F150-Grandpa

This is Grandpa, my 1998 2WD, V6, XL f150. I am naming it this because I bought it off of my Vietnam Marine grandfather who has stage 4 cancer, and is no longer able to drive. I am located in Pennsylvania, USA (AKA the salt belt) but Grandpa is from Tennessee, so NO RUST AT ALL. In fact, the exterior is almost perfect except a little bit of clear coat peeling on the bed and a tiny scrape.

He's slow, but with no rust, new lower control arms, ball joints, sentimental value, and getting it for only about $1k, I plan on keeping him forever.

Since this is a work commuter/daily I'm just trying to make it comfortable, practical, dependable, and so on. What I've done already or what has already been done:

5 brand new General Grabbers on American Racing rims(chrome is peeling, but idk what wheels I want to go with until after I do a few things). These were purchased by my grandfather, so that is worth more than what I paid for the truck in and of itself.

Bench replaced with the lumbar support, arm rest bucket bench? Got it for $46 at a junkyard, only $13 more than the seat cover I was going to buy for the old torn up bench seat.

USB/Aux CD player installed

A few new interior panels replaced.

Rattle can bed linered the ugly steel bumper(would have rusted) and grille

Near future upgrades/modifications:

Upgrading the interior speakers

New headlights, restoring the current stock lenses in the meantime.

2/4 lowering kit

Far future mods:

302/5.4 5 sp swap

Towe hitch

The only thing that it needs is the fuse for the interior light fixed. I changed the bulb and the fuse but it still won't work. When I put the fuse in and out I can hear the module/solenoid(or whatever it is) actuate and the light turns on for a brief moment and goes off. Any ideas? I seen a YouTube video with a similar situation but have not found any solutions. I work at 4am, so when I travel to work it's dark outside so it is a rather annoying inconvenience.

Any suggestions on easy to moderate things to change or advice?

F150-Grandpa

I cant upload pictures for some reason

tareed94

Welcome aboard! Congrats on the new to you truck, and I hope it serves you well. Make memories in it, and hold onto the memories already in it.

54-3100

You might try bending the prongs that hold the bulb in...they can sometimes be a little too far apart and not allow good contact with the bulb ends.

F150-Grandpa

I actually have 3 different dome lights, all have the same issue. I have 2 types of bulbs (led and non led). And new fuse. It seems like a short behind the fuse panel

10thGenScab

If you're in the salt belt, but with little or no rust on the truck now, there will be a ton of rust after only one winter.

Do everything you can now to protect it. POR15 on exposed areas on/under/around the frame.

Put mudflaps or splash guards on it, minimally.

There are a ton of options for coatings, paint and other tricks to help prolong the life of the body. But, it will in the end be a losing battle here in the northeast... i know.

F150-Grandpa

Trust me I know all about it. My first vehicle was a 94 Ford Explorer Sport with the HO 4.0. I replaced every brake like, twice for some of them. Broken coil. Leaf spring hanger brackets that you can see through and twisted when I took them off to replace them.

I was thinking about bed lining the underside. My father in law also said about packing grease on the inside of the fender wells? Idk, he used to be a ford mechanic for 14 years and he gets a little grease happy sometimes... lol. I'm going to bedline anything on the rear bumper that is exposed metal, the front bumper is already done.

How do you post pictures? I cant attach them for whatever reason, do I need to use a third party site to make a post link?

77Ranger460

I simply wouldn't drive it on salt treated roads.

F150-Grandpa

I have an old VW Golf that is wrecked that I'm going to try to get road worthy by winter that has 4 studded tires. Kinda ironic to drive my car in the winter and my truck in the summer, but alas I'm going to try.

any help on posting pictures? I also have a video of my dome light issue.

54-3100

What is it saying or doing when you try to post the pictures? I had an issue a while back where I didn't have the link to browse my computer when trying to post pictures (along with some other missing tabs and things). Turned out to be something with my PC, I think it was related to java or something else that the browser needs to display everything correctly. It resolved itself after a few days but I think it updated something on its own.