Time to Retire the Big Red Thunder Chicken :( (My Truck)

Straight 7 Rockwell out of a Peterbilt that me and a couple of friends made work one winter, the auto that the truck came with was going out and after enough beers Larry says......... "Hey What if we took the tranny out of my truck with the cracked block and put it in Mike's truck." and a week later we had my truck in his shop and with a lot of time, Larry and Tom made it work. I am neither mechanic or parts fabricator but I did a fine job of supervising the beer refrigerator while they made it happen. I was going to retire the truck back then so figured what the hell let them play with it and see what happens. The next spring it was done and never had a problem with the drive train again other than age and the rear end starting to drag and heat up now days. What I do know it runs at highway speed at very low RPMs in high gear, like idles along at 70 at 800-850 rpm. Problem with that is the RPMS are too low for the AC to work but drop down a gear and run it at 1100rpms it blows ice. Adding the clutch was the hard part I guess and they cussed a whole lot while getting the 4wd to work right. LOL took it in to my regular service mechanic and after a hour of looking and grunting and being amazed he looks up and says "That is some of the finest Afro American Engineering I have seen in a long time!" Won't be doing anything like that again in the future Larry died a few years back and Tom is not in very good shape now days

 

Were all in the same tin can spaceship
Sloth

 

That sounds like a great donor truck for mine! I have a 95' Dodge Cummins Auto that is going to need a manual transmission at some point.

 

@Thunder5Ranch I wish you luck trying to find a new vehicle. I currently am looking and I find vehicles now are full of electronics that I do not want. Finding a bare bones auto is near impossible. I built the auto I wanted on-line and the local dealer said no one carries the stripped down models, they were unavailable.

I notice no one has mentioned Toyota. They make a diesel and are semi American made. Not even Ford, GMC or Dodge are 100% American made. Toyota's are known for lasting. Allegedly their diesel engine is a good one.

 

You strike me as a land rover defender 110 type woman, diesel, manual transmission.

 

Toyota just does not impress me in the heavy duty truck realm and then there is the image to consider since I beat the buy Local, Regional, American drum in that order. A Toyota Truck would really turn off a good portion of my customer base........... Does not matter what the reality is, the perception always wins.

 

I wish my budget could afford one, love Land Rovers.

 

LOL! We own a Jeep, I buy my kitty litter at the Dollar Store.

 

Too bad you don't want Classic aged trucks. See a few F-600 & F-700s from the '67-72 era for Ford trucks for sell in MY FB groups. Been custom built to be Big Bad Trucks w/ diesel motors.

 

Let me guess, Rear engine oil seal

 

You mean thats not just a Ford 302 V8 engine specific problem? As BOTH mine the rear main seal leaks, despite the 22 years difference between them! An as I've found on my '94, getting the seal replaced or using stop leak don't really work. So unless its gushing, just check oil levels regularly.

 

The Jeep 6.0 is famous for the rear oil seal leaking,Also once upon a time,You run it hot you just cracked the head.

 

Jeep 6.0!!!! You sure its not their 4.0 straight 6 ? Never heard mention of a 400+ cubic inch Jeep motor before!!!

 

POS LR , Run moto -RUN !

 

You know something, Your right! The 4.0
Jeep at one time did have a V-8 though!

 

My mother had a 4.0 straight 6 Jeep Cherokee Country in the mid to late '90s. I sum times ummm.......blew the soot out of the catalytic converter for her. Had torque out the yinyang!!! Think Jeep might have had a 301 cubic inch V8 in the early or mid '70s. Not sure as most my classic car knowledge is Ford, Chevy, & Mopar related.

 

That's the ones you need 98/99 Cherokee 4x4 Easy to work on,Electronics are easy on those