Hi all,

You might remember me from hits like "Truck Dies with Fuse Box Clicking" and "Recovering a Stolen Truck" among other gems. Today I'm back again and thought I would start a little "build" thread as I gear up to do some more modifications to my truck.

Every year I collect some minor (and major) annoyances about my vehicles and attempt to remedy them. This helps me in two main ways; first and perhaps most importantly, it keeps me on top of my maintenance, and second it lets me add some extra "flair" to my vehicles to breathe new life into my appreciation for them which pushes off my craving for another vehicle . Why spend 5k on another project, when 2k will make my existing rigs even better?

Recently the F250 has been getting abused and put away wet, and fall is a great time to fix that! Below I have a few questions I'm looking for input on, as well as some plans to come.

Planned Mods
Torsion free flatbed: In my little noggin' I've planned out a torsion free frame for my flat bed. My goal is to reduce weight and height, but still be able to carry a 1800lb camper. The "torsion free" part of this means that the flatbed will have 3 mounting points. 2 up front close to the cab, and one perpendicular point in the back centered between the frame rails. As the truck flexes, the bed will remain flat. Currently when driving off road, the bed twists enough to slap the camper on the roof and eventually this will rip a camper apart.

Aluminum bumper: I've made a low profile and lightweight winch plate (under 40lbs). To complement this, I will be designing an aluminum bumper. Currently the truck has been bumper-less for some time, and it's a bit embarrassing as I own a metalworking business. Something something...the cobbler's kids never have shoes.

Lights: My headlights are amazing, but I often find myself unable to see to the side of my truck in tight offroad turns. I'm going to add some a-pillar "ditch" lights, and integrate some new SAE fogs into the bumper. I also have a thin light bar to add to the bumper. I have another thin amber light bar I used to have in my grill for driving in the snow, and I'm not sure what to do with that. I may put one on the rear bumper or on the camper itself for backing up.

Sliders: I really love the factory "grandpa" steps on the truck, and I suspect that's one reason the truck is virtually rust free. That said, they often get mashed off-road, and I admit I like the look of sliders. I'm typically pretty "simple" but I want the truck to have an off-road worth appearance, as it's currently looking a bit clapped out.

Coil Swap: I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a coil spung parts truck. I want to avoid pulling this stuff from a junkyard as I'm not as quick as I used to be, and I want to be able to pick and pull as needed.

'11+ rear springs: My truck sags heavily on the driver's side. Unfortunately I think this is due to the front springs, but I've picked up some 2013 SRW f250 rear springs. I've heard this will increase the ride quality and retain the current capacity. After that I will add some airbags to help with the camper. Currently trying to figure out if I want inverted (like the newer trucks) or standard u-bolts, but I need to noodle a little more. I might have to get clever with my airbag mounting depending on which option I go for.

Opinions needed
Sway bar noise: I recently did some mild off roading and it seems that my sway bar bushings are toast. I replaced them about 5 years ago, and I'm wondering if there is a better solution out there. I would not mind splurging for some quick disconnect end links if they exist.

Starter needs to be hit: Currently, my starter needs to be hit about 50% of the time to allow the truck to turn over. I believe this indicates a failing solenoid, but I'm not very knowledgeable about starters other than they are just a big electric motor. This has happened once before, but then the problem went away for a couple years and I've been crossing my fingers. The truck is an '03, and I'm under the impression that the 03 starters are already "fast" starters. Either way, this one was already a Chinese replacement by the PO. Can I remove the starter and just have the solenoid replaced or rebuilt? Can the whole starter be rebuilt?

Poor range on keyless entry: My truck did not come with a fob, but thanks to this group I was able to program a few cheapo key fobs (like under $10 cheap). These start with bad range, then get worse over just a few months even with batteries. Is there a know good source for new fobs?

Driveline vibration: After my truck was stolen, it came back with a bad vibration right at 43mph. I have not done anything about this, other than swap out tires and wheels. Initially I thought it was a bad tire, but they've rebalanced them and even replaced one. It's weird because if I put another set on the rear, the vibration seems to go away. My theory is that the other set of wheels just happen to dampen the resonance to stop the vibration, as I find it odd that the two other sets of wheels would both cause vibrations. This means that there might be a stuck u-joint, or perhaps bad center support. I'm going to mount a camera under there soon and see what the drive shaft is doing. The truck is a CCLB, but I did have the driveshaft rebuilt with spicer u-joints not too long ago.

Rear LSD/locker: The factory LSD is toast and I'm not really sure what my best option is. I take it there are air lockers, elockers, Eaton/detroit Truetrac, grizzly, rebuild factory unit, etc. Any input? I often get stuck on grass or the slightest snow and need to go to 4wd.

Here are a few of my favorite pics of my truck:

 

11+ rear springs are the ticket. The diesel 2 pack spring rides the best. For rear locker I would suggest a oem e locker out of a 11+ truck. Fairly cheap and easily made work. The you get the best of both worlds. I've had one in mine for 4 years or so now.
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Great info! I knew there was a trick out there somewhere. Edit, is it only 11-16?

 

In for this

 

Not sure about 17+ but I know 11-16 will work. I reused front hanger just moved it forward on the frame.

 

Oops, I was referring to the diff. I assume it's also 11-16, but I'm not too sure. I'll keep an eye on the junk yards near me.

 

I've already posted this on this forum, but I'm posting it here to keep it in one place.

This is the winch plate. I don't like the huge bumpers that stick out, so I made this as low profile as I could. It mounts to the tow hook holes and the front of the bumper "plate."

Pretty tight clearances everywhere, and I needed to 3D print little wedges to angle the power steering cooler down.

 

A couple older photos of my progress. I like to do cardboard mockups, measure them, then put them into CAD for my plasma cutter.

You can also see the power steering cooler wedge, as well as the box I made for the winch controller. That's the item you see wrapped in a plastic bag on the side of the frame rail in my other pics. Eventually the bumper will provide protection from the elements.

 

Slowly gathering lights. I haven't planned out the bumper yet, but there will be no shortage of room.

I also splurged on a set of tail lights from Australia. I don't like all of the universal trailer lights most flatbeds have, and got this set that has integrated reverse and turn signals too. The signals are amber, so I'll need to run a line from my headlights to the back of the truck.

 

Not truck related, but I built two of these huge batteries for the camper. I decided on a 24V system, and these are each 300Ah at 24V. Together, that's the equivalent of a 1200Ah 12V battery bank. I wanted to be able to run my camper for an overcast week with AC.

 

If you just run a wire from front turns to rear turns then you will have the turn signal and brake light flashing in them. When you turn a signal on. So red and amber flashing.

There is a wire at the back near 7 way plug that is JUST a brake light signal for 3rd brake like on camper top. You could wire it to the brake lights on them then run a wire from front to back for just turn signal with no brake signal.

 

Another great point, and good to know about the extra wire. I'm not against having the brake lights flash with the amber signals as well, so using the brake wire from each rear light may be a benefit. I'll just have to see what looks best/is most noticeable and wire accordingly.

Edit: here is a pic with everything turned on (my camera didn't like the LEDs, but you get the point). The outer bone shape is the running light, the inner bracket looking shapes are the brakes, and of course the amber line in the center.

 

I just did the spring swap and now that it's over it seemed easy, but while I was doing it, not so much. A few "little things" to make things right that add up to a bunch of time. A few tips you may not have read:
-Remove the bed
-Remove the bed - no matter what you have read
-spend $20 at the car wash
-remove the tank no matter what you have read
-undo the brake line/vent line bracket - you will be relocating this a bit anyway.
-Long barrel air chisel with a rivet bit. The rivet bit will cut like butter and barely scratch your hangers.
-forget the transfer punch and use a 1/2 drill bit to make the perfect center punch.
-I thought the grade 8 shoulder nuts/bolts from McMaster -Car were nice (1/2" fine thread. Pretty sure I used 1" & 1-1/4" - they were perfect)
-drill your frame holes 15/32" - the bolts will still go in and everything will be as snug as a rivet.
-I drilled another hole into the bracket from the back to fully re-attach the frame crossmember - I think you should too with your camper
-THE PARKING BRAKE - yes, the thing that everyone says they have done, but yet not a pic on the whole internet. I will try to post a pic haha. Mine works great and was reasonably easy.
-While I have not used, the PMF brackets will probably save you some time
-I thought the results were worthwhile and a pretty nice match for a good condition leaf spring (or rather, parabolic spring) fronts

 

Rather than ditch lights, which I consider to be a good way to add drag to a vehicle that is already terrible in the aerodynamics department, what about knuckle lights? That way, they point in the direction in which you are turning.

 

Here is how I did mine. Buuuuuut I also did 08 axle swap at same time and used the 08 parking brake cables so it may be slightly different. I also 100%nagree with removing bed. But don't see a single reason to remove the fuel tank. Just stick a piece of sheet metal between it when your are drill frame or stick a socket over the bit so it can only go in so far. Poor man's drill stop. Or use a actual drill bit stop.