Oily's 1966 F-350 aka "Puller"

[OilyRascal]

Hi again! Starting a thread to share work on my '65 F-350. It will be a rather slow project for me as time/money is available. This is not my only project.

This is him as found. It was on the property of my late grandfather. It served in his oil well service business as a "pulling machine". A few pictures of it "as found".







It appears to be mostly original with the exception of the 2-ton, vacuum assist, 2 speed rear. I would like to get it back to the original 1-ton dana rear at some point. It has a 352 engine and New Process 435 4 speed tranny.

I power-washed the truck and pulled it into the shop. Block sat with diesel in it for weeks, flushed several times before I attempted startup. Had some issues with the ignition (I thought) and fought that for a while. After replacing soloniod, starter, and battery/cables finally figured out bad ground. New plugs, condensor, coil, wires, blah blah blah and the engine is now running well....has good compression, no smoke, keeping temp and oil pressure, holding fluids and in the right places.

Here is a couple shots of it in the shop after cleaning.



















I will begin to disassemble the truck next. I just need a little more time to finish my '65 before I start that process here. I do "piddle" with it as I have time. Hood/doors off, seats out, dash out, inner fenders/wheel well out. It is consuming about a 1/4 of the shop.....so I have to justify it being there somehow. I look forward to sharing the project as it moves along.

[sgettin]

gotta say i like your f350 (kinda want one myself).

from the obvious welding done looks like the frame has had some customization.

in any event keep pics coming as you work on it.

[OilyRascal]

gotta say i like your f350 (kinda want one myself).

from the obvious welding done looks like the frame has had some customization.

in any event keep pics coming as you work on it.

It seems the person that placed the pulling machine bed decided to weld it to the frame. It seems the person that removed the pulling machine bed decided they would use an oxy cutting torch.....getting into the frame in a couple spots. I'm thinking square tube reinforcement inside the frame, then boxing in the frame. I have not ruled out a frame swap. I'm not happy about it at all, but I'm left to figure it out.

[sgettin]

if it we'e me i'd weld it rather than frame swap but i'm a stickler for originality. done right no one can tell it.

any idea yet on what you're going to do for a bed? i've always thought a customized flareside with xtra wide rear fenders would look cool.

[OilyRascal]

.....
any idea yet on what you're going to do for a bed? i've always thought a customized flareside with xtra wide rear fenders would look cool.

It'll be a worker. A couple of options and thinking.

The childhood in me wants this welding/service bed. This "Gang" bed was on the business service truck (last mounted on the 1-ton in the background). Bed was built by my grandfather but it is so heavy it puts overloads down when placed on a 1-ton.....and then there is a matter of the welding machine, bottles, and 2 tons of tools you could place on top of that. Long story short - I think she needs to lose some weight if she's going on the '65.



And then there is this option, which is what I'm leaning towards. I would rather like having a small winch truck. The NP435 has a PTO takeoff, and I have a Dana PTO already that would fit. I have a *few* Braden winches laying around I could use. There is also an old tow-truck sling laying around I may be able to incorporate into this bed. Winch/Tow truck!

[sgettin]

well, to me it would be neat to use something grampa built but it does look like grampa built er heck for stought, and heavy. personally i wish i had a factory winch on my slick a winch/tow truck would look cool. throw a 4x4 axle under the front and it would look really cool (sorry been thinking about an 350 dually slick 4x4 ).