I don't know where you're at so I can't help with your final decision. I liked the trxus STS they were good at everything but snow. Then again by the time it snowed with those tires I had there wasn't much tread left to them and a 15" foot print didn't help either

 

I have a set of these, Toyo Open Country. Great tire for road, dirt, and snow. And we do get a lot of deep snow. Around to 50K to 60K miles

 

Grill looks great. I might suggest a large Ford blue oval from the newer trucks, there was one in the Ultimate Super Duty thread not long ago with it that looked killer.

Nice find and start on the build thread.

 

Thanks bently.....

With regards to tires, well....currently i live in st.louis, but im moving to san antonio just as soon as i can. I was hoping before winter, but its not looking like that will happen.

So i will need something good in snow, duratracs were the best in snow i have ever experienced. But once im in Texas, rain and sand will be my concerns. I plan to drive this rig on some beaches, some will be long drives duwn the south padre island national seashore. 60 miles of sand, so i dont wanna get stuck even half way down that beach.

 

Sand.... You want these. https://www.google.com/search?q=trxu...2-PGBfo_q4M%3A

 

Well the mass ordering of parts has begun, ive finally got enough money saved up to get all the stuff I want to do..... Probably going to be about 2 weeks before I get started, maybe less. But now that I have recovered from the cost of the transmission rebuild which set me back about 5 months I can finally get to dong some fun stuff. The transmisson rebuild wasnt fun, granted I didnt do it personally, and I have a built transmission now. But there was nothing fun about it lol. Now, dont anyone tell my Fiancee how much all this stuff really cost, she almost stroked when she knew what I spent on the transmission.

 

well Im about a month behind on everything, life threw me some curveballs and I didnt get to getting everything ordered. Then when I was ready again a couple weeks ago my Grandma passed and since all my family is now in Texas except for grandparents, I was the sole support and helper for grandpa until my Parents and aunts/uncles got here. Grandma was 88, grandpa is 89, they were married for 70 years this year. Not Ford Truck related I know, but I have alot of respect for my grandpa, However he has been an F250 guy all his life until about 15 years ago when he switched to Ford Explorers. Grandpa is being moved to San Antonio to live with my dad now. Hes spent the last 3 years taking care of grandma, and in reality hes done it for 70 years, working as a carpenter and then starting a very successful General Contracting Company... its time for him to finally relax. Heres a pic of me from about 30 years ago in one of his many F250s he has owned.

But anyways, some stuff is here already, and the rest is officially on the way. I feel like i just boosted the economy of the country with what I spent in the last 24 hours. Headlights, tail lights, fender flares, Hydra Chip, Hutch Mod, Aux Oil Filter.... honestly too much stuff to type. I will update as work begins which will probably be tomorrow afternoon or Thursday. I will probably just start with whatever shows up first, which I believe will be 08+ side mirrors.

 

OH, but on another note... since im the only grandson, grandpa said to come get all the tools i want from his house cuz he wont ever use them again, i just left him with some essentials he wanted. He cant use them anymore anyways. I loaded my truck up with stuff, alot of which i needed
Not enough people have respect for family heirlooms or old tools anymore. Too many of new generations want brand new pretty tools. I will have these tools for the rest of my life. My kids, when i have em lol, will use them, and they will be passed on to them when im done with them. They will be told who they belonged to and where they came from.
Some of my favorites are a vice, it was my great grandpas vice. I dont think i could break this thing if i tried. I bought a vice about 8 years ago and its half worn out already.



A Yankee screwdriver, id heard of them, but never actually seen one. He made sure to tell me he bought it from an Army Surplus auction after WW-II, who knows the stories this thing has, where it may have been or what it may have helped build during the war.


This old Schrader tire guage, which will probably never weary out, even the part that pops out is metal.


More Standard/Flat head screwdrivers than I will ever need LOL, funny how you rarely ever need one of them anymore. I literally have a lifetime supply now.

Some 1" drive sockets, breaker bars, and a big ole 1" socket Wrench, will be handy to have when I need em.

Some old open end wrenches that are made of some die hard steel, just holding them you can tell the steel quality is good.

A set of Stanley Chisels, which grandpa said are the best chisels ever made.

An nicely sized old C clamp that I will probably never wear out.

I now have more pipe and crescent wrenches than I know what to do with.


And added his red Craftsman toolbox to the Garage furniture, its nice to have, I am pretty much out of room in my black tool box. Im probably still going to have to buy the middle drawer section for my black one.

 

Nice, God bless you for caring. So many don't any more.

 

Isnt that sadly the truth though... ive on quite a few occasions started up conversations with elderly people and or veterans who i see with WW2/vietnam/korea hats etc.... Ive found that just talking with them, asking them about their lives that it just makes their day. I enjoy hearing the stories and the history. My grandpa whom i spoke of didnt serve in WW2 but he tried. He has had a perforated ear drum since he was a kid and the military then claimed he couldnt join cuz of that. I think they didnt let him in because his only brother had already died in the pacific. But my grandpa on my moms side served under patton the entire war, man oh man did he have some stories. He was one of the men that marched for 48 hours and engaged the germans at the battle of the bulge. Which is where this came from

 

Very cool tools and memorabilia. Any plans to restore the vise?

 

Nah, it still works just like it should, no need to fix it if its not broken.

 

I know the stories, they were the real hero's!

 

Yes they were.

Well no truck stuff has showed up yet, but my new socket set showed up so I got it all organized into my tool box. I told the FedEx Guy when he dropped it off we would be seeing alot of each other over the next couple weeks. Parts will begin showing up tomorrow according to tracking info, and continue to come in until the monday after thanksgiving. Lots to do Lots to do.

But I just added another project. Im taking a gamble and bought a broken 65" Samsung off Craigslist. the screen is good, and it powers up but has a blank screen. Did a bunch of research and i think its just a 70 dollar part/circuit board which is already ordered. So have that to work on too, and possibly throw some more parts at. My Living room TV quit and with what I spent on the truck I cant bring myself to buy a new TV for 1000ish dollars. I got the guy down to 150 bucks so I think its worth the gamble for a 1 year old 65" LCD!!, if this part fixes it I will have 220 in it.

 

Got my spyders halos installed today...I went with the CCFL Halos which I highly suggest over the LED halos, if your looking at these spend the extra money and you will be happier as they are BEAUTIFUL!!! Look so much better than the stockers i had which the PO spray painted the signal and corner lights black, they looked AWFUL and no one could see my signals during the day.

I really debated on buying these. Read alot of mixed reviews. But I have to say I am MORE than pleased with my purchase. Yes, I had to trim a bit of the inner fiberglass headlight housing/reinforcement in order to fit them. But IMO it wasnt much, and done with a dremel it came out clean and took me less than 5 minutes per side. I was going to document the process, but I came down with an awful **** kicking cold this morning and I feel awful. So I just put them in.

The LED corner lights, and the CCFL Halos have to be hard wired into the existing corner light wiring. I just clipped the plug/bulb off, stripped the wires and wired them all together. All 3 blacks together, then Red,White,Gray together.

The headlights and signal were plug and play.

I had to drive about 45 minutes out into the boonies to a freinds house to let his dogs in and feed them, and then check on/feed all his farm animals as he is at the hospital with his wife as she is currently in labor.

So I got a good test in on them on dark unlit country roads. I am once again MORE than pleased with my purchase, the low beam projectors put out better light than the factory headlights I had. The high beams, HOLY MOLY!!!! These may be the brightest High Beams I have ever had, and I have had alot of vehicles. I bought a 20" LED light bar to install where the fogs go. Havent gotten to it yet, but if I had known the high beams on these spyders were this bright I may not have bought it.

The CCFL halos are also very bright, you could drive slowly with just the halos on as they actually light things up a bit themselves, as are the 3 LED Corner lights.

Also, got a Gallon of OptiLube XPD in, ran my tank down and topped off with a fresh tank and added 10oz to the mix, its gettin cold around here. No opinion on MPG yet but I will say I noticed my injectors seem a tad quieter.

Anyways, heres some pics, sorry they are awful, I broke my S5 phone and had to revert back to my old S3 until my S5 replacement comes in. I will try and get some better pics in the next few days.







Heres a pile of truck stuff that showed up today!.


And now that im done typing this, its time to get this ready to install.