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So it's been a little more than today, but have done several things over the last couple of weeks and just waited for a single post. Sold the old topper I had and bought a bigger one used. The wife is claustrophobic and woke up in a bit of a panic attack one night out camping last year. With the platform at wheel well height and a 6" tri-fold queen mattress, the top of the mattress is about even with the bed rails. She just couldn't handle the roof being as low as it seemed to her. So I bought a Leer 122 topper in gold and had it painted. Price was right on the topper and the price for the paint job, for what I got, was right. Saved me the hassle of doing it. So built a new roof rack for the topper. It holds my shovel, traction boards, Rotopax, lights for the back/sides and will fit a basket for chairs, etc. Also had a track and crossbars installed on the cab for additional storage if needed. Went with bigger (295/70/17) Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac's (had them on my Bronco and loved them). With the bigger tires I went up from an open diff 3.55 to 4.10's with a TrueTrac in the rear. Also mounted the hi-lift on the front brush guard so that I wasn't trying to get it off the topper rack if needed.
I think we're ready for camping this year! Enjoyed it a lot last year and bought some more stuff this year to make it more enjoyable. Picked up a used propane tank and painted it and found a gas fire pit to bring along for when fire bans are in effect for campfires. Loving the truck! Coming up on a year of owning it in July and just about to roll 80,000 miles on it. Hoping to own this thing for a long time to come.
I gave my King Ranch a little shine. The paint was oxidized and felt rough, which is typical of any southern Texas 20 year old vehicle. Thankfully, a Porter Cable DA with a red pad and Meguier's 101 cut through most of it. It's still a 285k mile truck, pot marked with numerous scratches and dents. But, it sure photographs nicely.
Today, it hit 170,000 miles. It got an oil change, 6 quarts of Motorcraft full synthetic 5w30, Motorcraft FL820S oil filter, Motorcraft air filter and a shiney new drain plug. Also installed some nice LED headlights as the halogens were going out.
A couple days ago I had a coil fail, front right, boot fell apart. Turns out it was a counterfeit Motorcraft part, all the other coils are the original ford Motorcraft parts. Temorarily replaced with an o'reilly cheap-o unit. Will be replacing all the plugs and coils soon.
Couple weeks ago I did a full brake job on the truck, front/rear, pads/shoes, rotors spec'd good, drums were machined, all hardware replaced and lubed.
Still cheaper to maintain than my 97 F-250 7.3 Powerstroke ever was. 😏
Got a used SF3 the other day to calibrate the speedo for the gears and tires. Also changed out the rear diff fluid for the gear swap, still need to get the front done if it ever stops raining/snowing.
04-01-2021, 12:12 PM
