Since I last posted I have had some light body work done, fixed my tailgate, new tires, and some Fab Fours warranty work... also got the headlights and tails smoked and a little Line-X on the painted areas... Installed new Deaver rear leafs (+6") and got rid of the Firestone airbags
SCT/5 Star Tuning done - 93 octane Tow/Perf is great improvement as usual.

Bought and am awaiting on the arrival of some custom length King Shocks for the rear and EBC Stage 5 brake kit.

Fab Fours paid to blast and Line-X my bumpers when they started to rust after several years of road salt broke down the seal of the powder coat finish. BTW Lani at Fab Fours is great to deal with.

Phantom Autoworks in Salem, OH did the Line-x, tires, and smoked the lenses and I am totally satisfied. Those guys were great to deal with and do good work.

Questions and critiques (love it, hate it, I like to know what people think and why) are welcomed... The pictures are kind of dark, and since they were taken I have installed the Fab Fours steps which were line-x'd to match the rest. more pics to follow once I get a chance.

 

I like the rear bumper, don't care for the front so much. Just seems like it sticks out way too far like an underbite.

I also don't care for the Line-X on the body panels. Any time I see that much Line-X on a truck, I figure the owner is covering rust and doesn't know how to paint.

I don't care for the rims much either, there's a ton of vehicles in my area with those on them already so they've become sort of generic to me. I do like the tires. If you plan on taking your truck through the sand those M16s work really well. They don't clean out well in mud though.

 

Front bumper - does stick out, has been a thorn that I have learned to deal with... its because it houses the winch and can house up to a 15,000 lb winch inside. Its one of those necessary evils. Plus, it has served me well... two Acuras, two hondas, and an Audi have all lost in some form or another to that bumper. Rush hour here is like a demolition derby for some reason.

Line-X - there wasn't rust, but you're half right, I dont know how to paint. I do however hit a lot of branches (and the occasional chain) when off road so that's the reason for the grille and hood. The roof just made sense to me bc I carry stuff up there that scratches, like a canoe or john boat, the tailgate was just to continue the big black stripe... no function to it whatsoever.

Rims - Well when I bought them no one around here had that style... then I started seeing Subaru's with the same pattern from the factory... and now Im sharing styling cues with the stupid crosstrek or whatever that thing is called.

Tires -
Bought them for the better highway and sand performance actually. I am from MI and love to go home and play in the sand. Lots of it there.

 

Thanks for sharing this. It's definitely unique. I like the Mad Max front bumper but I would lose the silver rockers. Too pretty. You might consider painting them Line-X to match the rest of the character of the truck. The Raptor style wheel arch molding would look good too. Keep us updated.

 

I'm not a huge fan of any of the new style black rims but they are in style. The truck overall to me looks great! I wonder how the blue line x would have looked rather than black.

I'm guessing that mods like these are pretty spendy and some serious consideration goes into this before you start writing checks.

Thanks for sharing sir and I hope you continue with your mods.

 

Falco - That is something Ive wrestled with in my head... last thing I want is "over doing it" with the black line-x though. I think I am waiting to afford the color match blue line-x or maybe even just straight paint it to match the Flame Blue on the rest of the truck. The wheel arches are something I am waiting to see what direction this thing takes. It may stay close to what it is, it may go full blown desert racer with long travel and fiberglass panels, I have to see how the current engine holds up for the next year. I have the 5.0 and I have a slight knock now. I may need the $$ to replace that.

tseekins - you are correct on the $$$, color match line-x is a lot more than std black. Asked for a quote for the whole truck in single color blue to match, excluding the bumpers, and that came back at $5500-$6000. Basically the same as a full paint job... Ive done this in stages as I think most of us have to. I had the bumpers on the truck for three years with the standard black fab fours powdercoat. That started to rust at the welds, so I contacted them and they gave me some options. Line-X was my request, and they went for it. The lift is a home-brewed hodgepodge of King, Icon, and Deaver bits... but it works well.

I included some more pics with the proper step bars on the truck... mixed feelings on this end about them.

 

You should have done the whole truck.

 

I'd never do it but he's right that would look sick

 

If I knowingly had the "5.0 knock" I'd be getting out of that truck now, not putting money into it

 

I have never, and I mean NEVER had an aftermarket part age well. Not wheels, bumpers, suspension, or anything on the outside of car. Simply said, there is no finish like an OE finish.

I would wire brush and rattle can paint my Jeep bumper every year (touch up, not the whole thing). Powder coat is way over used and misapplied. It doesn't stick well to corners and edges. Once the corrosion begins then you just can't win unless you start over from scratch. Fortunately, real off road rigs still look good when ugly. Couldn't get away with that on my stock looking F150.

 

Holy cow, that's a long list for 3 years! Is the problem them or you???

I have never tagged another car in 26 years of driving. But I have noticed when I run heavy bumpers that my attitude changes and I get more aggressive because I don't give a darn. (Go ahead, pal.... Hit me!). I would come out of the store and find the wrong color paint on the 1/4" steel but that just amused me. I definitely drive and park careful with my fragile, thin skinned F150,

 

Nice truck ****
I would paint the silver parts blue or black to give the truck an overall darker look. Great pic of it with the little commuter car behind it, shows how massive that truck is.

Are the fancy King and Icon shocks worth the money? I have a Fox twin clicker on a motorcycle and it made a huge difference. I've also ridden in a few off road cars with Fox shocks and they worked great...just not sure my mostly stock F150 FX4 would benefit much from shocks like that.

 

As for doing the whole truck... its been done round here, A LOT.
I like to be different in a familiar way...

I financially committed to this truck before the "knock" appeared, and something like replacing the engine is not such a daunting ordeal for me... I will happily swap it out for another 5.0 that I build "right" or pick up from Ford Racing... or as I have been hoping, that the new 5.2 from the GT350 will be available for purchase from Ford as a complete crate engine that might bolt up to the 6R80 and then get the firmware/software and such hammered out. I cant imagine Ill be the only one wanting to do this... 500+ hp N/A is just

QwkTrip "I have noticed when I run heavy bumpers that my attitude changes and I get more aggressive because I don't give a darn. (Go ahead, pal.... Hit me!)."

^^^ This exactly... I let them try to "bully" me around, its a common thing here for folks to just merge into your lane and you are required to hit the brakes to let them in... at least thats how they see it. I got those step bars paid for because a Honda Accord tried to pass me on the inside of a left hand turn and t-boned my step, bumper corner, and drivers side front wheel. I had an attitude with the bumpers for a while... though now that its "pretty' again I will be more hesitant to get in the ring and box these idiots.

Turbo Dog Thanks! As far as I know they are. It should be said that the only baseline I have on this truck is the stock shocks/springs. I will tell you that they have been abused and have soaked it up nicely. I have jumped them (not huge air mind you), they have seen dunes and other very high speed off road conditions, and they do well on pavement as well. They have a million mile warranty and they are rebuild-able. I am on my second set of ball joints and LCA bushings in 65K miles, and the Kings have been there since about 9K miles I think and are still like new. I have ICON uniball UCA's and they have held up quite well... I did them when the stock UCA's gave up at about 38-40K.

I have seen since I bought these that Fox and Icon have both released some nicer 2.5" and 3" body remote resevoir/adjustable components and they are less $ than the Kings. If those were available when I bought, I would have probably tried them.

 

Thanks for the update...knowing the Fox shock helped my dual sport m/c I just wanted to be sure it would be worth wile to use them on my truck. I'm not going to lift it but I think they will help with all the dirt roads around here.
Rock on

 

Linex or paint the bottom would look Great!