Greetings. My last Ford truck was a '97 XL 4.6, 4x4 4 speed, that I throroughly miss, that I bought in 2005 for $5k. It was a fun truck, that I've always missed. After recently going through a 2017 Silverado Z71 and then a 2014 Ram Laramie in the course of a year, I purchased my uncle's 2004 FX4 in December 2017, as my 1984 GMC just doesn't have the nut nor comfort (i.e. no A/C) to take up and down the East Coast anymore, especially with a load, as stone-reliable as it may be. Why'd I get rid of the other trucks? The infamous driving vibrations caused by the harmonics of overly stiff frames. I'm not especially brand loyal, and will gladly go whereever the best truck for the money is, which right now put my in the "Redneck Taxi." At 145k miles, I don't plan on having to replace it anytime soon. My uncle already replaced all the original plugs and changed the oil every 3k miles with Motorcraft oil and filter, so the chains and phasers seem perfectly fine. The frame is clean, the interior spotless. I'm **** with certain things, so I did replace all 8 COPs when I got it (due to a failed COP on #7), and replaced all rotors and pads, simply because I didn't like the feel of the pads that were on it. I will be replacing the tires by this winter, and am planning on upgrading to 20" wheels, with probably a 275/60 tire. This week or next, I'll be building a frame structure in the back behind the barn in order to remove the cap, I'll be needing to haul some items this summer that require an open bed to load. She's a beautiful beast, especially for the mileage and year, and (aside from the stiffer suspension, rides with none of the vibrations that the newer trucks did (yes, taking the hit on the 2017 was worth avoiding the vibration... also my issues with that Chevy could form its own thread).

Here's the beast! Red is the old, Yellow is the new.

 

Welcome to the site. Both are nice looking trucks!

 

Thanks!

I'm up to 149k on it now (bought with 141k), and aside from a failed coil back in January within 300 miles of installation and a bad battery, there's been no issues. Dropped the transmission pan back in February and changed the filter and what (original) fluid came out, I plan on having the dealer back-flush the system around 160k and replace all the fluid (when fluid is that old, I never do a complete flush at once). Built a drive-under frame in the back yard to pull the truck into to hold the cap for removal, installed the old toolbox from my '99 Sierra I'd sold in 2005, and got some 18x8.5 wheels wrapped in 275/70 Cooper tires. I'm generally not a fan of all black rims/tires, but on a bright yellow truck, I think it looks good. I was unsure if I should have had the white letters on the tires face out, but I think I made the right call there.

The other day, I saw something hanging beneath the truck, and found a home-made exhaust hanger (installed on the pipe with a muffler clamp) and rotted off and fell out. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the inlet side of the Flowmaster that was on it was completely shot, so today I pulled it in the garage, cut out the old muffler and some pipe, and welded in a test pipe and a UBG (used but good) Flowmaster that came extra with the truck, and also used the torch and a lump hammer to bend up some new hangers with 5/16" round stock that I then welded on. Less then $20 in parts and some welding wire and the exhaust is fixed; I'm towing a bunch this month, and I don't want a side-of-the-road surprise of the exhaust falling off. Surprisingly, the truck is definitely quicker now; not by butt-dyno, but by the effort needed to hold my head proper. No, I'm not claiming that the Flowmaster added power, just that the exhaust flow and pressure was so horrible before that the engine fell on it's face with any RPM. When I had my wife rev it up with the old muffler, most of the noise came from up front, with very little sound/exhaust coming out the tail pipe.

Which makes sense; after towing my 4k load and trailer this past weekend, I couldn't imagine towing the 6-7000 lbs that guys claim to tow "without a problem." I know the 5.4 isn't a towing champion, but I didn't figure it would be as much of a struggle as it was, and felt bad for the 250/350 guys with the 5.4. I'm interested to see how it pulls this weekend with 1000+ lbs of wood in the bed, and another ton or more on my 700 lb trailer.

 

Nice truck. To me old trucks have a character that new ones don't yet have. Scratches and dents are like battle scars that tell stories of hard work and adventures.

 

Thanks. Thankfully, this truck was well cared for by its previous owners (always been in the family), and is pretty devoid of dings and scratches. The safety yellow is growing on me, and hopefully helps prevents someone "not saying me" or my truck "coming out of nowhere."

Took it to work today, and it's much nicer to drive; much quieter inside (other than the cold-temp plastic panel rattles now that temps are dipping into the 30s at night) the cab without the exhaust drone hammering the floorboards, and definitely quicker to rev. Still quite happy with this "old" truck, being 25% the price of my Ram easily offsets the increased fuel and "lack" of creature comforts. The love affair continues...