random pics















put my flag on today









mounted my alarm receiver on the mirror so the LED fires directly outward, you can see it a lot better now.




saw this, kinda like it.



after 2 coats of primer, i put 2 coats of satin black rustoleum. gonna put 1 more coat tomorrow.

 

Truck is looking great! Sorry I have been extremely busy with my Navy training and bouncing back and forth from work to home with family and getting this move up to Washington soon.

Any ways enough of me I love that rear bumper looks great though if it were mine it would be black and not chrome. Did you ever finish the full install of your stereo?

Also what kind of hook or loops you have installed in bed or truck? Assuming those are what your flag pole runs though to hold it up?

 

All good I figured you have been busy! The loops i put there when i got the truck just cheapos from home depot, for additional tie down spots. The pole is just through that 1 loop, helps it from swaying, but its not attached. The pole and mount at the bottom that i used 3 self tapping screws to screw to my bed were also from home depot, just a cheap $10 kit, and i put the normal US flag in my house, may hang it on my house or something eventually since i didn't use it. The angle in the bed right near the fuel door is almost perfect for mounting a flag! Just make sure the screws aren't too long that they hit the fuel line haha.



http://m.homedepot.com/p/Seasonal-Designs-3-ft-x-5-ft-U-S-Flag-Kit-US200/100069248

And no, not done on the stereo, kinda got distracted but i work on it here and there. It's playing, just haven't finished the console build or the dash bezel/EQ install yet.

When i install the front bumper I'm going to finally straighten out the rear one also since it's slightly crooked from when i installed it lol.

 

Looks good! I'd be a little leery of drilling into my bed (up here in NH the salt would get right in and start rusting) but I sure like to see someone who cares about cops.

Is it possible to mount a flag in the bed rail stake pockets?

 

I'm sure it can be mounted without drilling, there's probably a ton of ways to mount it

 

Did you look up close at those low profile tires on that blinged out dually? I'm curious as to their weight rating number. If they're still up at the 116+ mark (basically E-rated) then as much as the look is not at all my cup of tea, it could still be used to tow and haul. Not sure.

 

i did not, however i do believe there are low pro tires that are still towable with.

 

while finishing up swapping the brackets from the old bumper to the new one, i was itching to see how the front hitch works. all i have to say is....it's INCREDIBLY easy to move/backup/etc trailers in tight spots. to date i think this is the best mod ive done! i love it!!! i have a drop hitch that i'm going to use for the front, the tri-ball was my rear hitch just to test it out. ill have to take a video tomorrow of me moving my 16ft enclosed trailer in my backyard, which in certain spots between the length of my dually and the trailer, is very hard to get it where i want to park it. not anymore!!









new bumper all ready to be installed tomorrow.



gonna leave the lower airdam off and see how it looks first before insatlling it.



lastly, just looking for an idea..maybe a battery powered LED light to mount on the headliner above so i can have some light on my toolbox.

 

probably could have gotten away without painting the inside of the new bumper, but oh well, didn't cost but $10 bux in paint.







at first i thought the hitch receiver sat too high up (it touches the bumper) but then i looked and saw pics/talked to a few guys running this same exact hitch on an 04 bumper and theirs is also higher to the top, and the fact that my bumper is aftermarket is probably why it actually touches, the others said they have about a 1/4 to 1/8" gap with the oem bumper. oh well, still works for me.





the bumper isn't bolted all fully in these pics, but i gotta take it off again and adjust the brackets on the back, because the 2 square brackets that are around the tow hooks are a hair too high, you can see it sticking higher than the bumper on the top in between the grille, so tonight i'm going to loosen the bolts and slide the brackets down a bit then tighten them back up. already took the bumper off after these pics.











overall i like the bumper, gonna put the plastic air dam back on, but i love not having the cladding on the lower part!

found a sheet of foam at my house so i cut it for the back seat, i hate how the seat belts etc make indentations in the leather when it's folded down for long periods of time, so i put this on it, and also to protect the leather if i set a bag or anything on the seat when it's not folded lol.



my old 99 f250 beater, it's now my friends, he's parting it out and just taking the motor (5.4L) and the mirrors and a few other things.



it came from up north so it's pretty rusty

 

haven't been doing much lately, but here's just some random pics and some odds and ends things i'm messing around with.



still rocking no front bumper because i haven't adjusted the brackets to put my new bumper back on. dying to but just haven't, and it's been raining the last few days essentially all day, and when it's not, its wet and muggy out...another reason i cannot wait for my garage to be built lol.





i love my truck with the 12.5" wide dual tires, i like trucks with the more narrow tires like stock duallys run, but i've grown to love this look so much better, don't think i can ever run the semi wheels like i wanted to originally, unless i run wider tires on them haha





so i never got around to covering my stock visors in suede mainly because they're a pain in the **** to wrap. i'm considering leaving them stock, however i have 2 pairs, the stock ones from my truck that are the stock gray fabric, and the stock gray vinyl pair from my old f250 XL. no mirror but i don't mind that, i cleaned them up and they are way cleaner than the stock ones from my truck. pic makes it look like it doesn't match the suede very good, but in person it matches way better. what do yall think?









my wipers didn't need replacing, but i've always wanted to see how the longer wiper "mod" works, so i picked up a pair of Rain-X "arch" 24" wipers from home depot ($13 each) and they work pretty well. and the 24" vs the stock 20" wipers does touch a good bit extra of glass. worth doing next time any of you guys needs new wipers! i'd suggest ones like these that "arch" to the glass rather than the cheaper ones with a straight hard arm, keeping the blade flat.

stock:





the 24" ones, you can see the light layer of dirt still on the glass since i only wiped a few times before taking this pic so you can see the difference.





also, looking into what SUV i can grab a roof rack from to put on my truck. not 100% set on it yet, but i think i want to do something like this guy did. if i ever see him outside i will probably stop and ask what car they came off of.





considering a brush guard too. sometimes in pics i don't like them, but then certain trucks i see in person and i like them. some trucks i think they look bad though. not sure though as i don't know if i want to cover up my brand new chrome bumper lol.





saw these magnetic labels on sale at home depot, picked them up for my tool box.



messing around with my Kreg Jig that i've never used but had for over a year. gonna screw the bottom pieces of my console together this way. good think i tested before i messed up my console pieces i already have cut lol. first few times i drilled through too far.

 

Bumper looks great!

 

I'm not sure how I feel about brush guards. I mean, hey, in low speed bumps it will save your new bumper potentially, and I guess if you tromp through brush all the time like on a ranch then it might help keep sticks and limbs out of your grille/radiator, but that's about it. I doubt it really adds all that much "strength" or "protection" in case of a collision and could even make it worse by folding back and messing up a fender or hood when it could've been just a bumper dent otherwise.

I have a full replacement Ranch Hand Legend bumper up front. I get the benefits of a brush guard but massively more protection--and a front receiver built in. I got it mostly because I regularly have to run a gauntlet of whitetail deer, and all it takes is one dumb little buck to poke an angler through the layers of radiators and coolers to leave me broken down and stranded, and it helps keep idiots at bay on the road. I love it, and I have no regrets going for that. You can even get them color matched to the body or the lower color of a two-tone truck like yours (silver), if that's your thing. A good friend of mine has an '11 6.2L gasser that's solid silver, and he got his full replacement painted to match. He likes it.

But I know you prefer the chrome and have already put the time and effort and money into it, and the full replacements aren't cheap. So it's probably not for you.

 

i do like those, and i want something like that eventually on my excursion. got a pic of yours?

 

It's not a great pic, but here's one from the thread where I wired in my PIAA driving lights:

 

Nice i like that