1997 F-Superduty ramp truck.

[cleatus12r]

I never expected to have used this thing so much in the last three months. I took a derby car (63 Galaxie 2-door) 125 miles to a friend, hauled an entire collapsed 20x60 open-faced shed's tin to the recyclers and the wood to our burn pile (4 loads), and lastly this Jeep to its owner after hauling it to my house two weeks ago in a barely-running condition. I've made plenty of empty trips to town to work out bugs too......

I don't know how I ever lived without it! As a bonus, it gets the third best fuel economy of all the 7.3's on the place (hard to beat the 26-and-change of the Crown Vic).

[Power Hungry]

Originally Posted by cleatus12r

As a bonus, it gets the third best fuel economy of all the 7.3's on the place (hard to beat the 26-and-change of the Crown Vic).

Yeah... That's a bit of cheating, my friend.

[Veedubfreak86]

looks awesome man, building a ramp truck is on my bucket list

[cleatus12r]

I blame "Roadkill" and especially Mike Finnegan for making me go through with building one.

I always thought they were cool and imagined how useful they could be but seeing David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan start with the white Chevy and then Finnegan keep getting bigger/better/faster ones - that really did me in.

Future plans include an E4OD and get away from the ZF due to clutch noise and MY age, charge air cooler, and MAYBE aluminum 19.5s when these 16s rot away (I tend to time-out tires, not wear out).

[MiguelsCar]

What's the recent update of this build?

You may consider getting a fresh set of dually wheels for that truck.

[cleatus12r]

Originally Posted by MiguelsCar

What's the recent update of this build?

Nothing yet - just driving it. I used it on the 6th to bring home my new commuter car. I'm retiring the free 1991 Oldsmobile I got 15.5 years ago as it's just not as reliable or comfortable anymore. Also factor in that it's at 290K miles on the stock cylinder head and 125C transmission and I don't have another rebuild in the short block (bored .060")...these 2.5L Oldsmobile engines are getting hard to find and they're not all that cheap. The windows don't roll down and I've put two of those plastic tape regulators in each door that work for a few weeks and then break again. The heater core leaks and I don't feel like disassembling the car to change it. It burns a quart of oil every 700-800 miles and since it's been my winter-only car for almost 10 of the 15 years I've had it, the underside is falling apart.

I bought a 2007 Taurus with a coolant leak at the front cover for not a lot of money. It only has 106K on it and it looks like new inside and out. $400 worth of timing cover, gaskets, and head gaskets (plugged passages with rust - thanks orange coolant) and it's like new....with GREEN coolant now.


Between fixing that, rebuilding 4R100s for a couple vehicles, fixing hydroseeders, and stripping a wrecked 2000 7.3 for parts this week....and the full-time job.....well....

[Power Hungry]

I don't think you have enough things to keep you busy. Probably driving your wife nuts sitting around the house all the time.

[PHP Ward]

Originally Posted by cleatus12r

I blame "Roadkill" and especially Mike Finnegan for making me go through with building one.

I always thought they were cool and imagined how useful they could be but seeing David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan start with the white Chevy and then Finnegan keep getting bigger/better/faster ones - that really did me in.

Future plans include an E4OD and get away from the ZF due to clutch noise and MY age, charge air cooler, and MAYBE aluminum 19.5s when these 16s rot away (I tend to time-out tires, not wear out).

The first thing I thought when I saw this thread was Finnegan's love for ramp trucks!

Looks super handy.