#41. Posted:
002
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Thanks guys! We ended up getting new tires for so it's ready for summer. We went with 37x13.5R20 Nitto Ridge grapplers. Unfortunately they put the wrong sidewall out so that'll be fixed tomorrow, but here's what it looks like.

#42. Posted:
LB
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002 wrote Thanks guys! We ended up getting new tires for so it's ready for summer. We went with 37x13.5R20 Nitto Ridge grapplers. Unfortunately they put the wrong sidewall out so that'll be fixed tomorrow, but here's what it looks like.


I wanted to get ridge grapplers but they only had 12 ply and not 10 ply, so I got trail grapplers instead. Looks good though!
#43. Posted:
002
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LB wrote
002 wrote Thanks guys! We ended up getting new tires for so it's ready for summer. We went with 37x13.5R20 Nitto Ridge grapplers. Unfortunately they put the wrong sidewall out so that'll be fixed tomorrow, but here's what it looks like.


I wanted to get ridge grapplers but they only had 12 ply and not 10 ply, so I got trail grapplers instead. Looks good though!


I almost didn't go with the ridge grapplers because I couldn't get a 12 ply lol. The trail grapplers I had on before were a great tire!
#44. Posted:
0101010101010101
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very nice man love it!
#45. Posted:
002
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002 wrote Another little update, getting rid of some chrome. Hopfully I'll get a set of bumper but I'm not sure if that'll ever happen. Got a bigger thing happening here in a bit whenever I get time lol, but for now I got new headlights and paint matched the grill.



So that happened... And I didn't cheap out lol, I ended up getting a Road armor stealth series bumper. I almost got the one that had the full grill guard with the hood guard but the girlfriend didn't like it and I'm not sure if that's the look I'm going for on this truck.

https://i.imgur.com/zTs4tAl.jpg
#46. Posted:
TheFakeMrSneaky
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Random question... On the last truck did you tow? Did you do anything not smart? Or did the motor just blow? I only ask because I'm starting to look at expensive trucks and that is my biggest fear haha.. I currently drive a 99 f150 and if it blew up I wouldn't care...
#47. Posted:
002
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TheFakeMrSneaky wrote Random question... On the last truck did you tow? Did you do anything not smart? Or did the motor just blow? I only ask because I'm starting to look at expensive trucks and that is my biggest fear haha.. I currently drive a 99 f150 and if it blew up I wouldn't care...


I don't tow but I do haul stuff. I'm a carpenter so I haul a good bit of tools and material but I wouldn't dare drive a trailer into Seattle lol.

The last truck was an interesting story. The lady I bought it from had an impeccable service history, she kept all the receipts for everything, down to the DEF. I didn't do any power mods to it, I just took the DPF out and ran a street tune (not a high hp tune, but more power than stock). When it blew I was on the freeway doing 70 and had been for about an hour. The 2011's are known to have TONS of engine issues, I experience the crankshaft issue. The 2012's aren't much better, and all the way up to 2014 the Powerstrokes used ceramic bearings in the turbo which were known to go out. At the very least you're spending a few grand in a new turbo, if not 15+ on a whole new engine. The 2015-16 they got rid of the ceramic bearings though.

Here's my $0.02 when it comes to diesel trucks (just Ford, I don't know anything about Dodge or Chevy). Once you get into trucks that have emissions things on them (2008-current), you're talking TONS of money for repairs. A lot of times when something goes, you can't just replace that one thing, you have to replace the entire engine. In the case of my 2011, I got 2 different quotes at $15,000. Take a truck like my current one, usually you don't need a whole new engine, absolute worst case scenario you blow head gaskets and you spend $5k on new gaskets. I could've went out and bought a brand new F-350 platinum in cash (granted I'd be just about flat broke), but I decided not to.

I wanted something that was known (by both me and mechanics), something that wasn't too expensive to repair, and something fairly reliable. Generally 6.0 and reliable couldn't be further from the truth lol, but if you do the engine work and treat it like a truck instead of a race car, it'll last you a good bit. When something does break, you can probably fix it and there's definitely a Youtube video on it. I've got close to $25k in my truck now, it's probably worth $13-15k but a lot of that was stuff I wanted like the bumper or the bigger lift, though my repair bill is through the roof on this thing. You either loose money on depreciation on a new truck or in parts on a used truck but I figure in the long run for me and what I do, dumping money into a used truck was a smarter idea than getting a new truck.

It all depends on who you are, I can do a lot myself so I don't really mind constant repairs but with a new truck you'd have a few years of warranty where there'd be no issue. One word of warning I'll give you on any diesel though, maintenance is not optional. Do your oil changes on time or before they're due. It's cheap and it will save expensive things from breaking later lol. If you treat a diesel right (any diesel besides the 6.4 Powerstroke), it should last you a very long time, and they hold their value pretty well. Sometime no one told me though was diesels hold a LOT more of everything than a gasser. My truck holds 15 quarts of oil. I spent $120 on oil and a filter today lol and I'm doing it myself.
#48. Posted:
UnrealApp
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002 wrote
002 wrote Another little update, getting rid of some chrome. Hopfully I'll get a set of bumper but I'm not sure if that'll ever happen. Got a bigger thing happening here in a bit whenever I get time lol, but for now I got new headlights and paint matched the grill.



So that happened... And I didn't cheap out lol, I ended up getting a Road armor stealth series bumper. I almost got the one that had the full grill guard with the hood guard but the girlfriend didn't like it and I'm not sure if that's the look I'm going for on this truck.

https://i.imgur.com/zTs4tAl.jpg


Love the bumper man, looking to get one for my 6.0. How much did you pick it up for and would you say it was worth it as far as the quality goes and do they come with a winch mount?
#49. Posted:
002
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UnrealApp wrote
002 wrote
002 wrote Another little update, getting rid of some chrome. Hopfully I'll get a set of bumper but I'm not sure if that'll ever happen. Got a bigger thing happening here in a bit whenever I get time lol, but for now I got new headlights and paint matched the grill.



So that happened... And I didn't cheap out lol, I ended up getting a Road armor stealth series bumper. I almost got the one that had the full grill guard with the hood guard but the girlfriend didn't like it and I'm not sure if that's the look I'm going for on this truck.

https://i.imgur.com/zTs4tAl.jpg


Love the bumper man, looking to get one for my 6.0. How much did you pick it up for and would you say it was worth it as far as the quality goes and do they come with a winch mount?


I'm 50/50 on this bumper tbh. I've owned 3 aftermarket bumpers like this and I'll say that so far this is the best quality of materials and craftsmanship. My old 6.7 had a Steelcraft and that was a disgrace. They welded the ends of the pieces of metal then used caulk for the rest of it since it wasn't seen.

This bumper really left me scratching my head sadly. If you look at it, you have 4 holes on each frame rail that this bolts to and that's it (which is fine, stock only used 2 of those holes). They give you an extra plate to put between the bumper and the frame that secures using the spot for the old tow hooks, trouble is if you use that then the bolts aren't long enough to use all the hardware. they're just barely long enough to use the washer, forget about the lock washer. So your choices are to use that plate and not a lock washer (stock didn't use a lock washer), or get rid of that plate and use the lock washer. I decided to use it and buy longer bolts.

This is a winch bumper, I don't have a winch and probably never will but I decided that if I did, having that plate in there would give it a little extra strength.

The other thing that made me really laugh was the license plate situation. I'm required to run a front plate in WA which usually is no problem, all the other bumpers I had already had holes for front plates. Not this one! Oh, but you can buy their license plate mount for like $120. I laughed at the guy when he told me that and I said I'll just drill 2 holes and call it a day.

These bumpers retail for $2,482.55, they ran a 50% off sale (currently running a 35% off plus free shipping or free gift which is tow hooks) so I got mine for $1,391.27 shipped to my door. Looking back now that's weird because they didn't charge me sales tax so I lucked out by almost $140 lol.

Personally I think the quality of the material is there, however I don't think I'll get one of these again. My Fab Fours bumper on my old 6.0 was the best bumper I ever had and I kind of regret not getting one for this truck. I didn't like the diamond plate but I think you can get them in smooth steel.
#50. Posted:
002
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Did some more front end work, my tie rods weren't looking so hot so I replaced those and did a dual steering stabilizer. I fought myself the whole way on both of those, I wanted beefier tie rods but in my mind I knew that with these big tires they would go out eventually so I figured that I'll save a few bucks and get Autozone specials and have the lifetime warranty. I got a lifetime alignment so it's not too big of a hassle to have to replace them every year.

As far as the stabilizer goes I had a hard time with it. The suspension on the truck is Procomp so I decided to go with that, unfortunately the Procomp stuff is white so it looks a little out of place. I may end up buying the red shock boots to put over the rods but I'm not sure how well that'll look. I may take a can of spray paint to it as well but I'm undecided as of yet.

Also I painted the edges of the Road armor logo on the bumper so that looks a little cooler now.

As for upcoming mods, one of my center caps fell off so I'm going to get another one of those soon lol, I've been tracing down a vibration issue (hence all the front end work), next up will be balancing the drive shaft and I'm seriously hoping I don't have to take the axle shafts out again to do the U joints but the passenger side one has seen better days unfortunately.

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