Refreshing older trucks

[clodhopper]

I picked up a E99 f250 7.3 back in 2008 when fuel prices were crazy and we were headed for depression. Got it for an absolute steal. I have used it quite a bit since then but last several years it is has gotten kinda tired. It was past 250k on the ticker and was struggling on grades. Had the old lift pump overheat on a hard tow recently at 4am. So it came to either replacing it with a newer used truck or dump some cash into the current one. Looking at prices on new trucks it made more sense to freshen the old girl up. Replaced the old lift pump on the rail with a new Bosch and then swapped in new stage 1 injectors, plugs, UCWHs. Got it out last night for an uphill run with the gooseneck and it ran like an effin champ! FAR exceeded my expectations. Cured my new truck wandering eye.

So should have invested that money years ago.

Who else is upgrading an old truck in this stupid market?

 

[Provience]

1978 F250 400 Dual Fuel

needed a thread title I could find and I'll also have questions and needs with direction and stuff, so hopefully it is click bait enough :flipoff2: also need a place I can take random notes and hold random pictures :rasta: I was always a 100% street legal, drive to the trails, drive it home...

irate4x4.com

yup. originally figured i'd buy it, drive it for a year or two and flip it to buy something 30 years newer. every day that passes makes that look less and less in the cards and improving the current setup more appealing.

 

[rockdog57]

Going into Moab last week my 01 f350. Runs as good as new. I’ve thrown money at it to keep it running good. But it’s still a damn reliable truck.

 

[TRINDU]

Wont hear an argument from me.

In my world, there's absolutely no reason I'd ever buy a new truck. Or anything made after 2007. My 600ft/lb truck(s) jerk around <30k just fine.

I feel sorry for the boys up north, my vehicles are rust free and 15-25 y/o+. Even then I'd run south for a good truck every 5 years.

What's the bill for when a CP4 shits the bed? $12k? Yeah... real good investment there.

 

[bdkw1]

I picked up a E99 f250 7.3 back in 2008 when fuel prices were crazy and we were headed for depression. Got it for an absolute steal. I have used it quite a bit since then but last several years it is has gotten kinda tired. It was past 250k on the ticker and was struggling on grades. Had the old lift pump overheat on a hard tow recently at 4am. So it came to either replacing it with a newer used truck or dump some cash into the current one. Looking at prices on new trucks it made more sense to freshen the old girl up. Replaced the old lift pump on the rail with a new Bosch and then swapped in new stage 1 injectors, plugs, UCWHs. Got it out last night for an uphill run with the gooseneck and it ran like an effin champ! FAR exceeded my expectations. Cured my new truck wandering eye.

So should have invested that money years ago.

Who else is upgrading an old truck in this stupid market?

And how are your seats? Mine started to disintegrate a couple years ago in typical superduty fashion. Just bought new foam bottom pads and covers for them. She gonna be like a new truck!

Also look into a new turbo, I just put this one on mine and it made a huge difference over the stocker with a WW2.

KC Stock Plus Billet Turbo - 7.3 Powerstroke (L99-2003)

Upgrade your stock turbo with the Stock Plus Billet Turbo featuring KC Billet compressor wheel, SXE Turbine Wheel, 360 thrust bearing, and high flow deleted EBPV outlet flange. This turbo spools faster, runs cooler, and makes more power than stock. Comes with all parts to install and one year...

kcturbos.com

Bolt in, 100 deg less on the EGT's, spools up quicker and maintains 25PSI.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Guilty x's 2

97 F350 and 96 4runner, both have 340k miles and both are getting lots of money in maintenance and upgrades lately.

4runner is up and going with almost all new front suspension, rear coil, and both diffs regeared and locked. Next step is seats, they're beyond wore out.

F350 is part way through a 12v swap. Engine is in and runs, just needs litteraly every other detail finished.

 

[crispins]

I'd love to have a newer truck, they have very nice interiors and more HP's than my 96

However, mine runs great, does everything I need it to

and it is paid for

 

[Grendel]

Nah, not me.

 

[clodhopper]

And how are your seats? Mine started to disintegrate a couple years ago in typical superduty fashion. Just bought new foam bottom pads and covers for them. She gonna be like a new truck!

Also look into a new turbo, I just put this one on mine and it made a huge difference over the stocker with a WW2.

KC Stock Plus Billet Turbo - 7.3 Powerstroke (L99-2003)

Upgrade your stock turbo with the Stock Plus Billet Turbo featuring KC Billet compressor wheel, SXE Turbine Wheel, 360 thrust bearing, and high flow deleted EBPV outlet flange. This turbo spools faster, runs cooler, and makes more power than stock. Comes with all parts to install and one year...

kcturbos.com

Bolt in, 100 deg less on the EGT's, spools up quicker and maintains 25PSI.

Interior is still good. Well, split bench seats rather than full on buckets, but for what it is, still in good enough condition.

As for turbo, I blew mine about 8 years ago on a cross country trip and replaced it then. Pulling/replacing the turbo from way back under the dash is a job I very much dislike.

 

[willis_racing]

1978 F250 400 Dual Fuel

needed a thread title I could find and I'll also have questions and needs with direction and stuff, so hopefully it is click bait enough :flipoff2: also need a place I can take random notes and hold random pictures :rasta: I was always a 100% street legal, drive to the trails, drive it home...

irate4x4.com

yup. originally figured i'd buy it, drive it for a year or two and flip it to buy something 30 years newer. every day that passes makes that look less and less in the cards and improving the current setup more appealing.

Unlike yours, this one isn't meant to be disposable, but it's what I have and I can put a lot of gas through it for what a decent used diesel would cost me. I have a freshly built 4l80 on the bench for it and a few upgrades and optimizations planned out. It already tows better and makes more power than the stock 97 PSD I occasionally have access to, and if I can get it to get double digit fuel mileage while towing (doubtful) it'll cost less to run, too.

 

[bdkw1]

Pulling/replacing the turbo from way back under the dash is a job I very much dislike.

You don't like being superman mechanic?

About an hour in your wishing you had a van.......

 

[72blazer]

Nah, not me.

Slow down with the deets…






I was in the same boat last year. It just so happened I’ll be starting a squarebody 3+3 project using all the parts from my single cab Duramax. I was just having that conversation with some friends this morning. I’d love a dually Denali Duramax but I don’t want to justify $90k in a truck that’ll need extra maintenance with all the emissions crap.

 

[RunningProblem]

I'd love to have a newer truck, they have very nice interiors and more HP's than my 96

However, mine runs great, does everything I need it to

and it is paid for

These are the things I tell myself I want from a new truck.
I remind myself "I can just have new interior put in, and reliable power added by a professional and pay for it by taking out a loan if I want a payment.

297k miles. 2006 Duramax. Paint pealing off the side because I'm too cheap and too lazy to have it painted. again. because GM white plus primer equals stupid money saving tactic.

 

[rockdog57]

These are the things I tell myself I want from a new truck.
I remind myself "I can just have new interior put in, and reliable power added by a professional and pay for it by taking out a loan if I want a payment.

297k miles. 2006 Duramax. Paint pealing off the side because I'm too cheap and too lazy to have it painted. again. because GM white plus primer equals stupid money saving tactic.

My sons 08 is white and doing the same thing!🤬 Seriously, you can’t put paint on that doesn’t peel of in sheets!

 

[Projectjunkie]

2005 ccsb LLY floor shift 4wd 110k miles, I keep it parked unless I'm doing tow rig stuff, I won't be able to replace it when I wear it out. It's clean inside, I have a nice bed sitting at my paint guys place, just need to be able to give it up for 2 weeks

96ish 12v auto 2wd, but I have a 4wd zf6 and some super duty axles... need to decide between another cclb fummins, or just cherry out the dodge and swap in the goodies

If these truck prices ever come down to where I'm interested, it'd be to buy a pos plastic/ aluminium half ton with a.c. seats and 22mpg. I'm not likely to ever trust an emissions era diesel

 

[RunningProblem]

My sons 08 is white and doing the same thing!🤬 Seriously, you can’t put paint on that doesn’t peel of in sheets!

Primer has to be completely removed to bare metal. They went cheap on primer for the white trucks and it peals paint unless you do a complete job repainting it.

 

[rockdog57]

Primer has to be completely removed to bare metal. They went cheap on primer for the white trucks and it peals paint unless you do a complete job repainting it.

Really? He’s not gonna be happy to hear that. Why was there no recall?

 

[RunningProblem]

Really? He’s not gonna be happy to hear that. Why was there no recall?

No idea why there wasn’t a recall. Buddy told me it was just the white trucks. Internet search for gm paint peaking shows a bunch of them and the 2015-19 are apparently in a class action lawsuit. Sucks but that’s just how it is. Either put a wrap on it, deal with driving a truck that looks like you don’t care about it, or have it all re-primed and repainted.

 

[aczlan]

No idea why there wasn’t a recall. Buddy told me it was just the white trucks. Internet search for gm paint peaking shows a bunch of them and the 2015-19 are apparently in a class action lawsuit. Sucks but that’s just how it is. Either put a wrap on it, deal with driving a truck that looks like you don’t care about it, or have it all re-primed and repainted.

You would think that GM would have learned their lesson in the late 1980s...

Aaron Z

 

[RunningProblem]

You would think that GM would have learned their lesson in the late 1980s...

Aaron Z

They did. The lesson they learned was "we can save money on paint, and people will continue to buy our trucks."

You'd think American's would stop buying trucks known for having shitty paint, or at a minmum know the truck they're buying is known for having shitty paint so they'd stop bitching. Nah, bitch about the price of the truck and then complain when the paint falls off. As if vehicle paint typically lasts 60 years.

 

[Derp]

They did. The lesson they learned was "we can save money on paint, and people will continue to buy our trucks."

You'd think American's would stop buying trucks known for having shitty paint, or at a minmum know the truck they're buying is known for having shitty paint so they'd stop bitching. Nah, bitch about the price of the truck and then complain when the paint falls off. As if vehicle paint typically lasts 60 years.

I wonder how many people with chevys with peeling white paint are the original owners? I always got the impression they were mostly work or fleet vehicles, and their target markets were people who would rather save a couple bucks on white paint and vinyl interiors and didn't care what the paint looked like when it got old, or they were looking to save a couple bucks up front, and replace them before they got to the point of the paint peeling.

And FWIW, I've had pretty good luck just knocking off whatever paint I could with a razor blade, then hitting the primer with white appliance enamel paint, seems to last at least a couple years and still look good from a distance!

 

[DannyK]

I bought my 2001 CTD Ram in 2006. It saw about 50% DD duty until about 2010-2011. Since then it has just been used as a tow rig and for landscaping work being driven about once every 2 weeks on average. Around 2012 I thought I might upgrade to a newer used truck, but prices seemed a little higher than I was willing to spend. Around 2018-2020 I started thinking about upgrading again, but I still wasn't willing to pay what a newer used truck cost. Now things are full retard, so I don't know when I will upgrade to a newer truck. Maybe never. I just keep driving and fixing my old Ram. It really doesn't cost much to keep a truck like mine on the road for occasional use if you can do all the work yourself. I've replaced the clutch, clutch hydraulics, exhaust system, all four calipers and rotors, all of the brake lines except the ones on the rear axle, track bar, fuel lift pump, PS pump and high pressure hose, water pump, radiator hoses + heater hoses, ABS sensor on LHF, dash, and MAP sensor over the 16 years I have owned it. I can afford to buy a new truck, but I mentally cannot accept spending so much for a depreciating asset.

 

[RPS1030]

Guess I’m in here now. Had a 19 Ram 2500 most recently. Did have a CP4 failure, and picked up a crawler hauler that pushed the limits. Also have a 7.3 gasser SD on order, but not sure (almost hoping) if it’ll show up as a 22 at this point.

So found a 09 Dodge 3500 dually nearby last month and jumped on it. 6.7 deleted, G56, misfit CM ALSK flatbed.

Already changed the driver seat cushion, pseudo patched the fabric, and put some fancy seat covers on. A radio is high on the list given the limited FM on the road around here, and got used to CarPlay/USB.

Did good at dragging the crawler hauler to Moab.

 

[Projectjunkie]

I wonder how many people with chevys with peeling white paint are the original owners? I always got the impression they were mostly work or fleet vehicles, and their target markets were people who would rather save a couple bucks on white paint and vinyl interiors and didn't care what the paint looked like when it got old, or they were looking to save a couple bucks up front, and replace them before they got to the point of the paint peeling.

And FWIW, I've had pretty good luck just knocking off whatever paint I could with a razor blade, then hitting the primer with white appliance enamel paint, seems to last at least a couple years and still look good from a distance!

Chevy "Olympic white" or "8624" is surprisingly close to "rustoleum gloss white"

I've sprayed my 05 tailgate with a rattle can, a 06 van, top half, hood and rear doors with a gallon can in a sprayer, and recently a 2011 Silverado work truck with a rattle can after a 20 foot repair