Rich Brandi Jr.’s Impressive Journey: Transforming a 2005 F-350 into a Low-Riding Showstopper

It’s a WOP Truck, Not a Shop Truck

Most custom ‘rookie’ built vehicles don’t go down in history books as being all too impressive. For the most part, a truck owner’s first stab at cutting up their first ride can turn problematic countless times throughout the term of ownership. Sometimes it just boils down to not having the required foresight and experience or lack of research and budget to do things the right way straight out of the gate. Some builders, on the other hand, knock that first pitch right out of the park. The latter scenario is obviously more of a rarity, but it does happen, even if the completion of the project requires much more time.

Now we should probably slow down a bit and preface what we mean by a first-time builder. Those who have a bottomless budget and/or hire others to do all the work aren’t the subjects of our discussion here. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that approach to getting things done—we aren’t knocking it one bit. The folks we are specifically looking at are guys like Rich Brandi, Jr. who are more hands-on and involved. Rich is no stranger to wrenching, as he is the owner of his own shop, Limitless Autoworks in Norristown, Pennsylvania, which he opened in 2015.

When Rich took ownership of his ’05 Ford F-350, it was brand new. What Rich had in mind for his truck was a full frame-off project, which he actually committed to by disassembling the cab and bed from the chassis before the truck was even broken in. He got as far as he could with the truck, but he did hit some major delays, since he chose to cannonball right into the deep end. Sure it was a bold move, but Rich is a bold guy. With his automotive experience and burning desire to build his F-350 to meet his own unique vision, he knew he’d be able to get it done—someday.

Back when he first started, Rich wanted to get right to the center of the truck by first filling in all the holes in the frame and working the whole body  to have it look as smooth as possible. From the jump, Rich was gunning to propel his F-350 into the upper echelon of unique customized diesel trucks, and refinishing the entire frame was certainly his idea of taking that extra step to do so.

While most of Limitless Autoworks’ clientele opt to lift their heavy-duty pickups, Rich has always had an affinity for pavement pounding, low-rolling haulers. To slam the truck down much lower than factory height, Rich wired up a front and back air ride system to achieve full adjustability of its cruising altitude. A new set of control arms, and keeping the factory front knuckles, allows the front to air out fully, and a custom rear 3-link system with a wishbone setup gives the Ford the advantage of  comfortable ride quality.

Next, Rich was able to further roll out his dream to have a low dually on big wheels with the inclusion of 26-inch wheels from 323 Duallysportz that he designed himself. After finding a set of tires with the right specs to properly fit the application, the OEM braking components were outfitted with stainless hard lines, as was the air ride system’s plumbing, just for good measure. Rich’s dream truck was slowly but surely coming together in a major way.

The next portion of the build was to dress up and outfit the F-350’s factory 6.0L diesel engine that—get this—still only has 2,872 original miles on it. Yes, you read that correctly. This engine is barely even in need of an oil change and it’s already coming up on its twentieth birthday. In order to extract the most performance from the 6.0, Rich first had to whip up a set of custom motor mounts to fit with the truck’s much lower stance. Then, he threw on a K&N air intake and a Banks Power intercooler, plugged in a SCT Performance programmer, and put together a 4-inch stainless exhaust system to blow mass amounts of coal through. While it’s almost insane to think that the original diesel engine that sits between the F-350’s frame rails is essentially still almost new, Rich does take it out to romp around in for a good while to keep the juices flowing through the truck’s system.

The build phase to follow would see a collaboration of Limitless Autoworks and Matus Brothers Auto Body in Bridgeport, PA. Together, the two shops teamed up to shave a great deal of items from the Ford’s exterior façade, including the door handles and both side mirrors and taillights, along with a clean up of the bed rails and fenders. To add that lasting bit of aggressive styling to the F-350, Rich allowed Matus Brothers the great pleasure of spraying the DuPont Mellow Yellow 3-stage paint job.

Even though the truck has only received some minimal custom tweaks inside the cab in the way of a flush-mounted iPod that was completed back in 2014, as well as the wiring up a full audio system, the fully-loaded factory interior stayed pretty much as-is. The truck hasn’t even been driven 3,000 miles in the last two decades, so it’s safe to say that everything is still in like-new condition.

This diesel truck was definitely crossing over into street truck territory, and Rich couldn’t have been happier to see the progress. It was certainly teetering on the line of polarity of what most diesel fans expect to see from a custom diesel rig. As far as Rich was concerned, he didn’t give a damn about what anybody else had to say about his Ford. This was a project that consumed a great deal of his time and effort, as well as a costly expenditure throughout the years, and he was only worried about one person’s approval—his own.

It took Rich just over 8 years to complete his project, but he never thought once to throw in the towel. The unveiling of his F-350 was nothing less than extraordinary, as he was able to have it on full display for the first time at the 2013 SEMA show. For a guy who grew up wandering around his dad’s truck and machine shop when he was a kid, to taking his first truck build to the highest proving ground imaginable, you can bet that Rich still replays that achievement every time he looks at his low-as-hell, full-flexing dually. Some guys don’t ever get to experience this taste of the limelight even with multiple full builds under their belts, so the fact that Rich stuck with his breakout project and created a showstopper makes his accomplishment that much more impressive.

2005 FORD F-350

OWNER

Rich Brandi Jr.
Norristown, PA
Relaxed Atmosphere

ENGINE

• • 2005 Ford 6.0L diesel
  • 2,872 original miles
  • Custom motor mounts
  • K&N intake
  • Banks Power intercooler
  • OEM turbocharger
  • 3/8-inch stainless hard fuel lines
  • SCT Performance X4 programmer
  • 4-inch stainless exhaust system
  • BD stage 5 5R110 transmission
  • OEM driveshaft

CHASSIS

• • Smoothed and bodyworked frame
  • Front and rear air ride systems
  • Custom control arms
  • Factory front knuckles
  • Custom steering using OEM box, new idler arm
  • 4:10 Truetrac locker Dana 80
  • Rearend narrowed 10 inches
  • Custom 3-link w/wishbone
  • Fox 2.0 shocks all around
  • Stainless air lines
  • Optima Blue Top battery on frame rail under cab
  • Custom aluminum 29-gallon fuel cell

WHEELS, TIRES & BRAKES

• • Custom 26-inch wheels by 323 Duallysportz
  • 305/30/26 tires
  • OEM brakes w/ stainless lines

BODY/PAINT

• • Shop: Matus Brothers Auto Body, Bridgeport, PA and Limitless Autoworks
  • Factory 2005 F-350 4-door short bed dually body
  • DuPont Mellow Yellow paint
  • Custom rear roll pan
  • OEM front and rear fenders shaved smooth
  • Door handles, mirrors, bed rails and taillights shaved
  • Flush-mount LED taillights
  • OEM Harley-Davidson edition headlights
  • Gas filler inside bed floor
  • Oasis XD 2000 compressor

INTERIOR

• • OEM power/heated seats
  • Custom console made to look like OEM
  • Flush-mounted iPad Air and Pioneer stereo unit
  • Kicker 2,000-watt amp, 6.5-inch components, down-firing subs in console
  • Sig 1911 Nightmare mount in console