Sure, it would be nice to simply drop your truck off at a shop and come back in a day or two to pick up a fully built machine that anyone would be proud to drive. But sometimes you just wanna cut out the middle man. Wrenching in your driveway means you don't have to line up a ride to and from the shop, no dealing with counter jockeys with sideways-worn baseball caps, and you'll know the guy who worked on your truck cares about the safety and well-being of your family. Plus the average $60 to $100 an hour for shop labor makes a strong argument for grunting out some modifications yourself.
| 2006 Ford F350 Buildup before
We have a buddy with an '06 Ford F-350 4x4 that rode like an ox cart with square wheels driven over jagged, broken bricks. The tires were ragged, partially delaminated 18-inch factory jobbies, the front shocks were blown, and the factory front coil springs jounced hard enough to give you double vision. Surely some better aftermarket gear was required.
17 vs. 18-Inch Wheels After shopping some replacement 18-inch tires for the stock rims, the price and relatively limited availability were enough to send us running back to the 17-inch wheel camp. Even with the big dual-piston front calipers, a 17-inch wheel fits on a Super Duty single-wheel Dana 60 with enough room to swim between the caliper and wheel. We logged onto discounttiredirect.com for the best deal on a set of Nitto Terra Grappler tires mounted and balanced on a set of killer-looking Liquid Metal Motorsports 17x9-inch wheels. We spec'd a larger 285/75R17 size 'cause the increased diameter just looks a lot better on a crew cab pickup than the runty stock tire size. The Nitto Terra Grapplers are a load range E tire, so there's no loss in towing capacity and the all-terrain tread will roll smoothly on the road and provide ample traction either towing a toyhauler into the desert or pulling the boat out of a slippery launch ramp. The Liquid Metal Rhino wheels feature a -10mm offset. Although the Rhinos are available in chrome finish, we dig the look of the gloss black and machined aluminum finish.
| 2006 Ford F350 Buildup after
When you order from Discount Tire's website, shipping within the continental 48 states is free, and if you buy wheels and tires, the company will mount and balance them at no additional cost. You'll also have the option of having your order delivered to your door, or you can select from a long list of qualified installation facilities if you can't operate a lug wrench and jack. And just like walking into your local Discount Tire store, ordering online gets you the same warranties and free rotation and flat repair as you would at any Discount Tire store.
Smooth-Riding Leveling Kit With our tire and wheels ordered, we pulled the trigger on Bilstein's excellent leveling system for coil-sprung Ford F-250 and F-350 trucks. Bilstein's system raises the front end roughly 2 to 2 1/2- inches with smoother-riding replacement coils and four of Bilstein's exceptional 5100-series monotube shocks.
Test Drive With the new suspension, wheels, and tires installed, our buddy's White Trash truck now rides and drives like a different vehicle. The new Liquid Metal rims look stellar and the Nittos roll smooth, quiet, and true on the street. As for the on-road ride with the Bilsten parts, the front suspension offers up a much-improved ride over potholes, bumps, and concrete expansion joints. We no longer get beaten up and rattled. As for the rear suspension, even though the burly F-350 spring pack is unchanged, the Bilstein rear shocks help control some of the unwanted axle chatter over California's dreaded concrete expansion joints. We still get some bumpin' and thumpin' from the rear, but it's nowhere as bad as with the factory shocks.
