my new tow rig

well as some of you may know last month I totaled my old tow rig after hitting black ice on a bridge on my way to work. luckaly I am still here but I did break 3 vertibrea in my back. long story short I'm on light duty for a while but should make a full recovery.

my old truck was a 97 f350 regular cab 5 speed srw. not a whole lot done to it but it was very clean and I had a set of baby swamp injectors and a swamps chip
it had roughly 227,000 miles on it








so after searching craigslist for the last month I finally found the perfict truck to replace it with. however It is going to take some TLC......

the origional owner of the truck passed away and the truck has done a lot of sitting since. the guy I bought it from knew the origional owner but dosent know exactly all the details on it so I may be in for a few supprises. hopefully they are more good than bad

here are the specs
97 f350 crewcab longbed 4x4
143,000 miles
automatic that is supposidly going out but seems to be shifting ok what little I have drove it
the front seat is red and the interior is brown...
neither left door will open
front bumper is rusted out
left front fender has a rust hole but the rest of the cab is strait and looks good
the bed is beat up on both sides and rusted pretty bad (fixable but I would rather just replace the whole thing)
exhaust manifold leak
runs good but wants to die if i let it idle (I think its a bad ipr)

now to the good

DMI rear bumper
flip over goose neck ball
traction bars
mud terain 315x75 16's 75% tread on nice aftermarket aluminum wheels (I may sell them and go to 285x75 16's )
4in exhaust
aftermarket intake
hypermax h2e turbo kit
intercooler not sure what kind I think it may be a banks cooler but that is a guess who else makes one for the obs trucks?
swamps injectors we think they are 285/30's but will probable send them in to find out
swamps tuneing
head studs
propane kit (for sale)
pyro boost and trans temp gauges

purchased for $5,000

so for now the plan is to get it running right, fix the doors, replace the front bumper, and swap in my old 5 speed out of the wrecked truck. then it shopuld be ready for this season then hopefully next winter I will replace the bed (maybe with a dually bed) and repaint the whole truck some other color than white......

Wow! You got a great deal! It looks like everything thing is from hypermax so I would guess the intercooler is from them too. Good looking truck

WOW!!! thats a deal... your gonna love the power that rig puts out compared to you old one. you may be able to save the trans a little longer with a valve body, but not may area of expertees

pontiacross said:

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HOLY FAWKING CRAP... looks like you are pretty lucky really! How bad is your back? Gotta wear a fancy brace?

Sad to see such a nice truck TKO'd, but it looks like the replacement has a lot of potential.

Wow, glad your still here to share your story!! Sweet truck I really like CCLB's!!

Looks like you got a good truck, just needs a bit of body work. I bet the white will grow on you, I have one just like it. You might even like the auto better than the 5 speed. I own both 5 speed and auto and I like the auto much better for towing, although I have a bit of money into the E4OD to get it to hold up.

superduty4x4 said:

HOLY FAWKING CRAP... looks like you are pretty lucky really! How bad is your back? Gotta wear a fancy brace?

Sad to see such a nice truck TKO'd, but it looks like the replacement has a lot of potential.

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my back is getting better I am wearing a small brace when i am up and working but its pretty comfortable i went back to work full time monday but I am on light duty I can only lift ten pounds. I am a diesel mechanic and do the majority of the electronic diagnostic work so I am still pretty productive with out lifting anything.

dave186:
Looks like you got a good truck, just needs a bit of body work. I bet the white will grow on you, I have one just like it. You might even like the auto better than the 5 speed. I own both 5 speed and auto and I like the auto much better for towing, although I have a bit of money into the E4OD to get it to hold up.

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I am not against white it just seems like everyone around here has white trucks and I want something that stands out more. I am thinking maybe a dark green

as for the auto I have had several over the years and am just never quite satisfied unless I'm doing the shifting. plus since I have everything to do the swap I can do it for very little money and I'm trying to keep this relitively low budget so I dont have to take money away from my pulling truck

Sorry to see the red one totaled replacement has good potential though, glad to hear you are doing ok.

Damn Ross, glad your alright! Hard to believe that you were able to walk away from that & go back to work. Good score on the crew cab, I think you'll enjoy the extra room when your heading to pulls or out on the road.

Glad you're okay and good luck with the new truck. How good of shape is that Dana 60

Hey man! I hate to see that happen to you and your truck. I hope your back isn't giving you much trouble. I know exactly what your going through. A little over a year ago I totaled my hunting rig and shattered 4 vertebrae. They gave me a t12-L5 fusion with 2 titanium rods and some other hardware. My back doesn't give me any major problems. I've found that the gym keeps me good and loose. Best of luck with your new rig and your recovery!!!





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Damn man. Glad your ok. You look lucky to be alive. If I knew you were truck shopping I might of been able to help you out. I have a 01 f250 I'm getting rid of. Decently priced too. And if you were wanting to unload a little cash, I'd sell you my King Ranch too. LOL

GO BIG OR GO HOME said:

Hey man! I hate to see that happen to you and your truck. I hope your back isn't giving you much trouble. I know exactly what your going through. A little over a year ago I totaled my hunting rig and shattered 4 vertebrae. They gave me a t12-L5 fusion with 2 titanium rods and some other hardware. My back doesn't give me any major problems. I've found that the gym keeps me good and loose. Best of luck with your new rig and your recovery!!!

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I was quite abit luckier than you I didnit have to have surgery.they just basicly told me not to do anything stupid for 6 or so weeks and it should heal it self

B.Warning said:

Damn man. Glad your ok. You look lucky to be alive. If I knew you were truck shopping I might of been able to help you out. I have a 01 f250 I'm getting rid of. Decently priced too. And if you were wanting to unload a little cash, I'd sell you my King Ranch too. LOL

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LOL sorry but I am just kind of stuck on these old body stile trucks .

I acually picked this one up in your neck of the woods though, it was just over the river in illinois

pontiacross said:

my back is getting better I am wearing a small brace when i am up and working but its pretty comfortable i went back to work full time monday but I am on light duty I can only lift ten pounds. I am a diesel mechanic and do the majority of the electronic diagnostic work so I am still pretty productive with out lifting anything.

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Man you're lucky then. I had a compression fracture of my T6 and had to wear what's known as a TLSO for 3 months. Basically it kept me from being able to bend my back at all, I could only lift 10lbs as well. I had to break the rules on the lifting limit a few times though

GO BIG OR GO HOME said:

Hey man! I hate to see that happen to you and your truck. I hope your back isn't giving you much trouble. I know exactly what your going through. A little over a year ago I totaled my hunting rig and shattered 4 vertebrae. They gave me a t12-L5 fusion with 2 titanium rods and some other hardware. My back doesn't give me any major problems. I've found that the gym keeps me good and loose. Best of luck with your new rig and your recovery!!!

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Any recommendations for excercises for keeping it loose and building the strength back up? That's the biggest problem I've had.

superduty4x4 said:

Man you're lucky then. I had a compression fracture of my T6 and had to wear what's known as a TLSO for 3 months. Basically it kept me from being able to bend my back at all, I could only lift 10lbs as well. I had to break the rules on the lifting limit a few times though


Any recommendations for excercises for keeping it loose and building the strength back up? That's the biggest problem I've had.

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Hahaha yea i broke a few of those myself. the day after surgery they told me that my feet couldnt touch the ground for 30 days. well my stubborn self was thinkin F' that. the next day someone at the hospital made the mistake of leaving a walker across the hall from my room. after straing at this thing for a couple hours i had my dad bring it into my room and shut the door. after about 45 mins of slowly moving to the edge of the bed and getting a good hold on this walker i made some baby steps back out into the hall. man did the surgeon and nurse chew my a$$ for that. LOLLOL they kinda got the point that i wasnt gonna stay in bed whether they wanted me to or not so they started sending a physical therapist to my room twice a day.


As far as the exercises go i just kinda rolled what i did in 3 months of PT everyday straight into the gym. my physical therapist made me a believer that your abs and core actually support most of your back. I do way more core exercises now than i ever did in the past. another good one ive found is take a weighted rod(my gym has a couple of these that are rubber coated and various weights) and lay it across your shoulders and make twisting motions with your feet planted shoulder width apart. start slow! i like doing hyperextensions too. i just started by only going about 1/4 of the way down for the first few weeks then slowly increasing the extension once you feel comfortable. another variation of this is take a yoga/pillates ball and lay flat on your back with the ball under your calves. try lifting your pelvis straight up in the air. again START SLOW! dont go all the way up until you do these a few times and get comfortable with it. these really work good because you core has to fight to keep you balanced and your lower/mid back does the lifting. when you get to where you can fully extend up you should feel like your trying to touch your di*k to the ceiling. those should help and let me know if you need anything else. best of luck with your recovery!!!:clapping:

GO BIG OR GO HOME said:

Hahaha yea i broke a few of those myself. the day after surgery they told me that my feet couldnt touch the ground for 30 days. well my stubborn self was thinkin F' that. the next day someone at the hospital made the mistake of leaving a walker across the hall from my room. after straing at this thing for a couple hours i had my dad bring it into my room and shut the door. after about 45 mins of slowly moving to the edge of the bed and getting a good hold on this walker i made some baby steps back out into the hall. man did the surgeon and nurse chew my a$$ for that. LOLLOL they kinda got the point that i wasnt gonna stay in bed whether they wanted me to or not so they started sending a physical therapist to my room twice a day.


As far as the exercises go i just kinda rolled what i did in 3 months of PT everyday straight into the gym. my physical therapist made me a believer that your abs and core actually support most of your back. I do way more core exercises now than i ever did in the past. another good one ive found is take a weighted rod(my gym has a couple of these that are rubber coated and various weights) and lay it across your shoulders and make twisting motions with your feet planted shoulder width apart. start slow! i like doing hyperextensions too. i just started by only going about 1/4 of the way down for the first few weeks then slowly increasing the extension once you feel comfortable. another variation of this is take a yoga/pillates ball and lay flat on your back with the ball under your calves. try lifting your pelvis straight up in the air. again START SLOW! dont go all the way up until you do these a few times and get comfortable with it. these really work good because you core has to fight to keep you balanced and your lower/mid back does the lifting. when you get to where you can fully extend up you should feel like your trying to touch your di*k to the ceiling. those should help and let me know if you need anything else. best of luck with your recovery!!!:clapping:

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I got in deep chit in the hospital for getting out of my bed and using the pisser... nobody told me I had to stay in bed! I never had to do PT, my spine doc just told me to go back to life as normal and it would take care of itself. Thanks for the tips man I appreciate it!

NO PROBLEM SIR!

pontiacross said:

well as some of you may know last month I totaled my old tow rig after hitting black ice on a bridge on my way to work. luckaly I am still here but I did break 3 vertibrea in my back. long story short I'm on light duty for a while but should make a full recovery.

my old truck was a 97 f350 regular cab 5 speed srw. not a whole lot done to it but it was very clean and I had a set of baby swamp injectors and a swamps chip
it had roughly 227,000 miles on it

Click to expand...

How did you get out of there? Better yet how were you in there? Good to see youre okay.

TURTLE said:

How did you get out of there? Better yet how were you in there? Good to see youre okay.

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I layed down in the seat and held on when it started going over. I crawed out of one of the side windows (it was a tight fit) as soon as I saw daylight. I'm not even sure if it had even stopped moveing yet but I wanted out LOL I felt fine at first but the longer I stood there the more pain I was in.