super04duty
Observer
Well, Ive been a long time lurker on this forum, but I really haven't posted much, and I don't think Ive ever posted any pictures of my rig. So, I thought Id give you guys a proper introduction, and introduce my junk to you all. Im a recent transplant from the Central Valley of CA, to the SoCal area, specifically, Pasadena. The fiancé and I really don't know anyone here (though I have been talking to Sgttom lately about some adventures to take around here. My goal is to travel the entirety of the Mojave trail, by next year hopefully. Would definitely like to go with some more people however, as my off road experience prior to this has been mostly farm fields and dairies, and such via my old jobs. I also live in an apartment, so I have no storage/garage/very few tools, and no space to work on things. I need to travel 5 hours just to get my oil changed (I don't trust shops, as I used to be a mechanic myself years ago, and turning wrenches has been a life long hobby of mine, and dont know of any that I can begin to afford or trust in the SoCal area, and as I said, we have no friends/family in the area, to have the luxury of using their driveway/garage, lol)
Anyway, enough about me, onto my junk.
Its a 2004 F350 CCLB. I bought it in late 2005 with just under 100k on it. It is a 6.0l, and I had all of the POs service records, which showed no repairs done to common 6.0l problems. Lucky me. Ive now run into all of those issues. So Ive spent a LOT of money on the engine in this truck. Its got a new turbo, new CAC pipe couplers, bulletproof oil and EGR cooler, ARP head studs with black onyx head gaskets, new front hubs, DBA slotted rotors, EBC ceramic brake pads, ported and polished heads, with full radius valve job, new HPOP, new EGR valve, re-routed CCV (no more oil in my intercooler/turbo), fuel spring BB mod. opened header panel with stock intake/filter. 4" MBRP exhaust, turbo back system with cat delete and their "muffler". Its also got a 4" lift on it, which I bought the truck with. No idea on what brand it is, but its all springs, no blocks, other than the factory F350 rear blocks. basic Pro-comp shocks, and a small stereo. Its got a front Dana 60, and a rear Sterling, with 3.73 gears and a limited slip in the rear. Ive also got Air-lift rear air bags, and a firestone air compressor with in-cab, individual bag control switches (they aren't connected to each other, but I can adjust pressure in them individually via in cab switches. I recently got a craigslist Rebel, by SungTop camper shell for it, for $300, which has gotten the fiancé and I bitten bad by the off-road/camping bug. We just took our first trip this last weekend, to the Hungry Valley SVRA, which had no trails I could find that were friendly to a truck of my size, and being limited on money (Im currently not working, and set to go back to college this fall semester), and living in an apartment, we won't be having any dirt bikes or quads any time soon. But it was a good first camping trip for us, as we had never been camping together before... Now, onto some pictures.
First, this is basically how my truck looked when I bough it. Though this is after the addition of a tool box, and smoked lights, black billet grill paint, etc. It also had some 16x12 MT wheels and some Dunlop MT tires (which I also bought the truck with. I know the tires are too narrow for the wheels, but thats what was on them when I got it, and all that would fit without major trimming of the fender liners/fenders.
Here it is last week, when I got my camper shell installed. The truck is mostly the same as before, except I now have a set of OEM wheels, with 285/75/16 BFG Rugged Terrain T/A tires.
New, in bed tool box, since my bed rail mounted one simply wouldn't work anymore with the shell.
Some electrical upgrades, two switches don't do anything, (but I wanted to use all 4 color indicator lights, and hack holes in my interior only ones). One operates my Firestone air compressor, and one operates a relayed, high current 12v socket I mounted behind the rear seat. This plug powers my little amber light bar on top of the truck, or 12v "extension cord" that will run into the camper through the sliding windows in both the truck rear window and the camper shells front window. The black, round button is a momentary button, and operates a set of air horns mounted under the truck. The red air lines are for the rear air bag controls and pressure, gauge, next to that is my trailer brake controller. And just barely visible, is a little silver switch attached to a screw by the ALDL connector, that turns on my high idle.
Heres the truck parked at our apartment, next to my DD neon, for size comparison.
And, here are a few pics from our trip last weekend.
Clean going in;
Dirty coming out;
Here is our camping set up. A "full" size air mattress fits perfectly between the tool box at the front of the bed, and the tail gate. I can however see a DAC truck tent in our future, so we can leave the tailgate and rear hatch open at camp, to use to the tail gate for boot/shoe storage without tracking as much dirt into our sleeping bag area. As well as a bed rug, and insulated blackout curtains for the windows.
And, to finish it off, a close up of my new tires. So far, Ive been pretty impressed with them. Quieter than the mud tires I replaced, (I live in SoCal, now, don't need mud tires. And these have improved my mileage greatly, as well as general handling, to get around in town and parking lots. Sure, they aren't the hummer wheels and 37"s I want, but these will due for the light off roading/dirt roads we see in our immediate future.
Thanks for reading. I will probably turn this thread into more of a build log than anything else, but mods will come slowly as money is tight. At least until I finish school. Im not sure what mods will come next, I would like to upgrade my on board air system to a better compressor/tank (already have a big rig air brake tank I plan to use), so I don't have to run the compressor for 5-10minutes to air up each tire after airing down for sand. I would also like some Buckstop bumpers and winches, as because we are planning solo runs, since we have no camping buddies/friends, I would feel better having some beefy means of self recovery, considering the overall size of my truck.
Anyway, enough about me, onto my junk.
Its a 2004 F350 CCLB. I bought it in late 2005 with just under 100k on it. It is a 6.0l, and I had all of the POs service records, which showed no repairs done to common 6.0l problems. Lucky me. Ive now run into all of those issues. So Ive spent a LOT of money on the engine in this truck. Its got a new turbo, new CAC pipe couplers, bulletproof oil and EGR cooler, ARP head studs with black onyx head gaskets, new front hubs, DBA slotted rotors, EBC ceramic brake pads, ported and polished heads, with full radius valve job, new HPOP, new EGR valve, re-routed CCV (no more oil in my intercooler/turbo), fuel spring BB mod. opened header panel with stock intake/filter. 4" MBRP exhaust, turbo back system with cat delete and their "muffler". Its also got a 4" lift on it, which I bought the truck with. No idea on what brand it is, but its all springs, no blocks, other than the factory F350 rear blocks. basic Pro-comp shocks, and a small stereo. Its got a front Dana 60, and a rear Sterling, with 3.73 gears and a limited slip in the rear. Ive also got Air-lift rear air bags, and a firestone air compressor with in-cab, individual bag control switches (they aren't connected to each other, but I can adjust pressure in them individually via in cab switches. I recently got a craigslist Rebel, by SungTop camper shell for it, for $300, which has gotten the fiancé and I bitten bad by the off-road/camping bug. We just took our first trip this last weekend, to the Hungry Valley SVRA, which had no trails I could find that were friendly to a truck of my size, and being limited on money (Im currently not working, and set to go back to college this fall semester), and living in an apartment, we won't be having any dirt bikes or quads any time soon. But it was a good first camping trip for us, as we had never been camping together before... Now, onto some pictures.
First, this is basically how my truck looked when I bough it. Though this is after the addition of a tool box, and smoked lights, black billet grill paint, etc. It also had some 16x12 MT wheels and some Dunlop MT tires (which I also bought the truck with. I know the tires are too narrow for the wheels, but thats what was on them when I got it, and all that would fit without major trimming of the fender liners/fenders.
Here it is last week, when I got my camper shell installed. The truck is mostly the same as before, except I now have a set of OEM wheels, with 285/75/16 BFG Rugged Terrain T/A tires.
New, in bed tool box, since my bed rail mounted one simply wouldn't work anymore with the shell.
Some electrical upgrades, two switches don't do anything, (but I wanted to use all 4 color indicator lights, and hack holes in my interior only ones). One operates my Firestone air compressor, and one operates a relayed, high current 12v socket I mounted behind the rear seat. This plug powers my little amber light bar on top of the truck, or 12v "extension cord" that will run into the camper through the sliding windows in both the truck rear window and the camper shells front window. The black, round button is a momentary button, and operates a set of air horns mounted under the truck. The red air lines are for the rear air bag controls and pressure, gauge, next to that is my trailer brake controller. And just barely visible, is a little silver switch attached to a screw by the ALDL connector, that turns on my high idle.
Heres the truck parked at our apartment, next to my DD neon, for size comparison.
And, here are a few pics from our trip last weekend.
Clean going in;
Dirty coming out;
Here is our camping set up. A "full" size air mattress fits perfectly between the tool box at the front of the bed, and the tail gate. I can however see a DAC truck tent in our future, so we can leave the tailgate and rear hatch open at camp, to use to the tail gate for boot/shoe storage without tracking as much dirt into our sleeping bag area. As well as a bed rug, and insulated blackout curtains for the windows.
And, to finish it off, a close up of my new tires. So far, Ive been pretty impressed with them. Quieter than the mud tires I replaced, (I live in SoCal, now, don't need mud tires. And these have improved my mileage greatly, as well as general handling, to get around in town and parking lots. Sure, they aren't the hummer wheels and 37"s I want, but these will due for the light off roading/dirt roads we see in our immediate future.
Thanks for reading. I will probably turn this thread into more of a build log than anything else, but mods will come slowly as money is tight. At least until I finish school. Im not sure what mods will come next, I would like to upgrade my on board air system to a better compressor/tank (already have a big rig air brake tank I plan to use), so I don't have to run the compressor for 5-10minutes to air up each tire after airing down for sand. I would also like some Buckstop bumpers and winches, as because we are planning solo runs, since we have no camping buddies/friends, I would feel better having some beefy means of self recovery, considering the overall size of my truck.
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