I picked up my truck last week, and I've been piddling on some exterior changes. The truck is a '17 F250 Lariat Ultimate that I bought off the lot locally. I traded in my '14 black F250 Lariat for it. Sorry for the dirty pics; it's been a bit sloppy here lately. Here it is in stock form:



I like the color a lot, but there were a few other things I wanted to change. First, I swapped out the stock Michelins for some BFG AT/KO2s. I had the original KOs on an F150 years ago, and I ran the KO2s on my previous 250. I was considering going to a 35" tire and looked at the new Nitto Ridge Grapplers, but it ended up being a much better deal to stick with stock size 275/65/20 BFGs. It saves me a bit of weight vs. the larger tires and keeps the computer calibrated; plus it's a slightly more aggressive look in a tire that I've been impressed with over the years.



Next came the bed cover. It's a Bakflip MX4. It's a clean looking cover and better engineered and built than the first Bakflip I had on my F150.





Finally, I had wanted powered running boards, but the truck I purchased had the extended chrome boards. So last night I installed some AMP Research powersteps. Really straight forward install, and I like the plug and play aspect. Much cleaner look that I'm really liking. Honestly, these steps feel more sturdy than the fixed OEM chrome boards.







Next up, I have a Swingcase coming in as well as a 20" curved combo LED bar from Black Oak that I'm going to try and mount between the tow hooks. I have to figure out how I'm going to remove the plastic in the bumper opening and relocate the front plate, but it should be fun!

I'm really liking this truck so far.

--Nathan

 

Great looking rig, and I wish you nothing but luck with it! I love that blue on the new truck, and those steps look great. Thanks for the pics of the progress too!!

 

I to don't care the the Michelins look. They look like touring tires and not a truck tire. Will the dealer take the Michelins off and put on a tire of your choice? Do they give you almost 100% for what the Michelins actually cost. I would swap a more aggressive tire as well but not if the dealer wants to take me to the cleaners to do it.

 

I agree, cecilt. I've heard of some dealers doing tire swaps, but no, my dealer wouldn't do any swaps even for a tire with only 4 miles on it when I picked up the truck. In that case, you basically have two options: sell them in the private market or trade them in at a tire dealer. I didn't want the hassle of selling them myself, so I ended up going the second option and took the bigger loss on the value of the tire. At the time I did the swap, my truck had just under 200 miles on it, and they ended up giving me $125 per tire toward the purchase of new tires. I could have made more selling them myself, and I hesitated at doing the swap to begin with, but you only live once.

On my F150, I lived with the terrible scorpion tires they had until they were worn before upgrading, and the same with my old 6.7 with Michelins. With this truck, I just wanted to do the swap up front. It's a catch 22 because you essentially lose money of the value of what is a brand new tire, but at the same time, you can make a little bit off of them now vs. nothing when they're worn out.

--Nathan

 

Here's my straight 20" bar mounted in there.

 

Looks good! Yours were the pictures that showed me it could be done on a 2017 F250. I've always liked that look: a bit incognito until you turn them on. My prior 250 had 2 halogen 6" spots and 2 6" driving floods on a Randy Ellis light bar mount, and I'm missing the extra light out in the country (deer) when no one is around.

--Nathan

 

What'd your Amps run you? I have a quote for $1200 to my door .

 

That's as good as I've seen. I paid that price with free shipping, but I did have to pay tax which put me right at $1300 delivered. I got mine from Amazon with Prime 2-day shipping.

I'll tell you I'm extremely pleased with the Amp Research steps. They went on easily by myself with nothing more than a creeper on my garage floor and a few hand tools and a drill. And when it was all done, the Amp powersteps actually feel more solid than my fixed factory steps. Being wider and a bit lower also helps with that feel of stability. Great product.

--Nathan

 

I had them on my '08 , never had a single problem. I will add them to the '17 that's for sure.

 

has anyone mounted a light bar in this location with the proximity cruise control?
what size light bar fits in the location when the proximity cruise control box is in place?

 

@silver pilate What are those 2 '*****' on the MX4 cover up by the back window?

Edit: zoomed in from the rear they look like catches for a strap connector.

 

44Dan, you nailed it. Straps buckle in to hold the cover down in the 3/4 open position.

 

Thank you. Ordering this cover, just didn't want to be surprised.

 

Looks GREAT! Can you (please) share info on what you did to fit the LED lightbar in there (panel removal instructions) and how you mounted the hardware? Did you run them to one of the Upfitter switches?

 

Silver_Pilate,

Great mods!! Does the MX4 tono cover the camera that looks down into the bed when it is in the full open position?