The above is for the under hood insulation pad and associated pad retainer pins (you’ll need 10 pins) - opened the hood and thought, “wait,…. something’s missing,….” Took me a second to realize it was the “naked hood” throwing me off a bit. I know it serves no real practical purpose,….but,….

For this, and previous posts - don’t take these part numbers as gospel till I get them here, install and confirm.




XLT Regular Cabs with carpet delete don’t come with mats, or the nipples that hold mats in-place. I’ll cut the slits in the vinyl floor / install nipples once the mats arrive tomorrow.

 

Mornin’ men,…and some of you who identify as ladies (never know what’s up with people nowadays &#128513,…..and no, please don’t turn this into a debate, I was just muckin’ around 😎

Been trying to find someone who can get the Black Armor bed mat, made by NothWest Rubber out of Canada - thing is 1/2” thick and hearty - I looked at all the others, and considered them, but, man that Black Armor mat fits the bill for longevity, and,… it’s a little thicker, won’t bunch / wrinkle up “as bad” when you try to slide stuff up in the bed.

Problem being, can’t find much info on them to get a part number - called several places to see if they could order one for my truck,…. keep getting “we don’t have one for that truck” - seems strange they wouldn’t have a 2023 F250 8’ bed mat,…….it’s a fairly mass produced truck for working men,…. who would be the bulk of people using this max drop protection mat. I’ll keep trying NorthWest Rubber to see what I can find out. I did find a part number on one of the websites, supposedly for my truck - Black Armor NW1305444 - but, don’t know if that’s a good number or not.
Anyone know where to get this dude at? Been like pulling chicken teeth trying to track this thing down.

I plan on spraying battleship grey Line-X in the bed,….. then install this bed mat, along with a Diamondback 270 bed cover & cross bed storage box,….should serve the purpose, keep stuff dry and protected. Buddy of mine has black Line-X with a bed cover,…..when you open the tailgate, look up in there, it’s like trying to see up in a dark cave,…… I’m getting old guys, so hoping the grey will alleviate that a dark cave a bit, since I have factory lights in the bed.

Sure would like to find one of these,…….

 

Pulled the order trigger on the Diamondback 270 bed cover with cross bed storage box per below - went with the smooth black,…it’s a cleaner look,….. may put some tie downs on it for later use,….but, don’t plan on hauling anything on top of the cover. Also need to find some rubber matting I can cut to fit down in the cross bed storage box,…keep stuff from sliding around in there, and reduce rattling noises a bit.

The 270 isn’t the strongest load rated unit of the bunch,…I picked the 270, primarily so I can easily access the tool box without obstructions. The 270 will only hold 400lbs,..unlike other Diamondback covers that can carry 1600lbs on top,….but, I really don’t need that.

Diamonback covers are currently in backlog on their 270 covers - spoke with them this morning,…. 3-4 weeks before it’ll ship, once ordered. Received an order confirmation email from them saying estimated ship date 26OCT23.

Perfect,…… gives me time to get the battleship grey Line-X done,…. and get one of those Black Armor bed mats in my mitts (if I can find one for an 8’ bed).

 

Well,….the 2019 Raptor trade-in is gone,…… shipped it off. Sure didn’t like seeing that one go, it only had a hair over 15k miles on it,…..pristine condition with all the bells and whistles from the factory. From day I drove it off the lot, it road smooth, fairly quick and didn’t have any issues with it,……good truck, but my needs changed. Back in 2019, when I bought the Raptor, I originally went down to the dealership to buy an F250 Tremor with a 7.3L in it,……then I messed up and drove the Raptor,…..smooth.

Onwards and upwards with the new F250 though,……

 

What’s up with the squares within writing on my last 4 posts? I’m ol’ school,…. wouldn’t surprise me if I did that / doing something wrong. It may have something to do with putting an attachment pic on the same post? But, then again,…. some of my other posts above with attachments are good-to-go / no squares / basically written same. It’s a bit distracting when you read,…...don’t know how to fix that fellars. Y’all let me know - purty good at “monkey see, monkey do”. 😎

 

Well fellars, no joy on the Black Armor bed mat below,…..just got off the phone with NorthWest rubber in Canada (mat manufacturer), they said they stopped making the 8’ bed mat due to shipping costs from Canada. I reasoned with her that most people who’d be needing to buy this thick of a mat would be working Construction, etc. of which the majority would be 8’ beds,…..loosing a lot of market share there. She agreed,…..but,

That’s a bummer,….but, it’s all part of it,…. Smelling a business opportunity here, based in the US.

Additionally, would like to thanks JayCarver on here,…. He was kind enough to speak with me on the Carli / One Up Off-road kits - he’s in the process of swapping some of his Carli pieces out with OUO parts,….very knowledgeable man there guys, I’d listen to his advice - thanks for the help this morning Jay, much appreciated.

 

Well fellars, after consideration, reckon I’ll go with the stock Super Duty bed mat below - I’m familiar with the mat quality, and service use (purty good). Not that any of the other manufacturers don’t produce equal, if not better, quality.

Here is the part number I found, and confirmed on several sites - again guys, please don’t take these part numbers as gospel - let me be the dummy, and I’ll confirm part numbers are good once installed.

 

Mornin’ fellars, been researching spray-in bed liners in my area - you know,… the typical Line-X, Rhino, etc. Then I ran across Bullet Liners,….they’re right down the road from me. Went to the web & YouTube to check out customer reviews / info,……and ran across this video - what the,…… seriously?

They sprayed a watermelon, and an egg with this stuff and it couldn’t be broken? They even drove over the watermelon with a truck,….three times? And hit the egg with a baseball bat, several times,…didn’t break. They ended up having to cut the egg and watermelon open with a sawz-all???

Wait till you see them spray a cinder block wall, and then take a sledge hammer to it,…..busts out the entire back side of the block, but relatively little damage to the coating (if you think about what I sledgehammer can do, and how hard he’s hitting that block).

Granted,…. appears they sprayed the above items thicker than the typical 80-125mm thickness we see on our truck beds,….impressive nonetheless. Wondering if Line-X, Rhino, etc. would prove same - haven’t seen them validate to this level.

Anyone have any experience with this Bullet bed liner?

 

Ordered the following 2023 F250 stock Ford parts this morning:
Internet order
- Tail gate lowering assist shock - Damper Assembly Part #: HC3Z-99406A10-A
- Under hood insulation - Hood insulation pad Part# PC3Z-16738-A
- Insulator Retainer Clips Part# W705002S300 (for under hood insulation pad above - need 10 clips)
- Floor mat retainers Part# W715120-SS3JA (the little nipple posts on the floor that hold the floor mats in place)
Dealership order
- TREMOR Model Valance Panel (Lower) Part# PC3Z-17626-CA
- Rubber bed mat 8’ bed - Ford SD stock mat Part # HC3Z-99112A15-B

Verified above part #’s with my local dealership before I pushed the “take my money” button this morning. Ford / other sites have some of the above parts listed as ‘only for a 2022’, but dealer rep confirmed the questionable part numbers do say it’s good for a 2023 in their system,……we’ll soon find out 😎
I’ll get parts installed as they arrive, and confirm correct fit / part numbers - pics of installed parts to follow.

Not that I’m a penny pincher,…. but it was fairly obvious,… turned out a bit cheaper to get the bed mat & Tremor valance direct from the local dealer, instead of paying shipping off the internet order - rough example : internet order wanted circa $200 to ship these two parts,…..parts price increase at dealership $80,…..$120 back in the kitty for other stuff,…..

Dealership ordered parts above will arrive in 3-4 days, internet ordered parts don’t know yet.

 

Interesting build. The regular cab trucks are a real minority these days.

 

I don't think Bullet Liner is as wide spread as Line X and Rhino Liner, but from what I have read they have a good product. There have been some of the same type of tests (eggs, watermelon, cups..) done with Line X, the results are impressive. It does illustrate that these spray liners do add some structural improvement to the material it is sprayed on.

 

Thanks Master Sergeant, much appreciated.

4wd6.7L yeah bud, agree,…I’d never really researched bed liners before, and that Bullet Liner was the first video I clicked on with my 2nd coffee a cigar this morning 😁 I’ve since seen videos of Line-X taking a 10yd shotgun blast,….thought, “hell,…..what else ya need?” Nonetheless, I did my due diligence and turned tires over on all my local installers.

Decided to go with Line-X - not for product reasons, but, well,….I won’t get into it 😎. Have it scheduled for install next Wed 04OCT23 @ 0800 - going with a light grey, instead of the traditional black. Figure, “well, if it turns out looking like #&$*,…it’ll have a bedcover over it 😁”. Grey bed liner on a white truck,….we’ll see.

Will be finalizing Carli Lift install Monday with local installer - will be installing the following:

• 3.5” Pintop system complete (front leveling coils, King 2.5 shocks with reservoir, front brake lines, 2 degree caster shims, front bump stop drops, track bar)
• Rear progressive full spring kit
• Rear leaf spring shackles
• Front torsion sway bar & end links kit - complete
• Rear axle 2 degree pinion shims
• High mount steering stabilizer

The leaf spring shackles are 1 week out, and the sway bar with end link kit is 2 weeks out - everything else is in stock,…good,…. gives me time to get all the nick-nack stuff done.
Decided I’d go with the Carli full progressive spring, instead of the Carli add-a-pack,…..reason being, Carli stated today, the full progressives springs decrease your payload circa 15%,…so, I walked out to the ol’ regular cab, looked at the sticker in the door jam - found max payload is 3,477 lbs. x .85 = 2,955 lbs. (-544 lbs.) - did some more goes-into-in on the ol’ calculator, and given what I would regularly tow / haul,….I’m good to go.
Suspension and Nitto 37’s should be goin’ on the ol’ boy round 18OCT23.
Carli’s low mount steering stabilizer just became available - currently taking orders - won’t be available for the 2023’s till end of Oct. mid Nov. - I’ll put this on later, once available,….if I need it.
Will stick with stock radius arms for now, due to design tweak (from 2022 to 23) allowing larger 37” tires,…. Both Carli & CJC confirmed no rub with the Carli kit, using stock rims.

Received the Husky X-Act floor mats pictured in post #16 above,….I slapped em’ in my ‘carpet delete’ regular cab,……I figure it’s best I let those mats sit in the truck floor, under the Florida hot sun tomorrow,….before I let ya know what I think, show fitment pics 😀

 

You might want to test fitment between the Husky mats and the Ford pegs before you go cutting your vinyl. Mine didn't play well together. But the mats fit well enough without so I just left them.

 

Thanks rna352 - yeah man,.. funny you mention it,….that’s the first thing I noticed,….the floormat post snap holes on the Husky X-act fit mats are way off location, as compared to the ‘carpet delete’ vinyl floor post factory locations. Maybe the stock floormat post snap locations are different in factory carpet versus vinyl floor,….mats might be a perfect snap-in fit on carpet, but vinyl is off by quit a bit. I’ve already purchased the stock floormat post snaps that I’d planned to install in the vinyl floor,……because I don’t want the mats sliding around too much under my feet / constantly adjusting the floormat. We’ll see later this afternoon how the mats fair out for fitment, once the Florida heat relaxes em’ a bit - I’ll take some pics this evening and show y’all the post misalignment mentioned, and overall floor mat fitment.

Secondly, ordered the Ford dually lights and harness below from Limitless Auto Works - plug and play dually brake light kit - comes with a stock Ford light and ready to go harness. Our F250 trucks have a blank plate already installed where this dually light goes,….simply unscrew the blank plate, slap the dually light in, and wire it up,….wiring harness is plug-and-play - already has a lug on the ground wire (to connect under a good ground bolt), and the positive wire already has a pin on it which snaps into the factory wiring harness connector,…..purty slick.

 

There goes those squares in my text again,….im doing something wrong?