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Ford F-150 Owner Again

Old 06-10-2013, 10:12 AM
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Smile Ford F-150 Owner Again

Well fella's I got a "new" truck! I think I made out great on the deal for this one. Glad you guys are here as I did my research and found the spark plug issue.

So I had the dealership do the spark plugs, and all the fluids rear end, brakes, tranny, power steering, coolant oil, you get it Also had a line-ex bed liner sprayed in, then talked them down 1 grand and another 600 for tires. So all in the truck came in Under $12,000. I think I did alright. So after trade, taxes and everything total price was $10,101. I traded in a 96 T-100.

Glad I had that part of the deal as it was their truck and they broke 5 plugs and they were worn out, original I'm sure as the truck had 98k miles on it. It had a small hickup at 40 mph when the TC locked up. Plugs fixed that issue!

They are changing all fluids, everything! All fluids looked ok, I just wanted that to be part of the deal. So it is. Free for me of course
It does have the trailer wiring harness. A line-ex bedliner will be sprayed in in a few days when I get the truck. They are doing all the work on it as we speak.

Im pumped!


Here are the pics.
Old 06-10-2013, 10:14 AM
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About a week after I got the truck, I just love it. It is so nice having the space. I can easily put my son in and head off. My wife loves it as well. I missed having a V8, the sound, torque and feel. Really after making the dealership do all the maint stuff on the truck not much is left.

So new shocks and struts are installed as well as new tires Went with bilstein's as I put them on my T-100 and they were awesome! Just went with the stock height as I didn't want any lift. Can't wait to throw these on as the original ones are ok, just not great. And at 98k miles they are shot I think at least. New tires will be the next thing. These have maybe 5-10k left on them and they will be at the wear bars.

Also put in a new head unit. I went with a DVD unit, as it was the one on sale and had Bluetooth and nice integration with my phone. Also put in new speakers all around. Some components up front and basic 3 ways in the rear. Talk about a night and day difference in the sound!

Not sure on the MPG's yet, as I am still on my first tank. I have about 400 miles on it and still have 1/8 or more left.
Eventually I would like to get a programmer for it. I have been reading a bit on here and am looking at the edge CTS or something like that.

Some other minor things I am going to look at soon would be the sway bar bushings and end links. That made a big difference in my old truck.

Here is the new stereo!

Old 06-10-2013, 10:14 AM
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Well. I made my first road trip. Awesome family hauler. Very comfortable even with worn out tires... A couple of impressions.

425 miles recorded and 26.5 Gallons of gas used. 16 MPG. Had a nice 20-30 MPH head wind the way there and practically zero wind on the way home. Now my speedo is about 5 MPH off, or reads 5mph slow at 70MPH. Verified by my GPS.
So saying that I was actually going 75MPH that would be 75/70 = 1.07% off. 425*1.07=455 miles would yield 17.2 MPG.
This is on old tires. 275/65 R18 stock as far as I know.

Now on to some fun stuff. I got new tires today and what a difference night and day. Truck is 100% quieter and smoother riding. I got Firestone Destination LE 2's. Best tires I have ever owned. Had them on my old T-100 for a while before I traded. I would buy them again and again.

Also had an alignment, it was quite a bit out.
Had new shocks and struts put on. Bilstein's stock ride height. Replacing the originals. Much much better. Truck is nice and tight and the ride is perfect now. So much better. I had new top bearings put on the struts as well.

Order Details
Qty Product Price Extended
2 24-107617 F4-BE5-A761-H2 Bilstein Ford F150 and Expedition
Item: 24-107617
$86.75 $173.50
2 24-107624 F4-BE5-A762-H2 Bilstein Ford F150
Item: 24-107624
$67.95 $135.90
Sub Total $309.40
Discount Code (MAYPLUM) - $10.00
Shipping (Ground) $0.00
Invoice Total $299.40
Old 06-10-2013, 10:16 AM
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After doing a bunch of research on this site and others I decided a programer would be a great idea. And the overall consensus seemed to push toward either custom tunes by various vendors or the Edge products for a canned tune.

I then figured I would save up and get the Edge CTS. So I jumped on ebay to see if anything was out there in the mean time. Sure enough I ended up with one for a very good price! I wanted the CTS for the nice screen and the gauges. Also it is really easy to change programming settings. A few key cycles on and off and your changes are applied and ready to go. Its easy to use for sure.


I got it installed last night. A small problem as it wouldn't power up at first. I thought I got taken, but after a quick Google search I found my cig fuse was burnt out. A new fuse and all is well. Plus my 2nd power outlet works now too.

I love the truck. After new shocks, tires it rides like it should. Only thing is that I don’t like the throttle control. I am used to an actual cable so I know what I am going to get when I push down. The drive by wire isn't my favorite. The other issue I have is that when I hit the gas to say merge onto traffic it would downshift fine, it would just slow down just a bit first like a dip in throttle before it changed gears.

Anyway all that is gone now! This is no joke I am beyond floored with the results. I have it set up right now on Level 2 that will run with 87 gas. I have the shift firmness up 3% on all shifts. There are a lot of changes that you can make! I also corrected my tire size, so now my speedo is right on now.

Time will tell about gas mileage, but my last trip was right at 16 MPG that was 90% highway with a 20-30 mph head wind half the trip. Also my speedo was off about 5 MPH, thus netting about 17 MPG corrected. According to the little average meter, my little trip last night was half in town and half highway I was sitting at 24.5. Now that is just 40 min of driving and not hand calculated. So I have no clue if its even close I wouldn't think it is that good. But I got on the throttle last night twice and just by my seat of pants feel, this truck has got much more kick. Before it felt like it fell flat on full throttle.

I will keep up on the MPG increase or decrease. I have a long trip coming up in a few weeks and would like to see some improvement.
Anyway for those of you that maybe putting this off, I wouldn't. It really makes this truck act and run the way it should. I have only had it installed for a few hours but I am very happy with the results

I am still messing with a few settings, but it really makes this truck drive so much better. That strange not knowing where the throttle is at, is gone!!
Old 06-11-2013, 09:23 AM
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Just curious what all has been added to my truck? Are the Chrome door handles original? How about the rims are they original? When I got the tires, that was a stock option according to firestone. But when I checked my speedo it was about 4-5mph off at 70. I corrected it using the CTS's tire size option and now its right on.

I know the grill is aftermarket or an option. The original black honeycomb is behind it.

Can I put a ford emblem on the aftermarket grill?
Also another question is my rear ford emblem looks a bit shabby. How do you replace these? Do they just pry off and then snap right on?

Thanks fella's

Last edited by wolfy53; 06-11-2013 at 09:26 AM.
Old 06-11-2013, 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by wolfy53
Just curious what all has been added to my truck? Are the Chrome door handles original? How about the rims are they original? When I got the tires, that was a stock option according to firestone. But when I checked my speedo it was about 4-5mph off at 70. I corrected it using the CTS's tire size option and now its right on.

I know the grill is aftermarket or an option. The original black honeycomb is behind it.

Can I put a ford emblem on the aftermarket grill?
Also another question is my rear ford emblem looks a bit shabby. How do you replace these? Do they just pry off and then snap right on?

Thanks fella's
Nice truck! Glad you're happy with your purchase.

The wheels are factory, but as you found out, the tires probably weren't OEM specs.

Chrome door handles are aftermarket and might only be the stick on ones. They do have full replacement chrome handles, but typically people just buy the covers. Also, you can see that the previous owner didn't bother to do the tailgate handle.

If you can see the emblem and honeycomb behind the grill, then you just have an overlay on it. Also aftermarket. I guess you could try putting an emblem on it, you could get an overlay that actually leaves a spot for the emblem, or you can just replace the entire grill. Your call.

All of the emblems, except for the front grill one, are held on by double sided tape and alignment pins. You can heat up the emblems or just go out on a hot day and use fishing line or something of that sort to "cut" through the tape and pull the emblem off. New emblems will come with the tape pre-installed, so all you have to do is replace it.

Hope this helps!
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Old 06-11-2013, 10:15 AM
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wolfy53,
I just ordered myself a Pioneer FH-X700BT, it dosent have a display screen such as yours but yours is nice, damn I should have gotten that one. Anyways, congrats on the new truck, time to mod everything! Good luck. :P
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Old 06-12-2013, 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by sdatrlp23
Nice truck! Glad you're happy with your purchase.

The wheels are factory, but as you found out, the tires probably weren't OEM specs.

Chrome door handles are aftermarket and might only be the stick on ones. They do have full replacement chrome handles, but typically people just buy the covers. Also, you can see that the previous owner didn't bother to do the tailgate handle.

If you can see the emblem and honeycomb behind the grill, then you just have an overlay on it. Also aftermarket. I guess you could try putting an emblem on it, you could get an overlay that actually leaves a spot for the emblem, or you can just replace the entire grill. Your call.

All of the emblems, except for the front grill one, are held on by double sided tape and alignment pins. You can heat up the emblems or just go out on a hot day and use fishing line or something of that sort to "cut" through the tape and pull the emblem off. New emblems will come with the tape pre-installed, so all you have to do is replace it.

Hope this helps!
Thanks! Yes I have very happy with the purchase. The truck is just awesome.

Thank for all the tips. Yes I believe the handles are full replacements as they don't have any black under them. And yes the front grill is just an overlay. I may look into a replacement later. I think that its ok. If I do something I would like to get a nice stock chrome grill.

Awesome news on the emblem. Its worn and faded and is really letting the back of the truck down. I have seen several of these that are completely worn down, so it just must be one of those things. I will have to check out a dealer or body shop to get a replacement.

Duplex, yes, I almost got that one instead. But I figured I would kick my self for not going for the big screen. After all it really is for my son to watch movies on when we go out of town. Great add on and plus the bluetooth is fantastic. Came with a mic and everything. Plus I can just stream music from my phone using bluetooth, via pandora or just my playlist. And yeah the sound quality is much better then stock
Old 09-17-2013, 10:33 AM
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Just an update on this. I spent $30 bucks total getting a metal ford emblem to replace my peeling junky looking one. And I went a head and got a chrome cover for the tailgate handle. Now they all match.

This really made the back of the truck look like new. For the emblem I went to O'Reilly's and got some 3M double sided molding tape. Worked perfect. The emblem is metal and felt like good quality. Time will tell but for 18 bucks shipped its worth a shot.

Chrome tail gate cover only
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390645916465...S:3160&vxp=mtr

Metal emblem cover. This seller has lots of them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181195255563...S:3160&vxp=mtr

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After
Old 09-17-2013, 02:19 PM
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Nice lookin' truck.. I'm not too crazy about the grille/front of the truck, but it's not the worst "billet" grille I've seen.. I especially like the white surround.. (tried to do that on mine... no bueno... Lol), and it's just an overlay.. There's literally hundreds of different grilles to choose from, but a nice chrome one will really set off your truck. Good deal on the truck!!! I'm sure your wife/kid appreciates the truck... Your truck looks a lot like mine!! (2008 SuperCrew Lariat 'Chrome Pckg') and there's plenty to do to mod/upgrade!!!!
Ford F-150 Owner Again-image-1603138634.jpg

I'm replacing the front/rear door speakers this week.. which brand did you go with?? And how do you like them??

Last edited by RowdyAggie; 09-17-2013 at 02:21 PM.
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