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17 months ago bought a 1 owner 2004 Eddie Bauer 6.0 with 102K miles. ($21,000.00) Shipped it to Houston and the guys at Power Stroke Enginuities. Nothing was wrong, ran good and was in 9/10 condition.
They removed the engine and installed a near complete full BulletProof kit minus the FICM and injectors, flushed and cleaned everything and fixed a few other items. ($9,000.00)
3 months later at 85 miles an hour the passenger tire blew out and I wound up in a wall. No frame damage. I was able to turn out of the collision and flipped the *** end into the wall. The front suspension sheared 2 pins off the frame and the passenger side, bumper to bumper, was a hot mess. Towed it home, tarped it and waited. Insurance paid out close to $18K.
Called several (3 or 4) suspention shops in the SFV. My first question was " What do you know about axel geometry and retrotting" Not one could really answer and 1 asked me to repeat the question several times. Got nowhere.
Found Andy at Meyhem Metal Works in Simi Valley. Stopped by the shop and decided this was the right place. They build rock climbers from scratch. The frame, 4-link and the rest. They also do a ton of other mods to streetable trucks.
So here is the plan-
Axel-2005 Coil Over with 80K + mile-Complete rebuild (Gears look like new). Timkin unit bearings, SSBC V6 calipers, rotors, rubbers and bearings. Clean and Paint
McNasty bracket kit for a 11-16 Super Duty Frontend
OEM Sheetmetal and Grill
Bumpers-
I want the Texas oilfield style platform bumper in the front- with a winch. Plan on sitting on the bumper while turkey hunting.....
Rear will have 2 swing arms and a triple reciver for a 5th wheel dolly
Paint-
TBD-leaning to flat olive
Wheels and Tires-
TBD untill offset is determined
Mechanical-
BulletProof FICM
OEM injectors
Decisions I need to make by Friday-
2.5" lift - Icon or Bilstein
Hood
Headlights
Mirrors
Thank for reading and Ill upload pics of the process and the real cost of the parts.
Welcome! Sounds like you've got a plan going for sure! I'll be super interested in the 3 receiver system for the 5th wheel dolly....those are super cool and I've thought about trying to build one but they can be fairly complex. If it's just a tow dolly, probably not super complicated, but if you want to be able to back the 5th wheel easily there's got to be some sort of passive steering involved. There's a company that makes/sells them, but they cost a pretty penny!! Good luck!
Thank you all for the welcome, I always like to read and save the more detailed threads for refereance. I hope this assists someone also.
Outter and inner structure was bent up at the passenger front tire but nothing that was not getting cut out for the new clip. Rear door and side glass as you can see.
I am waiting to discover if I need to replace more than the exterior skin on the rear panel.
Tracking the parts and budget. Price and availability is what decided who/where I got the parts. Shipping cost and tax played a big part in the price.
Here is where I am at as of today on the parts and cost. For the unit bearings I had to order from different vendors as the less expensive supplier had only 1. I needed to get them both to the shop next week.
Also building up "reward points" with a vendor may cost on one part but save more on another.
Legend
EB=Ebay
AA=AutoAnything
ROOCK=ROCKAUTO
PARTS=PARTS.COM
R1C=R1 CONCEPTS
ALL=ALLIGATOR PERFORMANCE·· Hood hingesETA Xo BC3Z-16796-A (Passengers Side)1/16/2019EB $ 31.80Xo BC3Z-16797-A (Drivers Side)1/16/2019EB $ 31.82X· Hood Striker (7C3Z-16K689-A1/16/2019EB $ 18.50X· Fenders (Left and Right)1/17/2019EB $ 396.66X08-10 hood latch assembly1/15/2019EB $ 33.23X· (2) 99-07 SuperDuty hood strut lower ball bolt1/15/2019EB $ 10.80X· Lower Grill Reinforcement (Ford Part Number#BC3Z1/14/2019EB $ 170.14X· Upper Grill Reinforcement (Ford Part Number#BC3Z1/16/2019EB $ 111.14X· factory wiper cowl kit 1/16/2019EB $ 124.90XXUnit Baring1/15/2019AA/ROCK $ 467.32XWiper ARM AND PIVOT SHAFT1/17/2019PARTS $ 68.89X· Grill and Bracket (Support)1/21/2019EB $ 334.82XRotors1/4/2019R1C $ 185.59XCalipers-V6 SSBC A-193-22/10/2019ALL $ 941.00 $ 2,926.61NOT ORDERED· Headlights (May also need newer headlight plugs depending on year· Hood· Front Bumper and Bracket (installation not shown)
Really struggling with the hood and lights, Not sure what look and if i want a ram air vs custom snorkel.
I am picking up all the axel parts today for prep and paint over the weekend. Ill take pics of the old axel and sheetmetal removed.
Last edited by Jonathon Marcelino; Jan 11, 2019 at 10:04 AM.
Reason: spelling
McNasty notching per instructions and videos Passenger side look at undamaged frame. Starting the wiper motor. Used 2005 F-250 axel cleaned. This gets removed and replaced with a modified updated assembly and OEM motor. Unable to load this into my '14 Benz wagon I took all the other axel parts and am painting them this weekend. Not wanting to order parts if the frame was damaged, we now have to wait for everything to be delivered. NOTE-Not every online vendor will allow you to ship to an address that is different from your credit card billing address. Very little inner structure damage, no frame damage and no mechanical damage. Axel, sheetmetal and glass...
Picked up several axel parts to prep and paint.
the trailing arms were easy.
The steering knuckles already had the new bearings installed and made the grinding, with my tools impossible.
Decided to replace the rotor dust covers as they were beat up. Make shift spray booth. 2 primer coats with 3 Roll bar and chassis paint from Auto zone. Harbor Freight welding wire was less expensive than anything else. Really worked, there was no wind so no issues
The only remaing parts to be delivered are the 6 piston calipers. I did not know this was a long lead time item and I was not sure I wanted to spend the $1100.00 on an item I wanted vs. needed.
I will be wiring up the grill insert with LED lighting this coming weekend and will post some pics.
Wheels and tires are the next decision. I DISLIKE when the tires are outside the fender. On a pre-runner it is OK but not on a street rig. We will take a real measurment to determin the offset for the wheels. Thinking an 18x12.5. I like the 17s better but the choices are more numerous for 18s.
35 to 37" tires are where I am leaning. Once the new axel is on we can figure the opening and decide.
The body work is less extensive then initially thought. The inner structure of the rear passenger side is not damaged. As long as the door gaps good, Ill be happy.
Working on the final paint. with it being green I will be going with a "Army" style flat and some IDF decals.
Are you grafting new pickup bedsides into the rear quarters to have all four wheelwells match or will it have the late model fronts with the original style rear wheelwells? Have seen it done both ways and updating the rears really makes for a more finished look.
Are you grafting new pickup bedsides into the rear quarters to have all four wheelwells match or will it have the late model fronts with the original style rear wheelwells? Have seen it done both ways and updating the rears really makes for a more finished look.
I have never seen that done on the existing frame. Interesting, i winder how the door tie-ins work. Any pics?
I have never seen that done on the existing frame. Interesting, i winder how the door tie-ins work. Any pics?
The only thing that gets transferred over to your stock quarters is the actual sheet metal wheelwell profile out to where it flattens back out around the arch onto the bedsides. It doesn't really come out enough to conflict with the door jambs, blend the seams back in where the metal is flat just outside the arch profile. The wheelwell openings and arch shape changed between the EX years and the later years at you are using up front, so if only doing the front metal work the arches will be mismatched front and rear, a little extra sheet metal work can have it looking more finished when completed.
I tried linking to a few pics from a google search of "Excursion late model conversion" but my iPad is giving me issues with garbled link coding of images, but do that search and there are examples of the job done both ways for comparison.
Most of the well done conversions where a later model truck is mated to an EX the entire rear frame of the EX is used as it is different from the truck frames from front row back.
Excursion Conversion-Sheetmetal and Axel
