Update!
Finally. Picked up the truck in October and have been able to put 2000 miles or so on it. It seems to be louder from the firewall side than I remember, but it’s been running well. With the straight 5” exhaust it is way too loud, so a muffler is on order to start off. The clutch holds the power, but the truck is slow in general, taking too long between shifts, and spool up being either slow or way too Smokey if you throttle hard. Once it spools, it goes really good for a truck on 38s though. Nature of a manual I suppose, so not really complaining there.
Couple things that required attention quickly.
I didn’t have AC. Turned out to be a recharge and now it’s been fine.
The fan clutch wouldn’t disengage, so the fan would turn in correlation to rpms, all the time. It was very loud and mileage seemed to be pretty poor because of it.
Ebp sensor went bad 1000 miles in.
We got some snow a month ago, and some wiring harnesses that weren’t secured properly wrapped around the front driveshaft and threw some codes. It should be noted that this wire harness is no longer made, and had to be fixed one wire at a time. It was to the transmission and transfer case, so might be because of the rarity of the zf.
Local Ford dealer took care of all the issues and I’ve driven it some since then. The power is pretty stout but I’ve gotten over the idea of this truck being just a “toy.” Maybe I’m just getting old. It’s obnoxious, loud, smokey, and barely easier to drive than the wife’s TJ on 12.5 wides down a shotty back road. I want to make it more practical so here’s my plan.
This is sure to stir opinions. We bought some acreage recently and I find myself needing a farm truck. The 9” lift is probably going to get dropped to 5”, which is the lowest Trevor recommended with all the other equipment under the truck. Figured that would allow me to hook to a gooseneck without moving the trailer coupler between different trucks. New coil overs up front, with new sway bar end links and a set of 37x12.5’s to replace the 38x15.5’s. It’s already regeared, so I don’t want to go to a 35. The rear will be 4 linked, bagged, and stretched to a longbed to accommodate a flatbed. Short flatbeds don’t look right to me and won’t help me work.
The part I need some insight on is the motor. It’s as reliable as it will ever be, so might as well keep this truck and use it. I will never get enough from selling it to cover my latest engine bill, so my thought was throwing the 59 hp with a 76 back on it and tuning it to run as clean as possible, therefore not running either k16 very hard. I would also like the ability to tow somewhat heavy (16k) with it again.
. nice build by the way OP
