ok I have a stupid question...what is the MAF? mass air flow? where it located at? as far as cleaning it, what involved?

Yep mass air flow sensor and it's in the airbox downstream of the airfilter. Remove the neg cable off the battery. They make a MAF cleaner or electrical contact cleaner will work. Spray it down be careful not to touch it. Looks like a fine wire very delicate I've seen guys clean theirs with a q-tip and alcohol but I prefer the spray cans. Give it time to dry make sure to leave neg cable off for 15 to 20 minutes to fully reset the pcm and it's keep alive memory. You want the pcm to re-learn all of it's fuel air strategies etc. One thing I tell the guys that work for me is the only stupid question is the one that goes un-asked.

If your getting rid of the truck in a year I would just look for some used tires. U might be suprised what you find. Some discount tires carry used tires as well as local tire shops. I saw a lot of used tires on eBay, but then you have to deal with shipping. Craigslist might be an option.

Mike call Chris at Bob Utter FORD and see if they have any factory takeoffs they want to sell....

Hey 97fordnut,

Do you have to remove the MAF? I just spray mine down with it inside the housing. We are getting away from tires here. I agree with the rear end talk. I have an 01 Supercrew 4x4 5.4 with 3.55 LS rear end. It tows my Ranger fine but I hate that motor. I have had nothing but trouble. I do not know how the 3 valves are but I think with the 2 valves there were a lot of bad ones. Back to tires, these trucks are tire eaters. I swapped out the factory tires for Pirellis on day 3. The Pirellis went 27k. I then got some BFGs that went 40k. I now have some Definitys that might make 30k. I have the same tires on a Sporttrac and they will probably make 60k.

I just take the airbox loose from the elbow and remove the diffuser and stick a rag up behind it and sray it down good with the CRC brand MAF cleaner. The rag is for soaking up the overspray. I guess every so often there is a trouble some truck from all manufacturers. I was told my 97 was the fifth one sold in Dallas county with the 5.4 and had one issue with it the first couple of months I owned it. Fortunatly the mechanic working on mine was having the same problems. Long story short they plugged a datalogger into mine and I drove it around for a weekend to Lake Fork pulling the boat and they sent the datalogger to the engineers and they sent back 4 new o2's and maf. Never had a problem since. 00 to 01 they made a slight change in the head design calling it a PI head actually giving the 5.4 10-15 more hp. The 3 valve is supposed to have 30 more hp than the 2 valves. We have 5 E250's anywhere from 02 to 08 with the 5.4 but I recently found out that Ford still mfg's the 2 valve and that's what goes into the E250 the only one that has been a problem was the 02 and it launched 3 different plugs because the dealer didn't follow the TSB when they replace them used antiseize and didn't torque them tight enough. We bought another 08 with a 4.6 because the tech elected the electronic package over the 5.4 w/o cruise. Now that is a gutless wonder and never would recomend this package to anyone the truck is just to heavy. The 08 I drive paired against the one 06 Chevy with 4.8 will run off and leave it while the 08 with 4.6 just waves. This did turn into a hyjack. Getting back on track I've heard horror stories about Pirellis and amazed because they are made by the same people that make Michelin. The Goodyear Wranglers that came on my 97 made it till 47k. Then I bought the Liberator A/T's from Wally World and put 50k on them. When it come time to replace them I come real close to going with the BFG Long Trails because Wally wanted $110 for the new Lib's I talked to the guy at W.W. about what kind of deal he could make me and he said $85 plus rh, valves rotate bal etc. I was like go for it since I had good luck before. When it came time to settle up he said I'm going to make your day and he charged me $74 plus all the other. I asked if he had another set but he said not in stock but he could get them. I come close to getting 4 more at that price just to throw in the garage. That would have been 2 sets for the price of one BFG's. Oh well the spiders have enough stuff around hear to live in anyways. I usually rotate and bal them every 6k so that has alot to do with the life of them as well. wow this got long winded.

Check around the Pilot Point area the small town tire shops usually have pretty good tires now and then. 1/2ton trucks are not real good at pulling out of ramps. Maybe throw a few bags of cement in the bed. I had an 86 F150 and had to use the boat motor to help me get out most places. Takes two though and you need to be quick on trim if your scag hits while motor is down.