My 1971 highboy build, the sequel!

[69Highboy]

As some of you may know, I had a 1969 F250 that I was doing a 4x4 conversion and restoration on back in 2019, but life had other plans so I sold it to my brother. A few months ago I was halfway-kinda looking for a truck and my brother told me about a 1971 highboy a friend of a friend had. He asked the friend to see if the guy wanted to sell it, but things kinda stalled from there.

I "forgot" about the truck until Tuesday of this week when I got a call from my brother. "Hey, Steve said he'll sell the truck for $2500, we're looking at it on Saturday". So, this morning my dad, brother, and I piled into the 2000 F250, hitched up a trailer, threw a 5 gallon can of gas into the truck and headed out. The truck was known to be in poor shape, but it supposedly ran. With a little priming, some shortening of the fuel line, and after a few loose carb screws were tightened it fired up and ran, albeit while smoking like a train. I talked with the guy and long story short I'm $2000 poorer and one truck richer. Fixing it will be a gradual process (read: slow), but I like it.

The good news is it has the original 360 with only 94*** miles on it, the p.o said he got it in '85 with 54k on the clock and it hasn't rolled over yet. It has a Holley 2bbl carb, a NP435 tranny and a Dana 24 t-case, same as the other highboy, the original paint is in decent shape and the interior is in pretty good shape. The radio works, the truck starts, stops, and drives pretty well, and after running being loaded, unloaded, and driven around the property it has mostly stopped smoking.

The bad news is it needs the two aux tanks boiled out (the in cab one was replaced 2 years ago),
the wheel cylinders replaced,
new rims for the rear,
a new bed,
new t-case bushings,
the clutch drags so a new clutch or an adjustment,
a rear bumper (a neighbor says he has one I can have),
the roof lights need to be fixed,
the carb needs a rebuild,
the valve covers leak,
a cylinder or two misses (probably points),
there's a leak in the cooling system (possibly the radiator),
and it needs new rubber hoses and exterior gaskets.

I'll try posting pics, but it's been awhile so lemme know if they don't work.

[basketcase0302]

SCORE!!!

Love the front receiver hitch and even having both aux tanks is getting pretty hard to find.

You'll want to ditch the Holly carb and go back to a Motorcraft 2150, (from someone who ran one for years off road with too many issues to mention).

Shameful for folks to "put to pasture" such potential.

[69Highboy]

I forgot, here's a picture of the truck's interior. So far I've pressure washed the truck, removed the trim, and pulled the carpet out of the bed. I'll be pulling the front bumper shortly so my brother can use the brackets on his truck, and mine will get the winch bumper I was going to put on the other truck. Basketcase0302, I may or may not be getting a factory 4bbl manifold from a friend, in which case I may just leave the Holley on it until I install the "new" manifold, and between 5 car/truck guys I know I'm sure I could find almost any production-type carb known to mankind in both 2bbl and 4bbl flavors.

[hfdco4]

Glad you are back in the bump truck family again.

[69Highboy]

I have another update sooner than I thought! I was going to start figuring out how to mount up the winch bumper this evening, but lo and behold the brackets that came with the bumper bolted right up to the frame! So instead of just figuring out what my brackets needed to look like I was able to actually mount up the bumper! Also, I got pics of the original? radio with a built in cassette player and why I need to replace the bed.

[basketcase0302]

Excellent on the winch bumper, what winch a Warn?

Be curious as to how in the world they wrecked the bed corner like that?!

[hfdco4]

You dont think that bed will buff out?

[69Highboy]

Excellent on the winch bumper, what winch a Warn?

Be curious as to how in the world they wrecked the bed corner like that?!

Yep, a 8000lb Warn 8274. As for the wrecked bed, I know exactly how it happened. The p.o. was a logger and at the end of the day he'd have the guy running the log loader drop some log butts into the bed of the truck, which he'd unload and cut into firewood when he got home. Imagine 2 foot diameter, 8 foot long logs getting dropped from over the top of the sideboards into the truck bed day after day and that explains the damage.

[69Highboy]

Well, I was headed by my neighbor's on an atv so I brought home a rear bumper for the truck. It isn't exactly the same as the one on the other truck, but it's close. The best part is it looks like it should bolt right up after the welded on remains of the previous mounts are torched off of the truck frame.

[Fordkid68]

Awesome find!! That original paint looks good. shame about the bed though.
Looks like a super cool project!

[69Highboy]

More updates! I found 3 non-split rims that match my front tires, so now I will have a set of matching rims! And, I had my brother torch off the remains of the old bumper brackets. I'll grind down the last gobbets of the welds, clean out the holes I'm using, and mount up the bumper shortly.

[69Highboy]

Another minor update, I got the rear bumper "mounted". I still need to clean up the threads on one of the bolts and put the nuts on, but it's on the truck. The hood is up because my brother was figuring out how to hook up the choke on his truck.

[hfdco4]

I know the inside of the bed is bad, but the outside looks pretty good.

[basketcase0302]

I hadn't seen the OEM "factory" lift blocks in many years, (on the rear of your Highboy)!
Good score on the rims, (I looked for 8 years before finding a set of Alcoa 8 lug for my DRW) our 8 lug are getting very hard to find as more and more bumps get crushed. And you might want to bookmark this site, (my hometown) as they specialize in antique rims (new aftermarket) and last time I looked they did stock the 8 lug for our trucks. They have an annual cruise in there in Chattanooga that is second to none, (shuts down a few streets there downtown in a city of one million people)!

https://www.coker.com/

And the bumper looks natural!

[jzjames]

I like those old step bumpers.