My 1994 F-350 4x4 CC TD

[SLC97SR5]

Well, yesterday I said goodbye to my SXT All Terrains from Les Schwab and picked up a set of their Toyo Open Country HT with TUFF Duty.

I priced Costo and Big O, Tire Pro's, Discount...since when did the chain tire salesman turn into blingy denim, flat billed, soul patch, spikey hair ****?"Yeah Brah, those will look **** on your Truck, we can order you smoked headlights and spiked lug nuts." ***?

The American Car Care center--Tire Pro's were the worst for service, price and attitude. Total hipster, cool guy, douches.

Costco had a decent price on Michelin'sbut would only install the OEM 235 size rubber, no thanks. He couldn't belive it already had 265'son itand I wanted to go to 285's...whatever.I likeCostco,but thereisALWAYS a 1 to 1.5 hr waitto havethem rotated,I will continueto purchasemy wife's tires there.

Les Schwab has decent store coverage on the west coast and they have never tried to rip me off. The guys are white, speak english and run their ***** off. The popcorn is usually fresh and minimal waittime to haveany tireservicesperformed. Plusthey open at8am opposedto Costco's10am.

I asked if they would sell me some Michelin'sand the answer was "yes, but we will be way high on price since they are not our advertised, store brand." Then they showed me the HT's, the tread is actually what I would consideraggressive,especially when marketed fora highway60k tire.The big selling point was the mileage rating, "diesel truck specific application" and the huge load rating...3750lbs! I have not had issues with my past tires but more is better, right?

Thus far, I don'thavemuch to sayon thetiresperformance. It'snot reallya fair comparison asmy oldtireswereworn to 5/32ndsand weregetting quite squirrly in the slush. The Toyo's have a fresh 17/32nds of meat on them.

The Toyo's ride smoother/softer at 55 psi.

Sorry for the spacing in the text...I'm copy/pasting from my phone.

 

[SLC97SR5]

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Here are a couple tire reviews from the net:

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/1004dp_toyo_open_country_h_t_tires/

http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles/wheels/129_0805_toyo_open_country_ht_tire_test/

 

[SLC97SR5]

The new tires helped to fill out the wheel well and drop highway rpm's by about 150r's.

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[GOOSE]

They look like really nice tires, especially considering that most of us do the highway thing about 99% of the time. I just read the write ups on the Toyo's and believe that they will deliver. I hope to be able to entertain either the Toyo M55's or the Open Country HT's with Tuff Guard that you just purchased.

The 285's are very well suited for our trucks. I had 305's on mine previously and this is the first time in my life I can say that I am happier with a smaller tire. Man, makes it sound like I'm getting old.

The 305's would hit the leaf springs on full turn, the 285's do not. The cclb trucks need all the turn they can get and the 285's do everything that I need off road and are actually better in the snow.

Good luck with the new rubber, 60,000 miles on a set sure sounds sweet.

 

[SLC97SR5]

We just finished our annual wheeling trip to the south end of Utah. Once again the Ford hauled all 4 of us, our gear and Toyota's safely for over 800 miles.

We averaged about 6.5mpg. This was pushing hard, trying to maintain the Cummins 75-85mph pace. The new tires were flawless and provided some additional room for the 7.3 to rev.

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[SLC97SR5]

The Ford returned the lowest mileage this trip that we have experienced.

I attribute that to several variables: weather was terrible, sleet and rain for the whole way down the State. Also, my fuel blend was light on btu's as I was running lean on oil. The underbody was packed full of slush and ice. The A/C compressor was running non-stop to keep the cabin free of fog. And finally perhaps the larger tires, although I consider them a help to mileage because of the rpm range I tow in.

 

[92F350CC]

Is that second pic at the Washington County fairgrounds?

 

[Rot Box]

Reading through the trip report on RME I realized I missed out on another good time down there. Ugh.. Maybe next year

 

[SLC97SR5]

Good eye. Yes, the main staging area is the WC Fairgrounds. They provide breakfast both days and a raffle/dinner on Saturday. The Mayor was in attendance and told all participants thank you for filling up the hotels, restaurants and parts stores. He also told us the LEO's would not be issuing petty tickets...pretty awesome!

RotBox, you've gotta make it down next year. The wheeling is fantastic.

 

[SLC97SR5]

Hauled this setup into Moab a few hours ago. The Truck did great as did the Smoke Puff Limiter. I am still loving the new tires and highly recommend them.

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[NO_SPRK]

sweet truck. how do the 285s fit on the alcoas?

 

[SLC97SR5]

They fit really nice. The rims are a tad narrow but nothing unsafe. I have heard some scuffing from the front tires on my bumper but I cannot duplicate it, nor can I see where they are rubbing. It only occurs under perfect circumstances.

 

[SLC97SR5]

With the help of some awesome friends I got my windshield replaced. I was hesitant to take it to a chain glass replacement store and scared of the cost of going to a body shop.

I knew I had the beginning of a serious rust issue and that the frame would need to be ground down to fresh steel and all suspect holes filled.

The Truck spent much of its life prior to me parked under pine trees and the resulting collection of needles provided the perfect conditions to corrode the windshield frame.

Here are a few pics of the procedure. All rust was removed and bare metal was exposed and treated with primer, holes were filled, all trim clips were replaced and the glass was bed heavily in butyl and then backfilled with butyl to prevent any future water ingress...

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[SLC97SR5]

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[SLC97SR5]

I have replaced several parts on my Truck over the last few months.
The first was the Alternator, the rear bearing decided to let loose, so rather than re-brush and bearing it I replaced it with a NAPA oem reman. I am pretty particular about only using factory parts on my vehicles and on the Toyota's that is all I use because I believe the OEM dealer parts are truly that much more superior than the parts houses. NAPA Premium/Gold parts, however seem to be on par with the Ford OEM stuff.

3G Alternator:

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The next item to fail was the driver side Interstate MTP 65. I'm getting about 4 years out of these and would probably get more if I replaced them as matched pairs. After 4 years there is still some warranty remaining and I end up about $85.00 bucks for a fresh battery.

Interstate MTP 65:

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Finally the OEM starter quit spinning. It had been clicking intermittently for the last year so I knew it was close to the end of it's life. I replaced it with a NAPA oem style Mitsubishi unit. So far I'm very happy with it.

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The NAPA stuff is lifetime warranty and NAPA's are prevalent on most of my long haul routes.

A couple years ago I upgraded the front shocks to Bilstein 4600 yellow cans. They helped the ride tremendously, I knew the rear shocks were spent but figured they did not contribute much to the overall ride quality much...I was wrong. After trying 2 sets of Monroe's and returning 2 sets of Monroe's I purchased a set of Bilstein 4600's for the rear from Shockwarehouse.com. The ride is fantastic for an old 1 ton. The rear is planted and does not porpoise on freeway bumps. I should have replaced all 4 years ago.

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Lastly, I removed and re-lamped the instrument cluster with plain old clear bulbs and cleaned out 20 years of dust. I was not able to EVER find the little green condoms for my Autometer pillar gauges so I replaced the clear bulbs with some green lamps from VatoZone. It is nice to have a matching dash and it looks great.