Build journal

Both front doors are on

Both new front door shells are hung - two and a half hours for the first, two for the second. One of the old doors got one more job: the kids covered it in marker.

The yoke Ford lists does not match the one that came out

The complete driveshaft ordered on 4 October was the wrong part and never shipped. The slip yoke and U-joint bought to rebuild the original instead are what Ford's catalog lists for this truck, and neither matches what came off it. The question is now with Ford.

The rear brake pistons came out of their bores

With the rear calipers hanging off the axle, both rear pistons came out of their bores. They were cleaned and worked back in. Whether that holds is a bleed away.

The lights arrived

The Diode Dynamics order is here. It waits, because an axle outranks headlights.

The driveshaft was not fine

Fitting the new axle, the driveshaft would not reach the pinion flange - the slip yoke had to telescope further than it would go. The mouth of the female splines turned out nicked and peened. A complete shaft was ordered as the cheaper fix, then turned out to be the wrong part for this truck - see the update at the end.

The driveshaft went back in by hand

The rear impact shoved the driveshaft forward into the transfer case. With the shaft off the pinion flange it slid back into the slip yoke by hand, and nothing is leaking.

A bent axle, and a donor coded 3S73

The rear axle housing on this 2023 F-150 Tremor is bent. The replacement is a 3S73 unit from a 2024 PowerBoost, going into a truck the door label codes L6 - 3.73 with the electronic locker. Whether that works is unresolved. (The purchase was cancelled before payment - see the update at the end.)

Most of the open decisions closed

Two weeks of ordering took the board from fifteen open decisions to ten, and settled the front lighting.

Three places the plan argues with itself

Ride height, tire size and payload each pull against a stated goal for this truck. Writing them down now, before the decisions that depend on them get made.

Roadworthy before cosmetics

Committing to a repair-first order of operations before any visual or performance upgrades begin.

FiberWerX lead-time call

Deciding to order the fenders and bedsides together to keep a consistent carbon-fiber finish, despite the wait.

Why Elite Max headlights

Reasoning behind selecting Diode Dynamics' Elite Max headlight housing over other LED options.

Airbags vs. Timbren

Comparing active air helper springs against passive Timbren SES helper springs for towing support.

Deaver vs. stock leaf springs

Weighing a progressive-rate Deaver spring pack against a straightforward stock-style replacement.

The one job planned for a professional

The rear differential, pushed back from the transfer case in the impact, was planned as the one item sent out rather than handled personally. It never went.

Broken rear leaf spring

Visible damage consistent with the secondhand rear-impact account, confirmed during the initial self-inspection.

Initial collision inspection

A self-inspection to document what's actually visible, plus a secondhand account of how the damage likely happened.

Won at auction, truck arrives

The 2023 F-150 Tremor is won at a Copart auction through AutoBidMaster and arrives on the property days later.

Choosing this specific salvage truck

Downsizing from an F-250, with a specific search checklist and a deliberate strategy for which salvage damage to accept.