The Ultimate Tow Truck

[FORDF250HDXLT]

You guys got me thinking.I wonder how many,if anyone else has turbocharged and intercooled an f450 with 5:13 gears besides me? You want to talk about an enjoyable truck to haul heavy with.It's not fast or anything of course lol cus it's so huge and over 10k empty but 15k+ it just keeps going 50-55MPH up the hills and with a maxed ip and the rpms from the gears....I could drive this thing without an EGT gauge and never worry about it.
This is by no means a combo for taking across county with lol.Just got me thinking,I might have this only combo....I'm calling it until someone proves otherwise.

At any rate,the point is,Calvin is so right.With some real gears the IDI is like a tractor! If you combine this with turbo,intercooler,hot ip and an GV for double over,you could easily enjoy a cross country tow machine.Though for the HWY I would go with the 4:63 even with a gear vendors so to keep fuel costs down.
What's so good about gearing is,is that you don't toss so much money away trying to build up an engine,against it's design and you take stress off the engine and trans,rather than add stress to it by pushing it further than it's worth.I strongly agree with Brian with this.It's simply not the type of platform to do such things with.It's already awesome for what it is.Trying to make it something else,simply isn't worth it.

I'm really digging those RPM numbers with the E40D and 4.10's at 75mph!

Thanks for the reference!

Keep thinking ultimate though.Compare that to 4:63/E4OD/GV
If Iv got you convinced to keep it a 2wd for best economy,the only other step you need to take is F-Super Duty/F-450.
Have you towed with a dually? You wanna be stressed or relaxed while driving on vacation? Towing with a dually is a stress free dream!

Build this truck and you'll have the very first ultimate IDI towing machine imho.
1992 (if early 92, swap to 3g alt and serp setup) -1994 - Crew cab swap - 7.3L IDI - Turbo kit & Intercooler w/ Moose IP (bull or jr.you wont need to overdue it) - E4OD - GV - 4:63

 

[towcat]

You guys got me thinking.I wonder how many,if anyone else has turbocharged and intercooled an f450 with 5:13 gears besides me? You want to talk about an enjoyable truck to haul heavy with.It's not fast or anything of course lol cus it's so huge and over 10k empty but 15k+ it just keeps going 50-55MPH up the hills and with a maxed ip and the rpms from the gears....I could drive this thing without an EGT gauge and never worry about it.
This is by no means a combo for taking across county with lol.Just got me thinking,I might have this only combo....I'm calling it until someone proves otherwise.

I never put a turbo on a F450 for fear that someone will outdrive the brakes and wreck the truck. would love to though. problem in kali is the 55mph speed limit on trucks. you can push 60 if the conditions are right but if you get caught by CHP, the fine is ugly. I'm not saying that I've never buried the needle on a 85mph speedo, but the reasons had better be good.

 

[D_Fresh361]

You guys got me thinking.I wonder how many,if anyone else has turbocharged and intercooled an f450 with 5:13 gears besides me? You want to talk about an enjoyable truck to haul heavy with.It's not fast or anything of course lol cus it's so huge and over 10k empty but 15k+ it just keeps going 50-55MPH up the hills and with a maxed ip and the rpms from the gears....I could drive this thing without an EGT gauge and never worry about it.
This is by no means a combo for taking across county with lol.Just got me thinking,I might have this only combo....I'm calling it until someone proves otherwise.

At any rate,the point is,Calvin is so right.With some real gears the IDI is like a tractor! If you combine this with turbo,intercooler,hot ip and an GV for double over,you could easily enjoy a cross country tow machine.Though for the HWY I would go with the 4:63 even with a gear vendors so to keep fuel costs down.
What's so good about gearing is,is that you don't toss so much money away trying to build up an engine,against it's design and you take stress off the engine and trans,rather than add stress to it by pushing it further than it's worth.I strongly agree with Brian with this.It's simply not the type of platform to do such things with.It's already awesome for what it is.Trying to make it something else,simply isn't worth it.



Keep thinking ultimate though.Compare that to 4:63/E4OD/GV
If Iv got you convinced to keep it a 2wd for best economy,the only other step you need to take is F-Super Duty/F-450.
Have you towed with a dually? You wanna be stressed or relaxed while driving on vacation? Towing with a dually is a stress free dream!

Build this truck and you'll have the very first ultimate IDI towing machine imho.
1992 (if early 92, swap to 3g alt and serp setup) -1994 - Crew cab swap - 7.3L IDI - Turbo kit & Intercooler w/ Moose IP (bull or jr.you wont need to overdue it) - E4OD - GV - 4:63

"You guys got me thinking.I wonder how many,if anyone else has turbocharged and intercooled an f450 with 5:13 gears besides me? You want to talk about an enjoyable truck to haul heavy with."

You sure that's not an Abrams you're driving?

Unfortunately, I've only had the pleasure of puttin' round in a dually a few times over the years. I've always wanted one of my own. Never got to tow anything with one though.

Definitely want to be laxed! Lol

 

[D_Fresh361]

I never put a turbo on a F450 for fear that someone will outdrive the brakes and wreck the truck. would love to though. problem in kali is the 55mph speed limit on trucks. you can push 60 if the conditions are right but if you get caught by CHP, the fine is ugly. I'm not saying that I've never buried the needle on a 85mph speedo, but the reasons had better be good.

What mama don't know, won't hurt her!

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

Speaking of brakes.With the f450 you get 4 wheel disc (with massive calipers!) and hydroboost,Doug.

 

[D_Fresh361]

I run 4:88s with a gearvendor and it is sweet on a turbo 7.3. Unbiased opinion would be to put a 12v cummins in this rig rather than an idi tho. The combo of an obs ford with a 12v is better in every way that I know of. I love idi but idk how anyone could argue it against a cummins. If you are going 4x4 I'd say d60 front for sure

I have nothing against the 12v cummins but my goal here is to begin with the best "starting" platform I can with my wants and needs in mind. Motor swap is not something i'm interested in doing with this build. Though I agree having an OBS style truck with a 5.9 would be pretty slick!

 

[D_Fresh361]

Speaking of brakes.With the f450 you get 4 wheel disc (with massive calipers!) and hydroboost,Doug.

Well it just gets better and better now doesn't it!

Guess I better start looking for that F450! Lol

Honestly, the only that intimidates me is that crew cab swap.

That will definitely be a first for me!

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

...crewcab kodiac....

 

[burt]

Speaking of brakes.With the f450 you get 4 wheel disc (with massive calipers!) and hydroboost,Doug.

Is the f450 you speak of the f super duty of the obs style?

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

Is the f450 you speak of the f super duty of the obs style?

Yeah.

http://www.oilburners.net/media/log-truck-w-specs-mods.161/

 

[burt]

Nice.

 

[ColLonewolf]

What are those seats in your Mustang out of?

 

[IDIoit]

Well it just gets better and better now doesn't it!

Guess I better start looking for that F450! Lol

Honestly, the only that intimidates me is that crew cab swap.

That will definitely be a first for me!

why? super easy on our trucks.
these cabs, either it being RCSC or CC only use 4 body mounts.
if youre doing a frame swap.....
all front frame mounts are the same from 80-96
all rear frame mounts are the same as well, just riveted into different positions.
what kind of equipment do you have?
I lift mine with a forklift with the doors removed.
they don't weigh that much if you gut them, id say about 900 lbs.

keep an eye on my centurion build. next week I will be rebuilding
and putting a crew cab on a single cab chassis.

 

[Rx7man]

I've spent years building up the perfect truck (at least in my eyes).. I didn't want to cart PEOPLE around, and in my backroads a short wheelbase is nice, so I went with a SCLB dually 4x4.. Dodge with Cummins and NV4500.
There's pretty much nothing original in the truck anymore, New engine with cam, headwork, Holset HE351VE and controller, NV5600 and 3.55 gears.. It's a fun truck to drive and tows really well, the NV5600 and gears were just put in a month ago and I absolutely love it, the NV4500 and 4.10's were alright for the stockish power levels but became useless as it started to get fun, and REALLY SUCKED on the highway.. New setup lets me cruise at 60mph and 1750 RPM, which means when I'm loaded I can drop down into 5th (direct drive) and maintain speed nicely, Top speed is somewhere around 110mph.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

Having some fun last summer

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

Hauling hay

 

[no mufflers]

cool video but all I could hear was that toilet chebby you left in the soot.