Hey guys,

Been lurking in these forums for quite a while now. Just upgraded my faithful old 7.3 to a 6.0 and wanted to start a build thread. Somewhere for me to track my progress and talk about stuff with other guys who love their trucks as much as I love mine. The plan is daily driving reliability with some functional mods and upgrades for when I am hauling a load or towing. I bought the truck as is from the second owner so first step was the safety to get it transferred into my name. It only needed a brake light bulb so that was a good start. Next stop was the body shop. The driver side box side was missing some paint as well as the tailgate. Had that painted as well as both front door lower corners. The lower door corners were being hit by rocks from the wheels the previous owner has on the truck. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get this truck where I would like it to be. I'm going to try to do all my maintenance and upgrades in a methodical order. If anybody has any suggestions on order or other upgrades I'm all ears. The truck does have front wheels. Just had them off for one of the first upgrades i did. It is a 2007 f-350 CCSB 6.0 with 229,000km (150k miles) lariat. There she is sitting next to old faithful that she's replacing.

 

First upgrade was to permanently install the scan gauge 2 that the previous owner included with the truck. I just ran the wire up behind up the dash and secured it down with some velcro. Next up was adding some mud flaps to prevent further stone damage until I get the wheel situation sorted out. I went with husky brand from a local truck equipment dealer who I like doing business with. Fronts are on but the rear kit didn't come with a hardware kit. I will be looking into that today. I also bought some bullring bed tie downs from the same place. The truck was missing the stake pocket caps so I decided instead of trying to track some down I would upgrade to something useful. Next steps are fluids and filters front to back. (waiting until I hit 230k for ease of tracking) I have some parts for a homemade coolant filter setup on order that will be here this week. I also have an EGR cooler to weld up and install. I plan to do a full flush on the cooling system, install the filter and monitor deltas for a few weeks and then replace the EGR cooler with the welded unit and do the oil cooler at that point if necessary. I am also searching for some factory 20" to put on the truck as the current wheels aren't my taste. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

Got my rear mud flap hardware kit and installed the rears today. I'm really happy with them. They will protect the body well it looks like. Next up I have my eye on a set of new take off wheels from a 2017 super duty. I'd like to get the factory 20" wheels back on this thing. The tires are michelin LTX at2. Anyone have any thoughts on these tires? Also anyone out there with the 2017 rims on my body style truck?

 

Looking good You seem to be on the right track and I wish I would have done this with mine as far as a thread or something to track my changes and progress with the beast.

Since I don't know how long you've been lurking and how deeply, I would recommend getting an OBD reader app or program to aid the SG unit on your phone, laptop, or tablet. I have heard they are great, but don't read codes well.

Another is the 6.0 is different than the 7.3, so conventional wisdom on the 7.3 is not the same as the 6.0. Research or ask before doing something you might think is ok for the 6.0 that you might have done on the 7.3.

I love my bull rings on my truck. I use those 20x more than the ones in the box.

Welcome to the 6.0 world

 

Michelin ride like rocks,I changed to Cooper AT3's and what a difference. My truck rides like a Lincoln on the Hyway now and I have factory 20's. If I had to do it over again I'd do 18's the ride would be even better.

 

Thanks! I have a snap on scan tool that I normally use for code reading as I'm a diesel mechanic. I would like to have something to leave in the truck all the time though in case I need it on the road somewhere. Researching into that now.

 

Thanks for the reply! The truck has 18s on it now which just aren't my taste. Good info on the tires. I'm now considering just buying the coopers for the 18s I already have....

 

Been a busy week for me and the truck. I decided to pick up the '17 wheels and try them out. They're not the smoothest riding tire I've ever had as mentioned here but they are way smoother and quieter than what was on before so I'm happy. They also look great in my opinion. I also lost a caliper the other day driving to help my buddy out with 6.0. Ended up changing it in the parking lot of his shop. I haven't seen too many pistons crack apart like this. The previous owner gave me a receipt too for all 4 callipers replaced at ford this time last year. Strange. Got that all fixed up and rolling again. Next up is weather tech mats which should be here soon and a full maintenance routine as I've hit 230,000km and I like nice round numbers.

 

God, it's just so stinking nice to have someone not **** and moan every time something goes wrong on a truck, and just FIX IT. If this was in the SD forum someone would have blamed the brake caliper on it being a 6.0 and we'd be on the ninth page of people arguing 6.2Lv7.3L.

Liking the truck, man. Great color, but I'm slightly biased since my dad and I have two matching '07s

Real question though, is there a fake lock-out in the rear hub cover?

 

Cheers man. I fix trucks all day long so I guess I'm used to it haha.

I'm really enjoying the colour, wasn't sure at first but it's really grown on me. I haven't seen many others like it.

The rear rims are cool. Sort of a fake lock out I would say yeah. I will get a better picture of them for anyone who is interested. Now with these rims on I'm thinking I'd like to level the front end 2". More to come!

 

A lot of the reason why I dislike the SD section. So much whining and complaining along with the gas is better than diesel


Those updated wheels look waaaaaay more better

Or in proper terms, they look great. Oh wait, way more better works since I'm not in the SD forum for someone to ridicule my improper grammar.

 

Hey guys, It's been a while since last update. I got my weathertech mats installed. Very happy with them. I also went over the truck and did fluids and filters. Engine oil and filter, fuel filters, transmission '08 pan and filter, inline filter, transfer case fluid and both differentials. That was an expensive day.... Now that I have that out of the way it's time for the next round of updates. I have a coolant filter setup aswell as restore and ELC to do a proper cooling flush. I'm fully expecting to need to replace the oil cooler after the flush. So the plan is to do the flush and drive for a couple weeks and monitor deltas. If required, I will pull it apart and replace the oil cooler as well as doing my welded EGR cooler delete. I also have all the usual goodies rounded up. Blue spring, thermostat, STC fitting etc. The plan is a long lasting, reliable truck. With that said, I need to purchase a tuner to do turn the EGR valve off. The overwhelming favourite seems to be the sct x4. However I'm always interested in other opinions. I'm also looking for some input of monitoring options. I have the scan gauge now but obviously can't run that and use the sct as a display at the same time. Is there another option out there for me or should I look into keeping my scangauge, running the sct for tuning and adding some pillar gauges for vitals like fuel pressure and EGT? Any thoughts are helpful! Thanks guys, more pictures to come.

 

Pictures for anyone interested. Excuse my fat finger covering my floor mat picture lol!

 

Just installed my new riff raft hot side boots and loaded the street tune with my set x4. Curious for anyone else who has an x4, I'd like to use it instead of my scan gauge for everyday monitoring because I can see more on one screen. However the x4 stays powered up even with the key off. Are you guys unplugging them every time you shut the truck off? I'd like to order a windshield mount and leave it up all the time but not if I have to remember to unplug it.

 

Truck looks great! I must not be seeing something right, or need another coffee, but it looks like the rear wheels have manual hub lockers and I don't see anything on the front??

I also have the same weather tech liners except mine are branded Cabelas "Trail Gear II", but it's a weathertech product. they've been really good to have.