In the quest to locate a shop to wrench on the Project Raven Imperial in peace, quiet, and with enough solitude that I don’t wake the neighbors up with loud and unabashed swearing, I offered up skills and abilities as a way of payment, since my budget just flat doesn’t exist right now. Luckily, I was able to barter my way into helping a guy out with a project of his own, and it just so happens that he could use another pair of mechanically-gifted hands.
The guy doesn’t like the idea of buying new, or even freshly used cars. Instead he wheels and deals and is very, very good at what he does. He also likes to restore vehicles, but not in the scope most people immediately think of. He likes to spend a couple of hundred dollars on an insurance write-off that is salvageable, bring it home, and bring it back to life. I’ve seen this guy’s work, and if he didn’t do quality work I wouldn’t be writing this. It’s nice to see someone who is willing to put some sweat and time into what they own instead of just letting something get thrown away for no reason.
In this case, the vehicle is a 2001 Ford F-250 Super Duty shortbed that had taken a near-T-bone hit from the driver’s rear door down the bedside. The guy picked it up for a song (think three digits.) The goal is to get the truck to a drivable condition, as it will be his new work truck. He got it home and we got the bed off a couple of days ago, and honestly I’m excited to watch this cast-off truck come back to life. Check out the photos and watch for updates as this truck comes back to life!
This Super Duty is a 7.3 PowerStroke model and has been tweaked on a bit…nothing too major but whoever did the tuning on the truck knew what they were doing. The motor is stout and has an adjustment knob inside that has a high-idle setting and four power modes, from stock to “that sounds healthy…!”
Inside needs a good cleaning but I’ve seen a lot worse. The vent is out because there was an odd odor coming out when we turned on the air conditioning. Found where he was hiding weed…
KMC wheels. Hmm. Wonder how well they did in the crash?
There’s your answer. No idea where the rest of the wheel is. Better believe they’re getting scrapped.
While the cab corner and the rear door got some body damage, the majority was at the truck bed. The truck was stopped when the car hit it. The opening under the gas door was cut in so that the fill tube could be freed.
I’m not 100%, but it appears that the axle tube twisted. The rear suspension took the biggest shunt, with the driver’s side leaf pack blowing apart and the passenger side binding up.
Another angle on the driver’s side.
At some point in time someone had tried to put a 5th wheel brace on it. And then they cut it off…and cut through the exhaust. This all will be cleaned up before the new bed is put on.
Yoke snapped.
Driver’s side rear. Broke the rivets. The Hi-Lift jack was being used to bring the rear of the truck up to stock height
Passenger front. This is the worst spot, where the axle torqued the frame in lower down. This will require some time on a jig to get the frame back to straight. The rear suspension will basically be replaced at this point.
Cool project! Looking forward to this.
Cool project. I have a very similar 2001 Super Duty. I’m sure he knows, but you can put a 2014 Bed on these and it fits fine. I just did this about 6 months ago to my truck and it looks great.
Should be a fun project.
I see a lot of nearly new Super Duty beds for sale as the owners have replaced them with utility tool box beds. Should be able to pick up one cheap.
I see some great potential here, and I’m looking forward to the build!
As far as overall project vision goes, no idea where the owner wants this to go, but when I read the words “work truck” I immediately think “toolbox bed”.
I see a steel flat bed with side boxes with an extension plate on rollers to extend the bed 3 to 4 feet out the back with 12 and 120 volt plug-ins and all led lights with eXtra lights for work, emergencies, or play either way gotta light up the way need a hook up for a small bed crane with a winch. All kinda ideas running through my mind.