from the headers to rear bumper with a H-pipe configuration and 3-chamber mufflers and dumped the catalytic crap. WOW! It changed that thing all over again and continued to scare me to death once again. Before I did that all I had ever done to thing was put in a new idle sensor and new hydraulic lines for the top. Oh ya, I new fuel pump.
I wound it one day coming home from visiting my brother. I figured around 150mph was dam fast enough and still had plenty of RPMs to go on the tac. The speed didn't bother me but the closing and passing rate on other folks sure had to about make them wet their drillies. I was more worried about them than me at that point.
I miss that car. Just to let it idle and listen was a great song to any muscle car enthusiast.
The most reliable car/truck I ever had was a '88 Mitsubishi Gallant. I don't think I did a thing to that except put in gas and drive it. I called it "my little go-cart". I took that thing deep into the woods, through snow and ice and it didn't care. To be honest I don't recall even changing the oil in it. The dip-stick was always clean. Perhaps I was doing one of those "over the road oil changes" since it did leak somewhat.
Enjoy your beast while you have it Mark.
E
Mark,
That's pretty cool. I turned over 200,000 miles in my 2001 F150 last April I think it was. I was on my way to a layout job in Memphis. I was sitting at a red light in Millington. It now has a little over 235,000 on it.
I have had very little trouble with it. I hope to work out of it about another year, and then retire it back to personal use. I bought it in 2006 and it had 80,000 on it, and was my personal truck before I opened my business in August 2007.
Good Story,
I just traded in my 2001 suburban z71 for a 2006 ford supercab 4x4.
Said suburban had 278,000 miles on it and just leaked a tad of oil, but got me to and from many a jobsite for 7 years.
I do miss the storage and comfort of the suburban, but am getting used to the Pickup and its better gas mileage.
When you have a good worker its hard to let them go.
Hard to beat a Ford. I just passed 222,222 miles recently on my 05 F-350. There was a recent American Dad episode about catching that awesome moment when it rolls around back to 0s.
Picture below was taken last Saturday, my 1993 Suburban. I paid $4500 for it and put 181,000+ miles on it. Motor was never apart, transmission was rebuilt at 52,000 miles, under warranty, for the original owner. It has minor issues but still looks pretty good... from a distance. 🙂 Sept. 2012 a 9 point buck ran into the side of it, taking the rear view mirror off and denting the two drivers side doors. I had comprehensive insurance but the insurance co. said the damages exceeded the value of the vehicle so they totaled it, and sent me a check for $2200, after which I popped one door dent out completely, put on a new mirror for $75 and ran the thing for another 15 months!
On Sunday, noticed a trail of oil from it. Rear main seal leak.
RIP at 333,337.2 miles.
