Many have known that I have been tuning on my suspension for this truck, and I have been working out the bugs. Well, it is getting close. Once the front shock mounts were replaced, I was able to gain the travel required to work this giant on small trails better designed for toyotas.
Limiting factors now are the fenders, and the bed. Inside of the wheel well gets in the way at full stuff, and the shocks are too short to gain the mad extension that the springs are capable of. I might have to cut the floor of the bed to permit the use of a longer shock.
Almost 17 inches of stroke for the front. Not bad for 1 ton springs.
I still tow other trucks with this, and it drives well on the road. I have loaded over 2,000 lbs in the bed, and often pull the trailer with my orange truck on it. This gets close to the 8K to 9K range.
Not too shabby for a dual purpose vehicle.

Should have seen the looks on the faces of the jeep guys when it my turn to take this trail. Some bet that I would not even come close to making, it. Only one guy bet that I would be fine. He suggested that I was either incredibly stupid, and that they would have to scrape my truck off of the rocks, or that I was a "sleeper" and I might not be a "rookie".
The later proved to be true. Only a slight scrape to my drivers mirror, and on of my trim pieces was removed by the rear tire rubbing the fender.
Things were tight, real tight, but the Old Ford hung in there, and was the only fullsize sitting on top with some pretty well equiped buggies, and vehicles designed specifically for these types of trails.

This is how tight thigs were. Part of the reason why I could not get out to take more pics.:



Starting to flex:



Reasonable articulation, notice angles of front and rear axles:



Full stuff in rear, and moderate extension for the front. Front has more room to extend (just for the record):





Thanks for looking,





75

 

Beautiful truck!

 

damn nice truck, i like the orange one better though :-) you wanna trade?

 

All that work you've done sure is paying off - that's some impressive articulation.

Where did you take those pics, Ed? I think I see I-15 in the background - is it Cleghorn?

 

Thanks for the compliments fellas.

I am always willing to trade, its just a a matter of negotiating some small differences in potential value, and close up some percieved differences.

Steve:
You are like a human GPS. Every time I post some pics, you know exactly where I am at.
Yes this is Cleghorn. We had a blast on this day (yesterday). This area had some pretty interesting terrain, and other than a few quads and bikes that had zero regard for saftey and speed limits, all was fine. Only one roll over, and one blown engine. Both incidents were not associated with our group. We were there when the problems happened, and offered assistance, as well as some clean up. I carry a broom, shovel, and a secure box to clean up oil spills, and the such. I am not a nature freak or tree hugger (can I say that? oops) but I am responsible with my off roading. I dont ever want to give any group the ammunition to close down our beloved areas. Heak, I have to travel much further than ever before just to find a place to wheel It ashamed that they are all going away, and even more ashamed that we (as an off road group as a whole) are somewhat responsible for providing such ammunition to the folks that want to shut us down.

Alright off my soap box.


Here is that flop:

 

it's always good to see someone else who is a responsable offroader- it pisses me off when i see trash and oil spills on the trail or when someone hooks their winch cable around a tree to winch out and doesn't use a tree strap or when someone plays around where they shouldn't be, offroading is a lot of fun but with all the spots closing down for good we need to be more aware of how we treat the land-not that i'm a tree hugger either i don't have cats or a smog pump on anything that i drive

do you have any pics of that orange truck doing anything like that? the only pics i have ever seen of it where in the mud which is fine but i've never seen it flex

 

Aside from the environmental stuff (I'm also responsible), that's a beautiful truck. To see a tonner flexing like that is wicked. Nice work.

 

Wow, Good job 75F350!

That's an impressive truck and some impressive country to boot!

 

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet 75f350

ya dont see 1 tons flexin like that

 

thats a slickazz truck Ed!

-cutts-

 

man i am in love with your trucks you have some nice equipment and its even better too see that you actually use them...who cares how nice the paint is a truck still looks better covered in mud!

 

Thanks again guys, and fish,,,,,,still see you hangin round over here, huh? Once in a while anyway.

The pumpkin does not see much of this type of stuff, it is just too tall, and the COG is way off. I would have that thing on its lid in no time, pluss the 557 is not too happy about running like this. The pumpkin does what ot does best, and it kills mud, thats about it.

Be ing reasonable off road, is as important as off roading itself. The group that I run with all share the same ethics and values. Some think we are a bit straight laced, but I dont mind. I let my hair down, and enjoy letting loose, but there is a time and a place, you know.

Again, thanks, I am pleased with the direction this truck has been heading, and with a little more work, I do believe that I can resolve some issues.
I intend to move the axle even further foward to decrease the approach angle. I am running out of front bumpers. I also have to make some fender clearance. The shackle swings quite a bit, and the tires get well into the fenders. Heak, I am running out of fenders too.
Also have to install a power steering cooler. I overheated the steering system, and man was it hot, I mean real hot.
Hydro assist, and a killa cooler is on the list of things to do.

 

First, nice work I think multipurpose trucks are where it is at.
Second, good points about the offroading image. Some places are less touchy (ID) than others (CA) but that still doesn't give people the right to be a schmuck out on the trail.

As far as a P/S cooler, I have been looking at the A/T cooler out of my motorhome. It seems to me that a small one would way more than work for a P/S cooler. Probably double the system volume

 

Yeah Ted, I too like the idea of having a multi use vehicle. Just adds some cool factor when you can load the thing like a mule, drive it out to the event or trail, run some pretty hairy trails, load her back up and get home. No trailers, no tow trucks, just a reliable, reasonable vehicle. Maybe this year I will actually finish the air conditioning install. Now I am just getting spoiled, lol.

As far as the cooler, yes, I do believe that a cooler is a must. I do run the 78/9 style cooler in this system, but it is just not up to par. If you remember this cooler is simply a coil of hardline that sits by the frame. I thought this might be adequate, but it is not.
I will be installing a new cooler, and possibly even a fan for the small heat exchanger.
I dont see where additional fluids would be bad. More is good so a ton more should be even better. My concern is that it would take too long to heat up, and might bring its own repercussions. Gotta look into that.

I finally sent out the part that you needed. I apologize, it sat on my desk at the office for a couple of days before I relaized what that little box was. Duh, talk about a scatter brain!!!!

 

that is some good flex for a one ton... here is mine with 1/2 ton springs. i think yours flexes a bit better than mine...


and for a dual purpose rig thats good, really good. mine started out as a dual purpose, but now its registered has a OHV.... i like your rigs, makes me miss my 78 body.. if only i had a 78 crew....