73-87 Chevy Truck vs. 73-79 Ford Truck?

[Cheyenne]

I had the kingpins go out on one 79 does a 80 k10 have those? Anybody see the commercial the old one for 79 showing the twin I beam suspension?? I don't like it you really can't lift a 2wd because of that..

[NevadaNeal]

Actuley they are very easy to lift. you need to fab up or buy some custom leanthend and bent i-beams. The low dollar desert racers have been using them for year's. My brother has a class 7 ranger that he runs in SCORE and VORA race series. he still has the twin i-beams still. by no means stock but the basic principle is the same.

[Cheyenne]

When I called around for lift kits nobody had them but one place in Cali I think?? I know you can lift anything hard to find kits for those.. They are good looking trucks and I think don't rust out as bad.. The chevy truck box rust bad.. Bottom fender and door to.. The fords I had were pretty solid.. They just always seem to break!! I like the dentside look to.. I'm chevy guy and I go out and see ford it just wasn't right lol

[werewolfx13]

73-87 GM trucks are my favorite body style of any truck. Shortly followed by '47-54 GM, then 67-72 GM..IMO, Ford hasn't made an automobile of any kind that doesn't look like it fell out of the top of the ugly tree and hit every branch on its way down....And by ford, I mean ford, lincoln, AND mercury.

Add to that, Ford trucks have been falsely claiming to outsell GM trucks, since they only compared their sales to chevrolet trucks and GMC trucks separately, NOT as a whole.

Not to say there isn't a LOT of work going into the restored ovals, and if everyone only liked what I liked, the world would be a lot more boring.

[Edahall]

I've owned both Fords & Chevys from that era, and I must say I miss the torque of the 400M motor that was in my 78 F150. Compared to the 350 4bbl that's in my C20, it was much more punchy and felt stronger, even though horsepower numbers were probably the same. And the truck towed a little nicer. Here's a shot from 10-15 years ago pulling home another project.



But I will say for hauling, I like the C20 better. I've loaded the bed down with firewood, car engines, and it doesn't even feel like I've got anything in the bed. Overall, I like the Chevy since I was raised a Chevy guy. But I wouldn't count out those tough I-Beam Fords.

The 400M had a much longer stroke than the Chevy 350 so it would have produce more power than the 350 at lower RPM's which is exactly what you want for towing.  The Cummins in my Suburban is only rated for 160 hp but it pulls so much better than the 454 that came out of it because it's got a longer stroke.  It's too bad that horsepower is what sells rather than low rpm torque numbers.

Here's what wikipedia reports on the 400M
The Ford 400 engine was based on the 351 Cleveland but was produced with a taller deck height of 10.297 inches compared to the 351C's 9.206 inches. This allowed for a longer stroke while retaining the 351C's rod-stroke ratio. These blocks also share the same oiling route in the block. The 400 also featured larger (Windsor sized 3.00 inch with Cleveland cap register) main-bearing journals and had "square" proportions, with a 4.0 in (102 mm) bore and stroke; it therefore displaced 402 cu in (6.6 L), making it the largest small-block V8 made at that time. It was introduced in model year 1971 with a full half-inch (12.7 mm) longer stroke than the 351 Cleveland, making it the longest-stroke Ford pushrod V8 engine. A long-stroke engine has good low-end torque. This was a good compromise given Ford's requirement for an engine to power heavier mid-size and full-size cars and light trucks. The M-block, as it later became known, was the last pushrod V8 block designed by Ford. The M-block also shares some elements with the Windsor engine family: bore spacing, cylinder head bolt-patterns and crankshaft journal dimensions.[3]

[velojym]

We have a late '60s medium duty (F700 I think?) fuel truck at the airport. Harry (the FBOwner) woulda replaced it long ago, but it seems like there's nothing on that truck that can't be fixed with baling wire or a firm love-tap with a hammer.
It'll probably still be running after the apocalypse. After all, the giant roaches gotta fuel their airplanes with something too.

[Cheyenne]

I never knew they counted ford vs chevy and gm separate?