[furiousbob]

Hi!

First post here, not sure if this is where the build threads belong but I figured I'd post up all my progress to keep track of things.

Purchased a 1995 F-350 7.3 Crew Cab Long Bed 4x4 with 350k mi about 3 months ago. I was replacing a 2018 Tundra double cab long bed since it was a good time to sell my truck and put some money away.

Had to put the truck to work right away but I immediately noticed it's flaws.

So first thing's first, I needed to be able to use my truck for work. This truck spent most of it's time in the south so there's barely any rust and the frame is straight-ish. The bed, however, looked like it was beaten pretty badly. On top of it, someone left a sheet of OSB in it for who knows how long so the bed was starting to rust.

I took it to my sand blaster and then to my bedliner guy. I had Line-X line it and then I made a top rail out of some 2x2 10 ga angle iron. I used some rails I found online for cargo tie downs and then added a bed bin so my tie downs and the obligatory gallon of oil had a home.

I also added an aluminum tailgate cover that needed some extra plywood underneath to make it sit flat. The tailgate was beat on pretty bad. AND I added a spring assist so my wimpy arms could handle opening and closing the tailgate.

The door cards were beat and the door lock pin things were too short for some reason. I replaced the door cards, machined some door lock pin things from brass and freshened up the speakers with some Polk components. I also picked up a front and rear set of seats out of a 2017 superduty. I've yet to start making brackets for them since I feel like I might need to cut the floor up.

Before and after

And some new door lock pin things

SO I now had a functioning truck I could throw workpieces in and not damage the customer's orders.

I made a few drives across town for some jobs. Any drive that lasted more than 1 hr put me on my back the next day. We had to fix that.

The PO apparently lifted the front end 4.5" using AAL's. The ride was bone-jarring. I popped down to Deaver and they told me they didn't have anything for me but Trevor at PMF was a stand up dude and had a solution for me. So I contacted Trevor. Here's what I ordered:

2008+ Rear hanger conversion brackets
08-19 Deaver soft ride long travel springs - 2.5" lift
Front RSK Spring hanger conversion with tow rings and a tow hitch - 3.5" lift
99-04 front leafs, V-code
Adjustable front trackbar
Drop pitman arm
Bilstein 5100's for the rear ( PO put 5100's in the front already )

And since the steering had about 3-4 inches of play in it, I cut to the chase and ordered a Red Top steering gear and a Borgensen steering shaft ( PN BRG-000981 )

And while I was at it, I ordered new trim for the side of the truck.

I had a plan. Thursday after work would be the trim. Friday after work would be steering and Sat/Sun would be the front suspension. Next weekend will be the rear.

Trim:

All done!

I used a 3M Cubitron 07498 and it turned the job from a weekend affair of picking at the glue to a 2 hour breeze before supper.

Friday was steering, right on track:

The steering shaft needed to be cut down 2". Fully retracted, I needed another 1/2" to fit it over the steering gear input shaft. I figured if I was ever to get in a front end collision, it'd be hairy. So 2" was safe I guess. Otherwise everything was a breeze other than lifting up the steering gear with my left arm and starting the bolts with my right arm. My left knee came to the rescue on this one.

I bled the system, readjusted the crooked steering wheel and the thing steers like a dang sports car now.

So today, Saturday, front suspension. I dragged my feet and started at 10am. It was an 8 hour job which included a 1 hour lunch break and a 1 hour trip to the store for a 1 1/8" socket and some extra odds and ends. I was missing one 3/4-10 nut from the kit but luckily they had one at the store.

Missing hardware, boo:

The fitment wasn't quite dead-on. Two of the rear bolts were off about 3/16". I just put the bolts that did fit in first and used a 3/4" drill bit to drill out the remaining holes. A heavy impact gun is your friend here. Also, I used red loctite on all the bolts connecting to the frame.

The PO has a 7 leaf pack on the passenger's side and a 5 leaf pack on the driver's. I'm not entirely sure why.

New vs old leafs:

The rest of the install was pretty standard. Getting the center pins to sit down was a pain but some ratchet straps solved that issue. The adjustable track bar, fully retracted, was about 1/4" too long. It took quite a bit of persuasion to get it in and was the biggest headache of the day.

I finished in time for supper and took it for a spin. I gotta say... I wasn't expecting a night and day difference but this truck rides like it's on clouds. I'd go so far as to compare it to my 2000 Ford Expedition. I was laughing like a little school girl the entire test ride.

I'm also surprised it took so little time. I cleared my entire weekend for this job and I was working solo!

Here she is all buttoned up:

As for ride height. I don't know what factory height was since the PO lifted the front end before I got it. But here are my before hub to fender measurements:

Front right - 26.75"
Front left - 26.75"
Rear right - 25.25"
Rear left - 25.50"

After the front lift, I'm at 27" hub-to-fender in the front. So pretty spot-on. We'll see how the springs settle over the next week or so.

I spoke with Trevor about matching the rear before I ordered and he wasn't able give me an exact answer. With the 2.5" Deaver's in the rear, I'd get anywhere between 3" and 4" of lift. I'm thinking I'll just adjust via the factory blocks in the rear when time came.

ALSO, I have a pretty big oil leak in the valley so I'll either need to sort that out soon or take it to a shop. I'm not sure my aching back can handle bending over that engine bay.

This 7.3 has been leaky as all hell. The PO had to fix a leak in the valley before he sold it to me. As soon as I got it, the dip stick grommet was pouring oil out but I fixed that up. And now there's another leak! I'm fairly certain it's burning oil too but the blow-by isn't TOO bad. With the oil cap off and resting back on upside-down, it stays put.

I had a crazy idea the other night when I saw that Ford was releasing the Mach-E motor to the public for $3600. If this 7.3L goes out for any reason... an electric motor might not be too far down the road. That or I'll just fix this dang motor.

Anyway, I'm pretty beat, it's beer-o-clock and I'm not sure if I'm going to tackle the rears tomorrow or wait until next week.

Also, credit goes to JJFlash for his guide here: Precision Metal Fab (PMF) RSK Install - OBS

The install was pretty straight-forward but his guide was very useful for insight.

 

[CarParts.com]

Hi!

First post here, not sure if this is where the build threads belong but I figured I'd post up all my progress to keep track of things.

Purchased a 1995 F-350 7.3 Crew Cab Long Bed 4x4 with 350k mi about 3 months ago. I was replacing a 2018 Tundra double cab long bed since it was a good time to sell my truck and put some money away.

Had to put the truck to work right away but I immediately noticed it's flaws.

So first thing's first, I needed to be able to use my truck for work. This truck spent most of it's time in the south so there's barely any rust and the frame is straight-ish. The bed, however, looked like it was beaten pretty badly. On top of it, someone left a sheet of OSB in it for who knows how long so the bed was starting to rust.

I took it to my sand blaster and then to my bedliner guy. I had Line-X line it and then I made a top rail out of some 2x2 10 ga angle iron. I used some rails I found online for cargo tie downs and then added a bed bin so my tie downs and the obligatory gallon of oil had a home.

I also added an aluminum tailgate cover that needed some extra plywood underneath to make it sit flat. The tailgate was beat on pretty bad. AND I added a spring assist so my wimpy arms could handle opening and closing the tailgate.

The door cards were beat and the door lock pin things were too short for some reason. I replaced the door cards, machined some door lock pin things from brass and freshened up the speakers with some Polk components. I also picked up a front and rear set of seats out of a 2017 superduty. I've yet to start making brackets for them since I feel like I might need to cut the floor up.

Before and after

And some new door lock pin things

SO I now had a functioning truck I could throw workpieces in and not damage the customer's orders.

I made a few drives across town for some jobs. Any drive that lasted more than 1 hr put me on my back the next day. We had to fix that.

The PO apparently lifted the front end 4.5" using AAL's. The ride was bone-jarring. I popped down to Deaver and they told me they didn't have anything for me but Trevor at PMF was a stand up dude and had a solution for me. So I contacted Trevor. Here's what I ordered:

2008+ Rear hanger conversion brackets
08-19 Deaver soft ride long travel springs - 2.5" lift
Front RSK Spring hanger conversion with tow rings and a tow hitch - 3.5" lift
99-04 front leafs, V-code
Adjustable front trackbar
Drop pitman arm
Bilstein 5100's for the rear ( PO put 5100's in the front already )

And since the steering had about 3-4 inches of play in it, I cut to the chase and ordered a Red Top steering gear and a Borgensen steering shaft ( PN BRG-000981 )

And while I was at it, I ordered new trim for the side of the truck.

I had a plan. Thursday after work would be the trim. Friday after work would be steering and Sat/Sun would be the front suspension. Next weekend will be the rear.

Trim:

All done!

I used a 3M Cubitron 07498 and it turned the job from a weekend affair of picking at the glue to a 2 hour breeze before supper.

Friday was steering, right on track:

The steering shaft needed to be cut down 2". Fully retracted, I needed another 1/2" to fit it over the steering gear input shaft. I figured if I was ever to get in a front end collision, it'd be hairy. So 2" was safe I guess. Otherwise everything was a breeze other than lifting up the steering gear with my left arm and starting the bolts with my right arm. My left knee came to the rescue on this one.

I bled the system, readjusted the crooked steering wheel and the thing steers like a dang sports car now.

So today, Saturday, front suspension. I dragged my feet and started at 10am. It was an 8 hour job which included a 1 hour lunch break and a 1 hour trip to the store for a 1 1/8" socket and some extra odds and ends. I was missing one 3/4-10 nut from the kit but luckily they had one at the store.

Missing hardware, boo:

The fitment wasn't quite dead-on. Two of the rear bolts were off about 3/16". I just put the bolts that did fit in first and used a 3/4" drill bit to drill out the remaining holes. A heavy impact gun is your friend here. Also, I used red loctite on all the bolts connecting to the frame.

The PO has a 7 leaf pack on the passenger's side and a 5 leaf pack on the driver's. I'm not entirely sure why.

New vs old leafs:

The rest of the install was pretty standard. Getting the center pins to sit down was a pain but some ratchet straps solved that issue. The adjustable track bar, fully retracted, was about 1/4" too long. It took quite a bit of persuasion to get it in and was the biggest headache of the day.

I finished in time for supper and took it for a spin. I gotta say... I wasn't expecting a night and day difference but this truck rides like it's on clouds. I'd go so far as to compare it to my 2000 Ford Expedition. I was laughing like a little school girl the entire test ride.

I'm also surprised it took so little time. I cleared my entire weekend for this job and I was working solo!

Here she is all buttoned up:

As for ride height. I don't know what factory height was since the PO lifted the front end before I got it. But here are my before hub to fender measurements:

Front right - 26.75"
Front left - 26.75"
Rear right - 25.25"
Rear left - 25.50"

After the front lift, I'm at 27" hub-to-fender in the front. So pretty spot-on. We'll see how the springs settle over the next week or so.

I spoke with Trevor about matching the rear before I ordered and he wasn't able give me an exact answer. With the 2.5" Deaver's in the rear, I'd get anywhere between 3" and 4" of lift. I'm thinking I'll just adjust via the factory blocks in the rear when time came.

ALSO, I have a pretty big oil leak in the valley so I'll either need to sort that out soon or take it to a shop. I'm not sure my aching back can handle bending over that engine bay.

This 7.3 has been leaky as all hell. The PO had to fix a leak in the valley before he sold it to me. As soon as I got it, the dip stick grommet was pouring oil out but I fixed that up. And now there's another leak! I'm fairly certain it's burning oil too but the blow-by isn't TOO bad. With the oil cap off and resting back on upside-down, it stays put.

I had a crazy idea the other night when I saw that Ford was releasing the Mach-E motor to the public for $3600. If this 7.3L goes out for any reason... an electric motor might not be too far down the road. That or I'll just fix this dang motor.

Anyway, I'm pretty beat, it's beer-o-clock and I'm not sure if I'm going to tackle the rears tomorrow or wait until next week.

Also, credit goes to JJFlash for his guide here: Precision Metal Fab (PMF) RSK Install - OBS

The install was pretty straight-forward but his guide was very useful for insight.

You've done a great job bringing this old workhorse back to life! I enjoyed reading about it. Kudos to you!

-Mia, Chief Mechanic @ CarParts.com

 

[furiousbob]

You've done a great job bringing this old workhorse back to life! I enjoyed reading about it. Kudos to you!

-Mia, Chief Mechanic @ CarParts.com

Thanks a bunch! That'll add to my motivation to get this thing done.

The rear suspension has to wait, unfortunately. A last-minute job popped up.

That being said, I knew the brakes were on their way out. They were making dragging noises and I was pretty sure the brakes didn't include a screecher clip.

Took them apart and...

Awesome. So I dropped some cash on new rotors and pads and a 2 1/2" hub / spline nut socket

Passenger's side was pretty straightforward. Drivers' side was another story.

Whoever had this truck before me FUBAR'd the caliper brackets. They used a random bolt that was longer and the wrong thread pitch and shot the thing in there.

On top of that, they ground off the little nib on the inner axle ring. I'm guessing because they couldn't get the second ring to seat properly. I know it does take a bit of guessing-and-checking but yeesh.

I had to order a new brake caliper bracket, bolts and a new WARN hub ring kit.

 

[CarParts.com]

Thanks a bunch! That'll add to my motivation to get this thing done.

The rear suspension has to wait, unfortunately. A last-minute job popped up.

That being said, I knew the brakes were on their way out. They were making dragging noises and I was pretty sure the brakes didn't include a screecher clip.

Took them apart and...

Awesome. So I dropped some cash on new rotors and pads and a 2 1/2" hub / spline nut socket

Passenger's side was pretty straightforward. Drivers' side was another story.

Whoever had this truck before me FUBAR'd the caliper brackets. They used a random bolt that was longer and the wrong thread pitch and shot the thing in there.

On top of that, they ground off the little nib on the inner axle ring. I'm guessing because they couldn't get the second ring to seat properly. I know it does take a bit of guessing-and-checking but yeesh.

I had to order a new brake caliper bracket, bolts and a new WARN hub ring kit.

Those brakes DEFINITELY needed replacement. Was the caliper bracket too far gone to tap out?

You never know what you're going to find when working on an old vehicle. My current daily driver, which isn't even THAT old, had a bunch of hidden surprises when I first got it. But I purchased it in non-running condition, so I wasn't thinking I was going to get a cream puff, anyhow haha.

Regardless, it's a good feeling when you tackle a project most people can't

-Mia, Chief Mechanic @ CarParts.com

 

[1Dieselman]

A little pricey, but you might be interested in this for your seat install Superduty Seat Install Kit
Also looks like you need to replace the cab mounts or shim it so your body lines match

 

[furiousbob]

Those brakes DEFINITELY needed replacement. Was the caliper bracket too far gone to tap out?

WELL there were some threads left but I didn't wanna leave that up to chance. My local Oreilly's had one for $12 + $5 core. So I figured I'd just get a new one.

The real kicker was the WARN hub lockring kit. 6 rings... for $110. And I only needed one of the rings. That one hurt. The Oreilly's clerk saw the pain on my face and gave me a little discount though hah.

Either way, it's all buttoned up today and the brakes are in working condition!

A little pricey, but you might be interested in this for your seat install Superduty Seat Install Kit
Also looks like you need to replace the cab mounts or shim it so your body lines match

I looked at those beforehand... but I ended up purchasing 2017 SD seats... so I'm sorta stuck with them.

Rich Deboss from Deboss garage told me he's doing an install video on some newer SD seats inside of his OBS. He says the video's coming out this or next week. I'll see what's involved before I go diving in.

Welding and fabrication is right up my alley, though. I've been welding for years and I have a side business in metal fabrication. I just don't wanna have to destroy my floorboard.

 

[[email protected]]

Looking good.

When you get to the engine side of things to upgrade, hit us up. I have done quite a few OBS trucks.

www.cncfab.us

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[furiousbob]

Alright guys, I may have made a huge mistake. I took the truck to a mechanic.

The spot had 5 stars on Yelp and Google so I figured it might be safe. The last time I went to a mechanic was when I was 16 and I had a bad distributor. I learned how to wrench on my own cars after that... to a certain extent.

Anyway I just finished a big job and had some extra cash so I figured I'd take it in to see about fixing a medium sized oil leak. The leak was coming from the valley and I already cleaned/inspected the valley and couldn't figure it out. Granted, I didn't try very hard. I figured this would save my old achy back and at most it'd cost $800 or so to diagnose and repair a seal or something.

So the mechanic calls me a couple days later and says he tightened up a couple plugs in the valley that were loose but I also needed:

-A new HPOP
-A new connector thing. I don't remember what it was called. Started with a T?
-A new rear main seal
-A new oil pan gasket
-Valve cover gaskets
-I had a misfire so he wanted to test all my injectors

$7k for all of this

I said heck no. Christmas is right around the corner and I don't have that dough.

So we boiled it down to just the new HPOP, valve cover gaskets and an injector test for about half the price. No way I'm pulling the motor for the rear main and pan gasket.

I've never inspected the HPOP so that was a big question mark. I know I've seen the valve cover gaskets and they have looked kinda wet. I have no way of testing the injectors myself so I figured this was about as little as I could get away with for now. The rear main and the oil pan gasket sounded like upsells. I've been told that the rear mains are pretty bulletproof on these things and I don't remember ever seeing any oil around the oil pan.

Why do I feel like I'm being swindled or at the very least, up sold?

Opinions?

My faith in mechanics is teeter tottering.

I feel like I should've just picked my truck up and worked on it myself.

 

[[email protected]]

I wouldn't say that you are being swindled. I think it's more of it being a very incompetent mechanic that doesn't know much about 7.3's.

 

[furiousbob]

Thanks for your input. I'm just gunna have the HPOP replaced, the injectors tested and if necessary, replaced. The rear main and the oil pan, if it's still leaking when I get it back, I'll just do myself.

Learned my lesson.

 

[furiousbob]

ALRIGHTY

The truck is finally back from the shop. That definitely dug in to the Christmas fund.

But the big oil leak is gone. Now I just get 1 drop of oil overnight instead of a puddle. Also the new injectors helped tremendously. She purrs like a kitten now.

When I got the truck back, I tried turning the chip tuner back on and it immediately shut the engine off at WOT. Ordered a new crank position sensor and threw in a new ICP while I was at it and truck runs great now! The CPS I pulled out looked like the original unit.

I probably won't leave the tuner on, though. Seems like unnecessary wear and tear.

Also I made a quick video on stripping the trim molding and included some tips to make the process relatively painless.

I figured I'd fix the power locks while I was at it. I thought this truck was equipped with power locks, at least. The driver's side front door has a lock/unlock button so I figured there was just an electrical issue. Rear door lock pulls felt really sticky so I figured it just needed new actuators in the rear. I went to the tear the doors down again, reached up underneath and there's no actuator! So... the truck came with manual locking rear doors but... power front door locks? I'm scratching my head at this.

AND FINALLY maybe this weekend if the weather holds up, I'll be able to change out the rear suspension. Geez this took too long to get here.

 

[1Dieselman]

I believe prior to mid 95 the power door locks where configured like yours, 95 became a option for all power locks then came standard 96 and up

 

[furiousbob]

ALRIGHT so I finally got around to doing the rear suspension. Holy hell it's been a busy few months.

In the meantime, I installed a new stereo, re-did all the speakers with Polk coaxials, stripped out all the old purple tint and made a hammock hanger for desert trips

Anyway, on to the suspension..

Make sure you got a grinder, an air chisel, some extra bottle jacks and a come-along handy. I did this solo and it was a blast.

Cut some X's in your rivets and go to town on with your chisel. This was much easier than I expected. Each rivet only took about 30 seconds. I used a clamp to save my arms on the drilling.

Bottle jack and a come along to help line up the holes. Also, lifting these leaf packs solo is possible. Just make sure you eat your Wheaties.

The only issue I had was that my rear shackles stand up vertical, or perpendicular with the floor. The front spring mount has maybe another 3/4" of room to move forward so I might try and bottle jack em forward before my new U-bolts and blocks arrive in the mail.

I installed these 2.5" lift Deaver springs WITHOUT the use of the factory 4.25" blocks. I ordered new 3" blocks from Trevor at PMF.

Here are the previous fender to hub figures after I installed the front lift kit:

Front right - 27"
Front left - 27"
Rear right - 25.25"
Rear left - 25.50"

The fronts have been on for 4 months now and haven't settled a bit.

The rears afterwards, without the blocks were:

Front right - 27"
Front left - 27"
Rear right - 25.25"
Rear left - 26"

So it looks like with the 2.5" lift springs a minus the 4.25" block, I'm pretty close to factory. This makes sense since Trevor wasn't able to give me a solid answer on actual lift when I ordered them. This is without any spring settle though since the packs are literally being held on with ratchet straps to the axle right now.

So I'm guessing with the 3" blocks and a smidge of possible settling, I'll be closer to 28/29" in the rear. 1-2" of rake is perfect.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm waiting for more parts before I throw on new rear shocks and sway bar end links. After that, it's time for a complete steering overhaul. And then I have 2018+ seats going in the cab. THEN I should be done. And to top things off, I got my hands on a free ZJ!

This dang truck's been a huge money pit.

 

[furiousbob]

Alright, after a few weeks, PMF sent me the 3" block and front/rear U-bolts.

They were easy to drop in.

I took the truck for a spin, finally. And I gotta say.... I couldn't stop smiling. The thing rides like it's on clouds now. It's softer than my 2000 Ford Expedition. Neither my Tacoma nor my Tundra rode this well.

I had some knocking noise when going over dips at an angle so I busted out the torque wrench and set my track bar to 200 lb/ft. No more noise for now.

I am very very happy with this suspension setup.

The ride height was unexpected, however. With the 3" block, I'm level front and rear. I saved the factory 4.25" blocks so I might throw those back in one day.

A note about PMF, however. Do not email them. They will not reply. Call them and speak with them directly during business hours and they'll give you the quickest answers.

I have some new bumpstops on the way and I just got an upgraded accumulator valve body from Punisher. I'm hoping that'll fix my 2 to 3 hard kick.

I also have a couple of LED KC Hilites for the front bumper. That'll be going in when I replace my faded headlights.

 

[furiousbob]

Decided to work on the front grille for a minute.

Here's the before:

Took the grille off, masked it and sprayed SEM Trim Black

Replaced the old headlights

Added some KC HiLite LED Spot beams

And I ordered a brake adjuster off of Amazon since the factory setup didn't have any adjustment and the PMF kit didn't provide much for the relocation. The adjuster was designed for a Jeep but it worked just fine!

 

[furiousbob]

Decided to return the Alcoa's. 16x7 wasn't gunna cut it on 34x12.5's. Went with some American Racing Baja's in 16x8. Had to re-use the old center caps in the rear. Chucked em up in the lathe and threw some polishing compound on it.

And got bored over the weekend. Modified the KC light covers

Also, the hard shifting issue. I replaced the MLPS and BPS sensors. Made a difference but still slamming a smidge. Maybe I'll never get it right. I'm willing to live with it for now.

And I fixed my HVAC. Turns out it wasn't a leaky vacuum line. It was a bad check valve coming from the booster. $10 part. Fixed!

This weekend is front steering refresh. Time to break out the BFH.