Faults:

Door vent window latches inoperable on both front doors.

All four door latches gummy from lack of use. Needed to disassemble doors and repair; replaced one rear door latch.

Difficult to tune for emissions. Standards are very low for this truck, but I still struggle to pass every inspection period.

Front passenger door lower hinge door stop detent is broken off, so the door doesn't stay open.

General Comments:

This truck is a beast, but does everything I expect it to.

It is a backup family car when needed, thanks to the six-passenger crew cab seating.

It's a tow vehicle, albeit a slow one, thanks to the torque-y 300 cid (4.9 l) six and four-speed manual transmission.

The 3/4 ton suspension lets me haul firewood with no problem.

Ground clearance is great when the snow hits. Chain it up and it will go 80% of the places a 4x4 will go.

Problems include the slow warm-up on a wet morning (defroster works lousy for the first 15-20 minutes) and the turning radius is awful. The 300 six is a bit underpowered for this much truck, but I'm going to install aftermarket carb, intake, cam and headers to get this truck breathing, and it should pep it up quite a bit.

Otherwise, a good truck in a good versatile package.