F350 SD Hauler

Well, I’ve been poking away at this project for a while, as time and/or money and motivation permit.  If you are going to haul a car, a crew and accommodations a few thousand miles, you better be prepared right?

I had been wanting to add a somewhat larger truck to the ‘fleet’ for a while.  In August 2014 a truck presented its self that fit the bill, and fit the funds available at the time.  It was in DESPERATE need of some love and attention, but the bones were fairly solid.  My opinion was I could pay more for a truck that might be better, or, I could pay less, and do the repairs and upgrades, and KNOW what I had when I was done.  I chose the latter.  Thus I added this beast to the stable.

1999 F350 Super Duty Crew Cab Dually 4×4

It’s had a rough life, spent mainly doing commercial hauling.  When not earning a living, it was hauling a horse trailer on the barrel racing circuit.

Body solid, but has it’s share of dings and scrapes.  The box has been replaced, and a few of the cross brace ribs have been broken.  Tailgate doesn’t exist.  The one in the photo I acquired from a salvage, and the yellow circles indicate damaged areas on it.

Runs well, drives well, starts like crap.  Interior is the Laredo Leather, but, this too has been neglected.  Honestly, I think most tool boxes receive more cleaning and attention than this truck did. The previous owner ran the truck without the tailgate.   DON’T DO THAT!  The tailgate provides structural support to the box.  Without it,the sides rock in and out (flap in the breeze), and gradually break the cross bracing beams of the box.  This one (the second on the truck) had 2 of the braces broken.  I picked up a used tailgate, to stabilize things again, but, it too had a few little dings and dents.

Tires bad, rims mismatched aluminium and steel.

Thankfully, my friends at Kelvins Wheel,Tire and Polish came through with a full set of steel rims, fresh Firestone Transporter Tires

Electrical has it’s issues, trailer connections are beat all to hell.

Did I mention it runs well?

Tires bad, rims mismatched aluminium and steel.

Thankfully, my friends at Kelvins Wheel,Tire and Polish came through with a full set of steel rims,stainless steel trim, and fresh Firestone Transporter Tires

The guys at Kelvins are gear heads, and know just how to get it done.  Need custom built,They can do that!  Need to find a match for a classic you have, they can do that!, found the curb or a pot hole?  They can FIX That!

Thanks to the trucks past life, it already had a heavy goose neck hitch installed.  Unfortunately, I need a Fifth Wheel hitch.  Naturally it mounts in the same location as the goose neck hitch.  Well,always up for a challenge, a little creativity, trimming, hole drilling, bolt changing and both hitches are firmly mounted in place.  Not much I can’t haul now.

Now,the truck came with a beat up roll up toneau cover.  A real pain to open and close, so I wanted to get rid of it and replace with something a little more current.  I happened to be at the right place at the right time and found folding covers on sale.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the 8 foot long box unit I needed.  But,not to be out done, I grabbed one of the 6 foot covers, and fabricated an aluminium cover to go across the front of the box.  This, will end up being better than if I had installed the full length cover as I intend to install a long haul tank across the box right under this aluminium,so it will be completely out of sight, or perhaps I’ll install a filler through the aluminium.

At some point, I’ll get the Display Lighting completed, but not a top priority right now.  A custom built control system will allow me to have the LED display lights, which will be installed on the running boards, just below the body work, operate with the marker/tail lights, or synchronize to the audio system, or, strobe, or, sync to a sound generator

I have to scale down the video file so I can upload it.

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