bmaverick

Hey guys, looking to do some cheap mods on my 2011 5.0 FX4 crew cab. Already have driving lights / LED bar, and just picked up some decent rims and tires to put on in the spring. Any suggestions to what I could do? All ideas welcome. ($500 limit for now)

mojobandit

Try washing it!

bmaverick

Eh, a little dirt in the north is typica, not a big deal.

bmaverick

That's what happens on gravel, snowy roads

theshephard

Hi,
I posted a couple threads the other week on some cheap-ish mods, including the MOLLE tactical seat cover and the console holster.
Some other things I've done:

• Replace mud flaps with front and rear flaps from Weathertech
• Install rear wheel well liners
• Install dash cam (I use a BlackVue DR500GW-HD), thinking about doing a post on instructions for this as well
• Do the USB2 mod

I have some items on my to-do list, which include

• Installing strips of LED lights for the bed
• Installing auxiliary fuse box under hood to power both bed lights and dash cam
• Eventually thinking about auxiliary lights and some uplifter switches

taxgod4u

fwiw I used a "add a fuse" tap to tie my dash cams (all of my vehicles) in to an ignition switched fuse. ran wires up A pillar and head liner. now they come on and off with the ignition.

bmaverick

How are the weathertech flaps?

bmaverick

How do they look as well?

theshephard

Yeah, I used a fuse tap to get the dash cam wired, running up the A pillar. It works, is relatively clean, with the following exception - I wasn't able to get the fuse box cover back on cleanly because the fuse tap height was taller than the rest of the fuses. I've seen that some people cut away portions of the fuse box cover to provide the room, but in the spirit of reversible mods (or is it OCD?), I shied away from this. This is what's driving me towards eventually doing the auxiliary fuse box, along with the advantage of separating the mods from the factory electrical system as much as possible. That said, it seems like a complete PITA to do an aux fuse box. Not only is elegant placement of the box an open issue, but there's the wiring, etc, that gets somewhat complicated (high amp breakers, relays, etc). Complicated for me, anyway, as I've never done anything beyond a fuse tap, splicing or direct wiring. It's going to be a summer project and I'll do some documentation on it to post here if I'm successful. Spending the rest of the winter trying to design everything on paper first.

theshephard

I'll try to grab some pics here in a bit and post them (though my truck is probably far dirtier, iced over, etc., so go easy on me). We're having unseasonably warm weather here so the freeze/thaw cycles are giving us a lot of muddy mist on the roads while driving.

Here's the big thing - putting the mud flaps on the front dramatically cuts down on the gradual ice build up on top of the running boards that can get pretty thick over the course of the winter. I found it pretty well impossible to keep on top of clearing it, and don't really like continually beating on those running boards to chip it away. The flaps divert the spray for the most part. Otherwise it's nice not having flaps branded from the car dealership, which is what my truck came with.

Anyway, pics shortly.