I thought I would make a thread on what I’ve done to my truck since I bought it. It’s a 1995 F250 Single cab 4x4 zf5 7.3 powerstroke. The truck is my daily driver and I live in Ohio so I drive it all year and through all seasons including the snow and salt. Sorry if the photos are fuzzy.

Current mods:
150/146 Baby Swamp Injectors
TS6 with swamp tunes (stock,high idle,highway,tow,hot, baby swamp aka race tune)
4 inch MRBP straight pipe
6637 air filter
Mark Fugazzutto Electric Fuel kit
Terminator T500 Hpop
1.0 exhaust housing, high flow out let, and EBPV delete on stock TP38 turbo with new up pipes and donuts
Riff Raff banjo bolts
Valair Ceramic/ Kevlar clutch for 500hp and 1000torque
Dana 60 Kingpin with PMF rsk 2.25” and superduty U codesJust some back story about getting the truck:
I’m a triplet with a brother and a sister so when we all got our licenses we shared a 2011 ford escape xlt. Me and my brother started working as so as we got our license and when we both had jobs it was hard sharing one vehicle between 3 people so it was time to each get a vehicle of our own. My dad had a 1994 f250 4x4 5spd 7.3 idi that he ordered from the factory when we were young and growing up I thought it was the coolest thing. He later bought a 2003 f350 4x4 6.0 powerstroke that also thought was cool but with the amount of money he had to put into it I knew I didn’t want a 6blow. My junior year of high school I went to a vocational school for engineering. There was another kid who went there and he had a 1997 F350 7.3 crew cab, and this thing was sweet. It looked great, sounded good, and I knew from that truck that I wanted a 7.3 obs. My sister was going to keep the Escape we shared, and my brother got a 2002 Dodge 2500 360 v8 a few months after finding out that we could each get our own vehicle. I looked for 8 months day and night for the right truck, and being in Ohio every truck was ether rotted out or clean and people want too much. My Dad was the one who had to approve. He didn’t want me to get a diesel because of all the problems and the amount of money put into his 6.0 and he didn’t want me to be spending a lot of money for fixing a diesel. He wanted nothing with more than 150,000 miles and with a 7.3 it’s hard to find one that low of miles around me. My senior year of high school was starting up in a few weeks so I had to find something to drive and then the truck I have now got posted and my dad and I were out looking at it the next day. It was kind of spur of the moment and he didn’t really know the full details about it, so I told him on the way up there and he wasn’t too thrilled about it having 200,000+ miles. I just want to get out there before anyone else because I knew a truck like this wouldn’t last long before someone bought it. So we get there and as soon as we both saw it we knew that was the one.

The truck:
It was listed for $9000 and the guy needed something bigger because his wife was pregnant and needed something more than a single cab. We looked it over and test drove it and bought it for $7500. I am the 4th owner and the guy we got it from went to West Virginia to get it I believe and he had it for 4 years and only put 3,000 miles on it. The truck was originally 2-tone from what we were told (paint codes MS/MC smoke metallic and light smoke metallic) and was repainted to just smoke metallic (MS) buy the second owner along with a new bed, front fenders, and tailgate. The truck had 217,000 when we got it. It had a few problems like 2nd gear syncro was gone, needed a new front bumper, tailgate was a ebay tailgate and wouldn’t open or close with messing with it, headliner was sagging so bad that someone used a staple gun to hold it up. There was some rust on the front fenders where the flares rubbed up against the paint and down to bare metal. Someone already did a 4inch MRBP exhaust, Baby swamp injectors, ts6 swamps programmer, installed gauges, installed a gooseneck mount, and put air bags on for towing.

When we first saw the truck in June 2016.

 

I took off the steps, and fender flares. There was some purple window tint on the back glass that had to come off, and I put some factory style cab lights on the truck with LEDs.



I was at a local Flee market and came across a guy named Riff who was selling some obs parts, and he had a 100% rust free tailgate for sale with the diamond plate panel and the outer aluminum panel that I bought for $100 and had a guy paint it for $100 if I just bought the paint supplies. So I have about $300 in the tailgate, and it’s not perfect but it’s good enough.

 

New Opal gray headliner. I got the material for $15 at a local upholstery shop, and I used Permatex headliner adhesive.

 

New 285/75r16 Goodyear Duratracs, and I put factory style fender trim on.

 

Me and my brother bought a 1994 Chevy 2500 for $325 and a boat with a trailer for $200 and did a trailer race at a local track. Just some pictures of hauling the truck. It was so fun and after the race we sold the Chevy to someone for $350 so we even made a little money on the truck lol.

 

When I first got the truck I was filling up and there was another guy there with a 1995 F250 named John. We were talking and John did a Dana 60 swap and was telling me about it. I always kept my eye open for a axle but they were always too expensive. Then I came across a old rutsy 1987 f350. It was posted for $1200 and I asked if he would sell just the front axle and he wanted it all gone and said to make an offer, and I said $400 and he responded with sounds good. So my father and I made a 4 hour round trip to go get this truck and we dropped it off at a friend’s place to strip the axle off the truck. After the axle was out I called up John and gave me $200 and hauled the truck away for scrap. So at the end of the day I got a complete Dana 60 swap for $200.I rebuilt the whole axle with new bearings, races, seals, u joints, brakes, rotors, kingpins, and polyurethane bushings in the springs.

 

 

 

The finished product with healthy F350 front springs and stock 2 inch rear block, stock F250 rear springs and 285/75r16 tires.

 

I gave away my Dana 50 ttb for $75 that was actually in decent shape. The bushings were still ok and the ball joints were still tight. The guys who came and bought it I’m pretty sure had a bent frame on that truck lol.

 

I later put 1” of spacers under the front F350 springs and 3.25” blocks in the rear with the stock springs to bring the truck up. I also made some traction bars for about $275. There made from ¼” tubing, and I got all the joints, brackets, and bushings from Ruff Stuff specialties

 

This is the truck from high school that really made me want to get a OBS 7.3 but unfortunately the guy was trying to sell it.

 

Found a ARE truck cap for $60. I did a Rustoluem foam roll paint job that actually turned out decent for what it was. I had about $100 into the cap, and later sold it for $350. I wish I would have kept it but a 4 wheeler wouldn’t fit in the back of my truck with it on. Also installed LED headlights.

 

My up pipes leaked a little if I stood on it so I put a 1.0 exhaust housing and high flow outlet on the stock turbo and deleted the EBPV and installed new up pipes and donuts.



John had a brand new Terminator T500 that he sold to me for $300

 

I got some 16x10 raceline rock crusher wheels with worn 305/70r16 General Grabbers for $300 just to try them and I didn’t like them. I later sold them for $450.