My 550 build The "Ford Escape"
- Thread starter Fatboyz
- Start date
Made it out this last weekend again. Very little snow but got down to -26C. Pretty warm with the little stove. Did a little hiking then had to go on a search for a missing hiker. Wind dropped and the big lake froze over during the cold night. The Webasto pre-heater works great. The truck is a bit of a dog on hills with the 7.3 so had a 40HP tune done yesterday. Used the SCT X4. With the "tow" tune it really brought that 7.3 to life more. Went for a run last night and its a very noticeable change.
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Just ran into your thread by accident. As it happens I started my project at virtually the same time as yours.You might notice some similarities. The original build was on a Ram 3500.with a 9' deck. Last summer I switched to an Isuzu NPR 2wd. and added a dog box . I'd love to stop by and compare on my way to Cow Town when we can travel again.
Cheers
CheersAre you guys in Alberta as well? We're in Rocky Mountain House. Weather is to be -35 tonight but starting to warm up to -26 overnight Sunday so we're headed out for 2 days as it's a long weekend for us. Going to cut firewood. The last 2 weeks of -35+ have eaten through the wood supply pretty hard!
Sure does look similar. Looks like the same box we started with!
Love your build, exactly what I have built in my head numerous time. I have 02 450 Crew I’m getting ready to get rolling. Do you have the part number and who you sourced your front springs from? How are you liking the 245s, any rubbing on the front spring? Can you post a pic of the space between the rear duals? I assume you are running the factory 6 inch wide wheels and not the wider F53 motor home wheels. I actually found this thread searching for 245s on ford Superdutys. Thanks for any info you can share
I bought my springs from City Spring in Edmonton Alberta Canada. I Don't have the part number for the rear springs but they were listed as Heavy Duty replacements listed at a rating of 8000 lbs per side. THe front are heavy duty F350, 4400 lbs rating, part number 4312603-HD.
I just have the stock wheels and love the 245's. No issues with clearance. I can put chains on with no rubbing between the duels. All the oilfield guys here, which is lots!, all run 245's on their 550's.
Haven't posted in quite a while as I'm done the major work. Just been fussing with a few details. I still am building my rear motorcycle carrier. I put a heavy duty commercial rear frame mounted hitch on so I will have my carrier for My KLR 650, and still be able to pull a trailer with my side By Side If I want to. I built a new rear bumper and also rear rack for the spare tire. Put a front receiver into my front bush bumper so I can put my mountain bike carrier up front. Added a back up camera as well. We have camped 60 days since Jan 1 this year and found that after -20 we really feel the cold coming through the floor. The box had an aluminum floor and we put cork flooring on top. When I spray foamed the inside I used what was left over to spray the underside but it wasn't near enough. I just got another foam Pak 200 kit and added 2.5-3" more to the whole underside to help deal with that. So far the foam I sprayed under there before has held up well. We're loving this unit so much all the hard work was definitely worth it!
