Hi all .. new to the forum but have been reading for a while .. call me nuts but have been restoring an old Ford Tandem Dump Truck .. Repowered a 3208 Cat .. freshened up a roadranger Tranny .. new clutch .. fresh shoes new paint and am in the process of re-flooring the box .. needs some interior renovation .. looking for a generic floormat material to replace the shag carpet one of the previous owners pulled out of a dumpster somewhere .. any ideas ??
Ouch got to be pretty slow go with the old 3208 I hope you have a hot tub or massage therapist to fix your right leg after a day of driving the Ford. As for flooring I would paint the floor with good paint then get some insulation then take the truck to a place that does hotrods or car upholstery they can custom cut you a chunk of new carpet or a rubber flooring.
Like I said new to this .. so why would my right leg hurt .. ran the truck better part of last summer at a site I am developing .. had great luck with it as a site truck for what I paid for it .. 3208 ran great for what it was and being that I run an equipment dealership I completely repowered it for around $4000 .. heads, valves, crank, cam, sleeves, pistons, injectors .. the whole nine yards .. I know 3208s have a bad rap but the truck was allready fitted for it and the core was good so it worked for me ps .. thanks for the advice on the flooring
Any of the customizer shops can cut you various types of carpet or rubber matting. If the truck is a Louisville Cab its pretty well a flat floor you can take the seats out make a paper template cut it out then you can cut the carpet. Its the 3208s are pretty slow because if they are non turbo units they only put out 200hp or less. When your hauling down the road your constantly shifting to keep up any speed. Any hill you try climb the truck is down in the basement gears and have to worry about powering out. With your truck it probably has 34 or 36,000lb rear axles which are pretty light you can't even get a legal load on them. Hopefully you have 38,000lb rears if you have the 34,000lb rear axles look for a rear frame clip from a newer Ford L series truck. I assume you have walking beam spring suspension so its a easy swap if you found a clip with 44,000lb axles. Around here old Louisville Fords suffer from rust they get rusted so bad the cab can't be repaired.
I know that the 3208 doesn't have a good reputation, but I had a one in my Ford L8000 and never had any troubles with it. Matter of fact is was the best starting diesel engine I've ever had in the wintertime. Never used a drop of oil either. Maybe I was just lucky. It was underpowered though. In my Ford I ripped out the rubber floor mat and first put down a material you buy from semi trailer repair shops. It's sticky(very, like tar) on one side, and shiny "tin foil like" smooth on the other. I covered the whole floor with that. It comes in rolls in different widths. I bought mine about 1ft wide, and overlapped it. It make a nice waterprrof surface, and cuts down on noise abit too. I then put new black auto carpet over that, and reinstalled the seats etc over that, like from the factory. Then I just put down a cab wide rubber mat for the boot drippings. It turned out real nice looking, I thought atleast.:bouncegri Good Luck, and post some pics if you can.:thumbsup
Some pics of my truck Had to have my daughter show me how to get these pics on here. Any thoughts on the box restoration would be appreciated .. planning on cutting out remainder of rot .. went to the junkyard bought a bunch of 4x4 I-Beams to resupport it and have a complete floor plate from the same junkyard 3/8" steel.
No heated box?! I don't have one either.:crying It looks like you've done a very good job, and she looks real nice. I didn't see an exhaust stack on it. Is it just hidden by the way the pic was taken, or does it have a low blowing exhaust on it? My Ford had the low exhaust and I didn't care for that. I used the truck for plowing snow and I'd fire it up, go inside to eat, and come back out when it was warm. It always stunk like diesel smoke inside. The exhaust smoke would stay low and get sucked up by the heater intake while sitting. More of an annoyance than anything really, and it aired out once I got rolling. I can't say much on the box repair. I brought my IH to a shop to replace the rockers etc. and just had them do all the repairs on the box while it was there, so I've no experience with that. Have you driven the truck much already? How's the fuel mileage with that 3208? Mine was very good(for a truck).
Looks like you have done on the old Ford :yup What year is it looks something in the late 70s I'am surprised the cab wasn't rusted off. Its a problem we deal with here is rust the poor old Fords,Macks,International and Western Stars suffer from. I don't know how long those mirrors on the fenders are going to last :bouncegri
That truck looks to be in nice shape!! We ran a fleet of Louisville Fords at the company I worked for and to this day I feel they are the most driver friendly trucks out there. If it were me I wouldn't consider carpeting for the floor, nothing beats a rubber mat in a construction truck. If it gets dirty inside, just open the doors and hose it out!. You can't do that with carpet. I would imagine the mats are still available, there were so many of these trucks built. I agree with Jeff about the exhaust. The 3208 by nature makes a lot of smoke, even at idle and it will find it's way into the cab if idles for a length of time. If you do any kind of work near the truck, your eyes will start to burn.. It will cost a few bucks to put a stack on it, but the mounting locations are already built into the cab, it should just be a bolt up deal to do. Good luck with it!!
caetractorman, i have 2 of those louisvilles...you did a beautiful job on yours, wanna redo a couple more?
The truck came from a farmer, was held together with wire, baler twine and burlap bags, the bottom of the box had been relined and then had a layer of treated lumber over that, hood was fallen off (couldn't open) needless to say she was rough .. By Salvage Title it is a 1978 from Virginia .. I will probably go with some insulating material and rubber floor mat but I appreciate all the suggestions. I think I will also take up your suggestions on the exhaust .. hopefully she quiets down some by doing that too ..
Good lookin truck, nice job.:thumbsup
Bed Floor Make sure that all the vertical ribs are 1 piece from rail over (or under) sub frame to rail. The strength will be needed to equally support the floor. Try to make an angle at a 45 join the bed floor to the bed wall about 8" wide. This helps keep things from building up! you might try adding 1/8" thick 2' angle iron, 2 or 3 runs to the bed floor, dividing the floor into 3 or 4 equal parts from bulkhead to tailgate, capping the front and rear V up^! I had a Komotsu 300 loading me with highway (interstate) slabs and dropping them from 56" above the bed floor without so much as a dent in the new floor! Stop the run about 18" from the tailgate and 24" form the bulkhead. Also run the same material on your tailgate from side to side. 2 or 3 runs should suffice. Start the bottom one at 6" above the bed floor, with the 2nd run 12" above that, and a third run (if you think you'll need it) 12" above that. This will protect you tailgate from concrete and larger rocks! The inverted v won't affect any material you haul, and WILL PROTECT your bed floor and tail gate! Make sure you cap the ends to eliminate material from getting behind and holding moisture! Also when that 3208 goes, think about a C10 Cat, or N11 Cummins. You might be able to find a Big Cam 400 already in a Ford L series, and get all the parts you'd need to get rid of the Cat colored boat anchor! I all reality the 3208 is NOT a Cat engine! It was marketed by Cat, and one of their most regrettable moves.
With that being a light Ford I would probably try find a L-10 to stick in it when the Cat blows. I wouldn't want to try shoe horn a 400 Cummins into that truck it as the front axle looks like its borderline 12,000lbs.
Truck looks nice! The Fords are classics. Hows the floor coming?
Still here .. Still working .. Getting seats reupholstered .. putting in rubber matting .. rebuilding the headliner .. thanks for all the posts . Question .. the dash is in tough shape, the passenger side dash is all but gone .. anywhere to get a replacement dash complete ??
Nice job The truck looks great. I did the same thing your doing when I first went into buis about 9 years ago. My project was a 1965 c50 single axle. It had a 350 gas engine and hyd brakes. I spent all winter on it cutting and welding on the box, new floor, even built new side braces for the sides of the box. had to practicly rebuild the tailgate from scratch. The first time I got DOT'ed the cop couln't find a thing wrong with the truck but was over weight by 3 ton...ouch...