Was the crane on purpose? If so, that took talent. If not good lucky shot.

 

I was trying to take a picture of him walking along the shore but he took off just as I got my phone out. I just snapped a bunch and did not know until later that this shot was in the bunch. It was a lucky shot for sure.

 

Yesterday I finally got around to swapping out my 6,000lb front springs for a set of 5,200 lb ones. My BIL came over in the morning, and we were done in no time; I would say less than 2 hours total time.

I never liked the nose up stance my truck had with the 'plow prep' springs. Now it sits just a tad lower; I would say 1/4". The front dropped 1/2" at least. The rake is not near what it would be stock, but it is there.

I test drove the truck over back roads and on the highway to check the alignment and for "death shake". So far so good, and I dare say the ride is less "jarring" now when the front encounters bumps. I'm dropping hints new shocks for Christmas too.

I'll give the springs time to settle in to see what the final stance looks like, but I'm satisfied with the results.

 

Here is a shot from when I first brought it home and today...

First Day Home:


Today:

 

I missed the variety of Satellite and my attempts to stream Amazon Prime were less than amazing. Over the weekend, I installed an SXV300V1 Tuner and hooked it up to my HU. The OEM satellite antenna is behind the steering wheel and has very little slack. I was able to just get it plugged into the tuner, but it is loose and even after zip tying the tuner tight I worry the antenna may vibrate out.

The Fakra connector (Yellow plastic housing) comes off easily and the cable plugs directly into the tuner, so the install is quite simple.



I'm on the lookout for a short 'jumper' cable with the correct ends to provide a bit more slack and tighter fit.

In three months I get a rebate for the cost of the tuner too.

 

Great looking before and after, especially removing the chrome! Making me regret getting the chrome package on my F250.

 

Thanks. I watched this truck for a while via cars.com, and it never had any chrome on it. Then when I showed up to test drive it they had slapped some cheapo plasti-chrome on the mirrors and door handles. When I asked about it, the sales guy said they use a guy to 'dress up the trucks for resale'. The first thing I did was pull it all off.

I imagine the factory chrome is better than the Pep Boys stuff I took off. The door handles simply pulled off. The mirrors had some longer adhesive strips that took a heat gun to soften before they pulled off.

It all looked bad and did not fit in my opinion.

 

I do like the factory chrome mirror caps, I have them on my truck. I agree that some off the Pep Boys stick on chrome looks cheap.

 

I have been on the look out for a Productivity Cluster for my truck for the past six months. I watched eBay, CL, classifieds on the forum and other places, but only ever found ones out of diesel trucks.

Earlier this week I found one on eBay, and after some additional research and a phone call to Circuit Board Medics to confirm it was indeed what I want, I purchased the unit. It is due to arrive later this week and will be an early Christmas present to myself.

I'll do my best to document the upgrade with pictures and a review of the process.

There will be a time lag as I need to ship the cluster to Circuit Board Medics for programming first. My hope is by late January, I have everything ready to install.

 

What is a productivity cluster?

 

It is an optional instrument cluster with a 6" lcd screen containing multiple options and views for information on the vehicle.

Here is a thread on a conversion that has pics...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...n-success.html

 

Nice. That would definitely be a nice improvement.

 

Productivity cluster has arrived!



Ready to ship out to Circuit Board Medics for programming.

 

Oooooooooo, ahhhhhhhhhh

 

If you don't mind saying, what's the going price for one of these and the programming? There are a couple features I would really like to have over my base cluster.