Putting a pick-up bed on my F-550

[Nat]

Jim, I'm with you on the tie down straps. I think instead of giving Jimmy Carter a Nobel Prize it should go to the man that made tie down straps and battery drills. Later, Nat

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Jim, I'm with you on the tie down straps. I think instead of giving Jimmy Carter a Nobel Prize it should go to the man that made tie down straps and battery drills. Later, Nat

It should also be shared with the guys that invented vice grips, duct tape, and super glue.

 

[dieselcrawler]

MrJimi,

Nice project... I'm a ford fan too.

You mention you posted something on a ford BB, which one? I'm on Powerstroke.org, same S/N...

The 7.3L Powerstroke motors are awesome... run forever, just take care of 'em. Better air filter (not the stock POS), straight pipe the exhaust (doesn't make it too loud, but breaths better), and a set of gauges (Boost, EGT, and trans temp) are simple, easy mods. I highly recomend them all... Air filter is easy, cost about 35-50 bucks, and it's gonna save your turbo from dusting. Exhaust was easy/free for me, I had the pipe, welder, ect. Took about 2 hours. Gauges (3 gauges w/window piller pod was about $310) help know what's going on... trans temp is very importaint. The trans in these trucks is the weak point! EGT will let you know when you're getting close to frying your pistons, and if your gonna haul anywhere close to what your truck is capible of, you'll find this info helpful.

Is your truck 4x2 or 4x4? You said 7K Lbs, sounds light to me... my F-350 with a flat bed is over 9K, but it's ext cab and 4x4. However, I've had it loaded to 16K+ hauling gravel... almost 7K Lbs I got to unload by hand... Doubt you'll overload yours with regular use... you'll have to try hard to do so...

Sounds like you basicly left the rad support as is, no hight adjustment, and added a "wedge", graduly taller stacks of washers as needed to match the bed? Good idea...

 

[bondo]

I have a 05 F550 with the pickup bed from the manufacturer. Pics in my sig. For what I needed it for, had to have the pickup bed and needed the towing of the 550. Looked into putting a standard 350 bed on it, but took the easy way out.

Good luck and looks good!

 

[MrJimi]

Greg, I do plan on doing the airfliter mod and I may just leave the rest alone for now and my title says 6,800 and some change as a cab and chassis without the bed, I will have to re-weigh it when I'm finished and your correct, I did the wedge trick so I wouldn't have to get into re-doing the Inter cooler thing. I crawled up under and looked at what had to be done to get the results I needed and I found a better and easier way and my truck is a two wheel drive with the limited slip 4.88 rear, fuel mileage is gonna not be good but It will pull a house

Bondo, I have heard about that filler piece you have and that was just not for me, I want a F-550 that looks like a regular F series Shh
You do have a fine looking truck, mine is the work version with the ugly grey grill and I fell in love with your grill, Thats pretty

 

[bondo]

Thanks Jimi,
Mine is used as a pick up, not show truck. Filler piece is metal on mine and it does carry the lines like you did on yours. Like you said it will pull a house, 488 rears here and I wanted a truck that tows, not a gas saver. Use it on the farm, pulling hay wagons, and when we tow with the horse trailer, always have 100 gallons of water sloshing around in the bed along with all the other horse stuff that we can fit in the bed. Usually run from PA to ME and PA to SC with the horses, and everywhere else inbetween. Had a 99 F350 before this and loved it, had it modded and it pulled great, just wasn't legal when we towed, and didn't want to go through all the hassle of being stopped.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

What's the latest on this Mr. Jimi? I'm waiting to see it hitched and pulling.
I'm also pretty eager to see your mod on the bed sides to blend them in.

 

[MrJimi]

Since my last post our gas water heater has a leak and the gas company has turned off our gas for our safety?
I had to buy another electric water heater and install It now I have to wire It for 220 volts.
I also had something go wrong with my left eye, I've been to the hospital and It Is getting better and I have to go back the eighteenth of April for another check and I'm hoping all Is well so I can see again and It's been cold here and truck has been on back burner since
here Is a picture of my eye they took at the hospital, see If you can tell whats wrong with It, looks like a fertile egg to me

 

[dbdartman]

Looks like Jupiter on a clear day.

Hope things improve & you can get back to work on the projects soon!

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Sorry to hear MrJimi, hope all ends well. I had a picture of my eye taken last night that looks like yours. I forget it's exact name, opti-something. The egg looking thing is your optic nerve, sends light signals to the brain. All I know is that mine was normal and yours doesn't look much different. But, I am no doctor. Actually after thinking, mine had more orange. They can tell a lot from those pics, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. My eye doc is my neighbors son, so we get pretty good treatment.