OBS F250 slow adventure build

[amgvr4]

Great Rig! I have a 1996 Crew Cab 7.3 Off Road Package, short Bed with ..... 86k Original Miles! You have given me some great ideas!

Steve

Sounds like a great find. At 86k miles it isn't even broken in yet! I'm glad I could help give you some ideas, that was my primary reason for starting this thread. I wanted to be able to provide some information that was hard to come by for OBS owners out there. I love my truck more and more as time goes by, it is so good at so many things!

 

[amgvr4]

I picked up a 16' car trailer today. It needs a little work to beef it up and make it wide enough to fit a full size truck on it but it was cheap and is a good starting point. First thing I need to do is fix the safety chains and make a super drop hitch for it. Then comes some better ramps and frame bolstering.

 

[Nosferatu49534]

Love the video. Your son did a great job. The truck is awesome. I do love that body style.

 

[amgvr4]

One of the best parts about the trailer deal is that it came with two free sets of 16.5" wheels so I could finally get my full size spare mounted up! It took the guys at Les Schwab 5 hours to seat the bead but they finally prevailed.



I also go the drop hitch made, new safety chains, new 7 pin plug on the truck, and converted the trailer jack to use a 3/8th drive socket




Man it is nice to be able to raise and lower the trailer with a power tool!


On a more somber note I had to let my dog go on Thursday. He was only 10.5 years old, but he had some bladder stones that got lodged in his urinary tract and cause a very serious infection. I am still in shock because it happened so fast. He was perfectly normal and fine last Saturday, but by Tuesday he was unable to even get up or eat. After an ultrasound and several x-rays it was clear that he was in excruciating pain and the vet was not confident she could get the stones out of his urinary tract to even attempt to remove them from the bladder. I miss him so much already and it will be hard to replace his amazing love and devotion.

RIP my old friend!
Nismo 2004-2015

 

[Pangle]

Ya its been a sitter for most of its life.. We actually bought it new in 1995... They are great trucks and your exactly right, they do so much really well! Thanks again

 

[underdrive]

Sorry about your dog, it's always very tough losing a family member, be they a 4-legged one...

Why did you chose to install your spare wheel on the passenger side of the bumper? Always thought that's one of the the worst locations to put it, as it creates a massive blind spot there. If you were to have it on the driver side and it blocks your view you can always pop your head out the window, whereas with the passenger side there's no such option (well, unless you're that one guy from the Fantastic Four).

It's the same reason why we never run spares bolted to the side bedrail in the front right corner of the bed anymore, if you're trying to make a left turn on a T intersection depending on how you angle the truck with respect to the road you may end up seeing the spare wheel instead of any possible oncoming traffic. Admittedly this is a problem mostly associated with regular-cab trucks, as with the 4 doors you can look out the rear right door's window. So now if we carry two spares (which is any time we go out exploring) they go all the way in the rear corners of the bed, if it's just one (so most of the time) it lives on the front end of the left side bedrail...

 

[seanpistol]

So sorry to hear about the hound.

 

[Seabass]

Dang Man, I'm so sorry about your dog. I don't know you, will likely never meet you, but my heart breaks for you. The wife and I have 5 dogs. They are our children. Even now one is laying on top of me as I write this. Love your build none the less. Time takes care of everything.

 

[Bojak]

I was told once you can get a good feel for what kind of person someone is by how the are with their dog. I'm sure there are exceptions but I noticed that to be true in all my personal observations. I'm sorry for your loss. I remember every dog I have ever had and how much each meant to me. Time will heal.

 

[amgvr4]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I miss my pup and can't help but think he is still going to greet me when I come home. We have to wait a little bit before we can get another dog, but I am finding it hard to do that right now!

I had to do some work on the trailer and truck this week. The ramps that came with the trailer were dangerous, the only thing holding them on was a small bolt that you put in a series of holes drilled into the rear beam. The first car I towed almost lost a ramp when unloading it. So I had to fix that pronto.

The ramp mounts on the trailer


The ramp side


In place



Then on Saturday the vacuum pump started to go out on the truck. The vacuum pump is what operates the HVAC controls and more importantly the brake booster! Trying to stop my truck without power brakes is pretty much impossible so I picked up a pump today and slapped it on.

I also figured out what roof top tent we are getting and should be placing the order middle of the month. I'll need to make the platform for it soon.

 

[underdrive]

I had to do some work on the trailer and truck this week. The ramps that came with the trailer were dangerous, the only thing holding them on was a small bolt that you put in a series of holes drilled into the rear beam. The first car I towed almost lost a ramp when unloading it. So I had to fix that pronto.

Aluminum ramps? Sure makes slinging them around easy

Then on Saturday the vacuum pump started to go out on the truck. The vacuum pump is what operates the HVAC controls and more importantly the brake booster! Trying to stop my truck without power brakes is pretty much impossible so I picked up a pump today and slapped it on.

The brakes on these trucks were never really all that great from the factory, IMHO. I mean the wheel side is done very well with those huge calipers, it's the firewall side that's lacking... Luckily, there's a factory upgrade - hydroboost off a F-Superduty (old F450, 10-lug 16" wheels and solid I beam front axle like a larger truck, 14k-15k GVW). You will need the following:

1) hydroboost unit, that can come from any '87-'97 F-Superduty. RockAuto gets some deals on new OEM units every once in a while. Or you can go reman, but personally I'd trust any random junkyard unit more than the Cardone stuff all the parts stores seem to be pushing these days - if you want quality reman go with Vanco PBS or someone else of the same type.
2) brake pedal, again you can use one off any F-Superduty as long as it's a stick-shift (auto pedals are different). Or you can modify your pedal by moving the pin for the booster pushrod 3/4" closer to the pedal's pivot.
3) master cylinder, if you have cruise buy one for F-Superduty of the same model year as your truck, if no cruise any F-Superduty master will work.
4) high-pressure hoses, one from the power steering pump to the hydroboost and another from the hydroboost to the steering gear box on the frame - order these new for a F-Superduty of the same model year as your truck. Then the hydro's low-pressure return line is just 3/8" bulk hose, steering return line remains unmodified.
5) pump reservoir with dual return ports, can be had from Ford for under $40, or you can buy a whole reman pump with it already installed for around $60.

FWIW newer F250s and F350s come hydroboosted from the factory, pretty sure that started in '98, but prior to that only the F-Superduty got that setup.

 

[amgvr4]

I would love to go hydro boost, and I really appreciate the parts list! I will likely upgrade to a Saginaw ps pump at the same time but that is a little ways out. I totally agree that the brakes leave something to be desired on these trucks, especially when the booster isn't helping! Also I totally forgot to answer your question about my spare tire. I never felt like it was in the way before you mentioned it so I have been paying attention over the last few days and it really isn't in the way for me. I am a prolific mirror checker so I usually always know what cars are around and where they are at all times so it hasn't impared my driving at all. I would love to hook up a back up camera though to make parking a bit easier.

 

[underdrive]

The Saginaw pump will be a tricky one, on the older Ford diesels with V-belts you could use the bracket off an Econoline van and that will give you the Saginaw, but that doesn't work with serpentine belt drives. You'll probably need a special conversion pump, luckily that is readily available from vendors like PSC. Then there is the matter of plumbing the Saginaw into your system, with just a steering box you can use an off-the-shelf pressure hose for an Econoline van and be done with it, but there's no factory application that uses a Saginaw pump with the oddball F-Superduty style hydroboost (SAE o-ring ports for the hoses, as opposed to earlier SAE flares and later metric o-rings). Your best bet there would be AN- adapters on both the pump and the hydroboost unit, and then just AN- line of proper length and size between the two - not quite an off-the-shelf solution, but still very field serviceable by anyone who makes hydraulic hoses (big truck repair shops and service trucks, NAPA stores, HVAC outfits, etc.) because the adapters are non-wear items and it's just the line that would possibly need replacement some day. But honestly, having ran both the Saginaw and the factory pump on the same truck, I don't think the Saginaw is all that needed, maybe if you ran steering assist cylinder on the front axle, but for just a hydroboost setup the factory C2 type pump is more than adequate.

Another cheap brakes upgrade on these trucks are the rear wheel cylinders - you can replace yours with the DRW-specs ones, they are a bit larger and thus will give you some extra shoe clamping force at the drums. Direct bolt-on deal, no custom work needed, if you're due for new wheel cylinders soon might as well grab the DRW stuff. Can't use the DRW drums and shoes though, not on a SRW axle.

Regarding the spare wheel, we actually don't have rear-view mirrors on any of our trucks, we rely solely on the external ones to see what's around and behind us, so I know you can do just fine that way. What I was referring to was trying to back into (or out of) a tight spot, basically situations where any visibility towards the rear is welcome - that's where it can get a bit annoying looking over your shoulder to the right and seeing nothing but that huge spare wheel. But you may never run into such a pickle, and a decent backup camera makes all this a moot point anyways.

 

[amgvr4]

Last night I helped a friend put some 37" MTRs on his superduty. He has a stock 2003 F350 crew cab short be and he needed some new tires pretty bad. I told him how much I loved mine and were I got them from and next thing I know he had ordered a set of 100% tread military take offs for $900 delivered. He also scored a awesome set of forged Centerlines off craigslist for $225. Everything I had read said they would fit with some trimming in the front so we set a date and got her done!

The factory wheels and worn out 32" tires


Fitting the fronts


Rubbing at the bumper



Pretty close at the back



After trimming the bumper and the back of the fender



The inner fender liner needed to be trimmed up and the main body seam had to be cut back flush with the bottom fender bolts. We then used a large zip tie to keep the fender liner pulled back in away from the tire at full lock


The bumper needed to be trimmed about 2" at the bottom edge



All done


The truck drives really well and he is super pumped with how it turned out. The amount of traction he has now is incredible. I also really like the look of the large tires no lift on trucks like this. They look so stout this way!

 

[bftank]

thanks for posting that, ive been considering this option on my 99 f350, with a set of h1s i have. how bad is the rubbing on the inner fenderwell?