I like it.
 

I'm here in Louisiana where we have just experienced record flooding.  Was able to get to my house this afternoon for the first time since Thursday.   We were not in a flood zone.  Someone forgot to tell the river that we weren't supposed to flood.  It was estimated by neighbors that we all got 3 feet of water in our houses.  I'm not sure we got that much.  When I got there I went in the house and looked around and saw what was ahead of me.  Then I went to the shop to check out the stang and saw what I already knew.  It wasn't pretty, but we are all alive and well and will get through this.  Our small town is devastated.   We've never had this kind of flooding.  Got a lot of work ahead of me but I guess that's just par for the course.   Me and my 14 year old daughter went out in the boat to make a rescue.  Was kind of scary but you do what you have to do.  Hope no one else on here  from Louisiana had any flooding.  It was great watching people help each other. 

This may sound crazy, but I had a 79 Ford pickup that had about a 3/4" thick oval steel plate about 4 x 18"  bolted to the inside of the cab behind the seat.  I asked the previous owner about it and he said it was a vibration damper installed by the  Ford dealer.  When he bought the truck new, it had a vibration and they installed this to fix the vibration.    It was something from the body causing the vibration. It was a smooth riding truck when I owned it so it must have worked. Not sure if this helps you but maybe there is something other than the drivetrain causing the problem. 
 

Great memories

Getting my house ready to sell.  Buying a  little bit bigger house.  Step one at the new house:  build a shop.  Gonna miss my old shop more than I'll miss my old house. 

Glad you got it idling smoothly.
 

Glad  you got it going.

Very Nice

Nice

I only got 66%.

Wow, never seen one bent like that.  There's more to it than a bad pushrod.  Let us know what you find.
 

Looks nice.  I had a 72 for a short time in my early years. 

Josh,  here are the answers to your questions.  220,000 miles, the fluid was dark but no burnt smell.  It's towed a boat a few times, but probably not more than 400 miles total towing.  I have never changed the fluid but I bought the car used.   Not sure about previous owner.   I replaced just the fluid lost.  did not search an Expedition forum.