There’s no such thing as the perfect vehicle. The more tasks you expect from a rig, the more compromises you have to make. Jesse Coss realizes this is true, but that didn’t stop him from building a truck that is very, very good at hauling across the desert and crawling over rocks. Is it a Trophy Truck? Nope. Is it a rock buggy? It’s not. But Jesse’s truck does a great job of just about everything.
He started 10 years ago with an inexpensive 1997 F-250 diesel with 630,000 miles on the clock. These trucks have TTB front ends, so the first thing Jesse did was replace the Dana 50 with a Dana 60 solid axle from an F-350.
Jesse drove it like that for years, but then over the last few years the truck has been upgraded with more horsepower and bigger shocks. Front coilovers and rear trailing arms with coilovers and bypass shocks allow the diesel rig to blast across the desert with reckless abandon, and while they weren’t inexpensive, the low entry price allowed room in the budget to add the high-end Fox shocks. The solid axles and 40-inch Pro Comp Xtreme MT2s, combined with the torque of the diesel engine, allow the Ford to crawl anywhere that the sheetmetal fits. That might not be perfect, but it’s pretty darn close.
Tech Specs
1997 Ford F-250
>Drivetrain
Engine: 7.3L V-8 diesel
Transmission: E40D 4-speed automatic
Transfer Case: BW4407
Front Axle: Dana 60 with 4.10 gears and Eaton E-Locker
Rear Axle: Sterling 10.25 with 4.10 gears and factory limited slip
>Suspension
Springs & Such: 3-link with Fox coilovers and bumpstops (front); trailing arms with Fox coilovers and bypass shocks (rear)
Tires & Wheels: 40x13.5R17 Pro Comp Xtreme MT2s on 17x9 KMC Machete beadlock rims
Steering: Factory steering box, RuffStuff Specialties tie rod and drag link
Lighting: Amazon LED light bar
Other Stuff: JeliBuilt tuning, electric fuel pump, 6.0L intercooler, shortened bedsides, trimmed factory front bumper, Artec trusses
Harry Wagner is the newest staff member at Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road, but he isn’t new to the 4-wheel world. While some guys are in to rockcrawling, or expeditions, or desert racing, Wagner can’t get enough of any and all things off road. He grew up on trails like the Rubicon and Fordyce Creek in the back of his father’s Toyota Land Cruiser. When he was old enough to drive his first vehicle was an ’86 Jeep CJ-7, which took him on countless camping and snowboarding trips while attending college in Colorado. Wagner sold the Jeep when he moved to Venezuela in 1999 and rekindled the Toyota roots from his childhood. When he moved back stateside he bought a Toyota mini truck that has been customized over the years for hardcore rockcrawling, but he has also owned a ’77 Ford F-150, ’95 Chevy pickup, ’88 Dodge longbed, and ’08 Dodge Ram diesel. For the past eight years he has been documenting his journeys as a freelance writer before joining Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road, where he continues to refine his photography skills and dream up crazy story ideas with Péwé and Williams.
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