Well the time has come for our trusty Ranger to retire and a new F-250 to take it's place beside my 76 Highboy. I just hope the new truck will prove as reliable and trouble free as our Ranger and as indestructible and hard working as my 76. For more details about our purchase refer to this thread. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...09#post3159109 What I'd like to do is fix up our new truck a little bit. Yeah it won't be here til January but I'm still excited about it. My wife has given me the go ahead to do some stuff to this truck but she has placed a few restrictions.

1. I can in no way, shape, or form lift this truck. No lift kits, leveling kits, add a leaves, body lift, or wheels and tires. She already told me that if I do I'm cut off and sleeping on the couch forever. I think she means it.

2. I can't mod the engine or any of the drivetrain. Anything I put on this truck must be bolt on, no welding or cutting allowed.

3. Anything that goes on this truck comes out of my paycheck.


So with that in mind I was thinking a winch bumper, winch, headache rack, tool box and whatever else I can run off the upfitter switches. I've seen quite a few SD's with the Ranch Hand headache racks and they look sharp. We do live out in the country and this truck will see plenty of off pavement time just getting to and from our house. I'm open to suggestions and happy to be part of the club.

 

Yep, start by taking it to Ranch Hand for a front-end replacement, rear bumper replacement, and headache rack. Then change all the lighting in the headache rack out to LEDs. Also grab a set of off-road light mounts and pick up a good set of Hella or PIAA lights - very helpful to avoid Bambi.

That should run you $2500 or so and keep you busy for awhile. Congrats on the new truck!

 

wow, thats a strict wife. you sure it isnt her truck?

 

Congrats on the truck and the deal. The first thing I would recommend is a security system and Jimmi Jammer's(www.jimmijammer.com). The Advanced Security Group is not a security system and does not protect the vehicle in any way. SD's also don't come with any type of ignition lock system, like chipped keys. Other than that, my personal preference for a winch bumper is the Warn. And then maybe a set of wheel-to-wheel nerf bar's.

ON EDIT: When I say a security system I mean a two-way paging system that page's the key fob to notify you of a break-in. Not just a noise maker that most people just ignore nowadays. Three good brands are Compustar(www.compustar.com), Directed Electronics(www.directed.com), and Astroflex (www.astroflex.com).

 

I guess im lucky, my betterhalf keeps asking how long until i lift my superduty and it isnt even here yet. I think she wants it lifted more than i do. Congrats on the new truck you will love it.

 

Well the truck will be her daily driver.

http://www.warn.com/truck/mounting-systems/heavyduty_bumper.shtml

What do ya'll think of this bumper with the 16.5ti winch? I like the way it looks and I think with the heavy service suspension package my front end can handle it.
Also the pics on Ranch Hands website aren't super clear, are there tabs on the top of the headache rack for mounting lights or will I need to weld some on?

 

best of luck man,the 250 is a great dayly driver. esp. loaded the way that one is. msrp on a special order that is bs for sure.
living in tx. you could have called pollar bear and ordered up then flown up to get it and had it broken by the time you got home.
17 inch tires nothing wrong there more choices when they wear out then with 18 inch yakie conties. i have 17k on my bfg's still in great shape handle ok. now as to bolt ons o-yea lots of neat stuff. tuner she will never know.
again best wishes and many-many good years of driveng

 

That's the Warn bumper I was referencing in my post. Our pool contractor had one on his SD. Well built and looks tough. It's probably the same one I'll put on as soon as I get around to it. I also looked at an ARB bull bar, since that's what I have on my Samurai rockcrawler and it's proven itself more than once to be tough. But the bull bar for the SD just doesn't look as tough as the Warn bumper.

 

that warn looks great.wish it came in chrome thou.

 

EnviroCon, think I should use the Warn 16.5ti or go with a Mile Marker hydraulic? With the dual alternators and batteries electric is a good option but the Mile Marker offers a continuous duty cycle.

Captchas, I sure hope we get some reliability out of this truck. With our current work schedules and where we work at this truck will see 3,000 to 5,000 miles a month. If not more when we decide to go somewhere on the weekend. That 36K warranty is gonna run out quick. One of the reasons we went diesel is they're known for their reliability and longevity. The old 7.3's are supposed to be good motors, a lot of ranchers swear by em. With the 6.0 being an improved design it should be an awesome truck. Any word about the Torqshift transmission? Anything I need to be wary of? Really looking forward to driving it home. We're taking my 76 Highboy to Dallas along with the trailer. That way we can hook up the trailer to the 250 and see how she handles dragging my Highboy home. It'll be a good test to see if we got the right rig.

 

ahhhh.tow brand new? NO. don't do that! get at least 1k before you do that. you will not bed the brakes correctly towing brand new.
drive them sepertly do not tow.

 

That's a tough call. I had a Mile Marker on the HMMWV that I used in the Army back in the late '80's, early '90's and loved that thing. What a beast of a winch. I use a Warn on my Samurai (darn little thing doesn't have PS) and it also works well. I'd say go with the hydraulic if a continous duty cycle is needed for work or some other reason. Otherwise go with the electric. The electric's are great for intermittent use, like vehicle recovery, but can overheat quick if your not careful. Also the electric has the advantage of being usuable even if the engine's not running, although they can drain a battery pretty quick if your really putting a load on the winch. I've known people to fry their alternator with an electric, but that's usually the result of being a knucklehead.

 

So I have to wait 1,00 miles before I tow, gotcha. Thanks for the good advice.

The winch will be for occasional use, I like the Warn bumper because it has a 2 inch reciever tube on the bottom. That way I can hook the trailer to the front of the truck and use the winch to get my Highboy on the trailer if it ever becomes disabled. Then drop the landing gear, back around, hook up and start towing.

 

The more I think about it. The more I want to recommend the hydraulic. I don't want to start a winch war, but all in all, I do think the hydraulic winches are better. Like I said, the Samurai doesn't have power steering so there was no choice. But I think if I had been given a choice, I would have gone with a hydraulic.