2000 Ford F-350 Super Duty

ccarley

Adventurer
The time has come in my family's life to say goodbye to our Suburban. It was fun, it was stressful, it will be missed when it goes.

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I've been working on it too much lately, and since we are towing a cool little tent trailer, the small block 350 (even as powerful as it is) was lacking in uphill ability for my tastes. Solution?

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Four door, four wheel drive, short bed, 1-ton of fun. And, 7.3 liter Powerstroke. That might get our trailer uphill!

Plans for the new rig? I really don't want to go overboard with lift, tuners, whathaveyou. It's getting a new set of BFG A/T's tomorrow, and will be getting a leveling kit for the front. Whether we keep our little Starcraft, or upgrade to a 10-foot unit, I think we'll be fine. There is a little talk of a 4-wheel type camper, but I like the idea of a trailer still. Camper shell, maybe; for keeping our stuff dry and clean-ish.

I need to get my Kenwood dual-band radio out of the Suburban, and installed in the new truck. I am not sure if I can cleanly install the Lowrance GPS in the Ford though, so it may go with the Suburban. It looks at home on that dash.

More to come. Taking it out with the Starcraft this weekend (although, it's only to KOA).

Clay
 

Bojak

Adventurer
Your photos look west coast, so I'm not really in the hunt, but I got to ask you how much to buy the suburban?
 

ccarley

Adventurer
Your photos look west coast, so I'm not really in the hunt, but I got to ask you how much to buy the suburban?

Correct, I'm located in Northern California. We're going to be asking $4000 for the Suburban once it's "all ready". There's a few more things I want to take care of before selling it.

Clay
 

ccarley

Adventurer
Got our little Starcraft hitched up last night:

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It looks like once I get the leveling kit for the front of the truck, everything will line up nicely. That should give us plenty of clearance too for going wherever we want to go; honestly, as it sits now, this truck is only a few inches shorter than the Suburban. I'm really looking forward to taking this rig to some cool places.

If I have time this morning, I found a Leer camper shell for (free) nearby; it's the right size and color, but mising the back window. No big deal; that would do a good job of protecting our gear while traveling (from dirt, dust, rain, snow, that is). Keeping my fingers crossed that I can make the time to pick that up today.

Clay
 

ccarley

Adventurer
I arrived just in time on Friday to get the camper shell for free. They even loaded it on the truck with a forklift for me! Very nice folks; they had a 2000 F-250 diesel that was lifted, and had open exhaust. The woman getting rid of the shell liked the color scheme on mine a bit better.

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It turns out my little Yamaha fits nicely inside, too

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First trip out with the Starcraft went well, this truck pulls that thing no problem. I still enjoy just listening to the turbo spool up on hills. The trailer is about 1000 pounds, plus all the gear we had in the truck.

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In that photo, the bike is still in the rear. Not much sag at all. I think a mini leveling kit will do just nicely to the truck. I might pull one of the mini leaves from it, so I don't get the full leveling action.

First tank of fuel, with lots of city driving and sitting idle for 20 minutes plus during a smog check: 16 mpg. I'm pretty happy with that! Next stop: someplace cooler than a "regular old campground".

Clay
 

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