tow truck

Max · Post by **Max** » November 22, 2010, 5:47 pm

Very happy for you! It's neat to see the progression of this within one thread from seeing it, asking about it to now owning it and driving it. Dad gum I love this club!

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 22, 2010, 6:15 pm

Yeah man, only been a member for a month and I've already gone from a lonely Slick owner to being a member of a community. Not to mention that my collection has already grown by one. For so long I sat on my butt and didn't do any real improvements to my truck. After chatting on here for a short time I got busy again. As soon as it is possible I plan to join you all at a Slickstock and put some faces to the names. Hmmmm-do I show up with one truck or two? Let's see, one can pull the other. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Obsa · Post by **Obsa** » November 22, 2010, 6:31 pm

Good Deal, as Hanibal Smith would say "I love it when a plan comes together".

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » November 22, 2010, 7:01 pm

64shortie wrote:As soon as it is possible I plan to join you all at a Slickstock and put some faces to the names. Hmmmm-do I show up with one truck or two? Let's see, one can pull the other. Yeah, that's the ticket.

No, you need to plan on joining us at the NEXT Slick Stock, August 2012! Bringing or driving your slick is nice but not necessary to have a great time and meet some great folks! You can't just go into an event like this without some preparation: http://fordtruk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18969 in addition to working on your truck(s). BTW welcome from Louisiana.

65TremecGT · Post by **65TremecGT** » November 22, 2010, 7:28 pm

Thats great the paperwork worked out! Nice find for sure and really a well documented vehicle, especially for a commercial vehicle! Write all that stuff down and keep it in a binder with the truck. Makes it more interesting if you ever go to sell it.

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 22, 2010, 11:11 pm

By sheer luck my present training regime should have me in good shape for the event. Thanks for the welcome. My girlfriend is from Louisiana. Born in Farmerville and went to college in Baton Rouge. We've been discussing the possibility of moving to Baton Rouge in the next couple of years.

Yeah, I think I will keep a journal of sorts on this truck and document some of the stories about it. I plan to talk to the son of the original owner more and get more stories. He said he thinks he has some old photos of his dad and the truck too and when he finds them he'll scan them and e mail me copies.

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » November 22, 2010, 11:28 pm

what a great deal 64shortie. that is very cool. in missouri they soak the new owner for all the back taxes and whatever fees they can get.
hope to see that truck in person at the next slickstock.

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 23, 2010, 4:47 pm

Well, after having it for a little more than a day and driving it around it runs great. All the little doodads and lights work. The only things I can find wrong is no brights on the headlights and the horn button doesn't work. Small stuff. I can have those fixed in a snap. I think the headlight problem is a bad dimmer switch. It kind of grinds when activated. I have one of those in my stash somewhere. I believe the horn thing is the contact in the steering wheel. I bypassed that and the horn went off. Boy did it too. I wasn't aware someone had installed electric air horns. When I touched the wires together I jumped, five dogs barked, a cat scaled a telephone pole and two little kids ran in fear. I hope I'm not responsible for any heart attacks in the neighborhood somewhere.

This rig definitely is geared for towing. Ain't no speedster. Has the granny gear 4 speed and out on the highway the motor was rapping high at 65 MPH. May have to consider changing the gears if I keep the truck. A long trip would be just that, long, and gas mileage would be terrible. Have to expect that though, after all it is a tow rig. Rides and drives good though. Suspension is of course stiff for loads but not too bad. The front end is nice and tight so it steers real well. My lady friend is sure getting some chuckles out of this. She keeps teasing me about having to get one of those hats with earflaps and a coat with my name over the pocket. She keeps it up and I may have to "hook" her up and make her ride out back.

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » November 23, 2010, 4:56 pm

Thanks for the update. Trust me, you'll be much better off if you just get yourself "one of those hats with ear flaps and a coat with my name over the pocket" and let the lady ride or even drive if she wants to.

bit · Post by **bit** » November 23, 2010, 5:00 pm

you mean everyone does not have the hat and coat

bit

Obsa · Post by **Obsa** » November 23, 2010, 6:03 pm

The absolute best thing you should do about the headlights(if it has not aready been done)is covered here.

http://fordtruk.com/index41.html

Also if the brake master cylinder is still the single system you can upgrade to a dual split front/rear MC

congrats on the tow truck, I am sure most of us are suffering from Slick envy.

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 24, 2010, 3:56 pm

Thanks for the link and info. I think I'll be doing this to both trucks. Found one other thing that needs attention on the tow truck. The wipers have stopped working. They kind of twitch like they want to work but won't. They did two days ago. Guess I'll be digging into that too. Seems all the little things with this truck so far have been electrical in nature and that's likely from sitting for extended periods. My plan is to begin going through the entire electrical system for repairing and cleaning. Have a notion there's a new wiring harness in it's future.

unibody madness · Post by **unibody madness** » November 24, 2010, 4:38 pm

Great story, have fun with it!
Two things come to mind on the windshield wipers,If they are vaccum wipers, it is possible that you have a leak due to old hoses, or, and this also applies if they are electrical and are twitching, your linkage could have loosened and is slipping.

just a thought

1965 F350 · Post by **1965 F350** » November 25, 2010, 5:26 pm

I love that tow truck. My dad a had a 64 tow truck. Does the wrecker on the back say what it is? Where your back licence plate is, there should be a tag. The one on my dads was a Holmes 400.

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 25, 2010, 8:33 pm

Yep, same thing. Holmes 400 on the tag. It all works too. Darn thing will lift a house.

Post by **Greg D** » November 25, 2010, 10:56 pm

I used to drive a 89 F 350 diesel tow truck with a Holmes 400 and a wheel lift on it. If you needed the sling, I had the best by far truck in the fleet (9 trucks that size).
We had the Council Bluffs Police contract so I had to go clean up all sorts of stuff. Hauled in late model wrecks that were so bad you used the sling & dollies to get them to the yard. They had 3 roll backs too but if the weather was bad enough they'd need all them plus me.
I'll spare you guys the gristly details though.

oldtrucks · Post by **oldtrucks** » November 25, 2010, 11:17 pm

64shortie

Here's my work truck, can't feature life without it. Enjoy your new truck.

linkie
http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc19 ... k%20Truck/

3ontree66 · Post by **3ontree66** » November 25, 2010, 11:24 pm

That truck got power steering??

64shortbed · Post by **64shortbed** » November 26, 2010, 1:44 am

I've enjoyed following this thread. Congratulations on your great find. How neat that you were able to find the original owner's son and learn some of the truck's history.

64shortie · Post by **64shortie** » November 30, 2010, 1:50 pm

Nope, no power steering. Seems to steer easily though. Haven't had a load on it yet so I don't know if that will make a difference.

The wipers are electric. Motor is shot and I'm shopping for a replacement. Have the bad one out and all the linkage appears good and I can move it by hand real easy.

The weather here is turning to winter now so some of my work will be limited. Have one garage that is heated but room is limited and I need to get started on the yearly winter tinkering on the Harley. Needs new gaskets installed on the heads and rocker boxes.