2002 F250 diesel - discovery and build thread.

[Rick W]

Way slow in catching up on this. Last couple days I read the majority of this. I just assumed you had that truck forever when I saw it last year at nationals.

Holy cow that’s a lot of work! Looks like you’ve done a fantastic job!”

You know, a little Rustoleum, and a foam roller…

 

[Curious Hound]

Way slow in catching up on this. Last couple days I read the majority of this. I just assumed you had that truck forever when I saw it last year at nationals.

Holy cow that’s a lot of work! Looks like you’ve done a fantastic job!”

You know, a little Rustoleum, and a foam roller…

Funny you should mention it. The roof is pretty rusty. I need to take care of that not that the weather is warming up.

 

[Rick W]

Funny you should mention it. The roof is pretty rusty. I need to take care of that not that the weather is warming up.

You know me, and it may be one of the times I apologize for who I am. I have been blessed in the fact that everything I do with this stuff is all fooling around, I’ve always had resources and dependable vehicles, and extras. I realize a lot of you guys have to do this stuff as a matter of life and living, and I am perpetually impressed and humbled. Seriously.

Having made that confession, don’t underestimate the Rustoleum and a foam roller. I’ll bet a cheap “Earl Schieb” paint job on that thing is $1000 or $2000. If you’re like me, like everybody, the transmission or whatever definitely comes first.

If you sand that thing down, and I’m talking about with an 80 grit palm sander in a couple hours (no 2500 grit wet sanding), and you roll it with a foam roller, it will look great (the Road Ranger). And then if you want to do a pro job on it later, it really won’t change the cost by two cents, and you have something all the same color and protected against the rust for what, $30 or 40?

If you don’t believe me, sand the roof quick, and roll it and see how you like it. I bet you dive into the rest in no time.

I admire you guys, and I’m honored to be able to play with you guys. Please forgive me if I’m arrogant, I mean no harm.

 

[Rick W]

Add an afterthought, the stuff I have that I write about are definitely toys, but I think of them as “work“ trucks. I never understood the rationale of putting a mirror finished thousands of dollars paint job on a truck that I’m going to use and get beat up anyway. On the roof of that thing, you may want to even use a half inch nap, regular wall, paint, roller and give it a little texture. It will cover any imperfections. It will look like it belongs.

But then you have to be a cocky, arrogant bastard like me and “own it!”

 

[Curious Hound]

Give this truck some love today. Just over a month ago, started hearing a low groaning noise occasionally when braking. I took some time one day and swapped my driver side tire front to back and looked at the brakes on that side. All looked good. I pulled the front passenger wheel and checked the pads on it and they looked good, too. By that time, my hernia was killing me. So I gave up. A visual inspection of the rear rotor as seen through the holes in the wheel showed that it seemed to be ok.


Well, things have been getting worse. A few days ago, I looked at that rear passenger side rotor again and it showed signs of distress. So I ordered new rotors and pads for the rear, both sides. Today, I replaced the rear passenger side rotor and pads. Also cleaned and lubed the slide pins. Had to drill rust out of one of the boxes. Passenger side is in excellent condition. Pads are like new. Cleaned and lubed those slide pins also. I also adjusted the parking brake on the passenger side. Now my parking brakes work. Yay?

Clearly time to replace.

 

[sgtsandman]

Give this truck some love today. Just over a month ago, started hearing a low groaning noise occasionally when braking. I took some time one day and swapped my driver side tire front to back and looked at the brakes on that side. All looked good. I pulled the front passenger wheel and checked the pads on it and they looked good, too. By that time, my hernia was killing me. So I gave up. A visual inspection of the rear rotor as seen through the holes in the wheel showed that it seemed to be ok.


Well, things have been getting worse. A few days ago, I looked at that rear passenger side rotor again and it showed signs of distress. So I ordered new rotors and pads for the rear, both sides. Today, I replaced the rear passenger side rotor and pads. Also cleaned and lubed the slide pins. Had to drill rust out of one of the boxes. Passenger side is in excellent condition. Pads are like new. Cleaned and lubed those slide pins also. I also adjusted the parking brake on the passenger side. Now my parking brakes work. Yay?

Clearly time to replace.
View attachment 126016

You are supposed to wait until the cooling fins are showing. You still have a lot of miles on those!

 

[Snoranger]

You are supposed to wait until the cooling fins are showing. You still have a lot of miles on those!

Yes… they need to be exposed to the air to effectively cool. Those seem to be blocked by some metal disc shaped cover. Perhaps it was a casting flaw.

 

[Shran]

I let mine go a bit longer than that and just so you know, the pads get so thin that they will fall out of the bracket and lock up your rear wheels. I would highly recommend it, add a trailer in for extra excitement.

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm glad that was the only one that was bad. I had to squeeze the caliper pistons in so far that it filled the brake reservoir up to the bottom of the filler neck. One more repair like that and I could have had a mess. And those pistons have some seriously long travel compared to any others I've worked on.

 

[Curious Hound]

Haven't touched this thread in a while. Truck is still doing well. New thermostat gasket fixed the coolant leak for a while. I'm starting to have intermittent trouble with the neutral safety switch. Problems in park. But still starts in neutral. I don't even remember what transmission it is, at the moment. Going to need tires before winter. And the new batteries are doing great.

 

[Curious Hound]

New starting woes. I tecently started having trouble with it starting and cranking a long time before starting and occasionally cutting off within a few seconds after starting. Thanks to @Snoranger for pointing me toward the cam sensor. That saved me a lot of time and it seems to be fixed.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, those are important, hopefully you got the grey one not the black one... if memory serves at least... It is one of the dumb things that keeps a 7.3 from starting, other being glow plug relays.

 

[Curious Hound]

Yeah, those are important, hopefully you got the grey one not the black one.

Uh-oh. So, I was trying to stick with the OEM Ford Motorcraft part. But after switching between Advance, AZ and OReillys, trying to find one available today and nearby, somehow I inadvertently got a black one from Advance. We'll see how long it lasts.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Honestly last time I dealt with that was 10 years ago, if it works then keep with it, maybe try to find another and keep it in the glovebox, I think I did that with the one I changed that wasn't the problem... One time mine started slowing down 15 miles from home while towing then stalled while driving, limited diagnostics as you know so tried the easy stuff first but it ended up being the high pressure oil pump but as luck would have it a buddy found me a spare engine for free, still running that HPOP... wish I had my shop then so I could have built up that spare engine...

 

[Snoranger]

New starting woes. I tecently started having trouble with it starting and cranking a long time before starting and occasionally cutting off within a few seconds after starting. Thanks to @Snoranger for pointing me toward the cam sensor. That saved me a lot of time and it seems to be fixed.

I guess it’s fixed now?

I don’t think the black vs grey sensor means anything any more. That was a Ford/International thing and the OEM part was probably discontinued a decade ago.

IIRC, The engine ran better with the black one, but was more prone to failure. Idle wasn’t as good with the grey one, but it was supposed to last longer.