1987 Ford F600 from North America - Comments

Not much has gone wrong with this Dump Truck. A new clutch replaced from regular wear and tear.

Excellent truck! Two words sum up 95 and older ford trucks... work horses! This baby has 900000+ miles and she is still running strong.

For some reason I don't believe this review. You say "Two words sum up 95 and older ford trucks... work horses!" Yet, this review is for a 1987 F600. And second. 900,000 miles is just a little extreme. I seriously doubt there are ANY cars in the world with that many miles. And third, you "claim" to have had the truck since new. Yet, you don't talk about any of the repairs you've done. Be it regular or not. And surely, if you have 900,000 miles on a truck things wear out. Things such as brakes, clucthes, batteries, tires, etc etc...

I agree it sounds a little sketchy. Sure 900000 miles is possible on a diesel with a rebuild or two, but I think a rebuild would be worth mentioning.

Please help, I have just purchased a f600 where can I get repair info online. guydrag8@aol.com.

I was just about to buy a Ford F-600. How much should I pay? Owner says it only needs some brake work. I started it and each time it starts right up. Engine is very smooth running. It has 316,000 miles. Then hoist works fine. All lights are working. The owner was asking for $2500 but I want to offer $1800.00. Thank you for your response.

If you take good care of a truck like that, it can reach that far without a rebuild.

Yes you can get that kind of mileage on an over 21 year old truck.

I've got 2 of these Fords.

One a 1987 Ford Cargo 6000; same motor and running gear, just a different cab design, and a 1989 F800; same as the Cargo, but with different cab more like the pickup types.

My 87 had over 935,000 km when the speedo cable broke back in 2005, and I average about 40,000 km/year. So yes it is possible. Mostly these trucks are used for inner city use.

It has the turbo 6.6 litre Brazilian engine and it still starts with a bit of ether down to -31 C without a block heater, so the compression is still good.

It has the air over hydraulic brakes.

The only problem I have with the brakes have been in the rears due to brake cylinder leakage. Check the rear inspection holes at the bottom of the drum plates and you will see a puddle of brake fluid leaked out onto the tire rim.

Usually it will drain the entire master cylinder overnight if it is cold out.

The problem as I understand it, is that the rear brakes are of a British Lucas design, and require a British type brake fluid like Lucas or Castrol dot 3/4.

The normal North American type brake fluid will eat the seals on the rears in less than 6 months (I have replaced the wheel cylinders on both of these trucks numerous times) but strangely it will not affect the fronts which I assume are made by Dayton. After using the British brake fluid for over a year I can say that it works, no more leaks. It is a little pricey but worth it. Oddly very similar to my British cars, which do the same thing.

I would check the brake system out on the truck you are interested in, and look for stains on the rear tires or rims from leaks.

I got my truck used for $ 1500.00 CAN, so I would low ball the guy.

There is always going to be lots of small things to fix from wear and tear, so factor that in.

These trucks are great in that there are no electrical computers and sensors to go wrong, and stop the truck dead in its tracks.

These things could take a major EMP surge and just keep on running, plus they will run on bio diesel or veggie if you want to spend the time to convert them.

Another plus is they are dead simple to repair.

Go on the internet and check out FleaBay; they always have used manuals for them, you just need to continually check. I got mine for around $ 40.00 US used; all 1400+ pages of it.

So if you can get it reasonably cheap and it runs half decently, buy it, do some quick repairs, beat it into the ground and pick up another when something major breaks, and keep on trucking.

900000 miles out of a Ford is not uncommon, I know someone with an XB Falcon, done over 1.5 million kilometers on the same engine (may have had rebuilds but still has matching numbers), was driven at least 300 km every weekend. Fords love the highway driving! Old Fords never die. I wish I could say the same about the new ones :(

I have just purchased a 1989 F-600 and the rear brakes seals and cylinders appear to be bad. I was told that these are Ford Dealer parts only. I have not been able to locate any on the internet or local parts stores. Can anyone confirm this?

I just bought an 89 F600 with a 20' flatdeck, but want to fix it up a bit. Where can I find parts or wreckers who carry parts for these trucks? I've looked all over the Internet, but think I may be looking in the wrong spot. I need a grill, maybe a new set of rims for the front. It is in mint condition with only 200,000kms. Other than new wipers and a quick tune-up she's ready to go. I use it for work only, maybe 1,000 kms a month, but would love it to last another twenty years.

Thanks for your time and have learned alot so far just from this blog!

Me again with the 935,000 km truck.

The rear wheel seals/cyls are a dealer item, although you could try Haldex and or Arvin Meritor heavy truck for brake parts.

So far I have replaced the clutch (try a local heavy truck supplier for these parts), resurfaced the flywheel, new input shaft bearing, replaced the trans front and rear input seals, front and rear bearings, rear engine main seal (a ford/sterling heavy tuck dealer part. I used a small screw with a slide hammer to carefully yank it out without nicking the crankshaft and tapped the new on in with a large ABS pipe fitting sized to suit).

You will need a heavy truck tranny jack on wheels to remove that monster tranny, it weighs a lot, not something you could rest on your chest.

The rear axle went bad from lack of lube. The previous owner never drained it or cleared the axle air breather tube from dirt. It plugged up and blew out the rear axle seals. Mixed with the brake fluid. I got another low mileage parts truck and swapped out the whole axle assembly, used a spring repair shop for that.

The cab is starting to rust away, so the parts truck cab will be used for that. If need be one could mig weld in new metal from scraps 18 gauge. New Ford or Sterling sheet metal is hard to come by.

The air brake assembly started to lose air, I traced it to the rear emergency air brake chamber and got a new one from Haldex. Easy to install, just need a monster 2 1/8 inch open wrench to unscrew the lock nut. Went to a local China Mart tool supply and bought one for $30.00.

The other air leak was major, it was from the brake booster chamber. The chamber is incredible simple. It is just a slightly modified front truck air brake chamber. I bought a $ 5.00 rubber diaphragm for it from my local heavy generic truck parts supply guy. Ford said it was obsolete.

The front brake chamber went bad, and amazingly Ford had a new unit with new reservoir chamber for $ 210.00.

The main problem with a lot of the old white plastic, from the brake reservoirs to the coolant res is it disintegrates from age/sun. So if yours is still good, coat it with some kind of UV blocker.

If you need cheap parts, try the local school boards. They are always getting rid of old stock ford buses in the b700 class. The chassis is the same as is the motor, a 6.6 turbo diesel. The hood and front end should be the same.

And as bonus, the tires and rims are usually mint because they take such good care of the vehicles.

Now I am working on the front brakes replacing the rotors and pads. Pads (4 total) can be gotten from Bendix, Arvin Meritor or Ford around $ 100.00. The rotors are from Arvin Meritor around $ 120.00 per piece. I will need the pad spring kit as the old ones a rusted crap, $ 40/kit.

The main problem with doing any brake or axle work on these trucks are you need a heavy 1 inch drive air torque wrench of at least 1000 ft lb capacity and a good heavy air compressor and assorted 1 inch inner diameter rubber hose to drive it to get those stinking wheels off and a good 600ft. lb torque wrench to put them back on. A nice heavy rubber or metal sledge hammer comes in handy to break those wheels free from their rusted perches.

Another thing when getting parts, order in advance because it sometimes takes days to arrive from some of the warehouses in Memphis or Atlanta.

Good luck.