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.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. The view from the garage....  The view from the garage. Once our Bilstein leveling kit and tire and wheel package arrived, we fired up the toolbox to get ready for the install. The Nittos arrived mounted and balanced on the Liquid Metal rims and even included centercaps and new lug nuts. |  It should go without saying,...  It should go without saying, but before you go working on anything as heavy as a diesel-powered pickup, you'd better be sure your jack and jackstands are up to the task. If not, go visit your local Harbor Freight Tools or check the company's website for its 3-ton super-heavy-duty floorjack (PN 34271-4VGA) for less than $100 and a pair of its 6-ton jackstands (PN 38847-3VGA) for less than $40. |  We engaged the parking brake,...  We engaged the parking brake, jacked the front of the truck up, and located the jackstands under the framerails behind the front control-arm mounts. This allowed the suspension to drop out enough to remove and install the coil springs. We removed the front tires and left the jack under the pumpkin of the front axle so we could raise and lower it during the coil spring removal and installation. |