Help with ford L series trucks

[amunderdog]

What is the difference between a LN 8000 and a L 8000 ??
I have looked everywhere. Information on the L series trucks is very hard to come by.
And i am thinking of buying one.

[Copper]

I've been told that one has a longer hood than the other, but I don't know if this is fact or which is which. I know there are 2 different ones - I've had 2 of my own, both 9000's, one had a huge doghouse w/ the back 1/4 of the fenders part of the cab, and another that had virtually no doghouse (even with the dash) and the back of the fenders were part of the hood. And it wasn't an LTL, it was that same LT/LNT grille. Both of these were 855 Cummins's, the only other I've worked on was an 8000 with the short hood AND the small doghouse, with a 3208.

[Red Horse]

The LN has a shorter BBC dimension (bumper to back of cab) of 95" while the L serieshad a BBC of 106". by the way if its a "T", (LNT or LT), the "T" signifies tandem. An LTS Or LS would be a 106" cab with a set back front axle.

[amunderdog]

Ok.
This helps.
I have been looking at alot of pictures and did not see the difference. I will look harder for the 11 inches of cab / hood.
I am looking at a 1992 LN 8000
So it will have more engine under the dash than an L model.
This could be a good and bad thing.

[Dualie]

if you do a lot of city and close quarter driving short distances you will want the shorter bumper to back of cab distance. it tightens up the turning radius.

The longer hood with a greater bumper to back of cab gives a better ride going down the highway and the extra wheel base helps keep the truck rolling strait down the highway.

[Copper]

I wonder - did they ever make a "Real" LT-8000? I think they dumped the N designation in later years, and there's really no reason to have a long-hood 8000, since they didn't use the "big" 6's in them (to my knowledge - most that I saw were 3208's or 6V-somethingorothers, and I forgot about one I ran a little that had a triple-nickel).

At any rate, I'd be willing to bet you're looking at what would have been called an LN-8000 in the "old days". L for Louisville Cab (so I'm told), N for the shorter hood/overall cab, single axle because lack of the third letter (or is there one?) and 8000 for class 7 diesel (I think all the gassers were 3 digit instead of 4, LN-800 instead of 8000?)

In the grand scheme of things, regarding quality of the truck, I really liked the ones I had. They had a good cab/door/dash design for getting in and out of, they had nice, regular old round guages that you could throw away and replace with Stewart Warners as they died, most of the parts were either common-brand or could be replaced with common brands (brake parts, air system parts, etc.), and were pretty easy to work on. They were a shade on the heavy side, since they're a steel cab, and they WILL rust.

The only gripe I ever really had with them is that the cab could have been a touch deeper - the really nice air-ride Eldorado-type seats don't fit front-to-back worth a darn unless you're 4'10" and can have the seat all the way forward. I had air-ride seat suspensions in some of them, but you had to stay with a thin-backed seat.

[amunderdog]

Ok
Thank you.
Most of the trucks online are LN - They have the front fenders cut with the back half on the cab http://www.andersonbrotherstruck.com/xl/02515433.jpg
The L models have the front fenders all on the hood http://www.trucker.com/extimages/America...l/Photo%201.jpg
Once i knew what to look for it still took awhile to find examples to compare,
Also found this cool Ford site to help with the Vin# decoding
https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp

[grounder]

One thing to consider if you were even thinking of buying one is engine repair.They are on the top of my list of misery to work on."The tilted mess".CAT or Cummins power the back cylinder is also stuck under the cab and you will pay out the A@@ to have it worked on.

[F350_6]

I had an 8000 with the 3208 in it and hated it. 58 mph downhill with a tail wind. Bought it used, dumped about $15,000 in it over 2 years ($10k on rebuilt motor in week 3 after thrown rod) and finally sold it to a guy who took it down to Mexico after we discovered cracked rear springs and a crack in the frame.

[heavyparts]

Guys, I spent 35 ord Heavy Truck dealership if I cn anwer any question you may have about any Ford big truck let me know I have all the TSL cards for any Ford truck built from 1980 to 1995 and have Ford CPD to lookup any truck with the last 8 of the vin Thanks Mark

[andrewbalser]

I'm not too sure how much it has to do with engine size as opposed to cab configuration preferences and weight distribution. I used to work for a place that had a handful of Ls and LNs, all of which were early 90s models and they all had the same engine, the Ford 7.8L L6 diesel. I heard so many people gripe about that engine, but as an operator, I personally had no complains. IMHO they were good running, no-emission nonsense engines, and they ran smoother than the cummins counterparts that shortly followed. Now something that I never liked messing with was the L9000 that we had. The hood on it was no longer than the 8000, front axle set back, and it had a Series 60 detroit in it with about half the engine sitting up in the cab of the truck. Not to mention a shift lever that had to jog back two feet to get back behind that engine cover--just weird

[heavyparts]

Amunderdog I'm surprised by your past experiance with the 7.8 I was tod once by a Ford heavy truck rep that Ford stop making it because they were not sell engine parts some of these engines if PM right were going 300 to 400 thousand miles without any major engine overhauls. I sold maybe 10 dropin 7.8 in 10 Years. thats why they went to the Cummins 5.9 and 8.3 The 7.8 with the 270 hr was used greatly in concrete trucks It really was a good engine If you own a Ford big truck make sure you greese the SH-T outof the spindles and steering arms. We sell both and some of these are costing up to $2,000 new and the GTO are up to $1,400 we sell many of these sometimes 10 a week Just though I would put my 2 cents in Mark