Faults:

Radiator blew around the seal at 72,250.

Two freeze plugs went.

Heater core at 74,109.

General Comments:

Other than the minor repairs, this has been a great road truck. The previous owner bought it from a guy who had it sitting in a shed for about 6-7 years. He put a battery in, some gas, oil, and cleaned the damn thing, and she drove home.

When I bought it, she needed a little TLC done to the motor as he used it for a snow plow. He wrecked it and it has major damage to the drivers side front from a small car or a telephone pole.

She's slow and rugged, but she's reliable. She gets 8 mpg even if she's to the floor uphill or coasting on the other side with the wind to her back.

She has the most comfortable bucket seat in the world, which makes up for the leaf springs.

I give her a 10 out of 10.

Faults:

Charcoal canister was letting charcoal into the carb (rebuilt the carb and disconnected the charcoal canister).

Has an exhaust manifold leak, but this was common for the slant 6.

General Comments:

I absolutely LOVE this truck! I loved it so much that I bought 2 more. I now own an 85, an 87, and an 89! This truck has a slant 6... for now. I am rebuilding a 360 for it, because the other two trucks I have have 318s in them and I need a little more power, but when I get the 360 in this truck I am going to drop the /6 "as-is" into the 87 and run it some more.

Back to the 85 that I am writing the review on, I gave it a tune up at about 90K miles, but other than that there have been no issues. During the tune up I did replace the fuel pump and the coil, but it didn't really need it. Still the original water pump, oil pump, and pretty much everything else. Never had to replace ball-joints, U-joints, or bearings.

Take care of one of these old trucks and they will last forever... literally!

Faults:

Tranny about 8,000 miles ago, engine was ready to blow, swapped it out and now has a 74 ramcharger engine rebuilt about 100,000 miles ago.

Rust, battery, water pump, alternator.

General Comments:

This truck has been used and abused. I've seen pics with it pushing mud with its bumper, and swamped in a river up past the tires.

This was my uncles truck and he gave it to me for free. It has seen very little road time since I got it. I think it gets around 8-11mpg.

Right now it's my restoration project, and hoping someday that it will look really good. But this truck overall has been really good, and has held up well.

Faults:

Rod bearing.

Brake line.

Rusty floor.

General Comments:

I bought this truck for $150 bucks, mainly to use as a wood hauler and for some mild off-roading. It had a horrid rod knock that made the truck sound like it had a diesel. The slant six had next to no power. Any sort of soft ground would get the truck stuck, even in four wheel drive. My 77 Ford F-100 2wd would go through more mud.

As far as reliability goes, it was pretty good even with the bad rod knock. It didn't use any oil and it was easy on gas off-road.

I sold it after getting sick of getting stuck due to the lack of power. If there is anything I can say, it is get a Dodge with a V-8 if you want to do any thing other than haul a load of dry leaves on the road.