Thought I would make a build thread to keep track of my progress, because why not. Mostly cause i'm bored. Haven't named my truck yet, but that maybe because I haven't driven it yet... I legally can't drive yet, but I thought I would get the truck to work on, and get her all fixed up before I do.

Some pics of how it sits now (Updated with new pics)





Things that I want to get done(In no particular order)

New Battery✔
Replace ball joints(Great story on this, ill post below)✖
Replace wheel hubs✖
Replace locking hubs✖
Replace front brakes✖
New Brake lines✖
New Bilsteins✖
Replace door lock actuators✔
Replace front sway bar bushings✖
New Hellwig rear sway bar✖
Pro Comp 6 inch lift✖
New tires and rims✖
08+ Rear bumper✖
08+ Tow mirrors✖
05 Grill ✖
New Headlights✖
20 Inch Led bar(Where fog lights go)✖
Roof Rack✖
Riffraff Diesel Custom Auto Dash Kit✖
New double din radio with back up cam✖
Repair rust on lower of rear door✖

(All I can think of right now, but i'm sure there's more. Major thing is getting the front end parts done so it's driveable.)

Eventually going to paint her. Thinking of maybe a dark green? I'm open to suggestions.

What iv'e done so far

Replaced the battery.


Also my door actuators and changed my oil, but I don't have pics of that.

Now its story time
Once upon a time I decided to replace my drivers side ball joints. I was all prepared, had gotten the proper tools and done research and everything. After starting at 3:00 about 2 hours latter I finally got the knuckle out of the truck. Then it was time to remove the ball joints, so I tried my hardest to do so. After about an hour maybe more I had figured out I was using the puller the wrong way. After that all figured out, I had removed them and installed my new ones...Simple enough, right? WRONG... When I went to put it back on my truck, I had installed one of them the wrong way. Well time to remove them right? NOPE. It was impossible to fit the puller in the space because now the ball joint was blocking it. Only option, grind it out, with a masonry blade... Not to make my story any longer than it already is, it took me 3 more hours to grind that f***** out of there. I ended up not finishing until 1 AM. Long story short, double check before you do ANYTHING.

Also, if you ever wanted to know what the inside of a ball joint looks like, here you go.




Well, thanks for reading my super long thread If you have any sujestions please tell me! I have open ears and i'm ready to learn!

 

LOL--not to make light of your frustration but that is SOO much like things I've done! When I first put my Hellwig ASB on I mounted the bar to the 2 lower holes on the Hellwig plate for the shock brackets instead of the top 2 holes. I missed it checking it as it took me 2 hours to get 1 big **** shock compressed and the shock brackets back on--which wouldn't have been a problem had Hellwig's U Bolts had fit through the holes in the shock bracket like they were SUPPOSED to. They sent new bolts-they were too big for the holes as well "no drilling required" I used my old U bolts, ordered new U bolts and replaced them. Moral of the story--check the size of the hole before you try to put the bolt in!

Guys--don't do it--I know you're looking at the last sentence but doooonnnn't do it. You can think it but dooonnn't do it.

 

Yup, sounds like something I would do.

I updated pictures too if anyone's interested. Nothing special about it now, but just for documentation...

 

Turtle- looks like a good start. How do you like the AGM battery? What did it end up costing if you don't mind?

 

The battery has been great so far! The engine cranks so much stronger than my last battery. I've done at least 30 starts and has held up just fine so far considering I don't really drive anywhere besides down the street. The battery was a gift, but I believe it was around $350. Very expensive, but I think I traded in my old gold(in the background of the first pic) and got $75 off or something. It's a very expensive battery and I have a feeling it will last for a while, well it kinda has too, it's got a 4 year warranty Also I was told that it's a very good battery for off-road use because it deals better with vibrations, not sure how true that is but so far it's been a good battery.

 

From what I have read they are a rebranded odyssey. That is a pretty penny for sure. Hope it works well.

 

Hmm, never knew that. This battery feels stronger than anyone I have encountered so I think it should work well.

 

Looks like a good solid EX to base a build on Turtle.
Check out the Y pipe where the two banks of exhaust meet under the truck, if it is the one that looks more like a "T" than a "Y" you may want to add an upgraded Y pipe (or headers! ) to your build list.
Also what gears does it have? With that 6" lift and new tires/wheels on your list you may be also looking at deeper gears to keep the V-10 and trans happy.

 

Thanks! I knew I was forgetting something. Hopefully I can find some higher gears for cheap. But I'll probably get tires before then.

 

looking forward to following this one good luck and have fun.

 

So this post is way over due. Here's update for some things I've done. I did all of this work about 6 months ago now.
Front and rear Powerstop pads, rotors and calipers, extended ss brake lines, ball joints, hubs, seals, 4wd hubs, and swaybar bushings.

Front end result. (Didn't get a pic of the rears)(Also without my shiny new MM hubs)

Now that I've had them on for a while, the center of the hub has gotten some surface rust.
How should I prevent that? Sand it down and paint it with some high temp stuff?
What have you guys done to make your hubs not look like crap?

Shiny Mile Markers
Total improvement over factory, so easy to turn and no problems 6 months in.



Here's where it gets good. This was the condition of my passenger side wheel bearing when I went to replace it.
And no, It never saw the road like that, well when I had it...






Next in line sway bar bushings, also very worn...




Took a little bit of persuading...


If anyone wants do their bushings remember which way your bar came off,
it may be the difference of $40 to $600.......
Don't ask me how I know

 

Haven't seen a unit bearing separated like that. The Motorcraft Sway bar links aren't to expensive from Rock-Auto either. Updates looking good though. How do you like the braking performance?

 

Nice progress Turtle! I agree with Coop, never seen a unit bearing that dead before! But looking back at your original pictures that right front wheel had lots of nasty buildup on it that the left front didn't.
We have seen a couple of the upside down front sway bars here, never ends well.

 

Where you located Turtle? Truck sure shows signs of a snow/salt belt area. Hope that's on your list of items to clean up. All that fancy nice stuff looks nice but won't make a difference if that cancer rust is taking over.

Keep up the good work and you mentioned not being legally able to drive I'm curious how old are you considering all the work your doing at a age of not being able to legally drive?

 

I can sympathize with your story. I had 4 cars by the time I was old enough to drive them. I kept buying clunkers and working on them. Some of the best learned lessons are from the mistakes you make while wrenching. Just glad you didn't keep driving with no oil in your engine.