Project 97' F450 4x4 clean-up!

[BOTS]

I have a 97' F450 4x4, gasser, 5speed that ive been slowly cleaning up.

This is what it looked like when I bought it...used hard!



Cleaned up a bit at home pic



When work is slow I try to get something done on it (if its not a 100deg out lol) so I power washed all underneath, running gear, frame and what ever else I wanted black enamle on. There was very little rust being a CA truck so prep was easy.

heres a pic of some of the frame/running gear that I sprayed with spray gun.





Sprayed the bumper and grill, fixed bezel light...ash tray was broke, plastic kick panel was gone, E-brake pad and lots of other little pain in the butt stuff that needed some TLC... so "pick-in-pull" here i come...found everything I needed there, nice!

Clutch didnt feel right and had vibration through every gear, something just was not good, so took in for clutch and they said a 1/4 of clutch material was missing...well thats the vibration being out of balance feel.

Next on list was tires and paint rims...a couple back tires had some deep slices on L-Right rears...so had them dismounted and sanded and sprayed rims gloss white, about 3 coats...6 rims was a lot of work but turned out good.



Did the front and rear brakes while rims were off and lubed zirks on front axle and blead brakes.

 

[BOTS]

Got rear brake pads on and sprayed black



Heres tires mounted on 450, sure looks better, mabey they will let me in those nice neighbor hoods now..lol..

 

[BOTS]

Next on the list is painting the truck, dont know yet if I want to do it or have someone else spray it.

Dont want to spend to much, its just a chip truck and it will get scatched first time out....

 

[squisher]

Nice job! I like a clean set up myself. Definitely helps bring in work IMO.

 

[BOTS]

Thanks squish, that was my thought as well....some real ritzy hoods in my area

 

[squisher]

Oh yah, I consider myself the Robin Hood of trees. Lol.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Beautiful! I'd be proud to own that rig.

 

[Tucker943]

I would pay a lot of money for that rig. That is, and is also becoming a nasty, beautiful, mean rig of tree work.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I like how it's not too big. Excellent clean up job!!!

 

[Bixler]

Beauty rig! Dream truck for the area. Now I wanna see inside the boxes

 

[woodworkingboy]

That first pic should go in Nick's, "What do you think of Davey Tree service?", thread.

 

[PCTREE]

I like the ample storage, I personally would need more chip room, having an 18" chipper and all.....

Good looking truck though, I can never find time to make my shat look nice just keep it working is about all I can do....

 

[cory]

Awesome thread, fun to see the progression, nice pics and good luck with it!

 

[flushcut]

Truck envy!

 

[emr]

Nice job! I wish I had the time, patients, and knowledge to do that stuff.

What size chipper so you use?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I like it! Nice job man!

 

[BOTS]

Wow, thanks all for the kind words

Beauty rig! Dream truck for the area. Now I wanna see inside the boxes

Dont know if I should Bixie, you be eyeballing that 660 LOL

Nice job! I wish I had the time, patients, and knowledge to do that stuff.

What size chipper so you use?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I have a bandit 9inch chipper, perfect for my operation...truck pulls it easy.

 

[brendonv]

Nice transformation!

Whats the bed length on that thing? Its almost making me consider a tad longer chassis than im used to to be able to stuff a toolbox in between. Thanks.

 

[emr]

Wow, thanks all for the kind words



Dont know if I should Bixie, you be eyeballing that 660 LOL



I have a bandit 9inch chipper, perfect for my operation...truck pulls it easy.

We just got a Vermeer 900 and that would be perfect for us as well. Let me know if you want to sell

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BOTS]

Nice transformation!

Whats the bed length on that thing? Its almost making me consider a tad longer chassis than im used to to be able to stuff a toolbox in between. Thanks.

Brendon, the box is 8ft long, just about 8ft wide, 4.7ft tall

 

[Dave Shepard]

Is that a factory 4x4, or a conversion?

 

[Tucker943]

The rears and tranny in that truck are the gold mine. Stick right?

 

[BOTS]

Beauty rig! Dream truck for the area. Now I wanna see inside the boxes

Gear boxes pics per Bixlers request

I made the 2 shelves and put belting material down for the saws on bottom ( i keep all saws in garage)....painted inside as well.

Lower gear boxes on drivers side has chains, tow straps, wedges and a bunch more stuff...other side hold all the fluids, gas, bar oil ect..

Love the rope holding hooks and ample storage, fits all my gear......its a one stop shop!

 

[BOTS]

Is that a factory 4x4, or a conversion?

Great question Dave,

as you all know Ford didnt make a F450 97' and earlyer "dual rear wheel" in 4x4, 2 wheel drive only, (I did my homework) so Davey had a number of these converted through Marmon-Herrington, (you can google that)
they put on a heavy duty MC80 front axle, comparable to a dana 80, tie rods, leafs, driveline T case and E-brake and some other stuff as well. They say it was about 15K to 20K for the conversion on top of purchase price and dump chip box and gear boxes prices.

 

[BOTS]

The rears and tranny in that truck are the gold mine. Stick right?

Yes tucker they are...its a 5speed stick