Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Simple old trucks

Every thread on here about working on a vehicle has guys lamenting the passing of “simple old trucks” that were “easy to work on”.

Well I’m here to tell you that, aside from being much less durable and long lasting than today’s vehicles, they weren’t always easy to work on. At least not all of them.

I R&Rd the heater and A/C on my Bronco today. It’s a 1979 model and if it were a plain Jane trim model with no AC it would have been a 30 minute job. But it has factory AC and it’s a shietshow to replace the heater core, doubly so for the blower motor.

I payed to have it done years ago when I didn’t have any tools or the internet for technical support and I about crapped a cat when I got the bill for $545. “Lots of labor son”, is what the semi retired Ford mechanic told me when he handed me the bill. Then he backed it up by showing me the service manual that said to quote 6 hours for the job.

When it busted earlier this week I decided to tackle it myself since the blower was making noise anyway and I’d been meaning to get around to doing it too.

I rounded up the surprisingly cheap parts, $26 for the heater core and $35 for the blower. Found a pictorial on the web on how to do it and saved it. Watched a couple YouTube vids. Read some forums. Then gathered my tools and got after it.

You can either pull a valve cover and pull the box out under the hood, helps to give you more room if you pull the inner fender but it’s not a must do deal. Or you can pull the glovebox, fresh air vent, blend door, dash duct work and the passenger seat if it’s buckets or the whole bench if you have a bench front.

I chose to go the interior route. You basically get everything you can out of the way and gently slide back and rotate the AC coil up under the dash and tie it in place so you can lay on the floorboard and reach your hopefully skinny arm up under it and into the housing where the heater core is located. Once you get it out of the way you reach up and in and take a hard left to where the blower is located. You do most of this one handed and blind because there isn’t much room for your hands or a light up in the bowels of this critter.

I’m happy to say that I eventually got it all done good as new and everything back in its place.a little under a 5 hour job. Last thing I have to do is scrounge up a can of R12 to charge my AC because it’s cool but not cold.

So yeah everyone used to work on their own stuff and it probably was simpler for the most part. But you probably had to work on it more often than you do now and you didn’t have online parts houses like RockAuto to deliver your parts the next day for dirt cheap and you dang sure didn’t have the technical resources we have now to show you how to do whatever you are trying to accomplish. Rose colored glasses and all that. 😉

And for the record I keep the old wagon around and keep working on it because I enjoy it. Partly because I’ve had it forever and have a bunch of great memories with it, partly because it’s a cool old rig, and probably mainly because I have something newer, nicer, and more reliable to daily drive.

It was about a 30 minute job to r+r the heater core in my '81 F150.

Everyone needs to have at least one old "farm truck" around, and know how to make that bitch run.

Just about anything pre-computer chip.

That's why the good lord gave us baling wire.

I haven't had to do any serious work on my vehicles in years, and with any luck that will continue.

Did it have AC?

Most of my newer stuff I take to the shop for anything other than routine maintenance. Luckily the Tacoma and Camry have been trouble free. The 06 Chevy has been pretty reliable. Did put valve cover gaskets on the 72 Chevy the other week.

1979 is "old"?????? I just bought a 1951 GMC 3 ton with a 12 foot flatbed on it. I've also got a 1962 American LaFrance fire truck on a GMC chassis. Of course, I rebuild and sell antique Chevy and GMC 6 cylinder engines for people all over the country.

2003 Tacoma for the win. That's a 20 YO truck that's easy to work on and has plenty cheap parts available...running strong with 250k

My '17 Tundra on the other hand might get a bit tricky...

Old Trucks/Cars required a lot more maintenance than current models. The problem with current models is almost everything has to be done at a dealer or a really good mechanic other than routine maintenance . Service writers try to upsell everything at most dealers and people get tired of it and let the maintenance go.

this

maybe..........?

Just hope the starter doesn’t go out on that Tundra. It’s under the intake manifold.

Changed the heater core in my 1999 Dodge pickup before I sold it a couple years back. Had to drop the steering column and the entire dash. Wasn’t fun. Good thing with the new core, it had swivel fittings. Made it a hell of a lot easier to get in without bending the pipes. 5 hour job.


Clyde

never did much to the ole '98 Taco

And was it a V-8?

05 sport trac 183K
Just had it painted
Keeper

Old and simple. No A/C.

Flathead 8. Also have an extra crossover pipe where the exhaust routes up on top and across right behind the radiator.

One of these days I will make it tick again. Great Great uncles then great grandad, then grandad and now mine.

Possibly the ugliest body Ford ever had.

My Grandad bought a new 1950 Plymouth 2 door Coupe when he graduated high school. I recently asked him about it and whatever happened to it.

He and my Grandmom drove it for 5 years and 102k before he traded it in on a new 56 Chevy because the Plymouth was worn out and my oldest uncle was on the way so the needed more room.

Said he had to grind the valves in that 6 cylinder 3 times in 100k and it had a knock and was due for a full overhaul by then. They drove it to the Chevy dealer and got $75 trade in for it!

What a guy would give for that Chevy now.

1953 Chevy PU six-banger for the win.

Still 6V?

Grandpa had a 54. Inline 6 with the starter button on the floor. Painted with a brush.