Depends on your definition of "clear." . In the back, they were okay (it's an e99, so it has the tall blocks). In the front, I estimate the loss of nearly half of the turning radius. The ride with the Swampers was so bad, you'd never tell anything else was worn until you went through it.

Another thing found wrong without looking for it- I plugged one of those FM transmitters into the left power port so I could listen to some MP3 tunes while working on the truck. Plugged a rechargeable MagLight into the right power port. Later, I grabbed the light to look for other worn components under the truck, and... no light! After confirming with a tester, I found I have no juice to that port.

Not sure if this one qualifies, but...
I once dragged home an old Cougar I bought off Ebay. I purchased it with the sole purpose of parting it out. Got it in my garage and started dismantling the engine. I kept hearing this scratching noise coming from the rear of the car- kinda sounded like wires melting or something. I disconnected the battery, even though I knew it should have been dead (car had been sitting in a field for years). Still had the noise. If I shook the car, the noise would get louder for a bit then settle down. I really didn't want to damage the trunk lid getting it open- I had no key and the lid was near perfect- so I decided to go through the back seat area with a flashlight. I came out a heck of a lot faster than I went in... with an angry wild momma cat hot on my heels!

 

Last week i was putting the lift in my truck and saw a few nice rotting holes under my bed and found that small clunk i had in the fron was my ball joint those will be fun to replace!

 

I once saved my turbo by just poking around. Intake boot was sliced open by the red line to the waste gate.

 

Not on a Superduty, but I guess it counts.

Was replacing a fuel pump and noticed I had one end of the driver side spring pack riding on the bed, not attached to the frame like it should be.

At the same time I also noticed one of the shocks had broken off and the rod was riding on a frame crossmember or something (don't recall exactly what). So right then I knew why every third time or so that I hit the brakes I would feel a huge jolt.

I can't even begin to tell all the stories about the trucks I wrench on at work. I think the best was when I was doing an oil change and saw the steering gear shaft was twisted and had cracked 2/3 of the way through...why can't the drivers ever TELL me about this kind of stuff?

I immediately pocketed both sets of keys and blocked the truck in with the yard truck, which I also took the keys for. Can't even imagine the hot water I'd be in if someone went to drive it.

 

ok, I guess I'll chime in with my big "miscalculation." I bought an e99 F350 last week with "problems." One of the biggest was the PO told me the 4x4 did not work, but not sure why. I ASSUME that there's a problem with the ESOF hubs. 2 days later while looking at the rear pinion seal (which has begun to slightly seep), I look toward the front and something doesn't look right; I think my assumption about the hubs was correct, but instead of fixing it right, the PO pulled the front driveshaft AND the axle shafts off the truck!!! Now I'm in for a big ol' project later on to get the 4x4 working again. That's what I get for not looking under before I purchase. You know what happens to u and me when you ASSUME something!!

 

I've got another that I forgot about. With my 96 F150 I was just bored and looking over the whole truck when, to my surprise, I noticed one of the rear spring hangers was totally rusted off and the spring end resting on the underside of the bed! That was an ugly job that I had all the wrong tools for. Somehow it was resting just right because the truck wasn't sagging at all to one side. Best part was the Ford Parts counter guy saying "Oh yea that happens all the time on these trucks." Nice....

 

I bought an 06 F350 xl reg cab 4x4 as a work truck. Deccent truck, 77000 km, 6600 obo. Picker er up for $6000, drove home. Heard an exhaust leak, figured a manifold was loose, not too bad i guess. So ... It begins .... Get to a gas station, wont fill properly. Vent was plugged, 100 litres, 15 minutes. figure it out at home and life goes on. Exhaust leak turns into a broken manifold, pipes cracked in 3 places between mfld and muffler. muffler was split down the middle, on top, so you couldnt see it until a creeper was rolled under truck. Tickin continued, turns out it needed a timing chain guide, tensioner, cam phaser (s) tone ring, tons of labor, spark plugs, and numerous sensors under hood. I decided to invest in a brake controller as well, since it now SHOULD be a good truck. inside the dash where the plug in is located, is completely filled with coal mine dust, like filled filled. Chipped the crud off the backside of the dash to even locatye the plugin for the brake controller. Bad gut feelin at this point (shoulda been earlier, my bad I guess. learning you can view the engine hrs, should have pieced 77000km to 4700 hrs!!!!!!! yow!!!)ok, now to adress the transmission shifting issue that just showed up a week after the engine repairs. Its completely shot, as well as the front diff ujoints. Decide to not do them as the 5000$ motor repairs the dealer snuck upon me was enough. A potential buyer points out that the rear brakes were shot. Sell for 3500$, really painful, I know. A week after he buys it, he informs me that the rear drive shaft broke off at the yoke joining to the t case, tearing the bed floor up, popping the gas tank, and breaking to t case housing.

Long rant I know, I know for a fact I missed little things in there like the blower resistor and more. Bad bad buy. Definately learned to look thouroughly now!!!!!

 

I was trouble shooting a VSS code and found melted wires at the differential. The previous owner used a cutting torch to install the gooseneck ball and melted the wires. Even though the insulation was melted the wiring was still working. The actual problem was at the PCM.

Good thing I started at the other end or I might not have found the burned wires.

 

Seems like that's a Ford thing. All the stuff designed by truck engineers can't be taken out of service by anything, but all the stuff with transistors that was designed by electronics engineers is crap.


Maybe they're the same people who designed the headlight switch for the 80-96 trucks and 80-2005 vans.

 

The same guys that designed all of fords electrical connectors that ALWAYS break!

 

Love this thread. Glow plugs stopped working. Found rats nest on engine, no rat, removed nest, couple days later nest back, no rat, truck used everyday to feed cattle lots of dogs-where is rat? Few days later caught rat on engine, rat went down side of engine several dogs and people around truck could not find rat under truck, teenage daughter got in truck-rat under back seat-daughter leaves truck rapidly!!!! Rat not found in cab?????? Rat on engine again, rat runs off engine, rat in cab again, rat disappears by passenger kick panel. AHA!!!!!! Rat had learned to go through inside/outside air door. Previous owner had removed foam rubber block under passenger end of cowl panel when replacing passenger side fender this allowed rat to get under cowl. Can of starting fluid caught rat. Fortunately he was half through air door and easy to remove.

I am a pipeline mechanic-complaint of no go unless in 4X4, transfer case tail and rear drive shaft gone. Complaint of no go, transfer case gone. Complaint of front end sag, torsion bar anchor cross member gone. Honest officer I barley bumped that rock. Got a pickup back from company shop with tranny fluid leak between tranny and transfer case. Went to check fluid level in transfer case, case rotated, tranny to transfer case housing broke all the way around in font of tranny mount.

 

That was a good story! Didn't know starting fluid could kill rats.

What would have happened if the rat chewed on the center wire with the engine running?
----------------------------

Got another one. Replacing the exhaust on my 91 half-ton this past week- the old Y-pipe had snapped completely in 2 and I had driven it that way for a while. One of the pieces contacted the + wire for the starter and melted the insulation.

When I took off the old manifolds I had to remove an aftermarket powertrain ground the PO put on, and I happened to notice the PT ground was the - cable for the battery. So no chassis ground whatsoever. Installed a ground strap for the frame and I have much fewer electrical ghosts in the vehicle now.

Replacing the U-joints last year, accidentally banged a tool against a brake line and shattered it. Trying to get it out I shattered 2 other brake lines. Ended up replacing all brake lines aft of the fuel filter.

 

Starting fluid is ether. Same stuff they used to use to put people to sleep for surgery. When they took my tonsils out at 4 years old it took 4 nurses to hold me down and keep the ether mask on my face. I did get loose once, and I remember watching the ether drip out of the bottle onto the mask while feeling like I was suffocating.

 

I was just looking to plow a few driveways the other day. But NOoooOoooo

 

First off thank you. He does have a problem I don't know what it is but he won't let the tire thing go. Dude DROP IT! Then he came on this thread making all kind of assumptions about the OP and when the argument doesn't go his way he goes away. Me personally I don't want anymore pencil pushers telling me what I can and cannot do. You can stick your 'tude buddy.

On the OP's original topic I once found a bunch of fur stuck to the top of my cat convertor. Don't know where it came from or how it go there but was disturbing to say the least. Later when I was taking out the trash I noticed a large alley cat with a huge patch of fur missing and some skin with it. Ouch. Detective skills says I found the culprit! LOL I also found a worn drag link when rotating tires. Which turned into new drag link, tie rods, 4 new ball joints 4 new shocks and steering damper by the time I was done.