New 2017 F350 on Order...

It's a beauty but it looks like Bronze Fire to me. Maybe my eyes haven't had enough coffee...lol
Congrats on you wedding too. Great week I'd say :)
 
Nice truck. No problem with payload. Like the steps. Congrats on your wedding. Have fun when you get the camper.
 
Congratulations! I have those same steps on 2005 F250-the stock steps were lower and got banged up. I'm curious why Ford recommends 20psi lower tire pressure in the front-is it because it's not a diesel, which is a heavier motor?
 
RR, sharp looking truck, congrats ! Great payload, you are close to what Ford shows as "max" for that config. Curious, was 11,500 gvwr available to you for that set up?

dharte, I'd guess the truck has 5600# GFAWR, 7230# GRAWR and that even Ford acknowledges that if 80 psi is "correct" for the rear it would be excessive for the lower, front axle rating (as much as they may want to recommend it :giggle: )
 
Thanks everyone! Yes it was a good week!

Color is Bronze Fire. :)

GVWR is 11,500lbs. I opt'ed for the 275/70's vs the stock 275/65 (18" wheels) which bumped me up 100lbs. Since I always set my air pressure to what I'm doing, I dropped some air out as the dealership had the max pressure in front and back. I lowered to 55 front and 50 in the rear and the ride is much better. I need to adjust the TPMS however as the 50psi is setting off the dash light.

I'll do Torklifts again for the tie downs, need to wire in a plug, and need to get some mudflaps. I'm assuming my camper will fit. Hope to have the truck camper ready by September. I need to finish paying for the wedding. HAHA!

Oh, one more item to note...when I got the truck the computer showed 10.1mpg. After yesterdays run to the coast and back I was up to 12.2mpg. I'm going to keep track by hand calc'ing mpg's to compare.
 
Riverrunner

Look bright and shinny ( no rash, yet ). Congratulations on the wedding.

Your GVWR in contrast to mine is engine and options. I "had" to weight mine so as to track, so the basic, then as things change and I can figure what I have done differently to affect ride/drive contexts.
full
 
Congratulations on the wedding and the truck!! I just ordered a very similar setup - F350 xlt - and it's great to see how yours turned out. Also got the 4x4 package, I like that manual shift option too. Thanks for sharing!

Pic please when your camper's on it :)
 
Congrats on the new rig and new bride!
One thing to look out for when you test fit the camper is the height from the truck bed to the top of the cab.
I was debating wether to get a '16 or '17 and found out that the '17's were a few inches taller which would have been an issue for me.
 
Idahostat said:
Advmoto18

Did you do this right off? If not what quality of roads where you traversing ( this was loaded with or without Camper "X" ) at the time of decision when you realized the Ford specified "Rancho" did not work for your "use".

The advantage of the Bilstein leveling kit was for sag in front? Spring pack in relation to bumper? Ground clearance of "X" inches. Kindly help me understand some of your process for my future reflection on things "Off road" or those roads less traveled.

If that process was already related in a prior post please direct so as not to repeat that evolution of the wheel, again! :)

Thanks for the input.

T.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the delayed reply. We were off the grid again.

I've owned a few Super Duties the past 23 years.

I knew the Ford spec'd, Rancho built shocks were lacking from the get go from past experience. The factory Ranchos are more about looks then function IMHO.

The front of the F-350 does not sag. But it is designed to be an inch or so lower then the rear due to the 4" rear axle blocks. The F-250 front does not sit lower than the rear because it has 2" blocks over the rear axle. The Bilstein leveling kit brings the front of an F-350 level with the rear.

I do not back away from trailheads, but, it is critically important to know when to turn around. And that comes with experience. These trucks/campers are not designed for jeep crawling trails. So you must keep that in mind. A serious issue with the F-350 you must be aware of in gnarly, off-chamber situations is axle warp. The 4" block accentuate axle warp. At some point, I will have after-market springs installed that eliminate the blocks and maintain a level height with the front. This will greatly mitigate axle warp. But, that is a few years away. So I'm mindful of the trail and don't hesitate to turn around when an ugly off-chamber situation presents itself. The last thing you need out in the boonies is to crack your rear axle. Not to mention the damage to your wallet!

I hope that answers your questions.

Bill
 
Avmoto18

Yes you explained your self well ( I may need several years of experience and watching to successfully integrate AKA "seat time" ).

"Axel warp"? OK Mr Sulu Make it so, warp factor 1.

I have read and looked at the Rancho 9000 series and get that the adjustable "firmness" is a desirable thing, just need the experience and incentive to replace the brand new with something that is still a mystery, perhaps I will meet someone on the road and it can be demonstrated to me.

I expect to 'creep" up on your level of serious off roading, no need to bend parts in the back of the beyond.

Thanks.

T.
 
Thanks for the well wishes. Hard to beat marrying your best friend AND getting a new truck! :D

So far I'm averaging around 12mpg but I just broke 500 miles. Hope to have my other truck sold by the end of the week. I'll miss the old girl but she's going to a good home.
 
Update: I've put 2400 miles on the truck so far. This rig is my daily driver so it see's a variety of conditions. The last 3 weekends I've been fishing so dragging the boat (5500lbs) to and from the boat ramp (just over 100 miles round trip) I'm getting a pretty good feel for how it will tow and haul.

Engine: First, if anyone thinks the 6.2L might be under powered...it's not. Just mash the skinny pedal and grab a gear or two. There is lots of power once you're in the power band. The big power is above 3000rpm. I've been pretty good at not beating on the engine but sometimes you just have to drive. Granted my boat is not that heavy and but I can drag it uphill at any speed I want. I have yet to find a hill I can't accelerate up. The power is very impressive. I would not hesitate to pull 10,000+ with this set up at all.

MPG's: I'm keeping track of my mileage by hand and I've found the computer is within 0.1 of a MPG. Right now my overall average (empty and towing) is 10.8. Considering most of my driving is "in town" I don't think that's too bad. I did get 13.6mpg on a recent trip to east Portland during rush our which had maybe 50% freeway driving anywhere from 0 to 70mph. The engine is capable of decent MPG's. From the first time I pulled the boat I got 9.2mpg and my last pull I'm at 10 so it's getting a little better. The interesting thing is this MPG is not much different than what I got with my 7.3L.

Overall: So far so good. Ride is great, it's super quiet, and most of all it's very comfortable at least to me. No big issues or abnormalities. The 6R140 tranny is the bomb.

One thing I'll point out is the hitches on these truck are beefy. Maybe a little too beefy. My biggest complaint is that the eye's where the tow chains hook too are really thick and I had to reto fit my trailers with 3/8" hooks. Standard hooks will not fit. It's a small thing but something to be aware of.

p2502193686-3.jpg



I'll be ordering my torklift tie downs soon and hope to get the camper on in the next few weeks. I'm trying to figure out how I want to do the plug in for the camper... do it the FWC way or use a 7 prong plug and play plug.

More later if there is interest....
 
Interested ! Thanks for the update. Glad to read you are happy with it.

Will follow along for camper results ... :cool:
 
Riverrunner Congrats on the new truck and bride. Very interested in your build as I just ordered mine. Nearly identical to yours except mine will not be my daily driver. Two questions. Are you happy with the tires? Will you be moving your rear view camera when you load the camper. I am assuming you will remove the tailgate. THX
 
dscobell said:
Riverrunner Congrats on the new truck and bride. Very interested in your build as I just ordered mine. Nearly identical to yours except mine will not be my daily driver. Two questions. Are you happy with the tires? Will you be moving your rear view camera when you load the camper. I am assuming you will remove the tailgate. THX
Click to expand...
The tires are ok. We'll see how the winter goes but I'm planning on running them awhile unless they can't handle my road to the house. They are quiet. They don't seem to pick up rocks too badly. I'm running them at 55 psi front and 50 in the rear so the ride is nice. Running the rears at this psi however does set off the TPMS warning light on the dash but I just ignore it. One of these days I'll get the gear needed to reprogram the limits.

At this point when the camper is on and tailgate is off I'll have no camera. Not a huge deal to me for the few times I have the camper and trailer. I thought about ordering the optional trailer cam but I cheaped out. I already went over my budget so I had to draw the line somewhere.
 
I bought a second camera through my Ford dealer, then mounted it under the stair platform on the Northern Lite. Works nicely. The photo is from the NL website, but it will help visualize the setup. I made a small shelf that attaches between the mounts that attach the stairs. The camera is in a plastic box, centered on the shelf.

image.jpeg
 
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