Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and nsranger
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Vehicle Year
- 1992
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.3l
- Transmission
- Manual
After lurking for a couple of years I thought it was time to introduce my self and my old truck, as I understand it she is some what unusual as she is a1992 2.3L 4x4 5 speed, I drove her of the dealers lot with 12km on her, were at ~380,000km (~232,000 miles) now.
For the first 15 years of her life she was the DD after that a winter beater and camping rig, on the east coat we live in salt, salt air and tons of it on the roads she has probably survived so long due to my practice of getting under neath and spraying what ever vile contortion I had handy on the chassis for a long time diesel and old engine oil, recently the formula changed to diesel (or white spirits), bar oil and a little wax. It's a pretty disgusting job but it's one of the few frames that haven't rotted away around here.
The camping rig has been fun here is a picture of the first version
Good looking driver!
This version is pretty tiny, small double bed, a bench for cooking, porta-potty and storage, it's plywood and wood frame construction and was built very light probably around 350lbs I could easily lift one end.
Minimal affect on handling (when down) could still get around 24mpg on the back roads less at highway speed due to windage
Off course it got bigger
The truck has also been repainted this was the first paint roller and Tremclad job, lasted about 7 years
Top part way up, I've tried various mechanical lifting methods over the years but keep coming back to simply lifting it up.
It feels a lot roomer in side but we have gained 40-50lbs, and then a few years later I stripped all the paint off and covered it a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy so we gained more weight maybe 50lbs.
Weight is really important with these little trucks the GVWR doesn't allow much wriggle room after allowing for occupants and camping gear the camper really needs to be under 500lbs, I never did weight it but judging by the way it handled and experience with the next version I would say GVWR was a few hundred lbs under.
This rig worked pretty well we did numerous trips around the maritimes and Newfoundland over 7 years or so.
Off course we added more weight.
And another Tremclad paint job! the box has gone and been replaced by a heavy duty deck/box which turned out to be too heavy (any body want a wooden box?).
We also acquired another passion, heading into the back country on extended canoe trips so the is also an extra 100lbs of camping gear +canoe on board.
When we final got her to a scale we were 298lbs over GVWR, still it handled well, we lighten up as best we could and carried on with a 15,000km trans Canada trip, sure we were a bit slow up some of the mountain passes but the 4 banger always was and it had 375,000km on it by then.
Never had a problem we could attributed to weight, the only problem we had was a new thermostat sticking open, not bad for a 26 year old overloaded truck.
It's a bit of a grunt getting the top up with the canoe, I've added some struts which help.
Just after this picture was taken I added some air shocks which make the truck look a lot lighter even if it does nothing for GVWR.
With the added weight and windage mileage is now ~17-20mpg.
Back country campsite in BC
Were planning a trip across Canada and up into the Yukon next year so I've been doing a lot of work on the truck to get it ready,
the first step was to loose some weight, the heavy wood box (2x6"construction) has been replaced with a 1/4" plywood stitch and glue box which is ~200lbs lighter, I've got a few more modifications in mind.
Rebuilt the engine this summer it's got about 3000km on it now, it's the first engine I've done so the fingers are still crossed. I've just finished the bearings and seals in the gearbox and transfer case, they seem OK but I've only got 30km on them, the differential was done just before the last trans Canada trip so the drive chain should be in pretty good shape, with a bit of luck this truck should last longer than I do.
For the first 15 years of her life she was the DD after that a winter beater and camping rig, on the east coat we live in salt, salt air and tons of it on the roads she has probably survived so long due to my practice of getting under neath and spraying what ever vile contortion I had handy on the chassis for a long time diesel and old engine oil, recently the formula changed to diesel (or white spirits), bar oil and a little wax. It's a pretty disgusting job but it's one of the few frames that haven't rotted away around here.
The camping rig has been fun here is a picture of the first version
Good looking driver!
This version is pretty tiny, small double bed, a bench for cooking, porta-potty and storage, it's plywood and wood frame construction and was built very light probably around 350lbs I could easily lift one end.
Minimal affect on handling (when down) could still get around 24mpg on the back roads less at highway speed due to windage
Off course it got bigger
The truck has also been repainted this was the first paint roller and Tremclad job, lasted about 7 years
Top part way up, I've tried various mechanical lifting methods over the years but keep coming back to simply lifting it up.
It feels a lot roomer in side but we have gained 40-50lbs, and then a few years later I stripped all the paint off and covered it a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy so we gained more weight maybe 50lbs.
Weight is really important with these little trucks the GVWR doesn't allow much wriggle room after allowing for occupants and camping gear the camper really needs to be under 500lbs, I never did weight it but judging by the way it handled and experience with the next version I would say GVWR was a few hundred lbs under.
This rig worked pretty well we did numerous trips around the maritimes and Newfoundland over 7 years or so.
Off course we added more weight.
And another Tremclad paint job! the box has gone and been replaced by a heavy duty deck/box which turned out to be too heavy (any body want a wooden box?).
We also acquired another passion, heading into the back country on extended canoe trips so the is also an extra 100lbs of camping gear +canoe on board.
When we final got her to a scale we were 298lbs over GVWR, still it handled well, we lighten up as best we could and carried on with a 15,000km trans Canada trip, sure we were a bit slow up some of the mountain passes but the 4 banger always was and it had 375,000km on it by then.
Never had a problem we could attributed to weight, the only problem we had was a new thermostat sticking open, not bad for a 26 year old overloaded truck.
It's a bit of a grunt getting the top up with the canoe, I've added some struts which help.
Just after this picture was taken I added some air shocks which make the truck look a lot lighter even if it does nothing for GVWR.
With the added weight and windage mileage is now ~17-20mpg.
Back country campsite in BC
Were planning a trip across Canada and up into the Yukon next year so I've been doing a lot of work on the truck to get it ready,
the first step was to loose some weight, the heavy wood box (2x6"construction) has been replaced with a 1/4" plywood stitch and glue box which is ~200lbs lighter, I've got a few more modifications in mind.
Rebuilt the engine this summer it's got about 3000km on it now, it's the first engine I've done so the fingers are still crossed. I've just finished the bearings and seals in the gearbox and transfer case, they seem OK but I've only got 30km on them, the differential was done just before the last trans Canada trip so the drive chain should be in pretty good shape, with a bit of luck this truck should last longer than I do.
