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Centurion SuperCrewCab

31K views 162 replies 23 participants last post by  95Hailey7.3 
#1 · (Edited)
Centurion SuperCrewCab / ExtendedCrewCab

I decided to make a build tread/parts updated on my Centurion Supercrew cab. A little background. I'm 23, Active Duty military, and living in Colorado. I bought my truck back in Sept 2012. I found her on a fishing trip to Benua Vista, Co. The PO wanted a new 2013 Dodge mega cab:dunno:. With the price tag of $12000 it was a pretty expensive. Luckily my wife came through and was in on getting this one of a kind truck. :happydance: Later she came forward and told me it was a welcome home present and thank you present for me coming home early from my deployment to see the birth of my daughter. Now its time to get her a SuperDuty 7.3L:icon_ford:.

The beginning of this is not going to have as many pictures since most of my work was to get the truck up and running to be my daily drive during the winter. Since my F-250's heater doesn't work. Not sure what's wrong with it. Still need to get Hailey(F-250) under the knife and fix her up.
 
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#2 ·
Return home and the fun begins

Like I said I bought her in Buena Vista, CO and was happy to say I owned this unique behemoth truck. I finally got approved the loan through my bank after a holiday weekend. Called the owner and told him I got the cash and the next morning I was going to drive over the mountain and pick her up. The next day the wife, our daughter Shelby and myself prepped the F-250 for the trip. 94 miles 2 hours and we would meet again with the diamond in the rough that someone was selling.

This is what she all came with, pictures of it when it was for sale.














 
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#3 ·
Its cool to see this truck on here. I would've bought it if I had the money and had a use for such a land yacht. I go to college over in Gunnison and definitely stopped a few times to admire this thing when it was for sale. Good to see it went to a good home and will get driven.
 
#4 ·
If your going to make a build thread then we need piks and a list of current mods
 
#6 ·
I did post a reply its under review. Hopefully it will post soon got more updates just waiting on that one.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Adding up everything!

As with everything that is stated on the sale sheet that came with the truck while I was talking with the guy the night before I headed over he said we would throw in a 5th wheel hitch with it since he didn't have a use for it and the rails where already bolted in the bed.

So this will be a listing of all the stuff that came on the truck as with the price of truck to kinda give a rough estimate on if your looking for a truck. Although don't use this to buy an OBS but use it to compare on the truck your looking at.

I checked on Kelly Blue Book with all that I could put on the truck and it came out with a private owner buying with very good condition total resale value.
$12802 I got him down from $13000 to $12000
High rise topper close to like what mine looks like.
List $1499.99 used about $750.00
Louver Chrome Grill Guard couldn't find a price on type I have gonna guess. New $150.00 new at the time. Typeo
US Gear D-Celerator Exhaust break $710.53
RBW 5th Wheel hitch gonna guess about $350.00 new at the time.
Fold down gooseneck hitch outdated gonna guess $150.00 new at time.
CR Laurence Power Sliding Rear window gonna guess $350.00 new at time.
Beverage Mate heated/cooled cup holders gonna guess $50-75.00 new at the time
Full length running boards unsure of brand and make gonna guess $250-300.00 new at time.

I do this because I look at the price of how much KBB values the truck and then think back and guess on the prices of how much the stuff on the truck would cost. Total cost of what is listed is $14835. How you ask I cut the price in half of the stuff that I could buy off of craigslist or ebay and add the full price on items in which I would have to put on a new truck (ie. exhaust break, running boards) Now here is the kicker I haven't even added in the cost of an extra half a cab, the power fold down rear seat. The JVC radio and 12 disc cd changer, the Bazooka subwoofer, trailer brake controller and radar detector. I take all these parts add them up and imagine if I were to find a truck like mine or in this case a crewcab long bed, probably/probably not 4x4 and price out how much it will cost to make it like this one. If the price is more then I try in every way to buy the vehicle since it will be cheaper in the long run.
 
#9 ·
Things that where wrong!

Nothing really bad mechanically wrong with it, but one small issue.

Whats weird is when your struck by the sight and ooohh of something you don't notice whats wrong with the truck. Apparently the first time I look at the truck I didn't notice that:
The front window was cracked
the tires all 6 the wire was showing
there was a oil leak(simple fix)
and a odd noise that happened once and a while when idling and driving around.

To easy for these little problem.
First I did some searching for the cheapest prices on windows. Turns out Safelight Autoglass was the cheapest. $160 and some change cant remember and where checking off blocks.

Second since I hadn't got it registered I looked for tires, jumped on craigslist and found someone selling 4 Transforce HWY LT265 75 R16 E 50% tread for $100.00 in Denver well four down and only had 2 to go.

I wish I would have got the picture of my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee stuffed with 2 tires in the back, a stroller and 2 tires ratchet strapped to the top of it. :rofl::hehe:

Once back home started looking for a cheep tire shop to mount these bad boys. I found a little mom and pap tire shop that agreed to mount and balance the rear 4 for $30.00. While I was there they had 2 BigFoot Big O All Terrain LT265 75 R16 E tires. I asked how much and he said $30.00 for the two mounted and balanced. All I could say was :grd:. Since this shop did such a great job and was so nice I gave the man a very generous tip of $40. So $200 bucks later and the trucks on new rubber.:woot::scuffy
 
#10 ·
Cherokee? Fah! I stuck three Alcoas with 235/85R16s in the back, and one on the roof, of a Saturn wagon, for a 100-mile ride home.

Aren't 265s a little wide for dually? You got okay clearance sidewall-to-sidewall in the rear?

Smokin' deals, all around, though. The brush guard is an overestimate. You can get the Westin version, with the bar that wraps around the headlights, for $100 on craigslist now and then.
 
#12 ·
Saturn wagon? Fah! 235s? Fah! I stuffed 4 35" tires in my gfs hyundai elantra sedan. 1 in the trunk and 3 in the back seat. Drove from chicago to the quad cities like that. Not the most comfortable ride ever but oh well. Anyway OP i love that rear seat that would be awesome from cross country trips:thumb:
 
#11 ·
Very cool man! I am interested in seeing at all come together for you.

By the way, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!:flag:
 
#13 ·
1st Identify Problems.

Well I knew that there was an oil leak and I was hoping and praying it wasn't the dipstick like my F-250. The thing is it would only happen when the truck was running and not when it was off, well small amount when it was off. :dunno: Well after about the 8 time searching and searching and finally being the end of the month I had some cash to buy the oil field that is required to change the oil on these big ol pigs.

Dip pan, check
Used oil container, check
the most amount of Ford motor oil ever bought, check
Fords Oil filter, check.

Crawled under the truck and started draining the oil.
I expected to stab the oil filter or crush it with a clamp to get it off but I figured out where the oil was coming from. I twisted it about 4 times and the darn thing fell off. :doh: I guess the PO didn't do a lot of maintenance that lose of an oil filter good thing it didn't fall off driving back home after I bought it.

Still had one problem to figure out but I thought it was far worse than what it was. I didn't notice till I started driving the truck more, the truck once and a while would shake and chatter. It almost sounded like a cylinder not firing or a knock.:please::eek:hnoes: It would act up sometimes and wouldn't, it would always seem to stop when I pressed in the clutch. :confused: Over the time of driving it, it got worse. I again thought it was a knock but would always remind myself that it would stop when the clutch was depressed. That's when I became more involved in this site trying to figure out what the problem was. I started reading thread about DMF going bad.

I came across one that said to pull the dust cover and use a screwdriver and see if the flywheels move independent of each other.

:woot::hyper: Sure enough they did, I bit the bullet and decided to do a SMF swap.:eek:hnoes:
 
#16 · (Edited)
Very cool man! I am interested in seeing at all come together for you.

By the way, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!:flag:


Thank you very much, every time doesn't matter how many times I hear someone Thanking me, I still get goose bumps. It is my pleasure, I enjoy what I do and will gladly continue to do it.

I only wish I could enjoy a beer with my younger brother on the other side of the country doing his part. :beer:

"To you LiL Bro, your part of this Veteran's Day also don't forget that.":flag::tex:
 
#15 ·
Is it the Problem or Not?

So I thought and thought about it, read threads, and even asked about at the local auto parts stores and they only assured me that the DMF was going bad. I took my time thinking and doing my research since 1: I never worked on a diesel before. 2: I wasn't really sure if this was the cause of the noise, and 3: wasn't sure if I was biting off more than I could chew.

So my dilemma was what type of SMF swap I was going to. I looked at Valair, South Bend and couldn't make up my mind I knew they where good sets and the price was a little bit only because they are good sets. I just wasn't able to bring myself to buy a $700.00 + clutch set and if it was the wrong one have to send it back and have my truck torn apart longer.

If you not a big fan of autopart store parts being used where better products should be used. Skip this posting.

I did my searching on Autozone, Oreilly's, Pepboys, Napa, and Advance. If my memory serves me right I believe Oreilly's used to sell a Valair clutch set but not anymore. The best price was Oreilly's but there was a little confusion on what type of flywheel I had to buy so it scared me. :eek:hnoes::eek: So my choice wen't to Autozone. They had to order it but it was worth the wait.

I bought the complete SMF swap from Autozone. $379.99
Part Number: NU31410LFW


I do give you one good advice bring a friend when or if you buy this and pick it up. This set got wheeled in on a dolly and the guy at Autozone asked if I wanted help. Being a dumb 23 yrd Grunt I respectfully declined help :doh:.
All I can say is that clutch swap kit :eek:wned: me. It wasn't till I got home I read the box it was a 2 person lift.

It comes with everything to complete the swap.





So after I bought the kit I made my way to Harbor Freight to buy some more tools. I picked up a torque wrench 1/2 drive, air ratchet, and a transmission jack. This is the transmission jack I bought it was tall enough to work and the strap was big enough to wrap around the transmission. The only thing that stalled the project was having a dirt and rock drive way so these wheels really didn't roll. 450lbs capacity


This jack did really well I didn't even unbolt the transfer case from the transmission. It held it just fine the only crappy thing was trying to get it to roll across rocks. I didn't take pictures of the progress since I was trying to get it done before I had to go back to work. I had a 4 day weekend and in total it took 20 hours spread over 3 days. The wife wouldn't allow me to work at night just encase the transmission or something fell on me. So once she was ready for bed I had to stop.

But like I said it took a total of 20 hours and I only had a couple sockets, wrenches, extensions, knuckles, and a air ratchet to speed up the process. Again I am only 23 yrs old with no real experience of working on cars except what my dad taught me. So if you go a garage and more tools and a concrete floor this should be a breeze for you.
 
#17 · (Edited)
So far the Autozone clutch is holding up really well since I did the swap I have driven to Klamath Falls, OR and back a total of about 2800 + miles and then some with everyday driving. It has also held up to so high revs and fast launches at green lights, caused by "wonderful, kind, and respectful drivers in Colorado Springs" NOT.

My truck still kills my leg if I hold my clutch in traffic or at 4 way stops. It is very stiff still.
Any problems that happen with this clutch I will ensure to post so anyone wanting to do this swap wont be afraid of buying the kit from Autozone. Do remember its Autozone, they do have some parts that are faulty but this clutch isn't a reman kit. There is no core charge and the best part it is a LIFE TIME WARRANTY. So any worn out clutch disc's you just got to head to your local Autozone.

Next time I have to swap out the clutch disc I will do a write up.
 
#18 ·
Things I have added.

I have added a few things to the truck since I bought it. I will start with the first thing to the most recent.

I have always been into the cb hobby ever since my dad installed a K40 in his 1990 F150 extended cab longbed XLT Lariat and our dune buggy. I have a overhead console that had a crappy midland in it that didn't work. I bought a K40 and replaced it along with at first a 102" whip that runs to a ball mount and then change down to a 4ft whip. Bad thing is I think that K40 is toast. Cons of buying off of Ebay. I also replaced the swivel light since the original one where broken and not working. Hard to see the whip up top but mad did that thing hit ever tree branch in my neighborhood. :rofl:




I also installed a Coba 29LTD Chrome and moved the 102" whip to the bed and installed another on the passenger side to make them complete. Hooked up to the cobra is a 5w pa speaker. Cant really hear it over the engine when running.:doh: On top the cobra is a Echo chamber so if I want to make my tx echo forever I can.




 
#21 ·
I knew that would get someone, I have seen what holding the clutch in does. Help a buddy figure out why his clutch was catching every once and a while. Pull the dust cover and a couple of the pressure plate teeth fell out. :doh: Grew up having my dad scold me every time I learning how to drive stick when I would ride the clutch.

I only ride the clutch when there is a back up in traffic and everyone is creeping, or when at a 4 way and there is a long line. I hate to do it, but beats shifting, driving, stopping, clutch in, out, shifting, driving, stopping, in, out.

As with still feeling tough I read that also it would feel light but for some reason my will still get your leg tired of shoving that clutch down.
 
#20 ·
Craigslist Steal!

The second thing I added to my truck was a Lund Lighted Visor. I was surfing craigslist one day and saw a posting for a visor. The gentleman posted it was for a 80's style Ford. Wasn't sure if it would fit but I jump on the sight asked about and came to figure out that from the 80 to the obs the body really didn't change at least the major body lines. Crazy thing is the guy had to quickly move out of his shop and was only selling the thing for $25 bucks. :eek:. I called the guy to make sure it wasn't sold :eek:hnoes::please: and sure enough he still had it. Hoped in my truck, hit the bank and took off. :scuffy.



This took the longest to paint since I never painted fiberglass before and wanted it to match the color as much as possible. Took about a month of sanding, taping, painting, wrong color, more wet sanding, more taping, tape pulling paint off, over spray. Finally the paint was as close as I could get it and paint lines matched up. Not bad for using Rustoleum rattle can.







 
#24 ·
Yup taught the same thing, also taught be far enough back that you can see under the car in front of you, again rush hour traffic around here crawls at idle speed of my 1st gear or slower sometimes. I talking about being in a line of cars and every few seconds the line moves so I keep my foot on the clutch and sometimes only when the line is moving at the right amount of pace keep it in 1st. But half the time its faster to get out and walk I only do this when close to the light right at that spot where the turn off lane lets cars get off the road and the momentum picks up. Then Ill have my foot on the clutch and pull it in and out of 1st gear going back into neutral with my other foot hovering over the brake. I do that so I coast and when traffic picks up I shift back into 1st and let out the clutch and away we go. I know this is a stupid, dumb and dangerous way to drive especially during rush hour. But when you got a big arse truck like mine, a mean trailer hitch that sticks out a foot people intend to stay a little father back. I also know that it is doing damage to my TO bearing I know, I know. On average in a month I do this probably 5 times or less that's only when my wife is working later than I or on those crazy days that my schedule and hers conflict and I have to pick my daughter up at the baby sitter.

I understand the point your getting across. Just a simple experienced person giving a young gun some knowledge. :thumb: Again thanks and sorry for the confusion hopefully this clears it up and if it doesn't that's alright.:backtotopic:
 
#23 ·
Junkyard Gem

The next thing that I got that will be going to go on the truck but haven't had time to paint it is the spoiler that goes above the 3 brake like. Picked this baby up at the local pull and pay for $10.

The wife hates it when I buy parts for the truck, hey but then again I do let her go get her nails done. Perfect way to nip the conversation in the butt.:thumb:

 
#43 ·
The next thing that I got that will be going to go on the truck but haven't had time to paint it is the spoiler that goes above the 3 brake like. Picked this baby up at the local pull and pay for $10.

The wife hates it when I buy parts for the truck, hey but then again I do let her go get her nails done. Perfect way to nip the conversation in the butt.:thumb:

I really want this.....
 
#25 ·
I get Ya just figured better safe than sorry and I know I didn't mention it before but thank you for your brother and your service to this country. We live the way we do and drive those big trucks with mean hitches all thanks to you guys.
 
#27 ·
Too easy and again Thank you very much, it is my pleasure and it is a fun job.
 
#26 ·
Summer Leave Road Trip

Just a quick recap again I did a majority of this before I started the build thread, so all I'm doing is posting it all in one spot. Don't mind the dates since I'm just now posting it all but it is all in order of the things I have done to it.

This past summer we took a trip back to my wife's home town. It had been about 2 years since she had been home. So our choice was her Jeep that gets 14mpg or the F-350 which I didn't know the mpg. We had settled on the Jeep, smaller we knew the mpg and that way we could both take turns driving. A couple weeks before we were scheduled to leave the jeep started acting up. Over heating, randomly stalling. I kicked my but into high gear and fixed it, or at least I thought I did. It still kept overheating. I brought up the idea of instead of trying to figure out what was wrong with the jeep, lets just take the F-350. She agreed without hesitation, and I was stoked and excited we would take the Cowboy Cadillac. I didn't take more than 4 steps away when I realized what she did. I quickly turned around and saw her smiling. I just got duped into driving 1400 miles by myself.:dunno:

The truck did well I had changed the fluids when I did the SMF swap, took some just encase. I was averaging about 300 miles a tank cruising at 75mph.

While there we enjoyed or vacation with the family and visited the sites around like Creator Lake. While there I got to finish my DIY custom intake. It cost me about $65.00 if I can remember right. All I used was a Y elbow pipe I bought at Lowe's and 2 Specter air filters. I kept the stock airflow intake to draw in cold air.


The truck did the same on mpg on the way back except you can hear the turbo whistle a lot more. :D
 
#28 ·
Wait, why can't she share the driving? Oh, don't tell me you married someone who doesn't drive a manual :doh:!

KIDDING! Just :poke:poke

Those filters look like something the rice-boys on the Saturn site use. No idea about the CFM, but I would trust the time-proven 6637 or one of its Donaldson, etc. counterparts. 'Course, it doesn't really "breathe" until you do an aftermarket downpipe (long thread; did you do that already?).

Spare fluids in a tote in the bed are always a good idea, whether it's right after a fluid change, or weeks/months later. Cheap insurance.
 
#30 ·
No she can drive a manual just not a 25' truck.
Ya they look like ricer filters if they made a big K&N cleanable filter like the 6637 I would so do that. It's something different for a change.

Yes I did already did the intake, not the down pipe yet, for some reason that scares me more that doing a SMF swap.:dunno:
 
#29 ·
Little Trouble in Big Truck.

While on vacation on our way back from Creator Lake my master cylinder when out. I first thought it was slave cylinder, so a trip to the local parts store and bought a slave cylinder. Except that wasn't the problem, I didn't know how to bleed the air out of the line. Tried and tried but the problem wasn't the slave, I had to go back and buy the master cylinder. :doh: Here is the problem the replacement part had a 90* bend compared to attaching straight to the bottom. So I had to make another trip back the the parts store, my luck the part needed to be order. This is where it gets funny I got the slave at Autozone, Master cylinder at Oreilly's and the line at Napa. Each store carried only one part and none of the rest.:confused: I think its a set up :dunno:. Finally frustrated with trying to bleed this dam thing I did the first thing ever in my life, I had to take my truck to a work shop. Problem is it wouldn't shift into gear so it had to get towed. Glad I had road side assistance. Here's why.



Insurance and tow company couldn't understand how it was a crewcab exted cab. :rofl: I believe that was a F600 it puffed black smoke every time it took off from a stop.:hehe:
 
#31 ·
Irony about the hydraulics is, the best replacement is a complete pre-built pre-bled kit. Goes on in, oh, 10-15 minutes.

Sorry to say this now, but when you had the tranny down would've been the perfect time to do the downpipe. Or at least do the firewall/floor flange mod to make room for it.
 
#32 · (Edited)
What do you got to do there? Would a small body lift give enough room?
If that I probably would spend the time and pull the transmission.
 
#33 ·
Where the firewall and floor are welded together, there's a flange that sticks out into the space where the downpipe goes (pinch weld). Primary reason they used the flat pancake for factory downpipe. SOP is to cut into it with a recip saw in several places, then bend it in flush with the floor, using a porta-power or some manual persuasion tool. Can be done with the tranny in place. And yes, a body lift would help. But I'm guessing a cab that long prob. has 8 or 10 mount points.
 
#34 ·
Maybe I will I'll get a down pipe instead of a winch. It will be a little bit more cheaper.
 
#35 ·
Junior West Coast with a dash of big rig.

With how the truck is the stock swing style mirrors weren't cutting it.
Found a pair of west coast style mirrors on a bump style Ford at the junkyard. Upgraded the mirrors to tractor trailer mirrors from Autozone. Decided to use the outside top mirror hole to start where I was going to mount the mirrors. I did it this way so that I only had to drill 3 holes on each door. One of them will be hidden if I ever decided to go back to stock mirrors by the bracket.















 
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