1974 Ford F250 High Boy: Rusty Boy is Near Death, Search for Truck Bed, and Rocky Mountain Oysters Ep.2 [Video]

1974 ford f250 high boy episode 2 rusty engine
1974 Ford F-250 4×4 High Boy

Tommy is very proud of his “new” 1974 Ford High Boy. This is Tommy’s personal truck that we now call “Rusty Boy”. The name comes mainly because of a bed that looks like Swiss cheese. Ford F-250 4×4 trucks of this era were nicknamed “High Boy” due to the factory lift, divorced transfer case (separated from the transmission by a driveshaft), and a narrower frame in the rear.

Just a couple of week into ownership, and disaster struck. Rusty Boy started to misfire or backfire through the carburetor. Tommy took it to our friend Devon, owner and Master Mechanic at Devon’s Car Care. The cause of the problem was a bent pushrod and wore out lifter. There is a more serious underlying problem. One of the camshafts is wore down and the valve(s) are not operating correctly. This can cause another serious or catastrophic engine failure in the future.

While Devon was working to find and mend the engine problem, Tommy, Kent “Mr Truck” Sundling, and I went out into a spring snow storm in search of a replacement “High Boy” truck bed. Tommy found a bed in Colorado for an asking price of $500. Turns out the bed we found was not a perfect fit. It had additional holes drilled for a narrow frame mount that we could not completely see all the way through.

Decision was made not to buy this bed, and the crew went back in search of some good homemade pie. We found pie, coffee, and … Rocky Mountain Oysters.

Check out all the fun in this video.