project: "Ultimate Tow Rig"

[-Nathan-]

Well guys, as most of you know my Ranger bit the dust and is being parted out. I wont have time to build another Ranger the way I want for a couple more years, so I did the responsible thing and bought a tow rig/daily driver.

2001 Ford F-250 Super Duty 4X4, 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel, ZF-6speed manual, 187 000 km.

So far it has a 6" procomp lift, 315/75R16 BFG KM1's, flares, turboback 4" Magnaflow exhaust, AFE stage 2 intake, Superchips 1705 tuner.


Ill be looking to make this dead reliable, maximum longevity, plenty of power/capability, and eventually a few creature comforts.

 

[-Nathan-]

first things first... there was a bad clunk from the rear end, crawled under the truck, pulled the rear driveshaft, and this is what I saw:

so I replaced both rear driveshaft u-joints with new Spicer units, old vs new...

got them installed and painted the driveshaft.



Changed the fuel filter with a new Wix unit, and drained the water separator

Replaced oil filter and changed oil with Rotella T6 5w40 synthetic....15 liters of this stuff is NOT cheap. The oil filter alone held 2 liters.

 

[-Nathan-]

The CV in my front driveshaft was loose, but I couldnt rebuild it, as the pin on the end of the shaft was wore out. Waynes driveline here in town quoted me 750$ JUST to cut off and replace the CV portion and balance it. Not gonna happen. So I got ahold of Tatton's Driveline in Tennessee.

GREAT guy to deal with, and will make you anything you want. I got a 1350 CV driveshaft with all new Spicer hardware, 7" of spline, 3" .120 wall DOM, high speed balanced, and made to my exact specifications....all for 385$ shipped. This thing is a really nice piece, and less than half the cost of a simple CV exchange at Waynes. Not to knock on Wayne, hes a super nice guy, but the prices are a bit outlandish considering.

 

[7.5L_STX]

nice shaft haha. but seriously you got a good lookin rig there. ive always liked the 7.3s, my dad has one and its a beast after he got a good tune into it and the 5" turbo back exhaust. good luck with building it up!

 

[-Nathan-]

well my birthday is coming up, so I was able to order some goodies for the Powerstroke, all should be here soon.

First an oil-bypass filtration system. Its a pretty trick unit, it filters down to 1 micron and with the price of the oil for this thing, it should actually pay for itself. With UOA, oil change intervals can exceed 25,000 miles.

Next was a coolant bypass filtration system. The powerstroke blocks are cast with sand, and are known to leach a lot of crap into the coolant system.

To smooth out the idle a bit, along with number of other advantages, is a High Pressure oil crossover line, which connects both banks, will smooth out pulses, and get more oil to the #8 injector.

and finally, an overboost annihilator; the MAP will limit fuel once boost reaches ~22 psi. This unit goes in line with the MAP, and restricts the amount of boost it reads, hence NOT limiting boost and fuel. Should make for even more fun

 

[srteach]

I have an 01 7.3 4dr long bed. The engine is a beast, and can cost many tickets if you have your foot down. I'll have to try the mods you have, they all look great. I've been told you need a better intake if you have a 5" exhaust.

 

[chrwilkins30]

Nice.........!!!!!!

 

[4.0B2]

i love this truck... and nice mods you got going to. i was amazing at that oil bypass system. i was like that many miles on oil??? lol..
i first heard about it on this link http://midsouthjeeps.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15989 , and it amazed me... stupid oil companies wanting us to change it 3000 miles..

 

[Boggin]

that trucks amazing!

 

[-Nathan-]

thanks guys. Yea the oil bypass is a phenomenal system. Synthetic oil doesnt break down like dino oil, it simply gets contaminants (ie soot from a diesel) and as long as its filtered, the oil is fine. Im excited to get it installed, and run UOA's every couple thousand miles.

 

[88_Eddie]

that's a nice truck, i really want an f250

 

[-Nathan-]

Well stuff finally arrived. Im really impressed with the billet pieces. The oil bypass system is from NUC motorsports, and is really nice. The coolant bypass is from dieselsite.com, and is also a very nicely machined piece. Also from dieselsite.com is the high pressure oil crossover line, its braided stailess, and rated at 4000 psi. Im still waiting on a 203* thermostat and a billet thermostat housing, once I get those Ill install the coolant bypass, and swap over my coolant for some ELC. The overboost annihilator is from ITP diesel, and should allow me to spool my turbo to ~30 or more psi. Im going to wait to install it until I get my gauges (boost and pyro) installed. Anyways, here some pretty hardware to add to my engine bay.

 

[-Nathan-]

Alright, starting to get this thing more prepared as a tow rig. Picked up a class V hitch, and got it bolted up. The truck is prewired for a a 7 pin connector, so piecing together my brake controller system should have been easy. Wrong. The connector at the end of the truck had been left open to the elements, and was road rashed to pieces, and useless.

So I pulled the small harness, and figured Id check out Ford and see what it would cost me for a new one....turns out the stealership wants 278$ for this little plug and wires. Ridiculous.

So I did what any sensible gearhead would do, and went to Princess Auto :grinyes:

Picked up a universal 7 pin plug for a chev

And proceeded to just splice it into the Ford factory harness.

Then covered it with loom, plugged it in, and zipped tied wires out of the way.

There was a spot under the hitch to mount the connector, but I figured that was a bad spot for it considering the junk I take my trucks through, and didnt want it to get beaten to pieces.

Forgot to take a picture of the brake controller. There is a plug inside the dash for the controller. I picked up a Ford specific pigtail that plugged into it, and the other end just plugged into the controller.

peace.

 

[Maverick]

Well since it seems as though you're not afraid of spending money, you should dump that Superchips tuner and get yourself a good one. DP and TW are some of the better known custom tuners. There are quite a few out there, and you'll go nuts searching forums and reading peoples experiences like I did when researching for my truck. I ended up with a DP Tuner, and it's been great so far.

 

[-Nathan-]

Maybe you misunderstood my post...I did not spend the 287$, I spliced teh old harness in.

But yes, I do plan an a new tuner at some point. Gauges are next on the list, and then the pile of parts sitting in my living room. And then Ill upgrade to a shift on the fly 6 position tuner.

I know what you mean though, seems there are a lot of good ones. Ive been seriously considering PHP's tunes, but still am not 100% sure.

Well since it seems as though you're not afraid of spending money, you should dump that Superchips tuner and get yourself a good one. DP and TW are some of the better known custom tuners. There are quite a few out there, and you'll go nuts searching forums and reading peoples experiences like I did when researching for my truck. I ended up with a DP Tuner, and it's been great so far.