Looking at buying this truck...So I have seen the SUVs, but this is a crew cab with a 6.5' bed. Running gear appears to be 1/2 ton with exception of the frame. Its got the 5.8L with auto trans. Its got some rust issues, but what other things should I be looking at as som problem areas... Thanks for any help in advance....

 

I've got the same truck. It's a half ton frame, that was stretched by Centurion. If you look under the cab area, you'll see where they cut the original single cab shortbed frame, and welded in an extension piece, along with fishplating.

The cab was also cut in half and stretched, using factory crew cab roof and floor panels.

Centurion's fab work could have been better, but it isn't completely horrible. I would have rather seen angle cuts on the frame instead of straight cuts, but it's held up just fine over the years. I did end up welding reinforcement plates on the outside of the frame, just after the rear Centurion frame splice. The only reason I did this, was because I was experiencing a lot of bed/rear frame flex when towing.

The areas that you'll probably see rust the most will be where Centurion grafted in the crew cab sheetmetal: front, rear and side edges of the roof panel, drip rails, and the B pillars at the rocker panel area. Mine wasn't rotted through, but there was a LOT of bondo on the roof. I'm still not sure why they used so much bondo. Once I got all the old bondo off the roof panel, all it needed was rust treatment, and a very thin skim coat of filler to make it smooth.

The only other issues I had were their wiring extensions in the cab for the rear door locks, rear speakers, and rear dome light. They had used crimp style butt connectors that failed. I spliced, soldered, and used heat shrink tubing and haven't had any other issues.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the truck. I've put roughly 30k miles on it since I've gotten it on the road, about half of that has been towing a car trailer (roughly 5-6k lbs).

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ld-thread.html

 

This one has the same problem rust areas. I will be doing the same type of towing, jeep and trailer weighing about 6k lbs. Was wondering if they used factory sheet metal for the conversions because this one may need the roof reskinned...so knowing that I can get the roof from the f250 f350 crew cabs is helpful...

 

It'll tow that just fine. I'm assuming it has 3.55 gears?

Only thing to watch out for is GVW. Mine is still listed as 6000, because the VIN still lists it as a single cab shortbed. I do have a sticker that was put on by Centurion, listing GVW, but the writing is long gone.