Howdy everyone, my name is Brett and I have been without a Ford truck for awhile. I recently wanted to get back into owning a truck, I have always liked the 92-96 body style the most. I found this truck after moving to a new town (joys of the military life) and immediately noticed something was different and I like different.

Here is my new Ford truck, it is a 1996 F350. It is 4wd and has a 7.3 PSD and a 5 speed manual transmission. The cab has been stretched by Centurion from a crew cab to add an additional extended cab portion behind it.




The interior is nicely done in tan leather with the Centurion wood trim added. The front is a bench with an arm rest that folds down in the middle. The middle row are captains chairs and have TV monitors there for viewing. The third row is a bench.




The engine also received some attention. I have a tag that says Vargas Turbos in Hayward, CA stamped 12-96. I haven't reached out to them yet to see if there's any chance they still have a record of what was done to this truck. I know that it has an Hypermax intercooler with boost/pyro gauges inside. I also know the stock turbo has been replaced with a Holset turbo of some sort. The truck is surprisingly quick on its feet for a truck this size.


My plans are to get it cleaned up, fresh fluids and fix everything in the truck currently before doing too many mods. I have changed the oil in the truck twice so far (trying to get all the old oil out). The truck also needed new tires so I went and got some new Wrangler Duratracs, 235/85R16. I ordered some new cab lights from Ryder for $5 each.

There are a couple of planned mods so far. I am interested in doing a RSK and use SD springs to level the front out and possibly give it a bit of a smoother ride. The shocks need replaced, so I'll be looking at threads for those also. No need for remote reservoir fox racing or anything, probably just some Bilsteins or such. I need to replace the radio in the truck, it currently has a nice looking Alpine Cassette unit. I'd like to get something a bit more modern with bluetooth.

I have also read that a popular upgrade for these PSD's is to put in a SD or similar electric lift pump to replace the mechanical one. I've seen people say it makes the truck start easier and smoother and maybe quiets the engine down a bit.

That's enough rambling from me for now. I look forward to being a part of the FTE community again!

 

Nice ride! Looking forward to more updates and photos .

 

That is pretty sweet congrats

 

Nice looking truck, but man the turn radius on that thing gotta be huge.

 

Thanks guys! The turning radius is ridiculous, but I don't mind.

I need to look over the truck today and order some maintenance items. I noticed the belt had a nick in it, so I'll be getting that along with a tensioner maybe. The thermostat housing looks awful, so I'll get a new one of those and the thermostat while I'm at it.



I also need to see whats going on with the side marker lights on the dually fender as well as on the running boards. Right now they do nothing, maybe they just need bulbs. I can't imagine ALL of them are bad, but hopefully its something simple.

I also have some sort of an oil leak, I see some on top of the motor here that looks like it could be a valve cover gasket, there is something leaking on teh underside that collects around the starter. I need to try and clean the engine up a bit to locate that leak.

 

 

Thanks! It has about 160k miles on it.

I have been looking the truck over to see why the fender lights aren't working. The rear middle clearance lights work as do all the other lights. I need to find the 3 extra plugs that I read that the duallys have on the taillight harness. Then I can check for power there and of course ensure the lights are plugged in. I got one of the lights off and was a bit surprised. I thought they were just bulbs but this is a sealed unit. I tried the light itself on another battery with spare wire, no luck. I found the lights are sold by Ryder so I can get them quick and easy for $6 a piece. However, the plug on for the light on the fender didn't have power either, so even thought the light is bad I still have an issue somewhere else.

I did find a magnetic holder with the spare truck key and 2 other keys. I think one is the bed cap lock. I have to clean those two up first to check.

 

 

My guess would be Army at Fort McCoy, but now that I have said that I'll be wrong

 

Thanks, I'm with the Army! They cut the frame and lengthened it right under the cab there. Looks like they took another frame and put this section in. Looks well done in my opinion.

I am not 100% but I believe the turbo on my engine is a Holset H1C. There is no tag to ID like everything I find says it should have. I see the spot for a tag but it's not there.

I have 4 plugs on the front in the bottom of the grille. I assume these are for fog lights? They don't seem to have power, even when I flip a switch inside labeled fog lights. Gonna have to trace the wires more.


The dually fender lights still don't work. The wiring is different to everything I've read about on here. On this truck the fender lights are wired to the lights on the running boards and then it goes up into the area near the fuse box under the hood. Sun started to go down so I'll have to trace more tomorrow. The rear center marker lights are wired inline with the license plate lights, so they work (one needs replaced)

There are alot of small areas on the engine that have oil residue. Not sure if they're leaking or it wasn't cleaned well after a repair. I need to clean everything so I have a fresh slate to start addressing the actual leaks.

 

Following.

The dually fender lights SHOULD tie into the tail light harness. But with centurion hack work, who knows

 

I agree, I read all the threads and then got under the truck and was like WTF. I do plan on trying to wire them up properly once I've found out where the wiring goes. Do you happen to have a picture handy of the three plugs so I'm 100% on what/where I'm looking at? Theres is alot of wiring in that area, some can probably come out..

I couldn't get the radio to work. It powers up but no sound There is an amp mounted under the rear bench. Need to look at that. Also the Monitors turn on and display a DVD logo, but I can't seem to find a DVD player yet. The monitors I'm not too concerned about right now. However, I do like to have music.

I also noticed my less then spectacular factory airbox doesn't seal. Searched on here before moaning about it, turns out thats common. Planning on ordering a RiffRaff 6637 Kit and bracket here later today.

 

OK, made some progress. Not all great news but decent news. I found the DVD player and a 5 disc changer under the armrest in the front seat.


I started looking closer after a noticed this rats nest under the driver seat, holy jeebus.


I even found a voice activated navigation module in the very back sitting in a cubbyhole.


I noticed the amp under the back seat, I checked for voltage, it had nothing. I go under the hood to see where the power wire is routed to make sure threes not a live wire loose somewhere. I find these wires just sitting by the jack, they're were hooked to the starter solenoid at one time.


I traced them over the top of the engine to the other side where they meet a ton of other wires


One wire goes to the alarm horn there and the other is connected down to the running lights. Also there is a wire that runs up to a circuit breaker then to a cut wire that looks like it went to the drivers side battery.

WTH is going on with all these! I plan to make sure they are all "dead" wires and pull them all out. I would like to wire in the running lights the way they should be from the rear. I'll probably run new wire, the wire thats on there is something crazy like 10 gauge. Its gonna be a bit of a pain since they tie into other things.

 

With centurions butchery they call wiring I am sure the problem with the fender lights is a bad scotch lock connector.
The best way to fix your problem is to gut a OEM dually bed harness and just use that

 

The wiring isn't great, but I haven't found a scotch lock...yet.

I did pull some of the wiring out last night. I removed the wiring for an exhaust brake (US Gear Decelerator) the truck no longer has, as well as some of the extra wiring that went nowhere. There is a bunch of random wiring hiding under the dash area too, ALOT.


A new bed harness would be a nice start, I'd still have to wire in all the running board lights.