Oreo, the Tremor Ford should have built

[TrailTamer]

The BFH made some room where the skid plate bump was but the next interference is the gas tank strap.

The combo of the gas tank shield and gas tank strap are hitting the driveshaft and I don’t see an easy fix for this one. The one option seems to be a new driveshaft that is smaller in diameter. The other would be looking into the chassis cab rear mounted fuel tank. The driveshaft option seems easier and cheaper. For my upcoming trip, it’s staying like it is because I don’t have any hardcore stuff planned and I am out of time. I have one week left. This only happens under full flex toward the drivers side.

I think it’ll be inevitable to run 2-piece drive shaft if you’re going to have new one made with smaller diameter. May be a deal breaker to you?

Although, with what seems like everything a tight fit and that’s just with it not moving. Chances are things can still come in contact while in motion.

Have you considered to just install a track bar? Something to positively control it’s side to side movement and keep the driveshaft away from the tank

 

[Projectjunkie]

Did you wipe a balance weight off your rear drive shaft? Clean round "dot"

 

[Barkbeetle]

I think it’ll be inevitable to run 2-piece drive shaft if you’re going to have new one made with smaller diameter. May be a deal breaker to you?

Although, with what seems like everything a tight fit and that’s just with it not moving. Chances are things can still come in contact while in motion.

Have you considered to just install a track bar? Something to positively control it’s side to side movement and keep the driveshaft away from the tank

No where to mount a two piece driveshaft on the regular cab. Adding a track bar is an interesting idea. My 97 powerstroke had one on the front so leaves and a track bar can definitely work together. I’m not sure about it working with this much travel though. If I go that far I should finish the job and link it. Get rid of the nasty leaves all together.

Did you wipe a balance weight off your rear drive shaft? Clean round "dot"

At first I thought I did and I even looked around for it but the weights are all rectangles with spot welds and there was sticky residue so at this point that is what I am assuming. I was fortunate though, two weights are between the areas it rubbed.

 

[TrailTamer]

I’m not sure about it working with this much travel though.

Watt’s Link came to my mind. Probably too ‘fancy’ for leaves haha

If I go that far I should finish the job and link it. Get rid of the nasty leaves all together.

What’s fun in that?

I think you can make it to work

 

[ridered3]

No where to mount a two piece driveshaft on the regular cab. Adding a track bar is an interesting idea. My 97 powerstroke had one on the front so leaves and a track bar can definitely work together. I’m not sure about it working with this much travel though. If I go that far I should finish the job and link it. Get rid of the nasty leaves all together.


At first I thought I did and I even looked around for it but the weights are all rectangles with spot welds and there was sticky residue so at this point that is what I am assuming. I was fortunate though, two weights are between the areas it rubbed.

Leaf springs are for poor people anyway...

 

[Barkbeetle]

If I’m going to do any kind of link, I’m going all the way and dumping leaf springs completely. Someday I’ll long travel the front and do the rear too. Right now it is a DD. When I get a commuter car and I can leave the truck on blocks for a couple of months I’ll go all in. This truck could easily support a 14” coil over in the front and a long travel multi-link setup in the rear. My friend is trying to talk me into redoing the rear with some 2.5” air shocks. Carry load and have long travel. Right now I’m in communication with PMF regarding my issues with the rear and depending on their willingness to make it right, it will also affect what I do with the back.

Oreo survived its first trip. 2400 miles of mixed roads, Interstate to nearly non-existent two track. Mostly 2wd but a little bit of 4 low going over a remote pass near the Montana Idaho border. Nothing to rowdy because of the issues with the rear suspension. It is really awesome country up there and lots of places to explore, just bring the mosquito spray!

I can also report the the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/Ts suck! Three attempts at balancing them and I had to settle with marginally static balanced tires with a lot of weights. The BFGs on the Jeep are the same size and dynamic balanced fine. The Jeep is smooth as glass at 80mph, the truck was a paint shaker at first and mildly annoying after the final balance work. I’ll be going back to the BFGs for the next set. The Mickey’s look better and they are much more agressI’ve but that isn’t what matters the most for this build.

It’s also time to get back to work on the SXS. I’ve neglected it for a couple of months now.

 

[reptillikus]

I can also report the the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/Ts suck! Three attempts at balancing them and I had to settle with marginally static balanced tires with a lot of weights. The BFGs on the Jeep are the same size and dynamic balanced fine. The Jeep is smooth as glass at 80mph, the truck was a paint shaker at first and mildly annoying after the final balance work. I’ll be going back to the BFGs for the next set. The Mickey’s look better and they are much more agressI’ve but that isn’t what matters the most for this build.

This is kind of disappointing as i was considering switching to them from BFG for my next set of tires on my F250. Do you think its the tire, or the size of it? Lots of people complaining the BFG AT/KO2 doesnt compare to the old KOs, and the MT has the 3 peak snow rating, which the BFG doesnt have anymore in a lot of sizes.

 

[Barkbeetle]

This is kind of disappointing as i was considering switching to them from BFG for my next set of tires on my F250. Do you think it’s the tire, or the size of it? Lots of people complaining the BFG AT/KO2 doesnt compare to the old KOs, and the MT has the 3 peak snow rating, which the BFG doesnt have anymore in a lot of sizes.

My friend’s son is running them in a 33“ size on his Tacoma and did not have the issues I am having. The Discount Tire I use said they were really popular for a little while and then demand dried up. Unfortunately, he didn’t know why. I couldn’t find any local and ordered them from National Tire and Wheel. They had them but dealing with issues like this make it really difficult. I am also going to try harder with a local tire purchase in the future, I have spent way too much money trying to get these things balanced. That wouldn’t have happened with my local Discount Tire. These tires would have been fine on a trail buggy. The compound is really soft for a tire with a 50,000 mile warranty. I will see where they are in a year and I may sell them off.

 

[Barkbeetle]

It has been awhile for an update, work has been nuts.

After fighting my tire shake for weeks with a dynamic then static balance attempt, my friend let me use his tire machine to break the beads and drop in 14 oz of tire beads per tire. Stupid TPMS valve design wouldn’t flow the beads and the bead grip wheels are no joke. I could not get them to break with any manual tool I have, 20T bottle neck jack and truck on top. I did back to back 100 mi highway trips without and with beads and they eliminated all of the vibration. Smooth as glass with glass beads LOL. That is a relief and I had always wondered about them. Now I know.

After exchanging several emails with PMF and ultimately talking with the owner, he agreed to refund me for all of the rear suspension parts, including the springs. I had to get all of back to his shop on my nickel but that is better than being stuck with a setup that was never going to work right on my truck. Gotta give them credit for doing the right thing and taking it back. I got bad advice on a combination of spring and shackle that were never meant to work together. I was definitely too trusting when I called and described what I wanted to do with my truck and the sales rep recommended the combo of products I got.

After getting a refund, I made the call to CJC Offroad, and after talking with them, I went with the +1000lb Carli leveling Deavers with matching bump stop drops. No airbags. All springs, shocks and bump spacers are now Carli and that is a proven set of hardware…almost.

For the curious, here is a comparison of the leveling Carlis to the 4.5” lift PMFs. Both are made by Deaver just slightly different specs for different goals. PMF is the higher arched one without the mini overload.

13” Metal to metal as advertised. Had to cut and grind off my spacers though. A bit of a pain!

off to flex test the new setup.

Still good flex, especially considering I wasn’t loaded with stuff and these are +1000lb springs. No more tire to inner fender rubbing.

no more driveshaft contact with the gas tank but it would have hit the bump out on the skidplate and bracket if I had not already worked it over. I could get my fingers between the tank and the driveshaft, still close but enough I‘m not worried about it. I’ve seen pictures of trucks flexed out with these so I don’t know if people are oblivious or the longer trucks with a two piece driveshaft don’t have this problem.

 

[ridered3]

Glad to read an update and glad to read that some companies are still decent to deal with vs just telling you to pound sand.

 

[fl0w3n]

Glad it worked out with PMF

Kinda does go back to my question on the first page or whatever of why not just go with the tried and true Carli solutions. But I also get it, that’s not very innovative and could be missing out on figuring out some better/different options.

How was the ride comparison between stock/pmf/Carli leaf packs? I had the mini pack on my 15 but on my 21 I’m still running the stock pack and it can be rough. I want to go to a full pack eventually but need to really assess if I want to take the payload hit

 

[Barkbeetle]

Glad it worked out with PMF

Kinda does go back to my question on the first page or whatever of why not just go with the tried and true Carli solutions. But I also get it, that’s not very innovative and could be missing out on figuring out some better/different options.

How was the ride comparison between stock/pmf/Carli leaf packs? I had the mini pack on my 15 but on my 21 I’m still running the stock pack and it can be rough. I want to go to a full pack eventually but need to really assess if I want to take the payload hit

Didn’t drive the full PMF pack because the truck was way to high from the bad advice from the sales tech. With 2 leaves pulled from the PMF pack, they rode great empty but not with a load. Too soft with a load which is why asked about the airbags but those didn’t work at all so I chopped up the stock springs to make the mini overload. The +1000 lb Carlis ride a bit stiff empty and I haven’t had the opportunity to load them down yet to see how they will ride loaded. First hunt is late October and that will be the first test. As shown above they flex good and ride vastly better than stock F350 springs. I think it would take at least 2000 lb for stock springs to start riding decent and they would never flex like either Deaver spring. The leaves are just to thick.

While I was out flex testing I rubbed the front driveshaft on the cat but didn’t see it until I did an oil change last weekend. I saw this and went 😳????

Turns out a 4 link is way to much flex for Ford. Stupid radius arms severely limit articulation and let them get away with putting stuff to close to moving parts.

Two things I learned from that oil change. One, I will never try to change the oil again with the skid plate on. Massive mess! Even if I had a valve system, the oil filter alone dumped at least a quart all over the skid, which didn’t hit the oil pan at all. That was after I let the oil drain out of the oil pan until nothing came out anymore. Two, a full stainless exhaust is in my future because I am not going to mess with the stock system. This truck needs to make better big block noises anyway. Right now you can barely tell this truck has a V-8! I think a new exhaust is better than going back to radius arms because it rides soooo much better with the 4 link. Using the BFH would be the other option, but I don’t think the cat would react well to that.

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

I love this truck. Would kill for a similar setup!

 

[CarterKraft]

edit: I jumped the gone on a old post..

 

[bradp674]

Just read through this. I have the same exact tire on my ZR2. I can confirm they don't balance for shit. Likewise, I have had it done a couple of times with no difference. I also think they are louder than they should be.

Nice truck. I like full size trucks that have suspension that work.

 

[rattle_snake]

All the M/T drag radials I've had didn't balance for shit either. Guess they can't make a round tire.

 

[Talon2006]

I may of missed it, but how much droop do you have over what you have stock?

When I saw our name pop up the drive shaft was my first though of.... I wonder how that is gonna work. I did some testing with a forklift on a stock truck, but you are a little bit beyond that!

Cool build! !

 

[ridered3]

Barkbeetle got any updates to share with us?

 

[Barkbeetle]

I may of missed it, but how much droop do you have over what you have stock?

When I saw our name pop up the drive shaft was my first though of.... I wonder how that is gonna work. I did some testing with a forklift on a stock truck, but you are a little bit beyond that!

Cool build! !

Two more inches of droop over stock. The real issue is the stock setup doesn’t flex for shit and this flexes really well. Here are a few pictures from my daughter’s Oryx hunt. We did a lot of driving, glassing and hiking without any success. The desert gets super cold at night too. Iced the inside of the camper every morning. GFC knows how to make an aluminum shell but not a tent! The tent needs a condensation vent at the top really bad. That will probably be my next mod.

Lots of tracks and old sign but nothing fresh in the right direction. Their hooves are almost as big as an elk.

 

[Barkbeetle]

Here are a few pictures from the first camper use on our July 2023 Wyoming, Montana, Idaho trip. We had condensation issues on this trip as well. It didn’t freeze so it would drip on our heads occasional and wake us up. I tried duct taping a camp towel to the top but the taped section still got us at least once.

 

[ridered3]

Thanks for the update and strange on the condensation issues.

Our old hardtop roof top tent would have some condensation on the inside walls until we added a condensation mat to the base. Also do figured out that we had to have a window partially open to avoid condensation as well.

 

[Barkbeetle]

Thanks for the update and strange on the condensation issues.

Our old hardtop roof top tent would have some condensation on the inside walls until we added a condensation mat to the base. Also do figured out that we had to have a window partially open to avoid condensation as well.

I forgot to mention that we kept the small triangle windows partially open and the only night we had no condensation was the night we kept the rear rain fly fully open. The warm humid air needs to escape out the top. Cross flow at the bottom is worthless. I didn’t bother opening anything on the Oryx hunt because we knew it would freeze anyway. I opened the top at midday every day during the hunt to dry everything out. We didn’t run a heater on either trip. Eventually I want to setup a portable diesel heater. I have a buddy heater and those work but add huge amounts of moisture to the air. For now thick sleeping bags work good enough.

 

[ridered3]

I forgot to mention that we kept the small triangle windows partially open and the only night we had no condensation was the night we kept the rear rain fly fully open. The warm humid air needs to escape out the top. Cross flow at the bottom is worthless. I didn’t bother opening anything on the Oryx hunt because we knew it would freeze anyway. I opened the top at midday every day during the hunt to dry everything out. We didn’t run a heater on either trip. Eventually I want to setup a portable diesel heater. I have a buddy heater and those work but add huge amounts of moisture to the air. For now thick sleeping bags work good enough.

Makes sense on ventilation etc. About the time we figured out to deal avoid the condensation here in Tennessee, we sold the RTT setup.