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My F250

18K views 96 replies 29 participants last post by  reptillikus 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This June ill have owned my F250 9 years. This November ill have had the bronco 13! :eek: I must be getting old. At least this one is still in decent shape though. Just finished cleaning/polishing the wheels, and doing a good clean on the body, couldn't resist snapping a few pics.








Theres been a few dents & scrapes along the way, but she's gonna be around for the long haul, so in another year or two, the body is getting the full resto treatment :thumbup
 
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#34 ·
Thanks :thumbup


Water Injection Update: it is amazing. I consumed almost 20 gallons towing the bronco to VA, however I was loaded way heaver then I normally am, and that was with the cruise set at 65 for the whole trip. It works amazing, I was tuning it on the way down, and found at 100% duty cycle, it will drop my EGTs from 1200 to 900 in ~ 30 seconds :eek: That's going up hill, at 65mph. Yeah, it works awesome. Of course, tuned that high consumes a ton of water, so I throttled it back a bit for the ride home. But yeah, awesome. Being able to tune it on the fly with the CMGS was awesome, it would've been a major pita to pull over after every hill to adjust a manual boost switch until I found a setting I liked.




Ok, next project. Started this one before my trip, didn't get to finish till this week. Damn rain & humidity delayed me as well, but theyre done.

So I bought a piece of 2*3, .250 wall, 16' long, at the scrap steel yard for $50. So I decided to make some steps for the diesel.



Looking at fitment


Deciding where to cut them off at


Cut down


Basic idea




Has to fit around bolt for fender


Both cut, notches to clear fender bolt closed in




Mocking up legs


All welded up


...and bolted to frame






Next up, steps


















...and for the finishing touch, 2" grip tape.


I know its not ideal for a rock crawler to have that step hanging down, but this thing only gets wheeled if we need a trailer offroad, so it shouldnt be an issue, and they definitely make it easier for my vertically-challenged wife to get in & out :toothless
 
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#42 ·
Got some new tires on Tuesday!

Found a local shop that could get 35" BFGs for my 16.5s, so I ordered a set.






ive missed these tires! The Goodyears were ok, but performance-wise, these tires are phenomenal. For those that remember, I used to run these, but then for a while a few years back no one could get any. I thought they were disco-d (like most other 16.5s) and gone forever (which is when I switched to the 37s), but these days theres plenty of em out there. So I happily jumped on the chance to get another set. Only been on a couple days, but man I love em :rockon

And for a little bit of tech, I have them balanced with Counteract Balancing Beads, which are basically the same thing as Equal (you can get them on Ebay). Little glass beads inside the tire. Glass is nice because it wont get all clumpy from moisture like the cheaper ones that are basically sand. I used 12oz bags which is a bit much, probably could've gotten away with 10oz, but a little extra doesn't hurt. They are smooth as glass on the highway :smokin:
 
#45 ·
I agree, they are awesome tires. My last set I got 58k out of them, and they were awesome right to the end. So happy to have another set.

I went with beads primarily because I always bead balance, but also because while ive lost wheel weights in the past, this way they will always be perfectly balanced, til the day they are bald and thrown away.
 
#48 ·
Woah an update!

So here we are, 3 years later. Everything still works!


Sort of, anyway :toothless


This thing needs some TLC tho, so here we go!!


Step one, remove tailgate & bumper:


Step two, remove rotted out, worn out trailer hitch:


Locate bed bolts in bed liner (this part sucks)


This one was particularly stubborn, had to cut bottom of bolt off. They have an interesting shoulder on them so as to not crush the bed when torqued down; also means they must come out the top even when the head is cut off :duh


Front-left bolt. Another stubborn one. This one i had to cut the nut off with a die grinder, due to how close it is to the fuel & brake lines


This is a fun job to do. 5 out of 6 bed bolts fought me, and ended up getting cut. Im still going to have to deal with this later!
So much scale falling on me the whole time too.


Then a couple buddies stopped by, and this happened!


Bed is on trailer for now. Yes, its going back on :toothless
 
#49 ·
So now that the bed is off, the maintenance can begin.

#1, rear tank runs out of fuel at ¼ tank. Pulled the sending unit and sure enough, the strainer has broken off the bottom!


Pulled the front sending unit because it always read empty, and found a cracked float full of diesel
(float already removed)


Sending units for the diesels are pretty pricey, but fortunately, parts are not! So i ordered a new float for the front, and strainer for the back off Amazon, and got them both fixed


Next up was to remove the front spring hangars as they are toast


From there i needle-scaled, wire-wheeled, and then primed the whole back half of the frame


Then Thursday i finally got a coat of paint on it :thumbup
 
#50 ·
New spring hangars from Dorman


Installed new spring bushings as well


Made a new tailpipe hangar to replace the broken one




...and a new trailer hitch! Curt Class V, #15300. Got it on RockAuto for $180, cant beat that price for a class V hitch. And it is BEEF too, really nice heavy duty hitch.






Unfortunately that pretty much gets me up to date, as it has been pouring non-stop for days now :duh

I still need to fix the trailer hitch wiring as i damaged it when i removed the bumper :brownbag but aside from that the repairs are done, which means as soon as the weather improves, the mods can begin!
 
#53 ·
I considered that when I replaced both tanks on my 85. It’s near impossible though with the exhaust coming out of the rear. Didn’t want the exhaust too close to the tank and diesel exhaust needs to come out of the rear because of soot. Even with a rear exit the back of the truck builds up with soot very quickly.

Good to see your working on the 250 again. Can’t wait to pull mine apart and paint underneath. What you paint the frame with?
 
#52 ·
Considered it. But its only ~2 years old, cant bring myself to replace a new tank. Plus since i only put 3k miles on it last year, the extra capacity really isnt needed these days. I use it more for hauling dirt/stone/wood/steel etc than i do pulling the trailer.
 
#54 ·
The exhaust is pretty tight to that corner. Its actually why i opted for a replacement steel tank instead of plastic; was concerned the heat from the tailpipe would melt the tank.

The frame is nothing special, just rustoleum primer & paint. Maybe one day when i get around to repairing the cab, ill POR15 the whole thing but for now this will do.

Im happy to be working on it; not being my DD ive kind of just ignored some of this stuff, so its nice to have it all fixed. Plus ive got more parts for it yet in the garage, if itll ever stop raining!
 
#56 ·
Reminds me of my 96 7.3l cclb 4x4. Had 33" MTs, tymar intake, ts6 chip from beans diesel, and 4" straightpipe exhaust. Was white with the gray tutone inset. Loved that truck, but it burnt to the ground right along with my blue bronco. Had just replaced the glow plugs and harness, and put on a brand new fomoco a.c. compressor. Only had 180k on the clock.

In my area, a nice 7.3 92-97 4x4 is 12,000 and up to 30k. I had to settle for a 351 powered f350.
 
#57 ·
That sucks! They are hard to find these days. Most in this area are rotted out. Mine already needs a cab corner; hopefully i can get the bronco done and get to this before its too late.





So i have a small update: rain sucks. It wont stop! We got ~12" of rain last week, with more coming next week :banghead
So i do have some real progress, but thanks to mother nature its been slow.

Youre probably wondering why i lifted the bed to do all that work, when i couldve done it all w/o removing it. Well, it has something to do with this:





Youre looking at a 2ton hydraulic dump conversion kit :cool:

It converts the stock truck bed into a covert dump bed, which is pretty awesome. Bought it last fall and with working on the green bronco never got around to installing it until now.

It came with a ton of Gr8 hardware


a whole bunch of wires, connectors, 200a circuit breaker, hydraulic hose & fittings, all sorts of parts


the pump is a pretty nice piece, and has a built in 3qt resevoir. Its designed to run on ATF which is convenient.



So here's where i goofed. This kit is a 'universal' kit because it fits like 20 years of these trucks. As i later discovered, there was a specific kit available direct from the manufacturer (Pierce Arrow, Inc) that wouldve worked better, but oh well. The primary difference is in the hinges, anyway, which ill get to in a moment.

So i need to notch the end of the frame for clearance for the hinge. This is the point of no return, as im also cutting off the hole for the rearmost bed bolt.


Then on Thursday the rain broke long enough for some buddies to swing by and help set the bed back on the frame so i can begin!
 
#58 ·
So lets talk about that hinge.

This is how its designed. One bracket that bolts inside the frame, one that bolts to the bed, and a 5/8 Gr8 bolt for a hinge pin


Frame side bracket. Not thrilled with this piece. The bushing is a nut with the threads drilled out, but its oversize so the bolt is sloppy


Bed-side bracket. has this angle iron tab that extends forward to tie into the next forward bed xmember. Good idea, but it doesnt fit on the 92-97 bed, so its gotta go


so here's the new bed half. Not a fan of this as the hole on this is also oversize so the bolt is sloppy.


At this point i figure i had two options. Use their hinge and upgrade to a 3/4" bolt for a hinge pin, or just build my own hinges. So i looked it up. According to this page, a 5/8 Gr8 bolt has a shear strength of 27,920lbs! Clearly i dont need a 3/4" bolt for the hinge, and the 5/8 will fit in the space better. So i guess im making new hinges!


Ok, gotta make some spacers. Carbide holesaw in 3/8" plate


New hinge, with spacer welded in place. All 3/8"


Installed on frame. Unlike theirs, mine uses all existing holes in the frame. Also of note, i need to finish trimming the frame. That notch is required for room for the hinge to pivot.


Both made


...and the comparison between mine & theirs. IMO, mine is far superior.



So now i need to build the bed-side half of the hinge. Well, i scrounged up some more 3/8" plate that im going to use to build them this week. I really liked the idea of making the hinge double shear, but there just isnt any room under there to do it with the hinges built as such; i might have to make a second spacer to weld to the inside of each frame-side hinge, but these will most likely need to be 1/2" in order to space them far enough away that they will not interfere with the bed bolt. So my goal for next week is going to be to finish the hinges, as long as mother nature cuts me some slack!


One thing i want to say. Im not trying to bash on Pierce-Arrow. These guys have been building these kits for, as far as i can tell, 15-20 years, and everyone loves them. No complaints from anyone on the parts that ive found, which tells me that if their sloppy single-shear hinge is good, then mine will be better. Also, it doesnt have to be double shear, but if i can i want to do it, just cuz i can. The scissor for the hyd cylinder seems like a nice piece, as does the pump, and the wiring & hardware kits are both nice as well. So basically, my only complaint with it is the hinge, which will soon be resolved.
 
#59 ·
Hey Kevin nice job on the hinge. When I built the Hood hinge on Large Marge I use the drilled out threaded bolt method. you would think a large company like this would have another method. When you were cleaning your frame you had mentioned a needle scaler. I've never used one do they work good enough to justify the price.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
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