1995 F150 4x4 Big Bird Tribute

[Junior]

So, back to the Nine... we took the housing, hogs head, axles and all to Pro Gear in San Diego. Those guys do nothing but rear ends on every vehicle you can imagine. As discussed earlier, we tacked everything that needed to be welded but refrained from burning anything in knowing that we would certainly twist and bend the housing, if it was even straight to begin with. Pro Gear has the fixtures and tools to get it straight and keep it straight while they do all the welding. These guys located and welded on the disk brake calipers, welded the spring perches, welded on the housing and took the time to ensure the hogs head was within spec. They even popped in new axle seals and installed a new pinion seal and nut just because. Great guys, highly recommended!

 

[Junior]

Maybe someone who knows can explain why the hogs head is painted the way it is?

 

[Junior]

Time for install. Figured doing the "slide" would work best.

 

[Junior]

All buttoned up. Check out that pinion guard! Got that bad boy from Rough Stuff Specialties.

#obsford #nineinch #bigbirdtribute #BB2



The 1/4" Alum skid plate we fabbed up and installed to protect the rear fuel tank looks swank in the image as well.

 

[Junior]

Now that we have the truck back on its rear feet, time to plug in that bullet! Took a while to get a picker on site, then refurbish the thing to be safe and effective. Let's see if I can find a few images of the install.....

 

[Junior]

Here she is....

 

[Junior]

Installing the bullet went pretty well. Prior to install, we re-routed brake lines under the cross member and finished everything we could think of that would be easier before this 5.8 ltr hunk of American Bad Ass was plugged in.

 

[Junior]

Full disclosure... we did have to bolt the damn thing up twice. The first time it just didn't feel right, way to tight, no end play at all. Turns out when we removed the torque converter to install a new seal, we did not get it back in all the way.

We had to unbolt the engine, lift it back out of the way and wiggle the torque converter a bit. When we heard it click and sit back in side the bell housing another half inch, we knew that was the problem. Special thanks to our neighbor "SuperChuck" for the help getting the bullet in the chamber.

 

[Junior]

Next up is the transfer case. This F150 has a Borg Warner 1356 T-case with a slip yolk. We need to convert this to a fixed yolk for a couple of reasons. First, fixed yolk is less prone to wear/tear and allows the rear drive line to be removed without all the T-case oil leaking out. This may not seem too important unless you are in the middle of nowhere and would like to drive out in front wheel drive.

Second, we plan on mounting the VSS device on the back of the T-case. OEM, this sensor was plugged into the 8.8 rear axle. We need the fixed yolk settup in order to run this device.

Then of course we need to get all the components re-installed onto the engine. Huge progress made this past weekend. Seems like we took an enormous leap towards the finish line.

 

[Junior]

Now that we have the rear shocks tuned with shims for our application time to get them installed. First we opened up the starter hole we established earlier in the bed, then opened up the bed a bit more here and there until we had what we believe to be enough clearance.

 

[Junior]

We believe we will be good with clearance when the rear is smashed into the bumps but we will see. When we have the driveline made, they will pull the chassis down to the bumps to measure and we will be on hand to ensure the shock bodies clear. When the rear is smashed into the bumps, the shock body moves toward the tailgate.

The only way to determine if the opening is large enough towards the cab when the suspension is fully drooped out is to hang the truck and take a gander. While we hang the truck at maximum droop we will also measure for limit straps and the rear axle brake line. Looks like we will strap the rear at 17 inches of travel.

 

[Junior]

Sure enough, as you can see below, we need to open up the bed another inch or two towards the cab to ensure the shock body never impacts the bed. These are the items you never know unless you CYCLE, CYCLE, then CYCLE again. Awesome to see that we can lift the entire rear of the truck by the bedcage too!

 

[Junior]

Now back to the console. We need to mount a couple of Aluminum plates across the bottom and onto the face. 99% of folks would simply drill some holes and screw these plates in with wood screws. We knew that as we attached and removed the face plate over the years, not to mention during assembly, those holes would get wallered out. Trying to do it right the first time, we drilled out the material and installed threaded inserts for 1/4-20 hardware. To make the install look clean, we chamfered (sp?) out the holes for recessed hardware. Turning out cool so far. The deal will be upholstered when we are done.

 

[Junior]

Of course when I say "we" typically, I mean Wyatt. It is his truck after all! Turned out clean. Before we finished, we will probably switch to female allen head type hardware. These were cheap and readily available. After we finished we started planning for what items we will cut into the plates. Junior will get the drink holder inserts on order as well as a spring loaded coin holder/dispenser dealio so we can get started. The front plate will get a bank of switches, a stereo/camera monitor head unit and a mount for an ipad mini. The ipad will be used for music and GPS navigation.

 

[Junior]

Interesting look at the difference between last weekend and the same time last year.

 

[Junior]

15amp 12 volt plug and USB charging ports.

 

[Junior]

Got the limit straps mounted up. This truck may never run but we accomplished one thing for sure, Wyatt can weld.

 

[Junior]

We decided to have two ways to mount the spare tire. The bedcage is designed to hold the spare upright when Wyatt's dirt sickle is loaded up as shown previously and lay down flat when there is nothing in the bed. Next we need to fab up a T Handle, spinner dealio.

 

[Junior]

We drilled a hole in the 1 inch all thread large enough to put a pad lock through it for security purposes then dabbed up some spinner handles. We kept them super low profile so we could stack shit on top of the tire if need be. Check out the 1 inch 12 point bolt head Wyatt welded in the center. Cool as hell.

 

[Junior]

Back to the bullet. Decided to invest in fresh injectors.