I looked at an '85 L9000 today, set up with a Cummins Big Cam 300, Eaton 9 speed, tandem twin screw, and a 5th wheel. He's asking $2500. The truck runs out good and shifts well, doesn't pop out of gear and generally does what it is supposed to do. Everything seems to work alright, with no odd noises or blow-by, except the A/C doesn't work. Normal bit of rust at the bottom of the doors, and the rocker panel. I'm trying to figure out of that's a good deal and I can't go wrong, or if I'm just being foolish! I operate a farm and custom harvest business and wondered the same thing when I got my older LTS9000 straight truck, and now I wouldn't want to be without it. That one has the Cummins NTC290 and a miserable Spicer 7 speed (with one out). What a great motor though. The Big Cam 300 should be about the same, no? Anyway, lately I've found myself thinking that a semi would be helpful around the place. Neither of the heavy trucks would get very many miles (my pickups get more miles by far), but when you need to get stuff moved, there's nothing like it for the job. I don't want to foolishly spend money on license and insurance, but I think it would be useful. So I guess I'm asking what you think in general about the truck, and about whether you think that I'm nuts or not! I have loaded and hauled with semis before, but they are always hired trucks. Probably cheaper to continue to hire, but not when your stuff gets rained on because nobody is available. I would want to add a wet kit on it too, but I did that on the straight truck, so I should be able to on the semi too, right? Paul
I should add that I always had it in the head that I would get a "sexier", more interesting truck, like a B series Mack, or an older Pete or Kenworth, but I suppose that the L9000 is more practical. My neighbor has a 1944 Sterling semi that he would sell to me- neat ol' truck, but needs a lot of work! Paul
There isn't anything wrong with the old Fords but there must be something wrong with that truck if they only want 2500 dollars for it. Is the truck road legal ? When you say Cummins big cam look at the rating plate and see if it really is a big cam. Usually they are rated at 350-400hp the 300 Cummins is probably a L-10. The worst part about the old Fords is the rust if the truck isn't rusted bad go for it. Got any pictures of it ? Truck on air ride or spring ?
Cummins made a 300 Big Cam 3 and a 300 formula around that time. I had an 81 model 300 Big Cam, not my favorite for power, okay for a body job though.:bash
It didn't have a build tag on the engine, so I'm not exactly sure what it is, although it didn't look like and L-10 to me, but more like the 855 block. I believe that the L-10 is a smaller block, no? "Big Cam" was cast into the side of the block, but??? By the way, I don't believe that he removed the build tag to lie about it because you could tell that there was no tag there for some time now. Besides, who would lie about a 300? As far as I know the truck was road legal. The guy was an O/O that wound up driving a company truck, so he is selling this truck and a '95 L9000 (for $8000). The tags on the '85 were for '06 because he had bought the '95 to replace it, then wound up parking both of them. What do I look for regarding road legal status? It was still holding air pressure from who knows when (block was cold). What else? Lights? I forgot to bring my camera along, but I will get and post pics if I get back to the truck. Of course the bugger is 75 miles away too! The truck is spring ride. 11R22.5 on Budds all around. Tires are good except for back axle- more worn and has some flat spots. Some of the flat spots even have some wires sticking out for added traction! Paul
If the motor is well shoe horned under the cab and the engine has a good tilt to the passenger side its a 855 Block. If it is a 855 Big Cam even better the L-10 wasn't the greatest engine and yes its smaller its 700 something cubic engine. For guys like me the way to know if the truck is road legal and ready to go is if it has a current CVI (commercial Vehical inspection). Usually for us if it doesn't have a current inspection means the truck needs lots of work or its been sitting for along time. So I imagine the truck a basic tractor with 40 rears and 12 front with a fairly short wheelbase. Truck will ride a little rough with spring ride but if your not using the truck for long hauling anyways. If you start the old truck up and the blue smoke doesn't make the truck disapear your good to go
LT, I'm surprised you didn't point out that those old Fords are sexy...
I like Ford trucks but I won't go as far as calling them sexy :roll The old Louisville Fords have to be one of the nicer looking trucks on the road then the old A model Kenworths. There is a country song about "She thinks my tractor is sexy" haven't heard one saying my truck is sexy The orange cancer has taken allot of the old Louis off the road. The old L-9000 I used to drive is a offroad truck now too much rust in her and well worn out. Gotta love the old 400 Cummins belching blue and a rod knock like its going to punch through the block at any time. Then the old truck had a JAKE that barked loud :scool There is a twin to the truck I used to drive belongs to a developer he doesn't drive the truck its a shame just sitting there rusting :crying
I have a 88 LTL 9000 with a cat 3406. Great truck, except for heater and ac problems. Here are my thoughts: Get there when the temp is 40 ish and the truck hasn't been started. If it will crank right up. you're styling, the motor has fair to good compression. If you buy it change all fluids. Anti-freeze, trans, rear ends. The trans and rears condense a little water as time goes by. After 7 years or so the oil can no longer absorb any more water. Then things start to rust. On a positive note the non-computer engine is probably going to give less trouble over time, if for no other reason than there isn't as much to go wrong. (especially when mickey mouse visits and chews on things) One last thing, check the air cleaner box. The air flow is from the center of the air cleaner, then through the air cleaner. It is then pulled into the motor. If there is a rust hole in the air box that holds the air filter the motor has been pulling dirty air through it straight into the motor.
I drove a similar vintage Ford 9000 with a Big Cam 300 in it, hauling dry goods.It wasn't a power house by any means, but it got the job done. I'm not sure that's enough motor if you are planning to pull a dump trailer though. I grossed just under 80,000 with the ones we drove, a dump trailer will gross in excess of 100,000. These trucks were very plentiful in fleets and are a dime a dozen. A ten year old truck like this can be had for less than $15K. This truck is 22 years old, the price is not unbelievable to me. It won't be new by any means but there could be a good number of miles left in it. I'd look for excessive oil in the air tanks or where the air dryer blows off. I wouldn't be surprised to find oil and air leaks, but these can be repaired. I'd listen for howling from the tranny and rears, and see that the tranny shifts well and stays in gear. You should see about 20 psi oil pressure at idle and 60 at upper rpms.
Thanks guys. If I get time, I might go look at it again on Monday with fresh eyes to see what else I can see. Still trying to figure if it will be valuable to me or just a money drain. Most all other equipment that I've gotten through the years has proven to be useful and profitable in one way or another! (Although I do have a '75 IH 1700 Loadstar that I would like to unload.....) Paul
Well, I looked at it again this weekend and decided to bring it home. $2200 I didn't think that that was too bad. Everything seems to work like it is suposed to- 25psi of oil pressure idling warm, no oil coming out of the air dryer, no obvious leaks elsewhere, not much blow by at all, not much smoke at start up. It is definetly a Cummins 855- runs good, but does have a slight knock sound in the engine, but it doesn't sound like a problem- not a rod type knock. I guess we shall see about that. The driver's door is pretty rusty and rough, and a little bit of the floor as well. The rest is "Wisconsin normal" rust. Sure does ride rough as a cob on cement highways though! I'm not used to spending time in a tractor-trailer type truck, especially with no trailer on it. My straight truck never pounded that hard, but then it's a much longer wheelbase. This one pounded so hard that the visor kept coming down. Is that normal? Good grief! Question for you: It has aluminum fuel tanks and a brass fill cap. The threads don't grab as though they are stripped out- even though they don't look all that worn. How do you fix something like that? If a person could expand the filler neck somehow, or I suppose shrink the cap. I suppose I could sqeeze the cap in a vise to make it slighly out of round, so that some of the threads can grab. You must have run into this before? Here's a couple of pictures.
I've got a lot of miles in a truck identical to that. Yes, they are tough on the back bobtailing, I rarely went over 45mph without a trailer. It's due to the short wheelbase and stiff spring combo. A fore and aft sliding seat will be your friend in that truck. The sun visors always fell down in those trucks, we used to make a hook from a paper clip and stick it through the cardboard headliner to hold it in place. I always liked the visibility and dash layout of that truck, plus the tight turning radius. The steering wheel is relatively small compared to other trucks which makes for faster turning with less effort. The truck doesn't look too bad, the body panels are available to repair the rust if it interests you. It should work quite a bit for you.
That is a short tandem I can see it being a little rough. If you have one out of round drive tire she would really bounce The fuel tanks you may want to find another Ford with the round aluminum tanks and mount them on.