truck update!

[ahale2772]

i know i like to see other people ranting about the progress on there 1st gens so i thought id share...
so last week (day before my birthday) i was crusing down the highway on the way to a luke bryan concert and all of a sudden i hear a crunching gear sound and i start to think my front end is about to seize up so i made my way to the side of the road and BAM! ... my front left tire falls off , happy birthday! , for some reason lug nuts and studs broke off my hub, 3 lugs fell off (all the threads stripped) and the rest of the studs broke, i still have no idea why they broke but im thinking it was those god forsaken aluminum rims i had, anyways i towed the truck away and decided to pretty much rebuild the drive train, this is what i did,

pulled front springs, shackles and all bolts because some were tweaked from when the weight of that cummins met mother earth, i ended up putting springs on from my parts truck, a 1985 le250 gasser that had the towing/camper package those springs gave the truck a 2 inch lift
thennnn.... i rebuilt all the front brakes including lines made out of this high nickle stainless stuff then i moved to the rear and rebuilt all the brakes there new wheel seals, and pinion seal, made my ebrake work (got all three cables from napa for 40 bucks!) then put in a newish borgeson steering shaft that came from that gasser parts truck, drilled a greese fitting in my front drive shaft slipjoint (gave me hell doing those front springs because the slip was frozen and the axle woundent line up)
,, after all that the truck drives and stops like new, next step is a bigger turbo (hx35 off a p-pumped 12 valve bus that i bought from my town for 500 bucks) and a less restrictive exaust going to a straight 6 inch stack
any advice on stack vs no stack? my inner child says do the stack but i dont want to cover my truck in black soot water every time i forget to cover the stack

happy motoring!

[Richie O]

Aluminum rims will loosen. I have lost 2 over the years. One at 60 mph and one plowing snow.
Stacks do make a mess if not covered.

[ahale2772]

yeah the aluminums blow buutttttt i dont think they loosened just studs broke...i know that sounds weird but if the rim loosened wount it be all scoerd up on the back of the rim? cause mine is mint

[MMeier]

Doesn't take much .

[Richie O]

Both times mine came off did not damage the rims.

[ahale2772]

darn things i have the original steel ones one now i eaven got a little trigger happy and broke a stud tightening them down

[fatty]

You bought an hx35 for 500 bucks?

[Ace]

Aluminum rims will loosen. I have lost 2 over the years...

yeah the aluminums blow buutttttt...

Sheeesh, you'd a think Ford would have done some massive recalls or been dragged through court with a class action lawsuit about it by now what with all the Alcoa's they've supplied as OEM equipment over the years.

[peobryant]

You bought an hx35 for 500 bucks?

An HX35 that happened to come with a P-Pumped 12 Valve.

[ahale2772]

yeah i bought the whole bus running motor and all only has 120000 miles on it for 500 supposibly it has a 230 horse p-pump at some point this summer its gona go in my truck with a getrag and a new body...all i have to say about those aluminums is that they never balanced right always corroded between the hub and rim and made my life miserable time to go with simple steel rims