2000 Ford F-550 Build

[[486]]

I wonder if a bigger turbo might actually help you. You don't seem to need quick spool being on the highway 99% of the time. More airflow could keep things cooler.

I will always rec a larger turbo if there's any question at all.
Shifting the power band up in the rev range and reducing your ability to lug the engine into boost at a low rpm will help immensely on the 'surviving severe abuse' side of things. To beat the dead horse I'm so famous for, torque is cylinder pressure, which is broken parts, where HP is actual work being done.

it goes sorta alongside a lot of old mechanical governed engines having people say "yeah keep it below XX PSI of boost and it'll live" where the boost isn't what's breaking shit... Using limited airflow as the equivalent of a modern engine's torque limit map.

anyways all that tangent aside, you say your drive pressure is 1:1 at cruise, what about when you're pulling hills hard?
if it is worse, you def need a bigger turbo, don't bother mixing and matching parts as just a larger turbine housing won't make a huge difference, just get something that is larger across the board for not much more money (brand new borg warners in fairly generic form factors are dirt cheap)

small turbine housings are kinda always a good choice on diesels, unless again, you're the sort to lug into boost at too low an RPM and choose a remap that doesn't have torque limit maps set up reasonably

 

[06h3]

I will always rec a larger turbo if there's any question at all.
Shifting the power band up in the rev range and reducing your ability to lug the engine into boost at a low rpm will help immensely on the 'surviving severe abuse' side of things. To beat the dead horse I'm so famous for, torque is cylinder pressure, which is broken parts, where HP is actual work being done.

it goes sorta alongside a lot of old mechanical governed engines having people say "yeah keep it below XX PSI of boost and it'll live" where the boost isn't what's breaking shit... Using limited airflow as the equivalent of a modern engine's torque limit map.

anyways all that tangent aside, you say your drive pressure is 1:1 at cruise, what about when you're pulling hills hard?
if it is worse, you def need a bigger turbo, don't bother mixing and matching parts as just a larger turbine housing won't make a huge difference, just get something that is larger across the board for not much more money (brand new borg warners in fairly generic form factors are dirt cheap)

small turbine housings are kinda always a good choice on diesels, unless again, you're the sort to lug into boost at too low an RPM and choose a remap that doesn't have torque limit maps set up reasonably

That is extremely good intel and I appreciate that. I will need to keep a closer eye on it. I monitor the EBP via forscan on my headunit so I don’t keep as close of an eye on it but I will do that and report back. I rarely run the engine below 2k RPMs. With 4.88s and only a 33in tire you have to really really want to lug it.

No, but 55 and lower rpm is a lot more pleasant.

Historically I don’t get under 55 mph when I pull any load including the load that was 28k lbs at KOH. I cruise at 70, don’t get under 55 much on grades. Usually 57-70 depending on the grade. This exception was this load.

 

[[486]]

That is extremely good intel and I appreciate that. I will need to keep a closer eye on it. I monitor the EBP via forscan on my headunit so I don’t keep as close of an eye on it but I will do that and report back. I rarely run the engine below 2k RPMs. With 4.88s and only a 33in tire you have to really really want to lug it.

cool

with an extremely well matched turbo to your engine load (as variable a figure as your throttle position!) you will see lower exhaust manifold pressure than intake manifold pressure
the magic behind that ocurrance is the drop in temperature across the turbine, scavenging waste heat

if you see this narrow window of steady-state EMP<IMP at lower load than you're cruising at, then you should go bigger.
if you don't see this window at all, then you might have:
a really stupidly mismatched boutique hybrid turbo, which happens fairly often,
a vane turbo tuned specifically to avoid this so that the EGR system doesn't flow backwards,
or possibly too large of one, but that's almost never the case

ETA: and you'll oftentimes be well under the load necessary to make enough EGT to hit this window while cruising unloaded, so don't bother trying to chase that dog

 

[06h3]

An update, went to fordyce in August. From where I live in Idaho to the trail head it’s about 470 miles. It was so awesome to have the hummer on the back, hop in the truck at my house and not get out until I arrived just over 7 hours later.

Had enough fuel to get back into Nevada and not give a penny of taxes to Mr. Newsom. Filled up in Reno and headed home.

This was the first trip where I felt like I really got to use the fuel range the way I dreamed of.

So pretty uneventful and logged another almost 1k miles.

Then it’s time for cosmetic work.

I do not have any before pics but the wood was nasty! It was painted white, had this rubber tar crap on it. I was on the fence on replacing it or giving it a new life. I rented a sander from Home Depot and it made quick work of it.

All I have to do now is a little more prep and then seal it.


Tonight I decided to paint the wheels. They were nasty, rust, black, some grey. Just real shitty looking.

After I finish the wood staining I plan to strip and repaint the bed and replace the lenses for the running lights in the bed.

Hopefully this thing will look less shitty soon.

 

[CDA 455 II]

06h3
What kind of fuel mileage you getting all loaded up?

 

[06h3]

06h3
What kind of fuel mileage you getting all loaded up?

Depends on the load and speed but around 8-9 mpg.

 

[CDA 455 II]

Depends on the load and speed but around 8-9 mpg.

That's awesome, because that's what my Bronco gets with just a half ton camper on it.

The Bronco weighs 6,750lbs loaded, yet you're more than twice that.

 

[06h3]

That's awesome, because that's what my Bronco gets with just a half ton camper on it.

The Bronco weighs 6,750lbs loaded, yet you're more than twice that.

I’ve gotten as low as 7 and change. I’ve gotten over 10 with a small load. I’ll never get 14+ unloaded like some diesel guys do with 4.88s, I’m so far out of the economy rpm range but it is what it is.

 

[CDA 455 II]

I’ve gotten as low as 7 and change. I’ve gotten over 10 with a small load. I’ll never get 14+ unloaded like some diesel guys do with 4.88s, I’m so far out of the economy rpm range but it is what it is.

Yeah
I have a stock 5.0L with a rear Sterling 10.25 dually and 5.13 gears.

Have haven't taken it on a trip longer than an hour on the freeway yet.
As soon as it's freeway-worthy I want to take a trip to *Idaho Falls, to see what kind of fuel mileage I get.


*Idaho Falls: 281 miles/representing a Bronco travel radius on a full tank~.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I’ve gotten as low as 7 and change. I’ve gotten over 10 with a small load. I’ll never get 14+ unloaded like some diesel guys do with 4.88s, I’m so far out of the economy rpm range but it is what it is.

My work truck gets 5-6, so you're doing really good actually

 

[06h3]

An update on the truck, it’s still going and all is well. It’s most recent job is moving my brother out of his apartment and into his first home he just purchased. This thing is useful for that.

This would have taken several truck bed loads for a normal bed but was able to get it all in.

I did jack up the front end and check ball joint play. I didn’t do that when I first got the axle. Just threw it in and went. 110k miles on it supposedly and one side has a tiny bit of play. How long do these balljoints usually last? What do you guys recommend? I am fine buying higher end ones like EMF but I’m unsure if they take the same ball joint or not as the regular SD60.

Does anyone know? I thought they were the same ball joint but with a larger spread.

Lastly, I won’t be using Mevotech BJ’s. My buddy put him in his SD60 on his Jeep and in 6 months they had play. He’s so under weight to boot, I’ll be near max GAWR.

 

[06h3]

I scored big at the junkyard!

I finally got the manual floor shifter setup for the truck



I got a driveshaft but the CV is wasted. 54 bucks for the right length driveshaft I figured I’ll just get the CV replaced. It will still be much cheaper then a new driveshaft from scratch.

And I got a steering wheel with cruise on it!

The clock spring got destroyed during removal (it was stuck on there) but for $15 I got a steering wheel with cruise controls. I’ll buy a clock spring for $130 and I’m in it less then $150. The cruise kits are like $500 for 7.3s online.

I can finally and officially check a bunch of stuff off the list

 

[CDA 455 II]

I scored big at the junkyard!

I finally got the manual floor shifter setup for the truck



I got a driveshaft but the CV is wasted. 54 bucks for the right length driveshaft I figured I’ll just get the CV replaced. It will still be much cheaper then a new driveshaft from scratch.

And I got a steering wheel with cruise on it!

The clock spring got destroyed during removal (it was stuck on there) but for $15 I got a steering wheel with cruise controls. I’ll buy a clock spring for $130 and I’m in it less then $150. The cruise kits are like $500 for 7.3s online.

I can finally and officially check a bunch of stuff off the list

What junkyards are you hitting up?

I've been going to the Jalopy Jungle in Garden City.

 

[06h3]

CDA 455 II I’ve only gone to jalopy jungle in Nampa and Caldwell.

They usually have good stuff. This weekend they didn’t have shit so I tried Trusty’s pick a part in Caldwell and they had a ton of good stuff.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I scored big at the junkyard!

I finally got the manual floor shifter setup for the truck



I got a driveshaft but the CV is wasted. 54 bucks for the right length driveshaft I figured I’ll just get the CV replaced. It will still be much cheaper then a new driveshaft from scratch.

And I got a steering wheel with cruise on it!

The clock spring got destroyed during removal (it was stuck on there) but for $15 I got a steering wheel with cruise controls. I’ll buy a clock spring for $130 and I’m in it less then $150. The cruise kits are like $500 for 7.3s online.

I can finally and officially check a bunch of stuff off the list

You'll have to do something with the master cyl. The non cruise doesn't have the pressure sensor or whatever as a back up to the brake light switch on the pedal.

I may or may not have just jumped the plug with a wire when I did it on my work truck.

Garwood Wrecking in Hayden has quite a few super duty trucks, if there is anything small enough to ship that you still need, let me know and I'll try to remember when I get down there next.

 

[06h3]

Got the cruise steering wheel and clock spring installed!

Still need to test it and probably jump that wire YotaAtieToo is talking about.

I also got moog ball joints for $106 shipped from rock auto! They must be having a sale because orielly was like $325 for the set of 4. I’ll install those before Christmas because that’s the next big trip.

 

[Bmxbry9]

This truck is awesome. I'm on the hunt for one similar now

 

[06h3]

This truck is awesome. I'm on the hunt for one similar now

Thanks, a few things. Depending on the year the diesels have been banned in CA (450-550 chassis’s)

Single cabs can be found with a 16 ft bed easily
Crew cabs can be found with 12 ft bed easily.

Crew cab 16 ft bed is very tough to come by. My frame and wheelbase were extended.

For your rig you can probably do a 12 ft with a dove tail you add.

My end goal is still to pull a small camper trailer behind it. That’s the reasoning behind the whole thing.

For you living in CA the nice thing is no 55 mph speed limit. I never really trailered my rig in CA, idk how much they enforce the 55 mph law but even if you can get away with 65 mph, it means you can probably get away with 75 mph (in a 65) with this setup.

I just got to the hammers at 11:30 pm last night and was doing 70-74 mph on the 395 and 58 with no issues from cops.

 

[Bmxbry9]

Thanks for the reply! We currently have a cabover and flat bed we tow with. Our family has out grown the cabover, hence a similar route to yours. I need to do some research on what is banned in CA, we have family out of state so might go that route too. Good to know your setup has been extended. The stuff I've been finding/looking at is the crew cab 12 lft flat bed. We want to get a 20' camper too that we would pull with the jeep on the truck.

Have fun at hammers! I can't wait to get back down there

 

[CDA 455 II]

It's amazing that a modern Jeep outweighs my Bronco by 850+lbs!

Your Jeep: 6,100lbs
My Bronco (as pictured): 5,250lbs

 

[06h3]

Thanks for the reply! We currently have a cabover and flat bed we tow with. Our family has out grown the cabover, hence a similar route to yours. I need to do some research on what is banned in CA, we have family out of state so might go that route too. Good to know your setup has been extended. The stuff I've been finding/looking at is the crew cab 12 lft flat bed. We want to get a 20' camper too that we would pull with the jeep on the truck.

Have fun at hammers! I can't wait to get back down there

No prob and thanks! If you have any questions along the way reach out.

It's amazing that a modern Jeep outweighs my Bronco by 850+lbs!

Your Jeep: 6,100lbs
My Bronco (as pictured): 5,250lbs

And 6100 lbs is unloaded. Rubicon ready it was 6700 with 1 person in it.

 

[CDA 455 II]

No prob and thanks! If you have any questions along the way reach out.

And 6100 lbs is unloaded. Rubicon ready it was 6700 with 1 person in it.

The Bronco loaded for bear (camper/all backcountry provisions etc):

 

[06h3]

Just an update. I added a TPMS system to the truck. There are spots where I am over a hundred miles from a tire shop in central Nevada. I feel like having an overabundance of vehicle monitoring systems can help me catch things before they go bad.



I went to the hammers, it’s about 840 miles from my house and the truck on the way down did great. I had one moment where it felt like the truck cut out for a second which was weird but did it early in the trip and was fine the rest of the 600+ miles.

When I got down there I was a little more adventurous on our camping spot to be far away from all the campers who love to camp right on top of you even though there is a giant open desert. I got stuck but was able to put it in 4Hi and get unstuck. For some reason the linkage is binding before getting into 4Lo so I’ll figure that out.

After camp location was set I slept in the truck. A single cab bench seat that folds forward gives you so much room in the back. I’m 6’5” so I would sleep diagonal like my head against the driver rear door and legs towards pass front door. Used some boxes for support at my legs and it actually worked out well but long term, camper is still the answer but this beats the windy JV weather in a tent.

Now before I get accused of scope creep when you see another pic of 2 rigs, this was to help a friend in need and was really the only option.

My friend and his dad were headed out to the hammers and it was 10:30 at night. The leaf broke on their trailer.

With an axle down it would be severely overloaded and cause more issues on the other 2 axles. So we took my truck and our other friends single car trailer who was already at camp with me and drove an hour to get them.

We took my mobile bun trail welder and welded the leaf together, ratchet strapped it up, and put the 2 rigs on me.







Got back to the hammers around 1am. My buddy’s dads truck is a V10 and pulls both jeeps around. He’s 21-22k gross with the V10 truck, with the trailer and 2 jeeps last time they weighed it. With my heavier truck the trailer I borrowed we estimate I’m around 24k gross.

It pulled really well! Lower elevation, cold night, and being 24k vs 29k at 7k feet up steep grades in 90* heat it was a much more pleasant experience my first 2 car hauling experience. It basically went how ever fast we asked the truck to go. There was plenty of power on tap to do whatever we wanted. So an hour drive back, we pulled into camp and got to bed.

The drive home yesterday was eventful. I left at 2:30am to get home for New Year’s Eve by around 4-5pm. Around 300 miles in the truck cut out, exactly like I mentioned earlier on the drive out, but it did it a 2nd, 3rd, 4th time.

So I figured CPS, it seems like everyone’s answer is CPS for anything 7.3 related, CPS, ICP sensor, or IPR. I think I had a spare used CPS in the truck but didn’t know the condition of it. I grabbed a new one at Napa (not motorcraft but I’ll get a motorcraft one now.) It was downpour raining so I didn’t feel like changing it. I unplugged it, plugged it back in and hoped it would fix it lol. It actually worked for like 20 miles then started again. Had to get another 60 miles or so to the nearest town, I had hoped the rain stopped but it didn’t. So nothing like changing a CPS sensor in a parking lot in pouring rain. Luckily that was the problem and got home safe and sound. I need to go through all the major sensors. Something tells me the previous owner didn’t use quality parts given all the other messed up shit I have found on this truck in the past couple years. So I’ll probably order a motorcraft icp sensor, CPS sensor and an ipr. I know the ipr is “standard” brand from orielly. I probably need to get motorcraft UVCH harnesses. I replaced those with Dorman units from orielly, they are working fine but it seems like the 7.3 is a motorcraft snob.

Other then that, the truck did great and passed 391k on the odometer on the way home

 

[06h3]

An update: I helped my sister move and the truck is so damn useful for making moving trips way easier when the bed is 2 times the length of a long bed, around 2 times the width of a normal truck. I’ve probably said that 1000x.

Anyways, after that I logged another 1300ish miles on the truck. I had a quick weekend mission to Hurricane, Utah from Meridian, Idaho hauling the H3. Hit 392k on the way home.

Before the trip I did a new motorcraft CPS from the issue I had last time. I ended up finding out that the wiper motor and CPS are on the same circuit and when using the wipers non motorcraft CPS’s can get finicky, which mine did last trip.

I found out that I pulled a wiper motor circuit failure code on my forscan app when using the wipers so that explains my issues. I still need to fix that but atleast the CPS from motorcraft seems unaffected by the wiper issue.

I also changed the fuel filter.

The trip was pretty much uneventful other then freaking out on my TC lock up. I’ll admit, I drive the truck easy but on one grade I laid into it, got to about 30-32lbs of boost and was able to not only maintain but accelerate up the grade. At the top I smelled burning. EGTs we’re in check, oil temp was in check, trans temp was in check, everything was in check. I just wonder if I was hurting the TC. The reason I say that is in this video.



So my memory fades me. Was it 0.0 when locked or not? I can’t remember. The burning smell was probably 200 miles into the trip out of a 1300 mile trip so it did live and maybe it’s a non issue. I don’t know. The trans has about 15k miles on it, supposedly built converter. Fluid looked nice and red at the dipstick.

Other then that I have no plans to really use the truck until summer. I hope to get my pushrods and valve springs in, maybe some interior noise deadening can start too.

 

[CarterKraft]

An update: I helped my sister move and the truck is so damn useful for making moving trips way easier when the bed is 2 times the length of a long bed, around 2 times the width of a normal truck. I’ve probably said that 1000x.

Anyways, after that I logged another 1300ish miles on the truck. I had a quick weekend mission to Hurricane, Utah from Meridian, Idaho hauling the H3. Hit 392k on the way home.

Before the trip I did a new motorcraft CPS from the issue I had last time. I ended up finding out that the wiper motor and CPS are on the same circuit and when using the wipers non motorcraft CPS’s can get finicky, which mine did last trip.

I found out that I pulled a wiper motor circuit failure code on my forscan app when using the wipers so that explains my issues. I still need to fix that but atleast the CPS from motorcraft seems unaffected by the wiper issue.

I also changed the fuel filter.

The trip was pretty much uneventful other then freaking out on my TC lock up. I’ll admit, I drive the truck easy but on one grade I laid into it, got to about 30-32lbs of boost and was able to not only maintain but accelerate up the grade. At the top I smelled burning. EGTs we’re in check, oil temp was in check, trans temp was in check, everything was in check. I just wonder if I was hurting the TC. The reason I say that is in this video.



So my memory fades me. Was it 0.0 when locked or not? I can’t remember. The burning smell was probably 200 miles into the trip out of a 1300 mile trip so it did live and maybe it’s a non issue. I don’t know. The trans has about 15k miles on it, supposedly built converter. Fluid looked nice and red at the dipstick.

Other then that I have no plans to really use the truck until summer. I hope to get my pushrods and valve springs in, maybe some interior noise deadening can start too.

If you smell burning torque converter clutch the trans is fucked.
I can't remember which way is which but one way will have no RPM difference, I made a PID for TC slip.
Mine was a single disc clutch sold as a "billet cover tripple" it was neither.

 

[06h3]

If you smell burning torque converter clutch the trans is fucked.
I can't remember which way is which but one way will have no RPM difference, I made a PID for TC slip.
Mine was a single disc clutch sold as a "billet cover tripple" it was neither.

I don’t know if it was TCC material burning. It may have been. I’m not sure. I can bring it to the trans guy. He’s a friend and builds transmissions for a lot of the Top truck guys.

I can also drop the pan too. I’m not sure if that will tell me what I need to know.

 

[CarterKraft]

I don’t know if it was TCC material burning. It may have been. I’m not sure. I can bring it to the trans guy. He’s a friend and builds transmissions for a lot of the Top truck guys.

I can also drop the pan too. I’m not sure if that will tell me what I need to know.

I just mean the clutches are wet, on the inside of the torque converter, nothing outside on the converter except paint to smell.

 

[DMG]

An update: I helped my sister move and the truck is so damn useful for making moving trips way easier when the bed is 2 times the length of a long bed, around 2 times the width of a normal truck. I’ve probably said that 1000x.

Anyways, after that I logged another 1300ish miles on the truck. I had a quick weekend mission to Hurricane, Utah from Meridian, Idaho hauling the H3. Hit 392k on the way home.

Before the trip I did a new motorcraft CPS from the issue I had last time. I ended up finding out that the wiper motor and CPS are on the same circuit and when using the wipers non motorcraft CPS’s can get finicky, which mine did last trip.

I found out that I pulled a wiper motor circuit failure code on my forscan app when using the wipers so that explains my issues. I still need to fix that but atleast the CPS from motorcraft seems unaffected by the wiper issue.

I also changed the fuel filter.

The trip was pretty much uneventful other then freaking out on my TC lock up. I’ll admit, I drive the truck easy but on one grade I laid into it, got to about 30-32lbs of boost and was able to not only maintain but accelerate up the grade. At the top I smelled burning. EGTs we’re in check, oil temp was in check, trans temp was in check, everything was in check. I just wonder if I was hurting the TC. The reason I say that is in this video.



So my memory fades me. Was it 0.0 when locked or not? I can’t remember. The burning smell was probably 200 miles into the trip out of a 1300 mile trip so it did live and maybe it’s a non issue. I don’t know. The trans has about 15k miles on it, supposedly built converter. Fluid looked nice and red at the dipstick.

Other then that I have no plans to really use the truck until summer. I hope to get my pushrods and valve springs in, maybe some interior noise deadening can start too.

Maybe you got the fluid hot enough to blow a bit out the overflow tube.

 

[06h3]

I wasn’t planning on using the truck till summer but plans changed. I just wrapped up another 1550 mile trip. This was a lighter load. Just a dirt bike and a 5.3/4L60E and some camping gear.

When I have these lighter loads I wish I had 4.10s, 4.30s or a gear vendor (that wouldn’t break) or an aux trans. Instead of doing 70-75 mph at 2500 rpm I’d be doing 80-85. In the end, I’ve only done 2 trips under 14k lbs. gross. I’ve done countless between 19,500 and 30k gross.

I got a whopping 10 mpg doing 70-75 between 2500 rpm and 2750 rpm. I’m so far outside the fuel efficiency rpm zone even slowing it down to 65 isn’t worth the added time in my opinion. So I accept the 10 mpg and rock out.

As for the trans lockup differential I mention in previous posts, it’s still under 100 rpm slip so I think it’s ok. No burning and shifting feels fine.

Now I really won’t use the truck until summer so I gotta start doing some quieting mods or painting the bed and staining the wood. I also have those comp cam valve springs and chromoly pushrods sitting in the back seat.

as for quieting things down. I have 2 thoughts, one, pull the entire interior out and deaden it. I’d pull the dash too. 2nd thing is exhaust, I have a 4in downpipe, then it’s hooked up to a straight 10 ft 4in exhaust tube and then a 45 degree angle out the side. I have no muffler, I also can go another 5 ft back right before the tire or try and snake it over the axle and between the fuel tank and send it another 10 ft back. My one concern is added EGT will a muffler or a longer exhaust add EGTs? If not, what do you recommend for a muffler?

 

[bdkw1]

Sound deaden the shit out of it. Stock they don't have shit in there. The small thin pieces in the footwell are easy to pop out when they are that old. Pull them, they don't do shit. After doing the doors on mine they sound like an alumiduty when they shut instead of a tin can. Keeps it way warmer/cooler too. If you're pulling the dash, replace the blend door while you're there.

Mine has a magnaflow muffler. It's pretty much straight through, sounds good, not to loud. I have no issues with EGT, but I'm not towing as heavy.