Take the cab off! Truly paint the frame, then restore the engine. 180/30 injectors, kc300x stage 2 turbo, power hungry performance hydra tuner, irate diesel intake manifold. Kc turbos intercooler, your choice of aftermarket boost tubes and boots, and a banks ram air intake box. Also, put head studs in, they don’t cost that much for what they provide. And if you want to, send the heads off to get a metal o-ring inserted into them. Does it need it? No, but if you ever get the idea to turn it up to 11, it’s a sure fire way to prevent a head gasket blow out. The head o-ring is a bulletproof for the bulletproof to a bulletproof engine. They are not that expensive to have done, maybe $400 per head, depending on location and shop. You won’t need a single mod for that motor, to do what you want it to do, but we can never leave anything stock… can we?
are head studs really necessary ? wouldnt you rather a stud fail than the cast part /machined part? theres always gonna be a point of failure i believe the engineers chose the stud as that point . whats your opinion ? understanding this is for reliability not max power.
I use to work in a concrete floor warehouse every day. A 20$ Foam Roller is the best back deep tissue massage preventative maintenance for your back. There are many UA-cam tutorials about the Foam Roller and how to use it?. You're back will thank me later if you've never used one before. Quick and easy to relieve pressure from the back when working all day. Love the videos. They inspire me as a visual learner to get out to the garage and do the work. My side of the screen says take the whole truck apart. I look forward to your next video.
Wow! That’s a lot of work. Your skillset and knowledge of how to do this mechanical project at your relatively young age is impressive and amazing to watch
You are so blessed to have such a great shop and tools for your projects, looks very peaceful there. Looks like you can actually get some work done. Be safe!!
Phenomenal video. Couldn't sleep and had to watch this latest chapter. Couldn't believe the number of parts, nuts, bolts, etc. that were removed. Labeled plastic zip lock bags are my thing as they really help with putting everything back on without "spare parts." Can't wait to see the finished project. Going to be a fantastic vehicle. Watch your back; it doesn't take much to permanently mess it up. Screwed mine up in 2004 and after 5 surgeries I have steel rods and other hardware keeping me on my feet. Be safe and keep the videos coming.
I can see why you have been away for so long, phenomenal amount of work done in the time we have not seen you. If it were me, I'd go through and bulletproof the engine with upgraded parts and solve all the issues. It will be an engine you know from a baseline you have created. It is a full time home on wheels not a vehicle you can layup for a while and drive a rental, the less major hassles later the better! You have already come so far.
32:00 if I were you, I’d do head gaskets, head studs, maybe a reseal or so on the engine. Definitely look into the 7.3L weakpoints and replace them with the aftermarket stuff that are better then stock. I would do maybe a turbo and Fass fuel pump.
Having just done essentially the same job on my 1999 F-350, I have a tip for that hard to access bell-housing bolt. Remove the crossmember first and use the trans jack to tilt it down and give you more access. Also, you’re this far in, I would finish the job and pull the cab and motor. I cleaned up my frame with it totally stripped and it made the job so much easier. It’ll also make fixing the up pipes and manifolds much easier as well.
I know your pain and I've had my days like that but hope you get better. As a 7.3 l power stroke lover and guy who's wrenched on a few I think your best at this point is just go the full tear down and do it right while you have the opportunity. To be honest without the tear down to this point you would have have found those issues and may never really found them until it was to late.
I bought that truck years ago and rebuilt the engine and bulletproofed it. Since then, I've had very few issues, and the few issues I have had have been easy to troubleshoot and fix since I'm very familiar with the engine.
When we did our off frame restore the cab floor's we sprayed 3 coats inside , under the cab and fire wall with Rino box linner spray. WOW what a diifrent's hardly nor road noise and motor noise
Good idea if your budget is in the ballpark. He only does complete engine builds. His current price range is $10K - $15K on the 7.3L but a good core (which you have) is $3K returned to you. A collab might be an option for a great deal if you can get him a video of your project and how much blood, sweat, and tears you're willing to tackle. He loves helping young people if they show interest. A long shot but may be worth looking into. You'll have the best rebuilt 7.3L on the planet and a full warranty.
just a head gasket and a freeze plug.. couple of exhaust leaks.. sounds like an excuse to bullet proof the internals to me. I love what you're doing man. Wishing you all the best!
I have a 2000 F450 down to bare frame currently, just had the frame and axle assemblies media blasted and threw some epoxy primer on it all. I felt your pain with the leaf shackle bolts, I needed a torch for a couple of them! Nice work and you just reminded me that now would be a good time to replace the leaf and shackle bushings, so thanks for more add work to my project! Ha. Fun project, just time consuming!
In my humble opinion, I would continue the tear down and fix/upgrade the engine. Great vid! I would enjoy an even more in-depth dive into the details (rear window replacement for example)
With regards to the transmission and the engine, I would drop the clutch if you can by itself address that issue and fix the exhaust leaks, but deal with the engine and head gasket leaks to which you desire
I think you'll need to pull it. It'll be easier to get to the freeze plugs and the head gasket will only get worse. It'll also make it easier to clean up the front of the frame.
It's your budget, of course, but ya might as well go for the full monty on the truck. At the very least, head gaskets and a tip after the heads are off, pour about 1.5- 2 cups of ATF in each cylinder as a quick piston ring test. If you have bad rings/ cylinders, the ATF will leak past in a few hours.
Did you record taking the rear window out? I would be interested to see a whole video about that with building the passthrough. Wondering if its possible to take the window out with the box still on the back, I don’t have resources to take mine off. Cheers to another great video
if i remember correctly leaf sprung suspension doesnt require a track bar because the leaves themselves locate the axle front to back and left to right. the track bar as you can tell just causes the entire suspension to bind its just ungood. You should be able to just permanently remove it with no problems and it will probably save a LOT of weight
The springs do locate but still have give to them. The track bar helps with steering and added strength to the setup. Good things in an F550. Probably not as needed in a 1/2 ton or crawler
I know it looks like it, I was bummed when I went over the edit. But I can assure you it wasn’t. It just went back and forth and balanced when I did let go. The last frame bracket did it
Honestly when all has been removed and your going full restoration. You must take care of the engine removal. You will have no other time as good as this moment. If your gonna go for it you must really go for it all
Well if you want it done right then a FULL RESTORATION is called for. If this is your future home then it has to be 100% love ❤️ your channel and appreciate all your edits and camera placement. I know it’s a job just doing all that.
Hard to see from your video but is it possible the freeze plug leak is running down the head gasket seam and just showing up at the back? Also now would be the time to Cummins swap it if you were going to…just enough wrong with that 7.3 to make it a serious consideration…and the Cummins is so much quieter.
Logic says since you are this far along you should redo the motor and bring it up to like new. And you will have the peace of mind knowing that everything is redone and in good working order. We are all wondering also, is the girl a girlfriend and how did you all meet? I have followed you since you started and loved all the videos where you were out in the middle of know where, things got a little scarce from you last winter and lost interest in your channel. So I lost out on how and why the move, and how you met the people where you are now. I would like to donate and become more up to date with things with you. I felt bad for you when you explained about the people taking your business away. But you seem to have a handle on things now. Keep it up. Hold your head high.
You have already identified issues that need to be addressed. I think it would be a mistake to not address them now. As others have said, you will never have better access than now to address them. Labor is normally the majority of the cost of repairs. While you may not be paying someone to fix these issues, you are paying with your time. How much will it cost you to address them now vs later? It is much less costly to address now while you have already paid the time cost to get it to where it is. If you do it later you will have tripled or even quadrupled your time cost for the repairs.
If ya do full Restor then ya will have no regrets in feature that ya did not do it while ya was doing the build. Good luck on this project I am enjoying seeing ya do this.
to get those top trans bolts easier, remove the crossmember and lower the trans jack to where the engine rest on the fire wall and it'll give a better angle
All those issues with the motor are an easy fix once you have the cab off. Replace the freeze plug, do bellowed up pipes, and replace your clutch pack. I highly doubt you have blown head gasket these engine almost never blow head gaskets but even if you do pulling on head off isn’t that bad of a job. When you have to start doing cylinders that is when you need to start worrying and this motor doesn’t need a full rebuild
Take the cab off! Truly paint the frame, then restore the engine.
180/30 injectors, kc300x stage 2 turbo, power hungry performance hydra tuner, irate diesel intake manifold. Kc turbos intercooler, your choice of aftermarket boost tubes and boots, and a banks ram air intake box. Also, put head studs in, they don’t cost that much for what they provide. And if you want to, send the heads off to get a metal o-ring inserted into them. Does it need it? No, but if you ever get the idea to turn it up to 11, it’s a sure fire way to prevent a head gasket blow out. The head o-ring is a bulletproof for the bulletproof to a bulletproof engine. They are not that expensive to have done, maybe $400 per head, depending on location and shop.
You won’t need a single mod for that motor, to do what you want it to do, but we can never leave anything stock… can we?
are head studs really necessary ? wouldnt you rather a stud fail than the cast part /machined part? theres always gonna be a point of failure i believe the engineers chose the stud as that point . whats your opinion ? understanding this is for reliability not max power.
I use to work in a concrete floor warehouse every day. A 20$ Foam Roller is the best back deep tissue massage preventative maintenance for your back. There are many UA-cam tutorials about the Foam Roller and how to use it?. You're back will thank me later if you've never used one before. Quick and easy to relieve pressure from the back when working all day. Love the videos. They inspire me as a visual learner to get out to the garage and do the work. My side of the screen says take the whole truck apart. I look forward to your next video.
I thought they were called Ford built tough for a reason
Wow! That’s a lot of work. Your skillset and knowledge of how to do this mechanical project at your relatively young age is impressive and amazing to watch
You are so blessed to have such a great shop and tools for your projects, looks very peaceful there. Looks like you can actually get some work done. Be safe!!
Is he blessed or a result of his own hard work?
Phenomenal video. Couldn't sleep and had to watch this latest chapter. Couldn't believe the number of parts, nuts, bolts, etc. that were removed. Labeled plastic zip lock bags are my thing as they really help with putting everything back on without "spare parts." Can't wait to see the finished project. Going to be a fantastic vehicle. Watch your back; it doesn't take much to permanently mess it up. Screwed mine up in 2004 and after 5 surgeries I have steel rods and other hardware keeping me on my feet. Be safe and keep the videos coming.
I can see why you have been away for so long, phenomenal amount of work done in the time we have not seen you. If it were me, I'd go through and bulletproof the engine with upgraded parts and solve all the issues. It will be an engine you know from a baseline you have created. It is a full time home on wheels not a vehicle you can layup for a while and drive a rental, the less major hassles later the better! You have already come so far.
32:00 if I were you, I’d do head gaskets, head studs, maybe a reseal or so on the engine. Definitely look into the 7.3L weakpoints and replace them with the aftermarket stuff that are better then stock. I would do maybe a turbo and Fass fuel pump.
Full restoration would be my vote!
As a Midwesterner, I wish bolts just come off like that, and cotter keys that you don't just take off with the nut with an impact
Having just done essentially the same job on my 1999 F-350, I have a tip for that hard to access bell-housing bolt. Remove the crossmember first and use the trans jack to tilt it down and give you more access.
Also, you’re this far in, I would finish the job and pull the cab and motor. I cleaned up my frame with it totally stripped and it made the job so much easier. It’ll also make fixing the up pipes and manifolds much easier as well.
I know your pain and I've had my days like that but hope you get better. As a 7.3 l power stroke lover and guy who's wrenched on a few I think your best at this point is just go the full tear down and do it right while you have the opportunity. To be honest without the tear down to this point you would have have found those issues and may never really found them until it was to late.
Love your channel- your energy is optimum and you give so much hard work to a great project ❤🎉😊
I bought that truck years ago and rebuilt the engine and bulletproofed it. Since then, I've had very few issues, and the few issues I have had have been easy to troubleshoot and fix since I'm very familiar with the engine.
When we did our off frame restore the cab floor's we sprayed 3 coats inside , under the cab and fire wall with Rino box linner spray. WOW what a diifrent's hardly nor road noise and motor noise
You should contact Dave at Dave's Engines in Utah and do a collaborative video on engine build. He is the best diesel engine builder in the west.
Good idea if your budget is in the ballpark. He only does complete engine builds. His current price range is $10K - $15K on the 7.3L but a good core (which you have) is $3K returned to you.
A collab might be an option for a great deal if you can get him a video of your project and how much blood, sweat, and tears you're willing to tackle. He loves helping young people if they show interest. A long shot but may be worth looking into. You'll have the best rebuilt 7.3L on the planet and a full warranty.
BTW he just did a 7.3L build on his YT channel, Dave's Auto Center.
just a head gasket and a freeze plug.. couple of exhaust leaks.. sounds like an excuse to bullet proof the internals to me. I love what you're doing man. Wishing you all the best!
Dude when your back went out, I felt it in my back. 😢
IF your budget allows, take/send the driveline components to Dave's Automotive and see if y'all can do some collaboration videos.
Great hair cut! 💇
I have a 2000 F450 down to bare frame currently, just had the frame and axle assemblies media blasted and threw some epoxy primer on it all. I felt your pain with the leaf shackle bolts, I needed a torch for a couple of them! Nice work and you just reminded me that now would be a good time to replace the leaf and shackle bushings, so thanks for more add work to my project! Ha.
Fun project, just time consuming!
Nice haircut!
In my humble opinion, I would continue the tear down and fix/upgrade the engine. Great vid! I would enjoy an even more in-depth dive into the details (rear window replacement for example)
Cool project 💪🏻👍🏻
i love your music choices!
Just awesome 🎉
Again @27:00 bangers!!!
Also biggest take away from this video best investment for DIY mechanics Milwaukee Impact is a must!!
With regards to the transmission and the engine, I would drop the clutch if you can by itself address that issue and fix the exhaust leaks, but deal with the engine and head gasket leaks to which you desire
YES! So excited to see you
I think you'll need to pull it. It'll be easier to get to the freeze plugs and the head gasket will only get worse. It'll also make it easier to clean up the front of the frame.
not a ford guy for most their stuff but love the powerstroke
It's your budget, of course, but ya might as well go for the full monty on the truck. At the very least, head gaskets and a tip after the heads are off, pour about 1.5- 2 cups of ATF in each cylinder as a quick piston ring test. If you have bad rings/ cylinders, the ATF will leak past in a few hours.
I would like to suggest losing the dual wheels and going with a super single truck tire and wheel
Wow! Deep dive
Prime time to upgrade the motor!
@9:40 music is outstanding
@expedition ranch
I was so confused why you didn’t pull the cab from the beginning
Did you record taking the rear window out? I would be interested to see a whole video about that with building the passthrough. Wondering if its possible to take the window out with the box still on the back, I don’t have resources to take mine off. Cheers to another great video
clutch, hmm could be a spring fragment caught behind the diaphragm
Do it all so it's reliable as possible. It will help keep you off the side of the road.
if i remember correctly leaf sprung suspension doesnt require a track bar because the leaves themselves locate the axle front to back and left to right. the track bar as you can tell just causes the entire suspension to bind its just ungood. You should be able to just permanently remove it with no problems and it will probably save a LOT of weight
The springs do locate but still have give to them. The track bar helps with steering and added strength to the setup. Good things in an F550. Probably not as needed in a 1/2 ton or crawler
the camber on the tractor is crazy
Nice job done right
The back thing was painful to watch. I hope everything is all-right again. :)
do a 2015 f250 front end
You're already went that far I can go ahead and freshen up the motor with some gaskets and stuff
Zink dip the frame
Truck is actually resting on the front support 28:05
I know it looks like it, I was bummed when I went over the edit. But I can assure you it wasn’t. It just went back and forth and balanced when I did let go. The last frame bracket did it
Drop in a 24 vaulve! Lol
Nothing is possible without God. Hopefully youll have the wisdom to realize it one day.
A work truck with plastic headlight? What the hell
If your woman wants to do Notebook stuff you gotta do it bud
Please go get your back checked out and worked on. Can’t even grow a beard yet that is no joke man! Love the content though!
You should add a DPF system to it for cleaner burning.
Honestly when all has been removed and your going full restoration. You must take care of the engine removal. You will have no other time as good as this moment. If your gonna go for it you must really go for it all
Well if you want it done right then a FULL RESTORATION is called for. If this is your future home then it has to be 100% love ❤️ your channel and appreciate all your edits and camera placement. I know it’s a job just doing all that.
18:03 I know that pain, take care of yourself man.
Glad you are making progress. Dean was a gift from the heavens...too bad the angels did not send a bag of high quality safety glasses.🤓
Pull cab, rebuild engine. Then you KNOW what you have.
Agree!!
Honestly you're already almost there pull the cab do down pipes and such also so you can fully paint frame.
Considering where it's at, might as well do a max restore/rebuild.😮
Hard to see from your video but is it possible the freeze plug leak is running down the head gasket seam and just showing up at the back? Also now would be the time to Cummins swap it if you were going to…just enough wrong with that 7.3 to make it a serious consideration…and the Cummins is so much quieter.
I’m 26 brother and I know ur pain with the back problems😂👊🏽
After seeing those extras with the motor, just pull the cab.
The back pain could be coming from your si joint.
Four link the front with coils 06+ style
Take cab off pull engine and do it all and be done with it
Pull cab and go full bore. You are this far.
25:49 well that wasn’t very quick for a “QUICK DISCONNECT” ford…
They never are😂
Get it running on resteraunt oil.
pull the cab off
CUMMINGS!!!!!!!!
😎
Logic says since you are this far along you should redo the motor and bring it up to like new. And you will have the peace of mind knowing that everything is redone and in good working order. We are all wondering also, is the girl a girlfriend and how did you all meet? I have followed you since you started and loved all the videos where you were out in the middle of know where, things got a little scarce from you last winter and lost interest in your channel. So I lost out on how and why the move, and how you met the people where you are now. I would like to donate and become more up to date with things with you. I felt bad for you when you explained about the people taking your business away. But you seem to have a handle on things now. Keep it up. Hold your head high.
You have already identified issues that need to be addressed. I think it would be a mistake to not address them now. As others have said, you will never have better access than now to address them. Labor is normally the majority of the cost of repairs. While you may not be paying someone to fix these issues, you are paying with your time. How much will it cost you to address them now vs later? It is much less costly to address now while you have already paid the time cost to get it to where it is. If you do it later you will have tripled or even quadrupled your time cost for the repairs.
Full send it !
Full restoration. I’m doing the same thing for my five window skoolie
I need to remove the cab from the frame and pull the motor out
If ya do full Restor then ya will have no regrets in feature that ya did not do it while ya was doing the build. Good luck on this project I am enjoying seeing ya do this.
to get those top trans bolts easier, remove the crossmember and lower the trans jack to where the engine rest on the fire wall and it'll give a better angle
Pull the cab. Get her done. Keep it original, take it apart and put it back together
This is a great series, best was the trip home after you bought it, was cool to see you working with the shacker machine, those guys were cool
Great video, awesome to see the teardown and I appreciate the explanations as you went.
Full resto! You’re 80% there already, might as well go full hog 🙌
Would love to see cab and engine removal
Great work so far
All those issues with the motor are an easy fix once you have the cab off. Replace the freeze plug, do bellowed up pipes, and replace your clutch pack. I highly doubt you have blown head gasket these engine almost never blow head gaskets but even if you do pulling on head off isn’t that bad of a job. When you have to start doing cylinders that is when you need to start worrying and this motor doesn’t need a full rebuild