1990 F250 Work Truck Overlander

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Been absent a long while, you know how life throws curve balls and such. Right now I don't have the space for a dedicated expedition vehicle that can laze about until my wife and I decide to go on a trip. So that means I have to use my work vehicle as our go have fun outdoors vehicle too. On the bright side it means all mechanical things are kept in top shape since I can't afford to be without my vehicle. Downside is can't do any time intensive mods since I need the truck to be ready to rock and roll.
Now that a mild intro is done onto the specs. Bought for the hefty price of $350 with a bad starter this truck has the 351w, zf5 wide ratio with the BW1356 and 4.10 LS full float rear axle. Stock it has a mean crawl ratio for nice controlled trail rides. Dual fuel tanks factory help compensate for poor mileage and average about a comfortable 350 mile cruising range. Adding in the 60 gallon tank tool box combo added just over 700 miles of range if I want to cry at the pump and fork over my life savings to fill it. So far it is left mostly stock with the exception of the fuel tank tool box and I plan on adding a high top canopy to have a greater sized secure storage and to make a sleeping area. Sometime I debate between going flat bed or service bed. Doing a diesel swap could also be in its near future for an older idi if I can get the work scheduled off. Pics coming very soon as you get to see it come along

 

[pappawheely]

Cool, can't wait to see it.

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

So today I got some new tires on the old beast (235 85 16), I went with an AT style tread that deviates more to road use. I'll get some pictures of the tread style tomorrow. For the 50 mile trip home didn't notice any odd things with them. Looks like they took a bit of weight to balance out but that could also be from the old steel tires on it. I got a great deal on the tires, and an even better deal on the mounting since the shop took almost four hours to get the work done! Note, Walmart will save money on tires but you'll pay for it with your time.

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Busy day for the truck, got a nice canopy sourced out and a 3g alternator so it can actually produce some good amps at idle. Going to do some measuring tomorrow to see if I can use dual batteries in the stock mounting tray. Would ideally prefer a three battery set up but even two would be an improvement over what it has now

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Here is a quick pic of the truck

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

And here are the new shoes it has. Tread depth is great, it sinks a penny about 3/4 down. After riding a couple hundred miles I haven't noticed anything funky or abnormal from them. Pretty happy so far. I would love if I could find one of those old school front tire carriers

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

After this Thanksgiving I'm going to have quite a few pictures to post. Canopy is on and of course the comparison of factory 2g alternator vs the 3g alternator. Also wired up some quick disconnect jumper cables. Plan on adding a service box to this truck as well, it will likely look a little funny since the one I'm going to source appears to have come off of a dually....
On the engine side of things I'm debating swapping to a sturdy 300 i6 or going bulletproof Mercedes OM617 diesel. I don't tow with this truck and it's used basically just as my tool shuttle from job to job

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

So having an older truck certainly can have its drawbacks, for example, the often needed maintenance of something that had been left in neglect for awhile. My truck had the issue of windshield wipers only working on high. So after trouble shooting I determine it's a combination of the switch and relay control board. Board was too far gone for solder repairs and me wanting to keep things simple and cheap I just decided to buy a Low/High wiper switch and omit the delay settings. While in there I noticed why my fuel selector switch wiggles and also swapped the light bulb in that dash section to LED. While swapping the bulb I decided to add a little reflector to where the bulb sits to help direct light. Too fix my fuel selector wiggle I cut off an unused screw post and epoxied it to where the broken post was Now, have some pics

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Another thing done was swap out the rear cargo light for an led version. The housing had all kinds of crud that I cleaned out while it was all open, now I can switch the light on at night and actually see what's going in inside the truck bed. Added a nice LED for when things get dark and I need to work under the hood. It is plugged into the factory bulb location so it comes on whenever the hood is raised enough. Day shot and night shots included for the underhood.

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Now something I think that should be mandatory on these old Fords is upgrading the inside cabin light, I swapped mine to a COB style LED with clear housing and the difference is incredible. It lights up the cab to where I can actually tell what's inside now. Before and after pics included, at a minimum replacing the milky colored cover for a clear one makes a big difference if you're leery about LED's for some reason. First pic is no changes, second is with cover removed. Third is LED inside stock cover, and fourth is LED with clear cover. Also including some pics of how each lights up the cab

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Now this portion is really important for all old Ford owners, my factory 2g wiring was a fire hazard waiting to happen. Whenever I switched headlights on, had wipers on and fan on, there was all kinds of voltage drop. That voltage dropped caused some wonky little gremlins. So knowing that almost always factory wiring is complete bare minimum I tore into it to see what could be done. First pic is of the two charge wires coming off of the alt, one solder joint had completely broken apart and the second was held on by hope. Next pic is how the factory routed the two charge wires and the voltage detecting wire into one super tiny wire. Third pic is the size of wire the factory determined was enough for running 85 amps worth of juice to the rest of the system. It has been replaced with a 4 gauge cable and fuse, the result is no more voltage drop and a much happier Ford owner

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

Figured it's time to get pictures of my canopy camper up. Still have wiring to tackle for it and some camper pieces to move over