These trucks are how old and this is all you can find wrong? The parts are cheep and easy to fix. It’s not the clips you showed it’s rust in the handle hinge. Grow a pair and find something worth wile to write about

107k after the conversion? do you tow anything or just haul ass?

Take that little v6 and squeeze 100 more ponies out of it and see what that does to the longevity.

If he is getting that kind of gas mileage he isn’t hauling anything to speak of . let’s put a 5,000 lb. Trailer behind it and see what that little engine has to say. a 3.7 turbo charged engine with a real load (one like ford says it can tow) and put it on a hill.