Last October I traded my 2011 F150 in, It had some issues that required about 4K worth of work I was not willing to spend on a super cab truck when I really needed a crew cab. Going to catch this up to now.

New/used ride is a 2009 F250 Lariat Crew Cab with the 5.4L Triton. The truck is very clean and originally from WV. It has some type of lift kit (~4'') and 37'' Geolander A/T's that are shot! The previous owner had some interesting taste with ricer type brake/accelerator pedals, K&N CAI Intake, decals stating "size matters" (Tore those off just after i pulled into the driveway), steering wheel cover that wore the leather off and not afraid to put a couple holes in the dash for his goodies.

Near future plans are to fix the little things that bother me and install a new set of tires. The 37's fit without rubbing, but they suck a lot of power from the already lacking 5.4L Triton. I'm afraid going down to 33's will make the truck look like a roller skate, so I'm thinking we are going to put 35's on it.

Its not going to win any races for sure, but hopefully i can turn it into a nice cruiser. The pictures don't do it any justice showing just how massive this thing is.

 

Took the truck to my buddies for a quick once over and address the tire wobble at 58 and 65 mph.

The truck checks out well, not noticeable issues. The tires on the other hand had stick on wheel weights. Whomever balanced these gets paid too much for their job. Not saying 37's are easy to balance.... The wheel weights also had duct tape over the tops of the weights!? Never seen this technique before? They were awful. Pulled all the weights off and re-balanced, man what a difference!! The most he had to add was 5-oz.

They will get me by for now. The end of October I pulled the trigger on some new 35'' tires.

Welp, it was fun while it lasted.

About 1-week into ownership I had to go on a 30 minute trip north of the City to pick up a a part for the Wrangler. About half way there I noticed a burning break smell. Thought it was the jalopy in-front of me, but it was hanging with me even as that car went in a different direction. Stopped picked up the part and noticed the wheel was warm and smelled. Made it about 5 miles towards home and it got progressively worse to the point where the rotor was smoking.



Pulled over and called AAA. Looks like I'm putting new front calipers on this weekend. Luckily they are only $70 each plus $45 core.

 

Got the front calipers swapped out the following Saturday morning in about 2 hours. No big issues. Truck stops good now with no hanging or binding.

Stopped at my local Delta Sonic (Gas Station/Car Wash) this AM as I have a 15 cents off per gallon card, so I normally pay $1.96/gallon for gasoline. I stopped 1 day last week and the pump repeatedly clicked off no matter how slow i pumped. Went to a different pump this week and did the same thing, but even worse. I've filled it up 2 times before last and don't remember it being such an issue. Stopped short of 3/4 tank after 10 minutes, going to try another station later today.

Seems to me like the overflow is plugged, not letting air out so the fuel backs up the fill tube?

Tried a new gas station and it wasn't as bad as previous, but still obviously an issue. Trying to see if I can get this covered locally, as the dealer is over 2 hours away. Contacted Dealer, began the waiting game to see what they can do for me.

This turned into bringing the truck back to the PA Dealer this coming Saturday to have them look it over.

 

Took the truck back down to the Dealer, about 2.5 hour drive getting there at 8:10AM. We left the truck and walked about a half mile down the road to grab breakfast. It was done about 9:30, the Dealer Blew shop air through the vent line and vapor solenoid in the canister. He said it took air, they stopped at the pump and said it fueled up fine. I told them my concerns with it happening again and me having to drive all the way down there. They seemed that they solved the issue with the "clogged vent".

So before i left the small town of Towanda, PA i stopped at the local Sheetz and attempted to fill. Bam, problem still there. I made it up to $9.00 and the pump clicked off about 10 times. Piled back in and headed back to the dealer. The Dealer know thinks that it its something within the vapor canister that has failed/restricted. They didn't have the canister there, so for a temporary fix he was going to pull the vent line to the canister to get me by. On the Super Dutys the vapor canister is located above the spare tire. So the Dealer proceeded to lower, but Ford has a "key" to lower the spare tire that was not included with my truck, or misplaced by a previous owner!

Now I'm confused here..... So the Dealer removed the vapor line and blew shop air through it? So that would entail taking the line off the vapor canister. But now, since the Dealer cant remove the spare tire the line cant be removed? So how did the tech remove the line in the first place to blow shop air through it if he couldn't remove the tire? I never really got a straight answer to this....

By this time I'm frustrated and began taking it out on the sales lady. The dealer is contacting their Ford service representative to see if the part can be replaced up here near my home. It took me over 15 minutes to fill the truck Sunday night.

Waiting to see what today brings....

 

Hunting pic from last season of the struggle to make it into the woods. Still waiting on my check form the dealer to purchase some new tires.



Well the Dealer requested me to go to a Ford Dealer and get the issue diagnosed. I went to Burdick Lincoln as i know a guy who is a tech there. There is a TSB issued for this truck and the issue I'm having. They say the vent is stubbed into the bed cross rail and dirt/dust falls into it and slowly plugs the canister. The TSB has a new canister, as well as a vent line that points down instead of up. They want $935.06 plus tax to replace the canister, vent line and gas gap. Forwarded right to the Dealer i purchased the truck from. Will see what happens!

Oh, and i was charged $130 to diagnose this. Sent that to the Purchasing Dealer too!

 

Quoted from the Dealer.....

"Here is the verdict. We can fix the truck in Elmira at our Ford store. It is going to cost us a total of 980.00, there is nothing as far as profit in this deal, BUT, we will eat 480.00 of it, leaving you 500.00. We have to pay our share internally, so I do need you to get it to them.
This is truly the best that I can do. With it being not a powertrain issue that would be covered under warranty, I am not responsible for any of this on a used vehicle, but am trying to help you out the best I possibly can.

Let me know what you want to do. If you are going to go Elmira Ford I will have Doug set it up for the day and time that you can get there."

So apparently, its only law in NYS that a Dealer must include a 30 day warranty with vehicles they sell not labelled "as-is". SO it seems as if my new truck that i have sunk over 1K into already now needs another possible 1K in parts/labor.

Honestly, the law is the law. So i'm screwed here, however i'm more concerned with the principle of this ordeal as i was told a sales agent from their office drove the truck for a week before me and it drove beautifully. But i had to have the shot tires re-balanced as it vibrated at 40-75. And now i cant get the thing to take more than 10 cents at a time at the pump. You would think with a 26 gallon tank and getting 11 mpg they would have had to fill the truck (i do almost 2x per week). I honestly think there were issues hidden, and I'm calling the Dealer out on it.

Also wondering just how much profit a dealer makes off a used vehicle? According to this (if i took the deal to fix the canister) that would have been 1K off the total price, leaving no profit for them?! They cant be making only 1K profit, whats the point of selling this rig then?

My plan now is I'm going to fix it myself, the TSB parts are approximately $200 bucks, so $300 for my labor to install is worth it to me.
I am going to go after the dealer to get my $130 diagnosis fee i had to pay Lincoln for. I feel "cheated" out of this money for sure.

What do you guys think?

 

I fired an email back to them saying i was very disappointed with the ordeal (how many trips i made down to PA, plus making me pay a diagnosing fee for you!) and asking about 30 day warranties as thats the norm here in NYS. No reply yet.

I don't have the statement in writing, it was just verbal unfortunately. But i hoped to bring it back up to her as collateral for how i stood, my Fiance and i were both there when she said it. Typical dealer, mask problems.

I like your idea on the parts. They still havent even sent me my check for the $500 i got off the truck the day of the deal because the tires were garbage. I deliberately told her i didnt want to put tires on this truck till next season. They barely passed inspections so she says they are good. B.S.

If she doesnt get back to me by the end of the day im going to take it as she is avoiding and im going to call the dealer.

 

Well, I received my plates last Friday as well as my $500 check. I believe the Dealer is also going to send me the parts for the TSB Vapor Canister.

Shined up the truck last week. Quick hand wash and wax before winter. Could definitely tell its never been waxed. A few pictures out behind my Dad's place (since the view is so much better than my suburb house).





Then i removed the ricer pedal covers. In search of a new rubber brake pedal pad. NAPA only had a GM and Ford stick truck pedal set.

 

Ordered new tires today. Went with the Kumho KL-78.

They were on sale and at $229 per tire for 325/60r20 in 8-ply was a steal.

They had fairly good reviews, I wanted Cooper at3's but these were over $100 less per tire.

 

I received the TSB parts for slow/no fill from the Dealer last night at no cost to me. I'm guessing about $400-500 in parts.

They sent the whole TSB like i requested, at the beginning i was worried they would only send the Canister.

Got the tires installed mid last week. So far I am happy with them. Last week it snowed about 2'', then last night it snowed another 4''. The tires did ok in the slush, ice and snow. The truck definitely needs weight in the back, as the rear brakes sometimes lock and the butt end comes around. The tires were capable of pulling the truck out of the driveway which is uphill through the plow berm left at the end with minimal spinning.

 

Got the canister installed.

Unfortunately didn't make it to the pump yet. We had a small blizzard hit us early this morning. While the truck was warming up it popped a CEL. PO446.

Drove straight to work and pulled into the shop, dropped the spare tire and behold, the electrical connector was not hooked up! It must have been forgotten. So i connected it and reset the code with my SGII.

One thing i did notice, when the old canister came out, I shook it and you could hear all the beads rattling around in it. The new canister did NOT do this. Maybe a sign that the canister is bad?

I'm going to be stopping at the pump within the hour for a 5 hour work trip.

Pictures from yesterday.

We got the tire dropped using the 9/16 socket trick! Worked like a charm:

 

Well looks like the net issue with the truck is knocking on my front door...

Been experiencing some vibrations at 70-75 MPH on the highway. Lately those vibrations have gotten worse and now start at about 60 MPH up to 75 MPH. you can feel them in the steering wheel sometimes leading me to think its the front end. Did a quick look over of the truck first thing this morning checking the u-joints, as that's what i figured would be bad. Both front axle u-joints seem tight with no play. As i grabbed the axle shaft at the joint I wiggled it up and down. There was a good 1/4 of play on the drivers side. Passenger was a little less, but still more than i would have expected.

Did a lot of searching and it appears if my diagnosis is right this is a common problem. There is a needle bearing in the back of the hub assembly (unit bearing) that supports the weight of the axle shaft itself and that's what the axle shaft rides on in the knuckle.

See the how to made by a gent on the Ford Truck forum: 2004 F250 Needle Bearing Replacement

I ended up giving the misses a ride to work today and left the truck home. After additional researching it looks as if I have a bad set of Ball Joints on the one side.

 

Well I have put about 8,000 miles on this truck so far. For the past few weeks I have started to notice a vibration in the front end. It makes a strange rotational hub clunk when turning to the right, but not the left.

I originally thought I had a hub assembly (Bearing) going bad. So I purchased one while I was out of town to replace when i got back. Jacked up the front of the truck and didn't find any play or strange noises while rotating both tires. I did notice however that the front drive shaft was rotating as I turned each tire. Come to find out my hubs were not disengaging all the way. So when I get up to 65-75 the truck vibrates. The hubs are either AUTO or LOCK, with a vacuum secondary. Finally got them to disengage by turning them back and forth a few times. They move freely, so I never thought they were an issue. They are the OEM Ford Lockouts. Looks like i need to take them apart and re-grease before I have to use 4wd again.

I am going to return the hub assembly (Bearing) I purchased and get a passenger side manifold and stud kit. The exhaust leak has gotten much worse.

The Kuhmo KL-78's are wearing decently. However I do notice that they flat spot VERY easily just sitting overnight. I am running them at a low PSI (25) because they are a 12.6'' wide tire on a 9'' rim.

Did a few thing son the truck over the first nice weekend of the year. Wash wax, finally mounted the Scan Gauge II, and removed the two crappy lights from the Brush Guard. P/O did a horrible scab job with the lights.

 

Looks like you have had your fair share of nuisance repairs. Hopefully once you get everything taken care of, you'll be good for many miles.

I live near Pittsburgh, and I know you have to be very careful with the trucks down here. When the natural gas boom hit the area, there was a lot of money being thrown around. There were guys buying brand new loaded diesels, beating the crap out of them for 3 years, and then trading them in on new truck. The dealers would get the exteriors looking nice, but you have to crawl underneath to see what you are really getting into. As a result, anything for sale in the tri-state area (PA, OH, and WV), you have to be careful with.

I look forwards to seeing what all you do

 

Thanks!

Its been a long road since October of last year with little repairs. Contemplating if im going to re-gear and upgrade or think about a Powerstroke as I am a true Diesel guy at heart and came from a 6.5L that was heavily modified. Gas is very convenient, but when you get into these heavy trucks you need a serious gas motor to tow anything decent such as skid-steer's or cars. I don't tow a lot, but when I do its usually a bit heavier.

On the fence on what direction I want to go, not sure if I feel like dealing with a dealer again....