CK5
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F350 el Rojo Bandito

1999 Ford F350, expedition and tow rig.
You are very trusting running one of those big POS water separators. They always had issues sucking air on Detroit equipped Freightliners. Pack some fittings or a hose to bypass it if it ever fails.
 
You are very trusting running one of those big POS water separators. They always had issues sucking air on Detroit equipped Freightliners. Pack some fittings or a hose to bypass it if it ever fails.

Never had problems, gotta lubricate the orings. It also won't be mounted 4ft above the fuel tank.

As for trusting them, the little one separated over 2 liters of water from the bed tank when it was on the HD in 1 fill-up. Immediate fix after install compared to what its stock filter let through.
 
About a week late, UPS finally delivered the new starter. The original starter struggled but once temps dropped below 60F it threw in the towel. Since starting is a common issue with the 7.3 went ahead and got an upgrade, cranks at just under idle rpm now.

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Since the top starter bolt is more easily accessed with the passenger wheel off, test fit the newer 18in wheels. Pic is with 285/65r18 tires. Clears the leaf spring at full turn.

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Stock wheel driver side, 265/70r16 tires

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Doable, but I'll stay with the stock wheels unless I get a wider axle.
 
Spent the afternoon modifying the drivers side box for the fuel system and had some fun with this new welder. Similar design to a ready welder, takes 2 batteries setup in series to make 24v.

Need to get a new hood rather than the handheld one my friend has so the welds look better but will say this thing welds quite well with plenty of heat.

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Tows well, want a better brake controller like the HD had, the turbo/tune/injectors, and better mirrors since these are kinda small.

Far as the hitch goes, last truck had air on air at the hitch. Cody Cushion, and Reese Goosebox. That was incredibly smooth and isolated the truck/trailer bumps from each other. The switch to 5th wheel is far easier and faster to hookup, but there is some feedback from the trailer. To be fair though it's not air ride, just a rotoflex on the camper.

The ease of hooking up though is significant.


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My '99 dually has those same stupid base model mirrors. I need to upgrade to the '08+ mirrors but they are expensive especially if I want to keep the power option I have now.
 
Agreed, these have power but planning to upgrade next year.

Gasket failed on the old water pump, went ahead and upgraded to a new pump with a coolant filter, new thermostat and lower radiator hose as well. When the old coolant was drained I thought it was oil contaminated (black) at first but wasn't, just dirt and casting sand. Pulled the radiator to clean it as well. Working fine now and fixed the random heating issue it was having, thought it was the controller in the dash but apparently not.

Doing some test fitting. Thankfully the spare works in the stock location now that I cut a hole in the rear of the bed to access it. Weather permitting the passenger side under bed box will be mounted by the end of the week.

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Mine had the random heating issue when I bought it with a new rad and new water pump. It would also randomly push out coolant. It ended up being injector cups. Not sure how that caused the random heating thing but it went away after fixing the cups.
 
Finally did an injector buzz test today to find out which injector was on its last leg. Turns out injectors 3, 4, and 6 all failed the test when cold. Sum bitch lol.

Gonna try some thinner oil and a heavy dose of stiction additive, might delay it till spring. If not looks like new injectors this winter.
 
I milked a 6.0L like that for a few years. Had a block heater on a timer for 2 hrs to get it running in the A.M. then plugged it in at work. Sucked if I took it camping or somewhere I couldn't plug it in. Lots of cranking, not sure how that starter survived. Ether would not even help.
 
Slight improvement from the additives and thinner oil, but nowhere near enough to hold off injectors till spring unless this gets mostly parked. Can happen, once the s10 gets its new engine (December).

Stripped a few things off the headache rack and started welding it back onto the bed. Probably gonna take 3 rounds of welding with these 2 batteries before it's completely mounted. Might be able to do it faster but don't want to run the batts down too far and have starting issues.

Mocked the winch into place, cable will be close to the lower part of the 5th wheel hitch when the gin poles are rigged up. Fine once the poles go up since the snatch block at the rear of the bed will rise some with it.

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Dumped a full bottle of that 'Hotshot Secret' injector cleaner per tank of fuel twice, last ditch attempt before condemning the injectors. Talk about a smokey lil sum bitch out the tailpipe for almost both full tanks hahaha. But towards the end of the second tank it cleared up and runs smoother now. Fuel economy is up from 10mpg to 14.5-15.5mpg on winter fuel. Might have delayed the injectors till spring/summer it looks like.

Friend of mine didn't think I'd need a sliding hitch when I bought it........ This is with the hitch in the normal forward position. Will slide 1ft back.

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Well headache rack failed the turn test yesterday. Even with the hitch slid back it makes contact before reaching 90 degrees. So the bed tank has to go and the headache rack gets a complete new build.

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