need advice on dead truck & removing/selling Kargo Master ladder rack - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

jordanski · 06-01-2009, 06:22 AM

hey guys, been away for a while, hope everyone is busy makin' money in the sun!

well, I'm in a pickle, the ol '84 F-150 needs a bunch of work and I'm on the fence whether or not to sink a grand into it and keep it as a hauler/dump run and occasional ladder mover, if I fix it up it will be used maybe 2-3 times a month or as a back-up vehicle in a pinch...

laugh all you want, I do painting, carpentry, and remodel and my '91 volvo 240 wagon is the best vehicle for the job, remember it rains here in seattle a lot of the year... a pickup is good for sheet goods and heavy stuff, that's about it, sucks for power tools...

sunk a ton of money into the truck, $600 for the rack & install, paid $2300 plus maybe $4k in parts and repairs over 3 years, only has 79k miles but a lot of original factory parts, nice body, excellent tranny 4spd and the classic straight 6 engine runs well... needs a new distributor and ECM with some wiring work done, and have the back drum brakes fixed, ****ing tow guy towed it with the E brake on! found out much later and I want to kill this guy!

so either drop a bunch of money in a lean year, get it fixed and maybe get $800 profit selling it as running vehicle, or

sell the rack, and maybe get $400 for the truck not running...

drop the money into it and hold on to it...

**** that's a hard one....

so my question is anyone ever taken one of these Kargo Master racks off a vehicle and put it on another one? I have a fear some dude will get it off my truck and be unable to re-install on his and I'm stuck with the rack in front of my house... I know they are sorta torqued on in the install process.. anyone have any exp. they can share? I'm afraid selling the rack might be a big can of worms...could probably get $300 for it tho...

hard to give up on the truck after all the work and money I put into it...gotta do something, it's been sitting for 2 years...

here's a pic of the rack, mine is in great shape...that's not my truck...

JonM · 06-01-2009, 06:43 AM

I have one...they are pretty much a universal fit for most pickups....http://www.kargomaster.com/files/ins...3Pro2TRUCK.pdf

The only problem you may run into is the joints have silicone injected before they are bloted together.

BobsLandscaping · 06-01-2009, 07:32 AM

As long as the body isn't rotting off I'd keep rebuilding that old Ford.

My truck is an 82 F150 4x4 Supercab. Good truck. Cheap to insure, cheap to run, reliable. Drove it to Seattle and back last month.

Once you get body rot I'd quit fixing it. The floorboards are 1/4 rotten and the rockers are 1/2 rotten on mine. At this point I'd put a clutch in it at the most. If it needed a motor or anything major I'd get a new rig.

Patrick · 06-01-2009, 04:34 PM

MAN and to think i was bitching about my 2001 truck being old

BobsLandscaping · 06-01-2009, 05:07 PM

My truck isn't old, she's aged.

Only major annoyance I have is the seat. Men must have been a whole lot tougher way back in 1982. Padding? We don't need no stinking padding!

willworkforbeer · 06-01-2009, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick

MAN and to think i was bitching about my 2001 truck being old

No, this is an old work truck, the trash on the left is kitchen coming out

Patrick · 06-01-2009, 09:14 PM

You should paint your user name on that truck, it would really tie together nicely. That bed cap is probably worth more than the truck

dkillianjr · 06-01-2009, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willworkforbeer

No, this is an old work truck, the trash on the left is kitchen coming out

Nice truck!, gotta love those older fords, it looks in pretty good shape in the pic

Dave

TxElectrician · 06-02-2009, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willworkforbeer

No, this is an old work truck, the trash on the left is kitchen coming out

Looks like you should trade it in on a lawnmower...or a goat.

woodchuck2 · 06-02-2009, 07:28 AM

Hmmm, too bad your not mechanically inclined. That truck should be carberated and not EFI so i dont know why they are telling you that it needs an ECM. Those trucks were noted for dist. problems and ignition modules. If it were me i would pull the dist. and throw it away, instead i would opt for the old points dist. which you can buy a reman for $60 and drop that in. Your existing coil will work too, just have to rewire it along with the dist. I did this on my 1983 F-150 many yrs ago after wire harness issues and module problems. I replaced the dist. and carb for peices off a 1978 F-150 that didnt have all the pollution crap and i swapped the 1979 dist. in for a reman points dist. for a 1972 F-100. The truck ran like new and was far more reliable.

willworkforbeer · 06-02-2009, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick

You should paint your user name on that truck, it would really tie together nicely. That bed cap is probably worth more than the truck

It would work wouldnt it?

Somebody has willworkforbeer.com for sale for $400, last year was rough financially

. I hate the cap but its functional.

jordanski · 06-03-2009, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodchuck2

Hmmm, too bad your not mechanically inclined. That truck should be carberated and not EFI so i dont know why they are telling you that it needs an ECM. Those trucks were noted for dist. problems and ignition modules. If it were me i would pull the dist. and throw it away, instead i would opt for the old points dist. which you can buy a reman for $60 and drop that in. Your existing coil will work too, just have to rewire it along with the dist. I did this on my 1983 F-150 many yrs ago after wire harness issues and module problems. I replaced the dist. and carb for peices off a 1978 F-150 that didnt have all the pollution crap and i swapped the 1979 dist. in for a reman points dist. for a 1972 F-100. The truck ran like new and was far more reliable.

the ECM next to the distibutor and the distributor need to get swapped out for older versions (like from an '82), then the ancient prototype computer gets cut out, truck gets re-wired carb-ecm-distributor to be 100% mechanical, no computer messing up the truck... then fix the rear brakes and it's running, materials for the under the hood stuff about $250 plus quote of $350 from electrical shop, another $50 to have carb adjusted after the electrical work, then whatever fixing a frozen E brake is gonna cost... not too expensive but a multi step huge hassle and getting it towed to two different shops...

what do you think?

jordan

ps. guys you are jacking the thread with nonsense...wtf?

woodchuck2 · 06-03-2009, 07:29 AM

They are calling the ignition module the ECM, Ford had recalls on these for overheating/vibration failures since they were mounted to the dist and so close to the engine. You should be able to find a hot wire that cycles off the key in the harness to the ECM. Run that wire to the hot side of the coil and run another wire from the negative side of the coil to the points dist. If you do this dist. swap be sure you align the dist properly and dont drop the oil pump drive "hex shaft". I always mark the dist to the block, rotor point to dist when set and rotor point to dist when pulled. The rotor point will turn when the dist comes up off the cam gear so it knowing the location of the rotor point when it comes out will help the alignment when setting the new dist back in. You will have to offset the rotor point when setting the new dist as it will turn back when you set it in the engine block. Some final adjusting to set the timing can be done when it is all buttoned up. If your lucky you may not need to set it at all. If your carb still runs fine then leave it alone, the truck i had seemed to have running issues so i swapped out the carb for an older one that didnt have all the electronic garbage on it. This is actually an easy task once you have done it. The brakes are a cheap easy fix too with the exception of the e-brake cables. Just buy new and grin and bear it when you replace them. Good luck.