Ford F250 Super Duty
1999 F250 V10/6.8
I purchased this truck February 1, 2010. It is a 1999 Ford F250 Lariat Super Duty 4x4 with the 6.8 liter v10 and automatic transmission. This truck had 92,250 miles at the time of purchase. This truck is excellent shape it drives and shifts as expected but did need a little tlc, Upon purchasing this truck I pulled it in the shop to check the bearings, brakes, and all other wear components. I found it was only in need of a few replacement parts which included a lower ball joint on the driver side as well as new sway bar end links. After replacing these wear items I also did a fluid and filter change.
This is my Toy Hauler and will be drove mostly on the road so the modifications I do to it will be looking to help it excel in doing so. I do however have several items in mind for this project so stay tuned to see how it turns out.
Husky Liners Mud Guards
If your truck is like mine it has several chips in the paint due to rocks getting flung from the tires and it stays covered in mud due to the mud flung from the tires even after the first time down the road following a good cleaning. After a little research I found the manufacturers of my Husky Liner floor protectors also offered some custom Molded Mud Guards for my truck that not only offered protection but also offer custom good looks. See Videos
Husky Liners
This is another item that I picked up from streetsideauto.com These are great, they do an awesome job keeping the carpet in my Super Duty clean. These are a molded hard rubber design that contours to the floor and they have a raised lip so anything spilled will be captured inside the liner and not spilled in the carpet. Read More
Putco LED Dome Light Kit
I got this kit from streetsideauto.com It is the Putco LED Dome Light kit (Part#980012) for the 1999 to 2007 Super Duty Ford that fits all crew cabs and extended cabs. This kit included four small lights that had four leds on each light and 2 large lights that had 12 led's on each light Read More.
Rough Country's New Spring Leveling kit
After several miles of driving the add-a-leaf leveling kit had settled enough to bring back the spring wrap and with the truck never truly level I decided to go back to rough Country for one of the new spring Leveling kits. Seeing they do not offer this kit for the early 99 model super Duty due to the sway bar bolts being larger in the newer trucks I went to the local scrap yard and picked up a frame mount track bar bracket from a 2000 model pickup along with the two track bar bolts. With the new bolts and bracket all I had to do was drill the lower track bar mount out with a 13/16 bit so the new kit would work. With the new springs and all installed my fenders now measure 43" from the center of the opening to the ground on both front and rear of my pickup. I am sure as time goes by and I drive this truck the front springs will sag some so in time I will update this post with my experiences.
Rough Country shocks
These made a big difference in the ride of my truck. My truck with blown shocks was swaying a lot in turns as well as feeling bouncy when a bump was hit. These shocks stiffened up my ride for a much better feel on and off road.
Rough Country Add-a-leafs
Upon purchase of this truck I found the front end set considerable lower than the rear, this was caused because my truck has the f350 blocks in the rear which are 4" instead of the f250 2" block. I suppose this was done to keep the truck level when under heavy load, seeing I will never have this truck loaded with more than 5-6000lbs I decided to call Rough Country in search of raising the front end slightly and on a budget. I found they offer an 2" add a leaf kit which is what I choose for this truck. After installing the kit I find I like the ride better due to less sway in the turns, less nose dive when applying the brakes, no more spring wrap when applying the brakes, as well as a 2" increase in height of the front suspension. But after several miles the spring rwrap came back and the front end settled to about one inch above where it originally was so I ordered Rough Country's leveling kit with new springs.
5 Star custom Tunes
For this truck I choose the SCT X3 from Mike at 5 Star tuning.With this tuner I received three custom tunes which were already installed upon arrival. I choose the 87 performance, 87 tow, and 93 performance tunes. I was told to expect at best 1-2mpg improvement with this tuner due to the increase power and improved shifting strategies. I figure seeing I was getting 9-10mpg in stock form if I gain 2mpg (being optimistic) for a total of 11-12 mpg in town over a period of 10-15,000 miles this unit would pay for itself and begin putting money back into my pocket. This tuner is very simple to use, after a couple minutes of reading I headed to the truck to flash the 87 performance tune. This tune has made a huge improvement in shift strategies, my truck now shifts firm and at a lower rpm than before. These quick shifts should yield less wear and tear on the transmission with cooler operating temps because of less slippage between gears. The truck also pulls much stronger and revs up faster due to the noticeable power increase. I have not put enough miles on my truck with this tuner to get a confident mpg reading yet but I will update when I do.
Rough Country Steering Stabilizer
This is an excellent product from Rough Country which stiffens the steering assembly in order to do away with the wondering at high speeds caused by larger tires (A duel stabilizer setup is recommend for 34 inch and taller tires). A Steering Stabilizer also lightens the vibrations found in the front-end which in turn extends the life of the tie-rods, ball joints, and other steering components. My truck was not originally equipped with a steering stabilizer but this kit from Rough Country included everything necessary to mount it to my 99 f250.
Gibson Headers
If you have a modular Ford motor with a few miles on it most likely you know what I mean when I say "that dreaded exhaust leak". Well a while back my truck's dreaded exhaust leak was getting worse (at 100k miles) so I decided instead of doing all the work and spending the cash on stock stuff to fix it(knowing over time I would be back in the same position I am now) I went in search of a good quality set of headers. After a lot of research I decided on the Gibson headers because of all the good feed back I was finding on the ford websites. I must say these headers not only look great (when you get over the fact that 5 tubes on each header just looks funny) but even with the rest of the exhaust being stock they slightly mellow out the tone, let the motor rev a lot quicker, fixed the exhaust leak, and most importantly offer more seat of the pants acceleration.
Harley Davidson Style Headlights!
You have to do some cutting on the header panel and need some clips for the upper mounts because they bolt up differently than the early models. I went to the local NAPA and picked up some 3/8 clips because you can't get your hand in to put a nut on the backside. Also the plug on the signal lights were different than mine (99 f-250 Super Duty) so I just used my old one with the new seal and new bulb. No major issues and I am very happy with the results.
These look awesome and put out a lot more light than my other lights did!
K&N Cold Air Intake!
This intake was an easy add on that sounds awesome and looks cool under the hood. I haven't drove it enough to notice a mpg change and dont really feel any hp advantage in the seat of the pants test but as small a change as they claim I would doubt it would be noticed other than a dyno or maybe a timed before and after run.
Amazon Air Horn!
I have always wanted a big truck horn on my truck and when I found this on Amazon I had to have it! It is a cheap horn claiming 135 decibels, I cut up a piece of steel and mounted mine inside the bumper in hopes of protecting it from some rain water and some cold wind in the winter. I ran the factory horn wire to the relay so this horn is run from the steering wheel and it is what you hear when you press the panic button and it is working great so far! I wish this horn was a little louder but dollar for dollar it is hard to beat if it holds up.