5ohxlt

so long story short i took my truck in because i seen water stains on my headliner above the rear seats, since i was already there i decided i should have them check the clunk/pop i hear on cold days out of the front on quick bumps or small ruts.

brake light and headliner replaced, but also control arms on both sides and upper and lower ball joints on both sides, for exsessive movement/noise.

Nothing done suspension wise except for the bilstein 5100's set at highest setting to level it and 285/65/18 terra grapplers on stock rims, truck has 28,000 miles, no real abuse, it barely see's any dirt roads in daily commutes or any speed bumps.

I just have this gut feeling if i left everything stock i wouldn't have these issues. anyone else have mod regrets?

zimmer0

iTrader: (1)

pay to play bro

yotehunter

I have modded everything I have ever owned all my life. Almost all mods have had problems long and short term. On my current truck I am trying not to mod anything and I am finding myself real happy with this truck. I also find in most not all cases on my customers auto's....oem stuff just works the best.

5ohxlt

This is kind of where I'm at, lol call it gettig old I guess. Just after years of modding everything I've owned and dealing with what comes with it, the denial is over. I guess you can't look past the fact the no one has the same dollars, resources and time to develop and test parts and make sure they all work together more than the original manufacturer.

For now to best help save the new parts the bilstiens will be set to the bottom groove to bring it back to stock height, and luckly I never got around to installing the AAL.

yotehunter

LOL. I guess it is age. And the Bilstiens are the ONLY shock to use after the oem are spent.

terraformer

Good information here, but then again maybe it just reinforces my personal viewpoint, which is that the more you move away from OEM on mechanical things, the more problems you have. If you define problems in terms of noises, rattles, and perhaps MPG loss.

The only mods I might do are lights (maybe rigid duallys behind the grille, interior & bed LEDs). Other than that - and new tires to replace the Scorps - I'm leaving it alone.

I think of this much like I do tattoos: if everyone has them, then they're not really that different or original anymore, are they? It's almost as if it's more rare to see someone without tattoos than with them. Although when it comes to F-150s, there are obviously millions of these on the road, and it's probably still true that leveling and huge tires are still different than the norm.

Centexguy

Modding gives me a reason to tinker around in the garage. Otherwise I have to take care of the "honey do" list and let's face it, no one wants to do that.

MPETE

iTrader: (1)

damn you. damn you all.
when I bought my V6 S10 many years ago, it was the first thing I owned with any kind of power. I had to make it faster, and I had to lower it too. long story short, between the lowered suspension and trying to make it a racetruck, everything I modded was a source of a problem later on down the road. even doing it the "right way" it still created issues. if I'd have left it well enough alone, I would have had a good 200k+ trouble free miles out of it. I might not have even been in the situation I ended up in that made me buy the F150 when I did. (although I knew no matter what it was only a matter of time before I bought one anyway because I had "the wants")
when I bought this truck I said, I am not gonna do those kind of things to this one. I bought a Roush CAI since its technically a warrantable setup, and considered doing some sort of exaust, but thus far havent found anything I like that I can afford.
but still I find myself reading on these forums and saying I really like the way those slammed RCSB trucks looks, and I also like a nice simple level kit with some slightly larger tires.
I convince myself that doing these things will be just fine and wont create issues, but then a thread like this pops up and in the back of my mind I KNOW, it sure will if I keep the truck long enough.

so now I am back to square one, which I think is just slap a set of factory 20's on it and let it ride.

5ohxlt

I agree but from here on out that's what the 84 5.0 hatch will be for, no more modding my DD's, atleast for the most part, like different tires(same size or close to) or tint, not even shorty antenna's, i always get a whistle with them and reception is garbage.

Centexguy

I said the same thing about my quad. Then I got bored with it and focused on my truck. Now I'm bored with it and turning back to the quad. Meh. I've got about $4000 left to spend on my truck to get it where I want it so I don't hate driving it so much and then I will be done. For now. Maybe.