My wife and I recently decided to switch up from a van project I built about 7 years ago and build out a Total Composites slide in camper. I ended up finding a great deal on a 1999 F250 Super Duty V-10 with a Total Composites camper built very similar to what I would have done, so I picked that up at the beginning of the summer.
The truck was in really good shape, but hadn't had much work done to it recently other than a fully rebuilt transmission. After spending a couple nights biking in Sante Fe while picking up the camper, I white knuckled it back to our home in Fraser, Colorado. Like I said, not much had been done to it. You could make about a quarter turn of the wheel in either direction before the steering actually engaged. It was like a 1 second lag, but in real life. I-70 East from Silverthorne to the tunnels was probably the sketchiest driving experience I've had. If you know that stretch of highway, you probably know what I'm talking about. Seems like the semi truck ruts are about 6 inches deep and never match the width of a car or truck. Anyway, once I got her home, I did a thorough front-end inspection, and started tallying up the list of must-do repairs. Here's what I've done so far.
Truck Setup:
Trying to decide on wheels and tires. Right now the truck has stock 16" steel wheels and stock 265/75r16s (~31"). It's a work truck, so I don't mind the utilitarian look, but would 17"s handle a little better? 17s are easier to find tires in more sizes for sure. I'd love to throw 35" tires on, but with my 3.73 rear-end and mountain driving I'm concerned 35" will be too big and I'll be searching for the right gear all the time. I'd love to regear to 4.33s, but that doesn't really seem worth the cost at this point. After all it's a 1999 truck. 33" doesn't quite seem worth it. Considering 34"s for best of both worlds. While I'm at it, it seems like it might be worth some aftermarket wheels in 17 Gold or Black would be sweet for that offroad/overland look. Otherwise, I'll probably just paint the stockers black (currently grey).
Any other ideas for the build. I'd love to hear thoughts and feedback. More pics coming soon!
The truck was in really good shape, but hadn't had much work done to it recently other than a fully rebuilt transmission. After spending a couple nights biking in Sante Fe while picking up the camper, I white knuckled it back to our home in Fraser, Colorado. Like I said, not much had been done to it. You could make about a quarter turn of the wheel in either direction before the steering actually engaged. It was like a 1 second lag, but in real life. I-70 East from Silverthorne to the tunnels was probably the sketchiest driving experience I've had. If you know that stretch of highway, you probably know what I'm talking about. Seems like the semi truck ruts are about 6 inches deep and never match the width of a car or truck. Anyway, once I got her home, I did a thorough front-end inspection, and started tallying up the list of must-do repairs. Here's what I've done so far.
Truck Setup:
- New steering box and shaft (Cardone box). this wasn't too difficult of a project, and made a huge difference in the steering "lag". I need to go back and tighten it a bit, but it's much better. Pulling the pitman arm was the toughest part.
- New sway bar bushings (Energy Suspension - Poly). The original end link bushings were disintegrated and bumps made an annoying metallic clunk. The new end link bushings fit great, but I wasn't able to find the correct sway bar bushings. The ones in the kit fit the bar, but didn't fill the space in the bracket. Need to get back around to this, but the rubber ones on there weren't too bad. This also helped tighten up the front-end quite a bit.
- New Track Bar and bushings. This also helped tighten up the front end.
- Shocks and Springs. I spoke with Junior at ATS springs and we decided on x-code springs in the front and super duty heavy duty springs on the rear. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to spend on the truck at first, so wanted to keep the budget pretty reasonable. We opted for the SkyJacker Black Max shocks as they should ride a little softer and I was concerned with the relatively light camper on heavy duty springs. So far I'm pretty happy with ride. Fortunately and unfortunately between the heavier springs, and the tired old saggy springs this probably lifted the truck about 3". I wanted a lift anyway, but didn't think about that when my truck got stuck in the garage after replacing the springs. Had to air down and put a bunch of weight in the back to get the truck low enough to get out of the garage, haha.
- BIGLIONX Round LED Offroad Lights 7inch 210W 32000LM LED Off Road Lights - The stock lights even when the brights were on are terrible. Added these budget offroad lights from Amazon. So far the quality seems great and the light output is amazing.
- Hellwig Big Wig Rear Sway Bar - The truck didn't have a rear sway bar initially. Even with the stiffer rear springs the truck really wanted to lean and would rock a lot over bumps and dips, especially low speed. Adding the rear sway bar made a world of difference. I was actually concerned about the bar making things too stiff, but I think somehow it's actually riding smoother. Can't recommend these sway bars enough for a truck camper setup.
- PMF Front-leveling shackle - This is on order and I'm planning to install this week. This should lift the front end an additional 1.5" and level it off with the rear-end.
- SCT Tuner with Five Star Tuning - This greatly helps the drivability. Tuned for modern ethanol gas, increased throttle response, increased power, and better shifting strategy.
Trying to decide on wheels and tires. Right now the truck has stock 16" steel wheels and stock 265/75r16s (~31"). It's a work truck, so I don't mind the utilitarian look, but would 17"s handle a little better? 17s are easier to find tires in more sizes for sure. I'd love to throw 35" tires on, but with my 3.73 rear-end and mountain driving I'm concerned 35" will be too big and I'll be searching for the right gear all the time. I'd love to regear to 4.33s, but that doesn't really seem worth the cost at this point. After all it's a 1999 truck. 33" doesn't quite seem worth it. Considering 34"s for best of both worlds. While I'm at it, it seems like it might be worth some aftermarket wheels in 17 Gold or Black would be sweet for that offroad/overland look. Otherwise, I'll probably just paint the stockers black (currently grey).
Any other ideas for the build. I'd love to hear thoughts and feedback. More pics coming soon!
Last edited:
