Thanks man. As I am sure you know they are always a work in progress. I have actually seen you around the AVL area but I have always been in my work truck and didn't have a chance to stop and talk. Always liked ur rig.
Ford Fullsize Thread !!!!
- Thread starter lonestrom
- Start date
Thanks man. As I am sure you know they are always a work in progress. I have actually seen you around the AVL area but I have always been in my work truck and didn't have a chance to stop and talk. Always liked ur rig.
Hello,
I only found this thread yesterday but have found it very interesting and full of ideas and information.
The truck is a 2000 Ford F-350 4X4 crew cab, long bed with a 7.3L diesel. When I bought it in 2004 it already had the lift kit installed and I found I liked it so I didn't have it taken off. The truck has 142000 miles on it now and I've been religiously changing the oil, and filters. I put in a 4' stainless steel exhaust, had it chipped and installed an exhaust temp gauge, a turbo boost gauge and a tranny temp gauge on the drivers side column. It's got brand new shocks all the way around, just got new tires, new headlights,new cablight lenses, new batteries and a new K&N cold air intake. I still need to do a little more work on the cabin to make the truck as comfortable as possible over the long trip, like a better sound system and at least one new front bucket. The front windows still need to be tinted. I'm going to put a brush guard, winch and some additional lighting on it over the next several months.
While I realize a lot of my work has been cosmetic, I've taken good care of the engine as well but I am admittedly not very mechanical.
I want to make a grand tour of the USA including driving to Alaska in it sometime in the next 18 months. I'd like to take 6 months to a year to do the trip and since I'm a "blue roads" kind of guy I'd like to explore some of the rougher secondary (read dirt) roads as I make my way around the country.
What I haven't decided yet is exactly how I want to configure the back end of the truck. I love to camp and have been considering my options i.e. a slide in camper vs a capper, taking the bed off and building a back end of my own design, or buying one of the tents I've seen on this thread which mounts up high.
There are a few considerations I have to make. I'm an avid cyclist and I need to have a secure rack to hold my bikes. I might want to take my canoe with me. I have a tipi and having a rack built to hold my tipi poles (they're 25' long) would be a positive, and if/when I get the chance to explore some of the more remote areas I reckon I'll need a place to keep extra tools, chain saw, fuel etc.
What I'm hoping you all, especially those of you who have loads more experience going off road, will help me with all of the mechanical considerations I don't know about but should; as well as your opinions and/or experiences of the various pros and cons of using this vehicle for what I want to do and how you'd configure it if it was yours. Any links for products you suggest or have found useful would be extremely helpful.
Thanks in advance for your input. Let the fun begin!
BTW that's diesel fuel under the truck that leaked out when I replaced the fuel filter today.
I only found this thread yesterday but have found it very interesting and full of ideas and information.
The truck is a 2000 Ford F-350 4X4 crew cab, long bed with a 7.3L diesel. When I bought it in 2004 it already had the lift kit installed and I found I liked it so I didn't have it taken off. The truck has 142000 miles on it now and I've been religiously changing the oil, and filters. I put in a 4' stainless steel exhaust, had it chipped and installed an exhaust temp gauge, a turbo boost gauge and a tranny temp gauge on the drivers side column. It's got brand new shocks all the way around, just got new tires, new headlights,new cablight lenses, new batteries and a new K&N cold air intake. I still need to do a little more work on the cabin to make the truck as comfortable as possible over the long trip, like a better sound system and at least one new front bucket. The front windows still need to be tinted. I'm going to put a brush guard, winch and some additional lighting on it over the next several months.
While I realize a lot of my work has been cosmetic, I've taken good care of the engine as well but I am admittedly not very mechanical.
I want to make a grand tour of the USA including driving to Alaska in it sometime in the next 18 months. I'd like to take 6 months to a year to do the trip and since I'm a "blue roads" kind of guy I'd like to explore some of the rougher secondary (read dirt) roads as I make my way around the country.
What I haven't decided yet is exactly how I want to configure the back end of the truck. I love to camp and have been considering my options i.e. a slide in camper vs a capper, taking the bed off and building a back end of my own design, or buying one of the tents I've seen on this thread which mounts up high.
There are a few considerations I have to make. I'm an avid cyclist and I need to have a secure rack to hold my bikes. I might want to take my canoe with me. I have a tipi and having a rack built to hold my tipi poles (they're 25' long) would be a positive, and if/when I get the chance to explore some of the more remote areas I reckon I'll need a place to keep extra tools, chain saw, fuel etc.
What I'm hoping you all, especially those of you who have loads more experience going off road, will help me with all of the mechanical considerations I don't know about but should; as well as your opinions and/or experiences of the various pros and cons of using this vehicle for what I want to do and how you'd configure it if it was yours. Any links for products you suggest or have found useful would be extremely helpful.
Thanks in advance for your input. Let the fun begin!
BTW that's diesel fuel under the truck that leaked out when I replaced the fuel filter today.
Rot Box
Explorer
Welcome to the forum. You definitely have a great truck for the job. I went to Florida (Ft. Meyers) for my first time last summer. Had a great time really neat place--nothing like Utah haha. Anyway I'd probably start a build thread and be sure to share all your updates and travels. With a trip like that in mind I think you'd love a pop-up camper like the FWC (four wheel camper) but I am a bit bias :coffeedrink:
Andrew
SightPicture
Observer
Hopeless Diamond
Explorer
^^^Impressive grip on those tires 
@seesbirds:
I'd say do something about the huge rear lift block, either a shackle flip if you don't use this truck for often/heavy towing, or go get a new set of springs that eliminate the block. Some companies may make off-the-shelf springs which do, others will do custom springs (Deaver would be my recommendation but there are other good ones). Replacing the block will give you better articulation and eliminate a lot of axle wrap.
Maybe do something about the front dual shock setup, get some Bilstein 7100's or some such?
As to the living space, building a roof-height integrated camper would be wicked cool and allow for easy carriage of a canoe. You may want to rethink the tipi, 25 feet is as long as the truck! A pop-up makes moving the canoe hard but gives great living space. A simple cap is probably the easiest solution, but I'm still thinking you could do a sweet camper back to replace your bed entirely! storage boxes for tools along the bottom outside, mount your bikes off the back up high and out of the way.
Depending on how rough you're planning on getting with the roads you travel, may want to consider some good skid plates, and rock rails if you can fab them up yourself.
It doesn't sound like you're planning to do anything really intense with the truck, your running gear should hold up alright given the demands, but bring spares for things like U-joints, seals, fluids (including gear oil for the axles, tranny fluid, power steering fluid, motor oil, wiper fluid, etc.)
A good way to find out what will fail, what you're gonna need spares for is to find some local terrain and work the truck out. Push your comfort zone close to home, where you aren't 3000 miles on a flatbed to get back to your garage and repair your mistakes
I know this because I learned the hard way-I broke my (mom's) Honda Pilot 50 miles down a class 6 road in Vermont. I sat around in the cold for 5 hours while my uncle drove out to rescue me from my own stupidity. I learned the importance of carrying the entire front drivetrain as a spare if you attempt to go anywhere further off-road than, say, a dirt parking lot in a Honda. 5 hours broken down on a pleasure trip is bad enough-it would suck to find some crucial flaw in your big-time adventure rig 1500 miles from home and sit at a crappy motel for a week while the local jiffy lube guy figures out how to rebuild your transmission.
Good luck with the build!
I'd say do something about the huge rear lift block, either a shackle flip if you don't use this truck for often/heavy towing, or go get a new set of springs that eliminate the block. Some companies may make off-the-shelf springs which do, others will do custom springs (Deaver would be my recommendation but there are other good ones). Replacing the block will give you better articulation and eliminate a lot of axle wrap.
Maybe do something about the front dual shock setup, get some Bilstein 7100's or some such?
As to the living space, building a roof-height integrated camper would be wicked cool and allow for easy carriage of a canoe. You may want to rethink the tipi, 25 feet is as long as the truck! A pop-up makes moving the canoe hard but gives great living space. A simple cap is probably the easiest solution, but I'm still thinking you could do a sweet camper back to replace your bed entirely! storage boxes for tools along the bottom outside, mount your bikes off the back up high and out of the way.
Depending on how rough you're planning on getting with the roads you travel, may want to consider some good skid plates, and rock rails if you can fab them up yourself.
It doesn't sound like you're planning to do anything really intense with the truck, your running gear should hold up alright given the demands, but bring spares for things like U-joints, seals, fluids (including gear oil for the axles, tranny fluid, power steering fluid, motor oil, wiper fluid, etc.)
A good way to find out what will fail, what you're gonna need spares for is to find some local terrain and work the truck out. Push your comfort zone close to home, where you aren't 3000 miles on a flatbed to get back to your garage and repair your mistakes
I know this because I learned the hard way-I broke my (mom's) Honda Pilot 50 miles down a class 6 road in Vermont. I sat around in the cold for 5 hours while my uncle drove out to rescue me from my own stupidity. I learned the importance of carrying the entire front drivetrain as a spare if you attempt to go anywhere further off-road than, say, a dirt parking lot in a Honda. 5 hours broken down on a pleasure trip is bad enough-it would suck to find some crucial flaw in your big-time adventure rig 1500 miles from home and sit at a crappy motel for a week while the local jiffy lube guy figures out how to rebuild your transmission.
Good luck with the build!
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SightPicture
Observer
@HD, yea I don't know what's up with that thumbnail. Weird.
kevint
Adventurer
2011 F-150 FX4
Two questions:
1) Any idea where to stash an auxillary battery out of sight? The engine compartment seems to be full.
2) I really don't like the headlights. I just don't feel like I get good illumination down the road. Is there any way to improve the existing headlights? (Upgraded bulb, etc.?
Two questions:
1) Any idea where to stash an auxillary battery out of sight? The engine compartment seems to be full.
2) I really don't like the headlights. I just don't feel like I get good illumination down the road. Is there any way to improve the existing headlights? (Upgraded bulb, etc.?
Buliwyf
Viking with a Hammer
I'm going to make a set of racks to mount the batteries on the outside of the frame on my F250 opposite the fuel tank way in front of the rear axle. Two Group 31a1000's. They can handle a ton of grit, and it's easy to powerwash that section anyways.
Or I might just make a rack that bolts to the bed rails that keeps the aux batteries up off the floor of the bed.
Or I might just make a rack that bolts to the bed rails that keeps the aux batteries up off the floor of the bed.
Shardsofanomaly
A traveler.
I would say look at getting HID (High intensity discharge) lights, they're the warmer whiter/blueish lights that you see on the roads. As for the battery I'm at loss.
