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A quick share of the progress I’ve made so far on my F150 Lariat Powerboost. Bought the truck Dec. 26 on a trip to VA to visit my family over Christmas. I replaced a 2012 Silverado we drove up from Venice, FL. The vision of the new F150 was to build a truck we could take on site-seeing, off-road overlanding trips in KY and TN with my oldest daughter and her family who own a 2021 Tundra TRD Pro. However this truck is also my daily driver so didn’t want to make look too off-road trail crazy, just capable. I defined the plan as making a “Civilized Overlander” with parameters including: It must fit in my garage with a 7 ft door so not possible to do a full lift and couldn't add any length. It must be able to go over 12” high obstacles and 12” deep water. And finally, hopefully still get at least 20 mph.
Here is what has been done so far:
1. Bilstein 6112 front coilovers to level. Set the struts to slot #6 (2.5”) but only got 1.5” lift. Wanted 2” lift to look right to me so added 1/2” spacers. Talked to Bilstein and they do not offer and do not plan to offer heavier springs for the Powerboost. 6112 comes with 500 lbs/in springs, wanted around 600 lbs/in. OEM springs are 595 lbs/in. Bilstein assured me the 60mm dia. strut with the included springs would work well, just not provide the lift I was looking for. The truck handles great with the factory swaying on turns gone.
2. Stubby antennae
3. Bak Revolver X4S bed cover
4. Raptor 17” wheels and BFG KO2’s (315/70 R17).
Yes they did not fit over the rear calipers as I have Max Towing. I really like these wheels on this truck so decided to make them work by grinding .003 -.004” off the back of the calipers (didn’t go below the stamped numbers), and added 1/4” spacers...which gave me the stance I was looking for… about an inch outside the fenders.
5. Talon tranny skid plate. I did find after mounting I had to remove and mount the left wing on the outside of the main plate to get rid of an exhaust rattle around 1400rpm.
6. Oil Drain Valve
7. Custom Rock Sliders. Couldn’t find any rock sliders at a reasonable cost that provided the wheel to wheel protection I wanted (have 6.5’ bed), or that I felt were as strong as they really should be for the heavy Powerboost. So I worked with a fabricator in Lakeland FL (Timbo Customs) to design and weld up rock sliders specifically designed for my truck. See the added pics. These sliders are 111” long, have a 10 deg angle, are slightly wider than normal and have unique top plates designed to shed water and mud and keep my 90lb pup from slipping and potentially breaking a leg stepping out of the truck...we call them Tucker Plates. We also mounted them to the frame with five connectors, not 3 or 4. They are strong. Time will tell but I think they'll hold up against anything this heavy truck will encounter.
I think the quality of my rock sliders are unmatched as Tim’s build matched our spec’s perfectly and did a great job on every single weld. The guy is a true craftsman. On top of that, the price was about 2/3rd’s the cost to buy from RCI or Rocky Road as I was able to save on freight. If your interested, Timbo Customs can be contacted through their Facebook page or on Instagram. He is a trail guy himself and can install build about any mod to your truck. He had just finished installing a Desert Designs front bumper to a Raptor when I got there to install my sliders. The Toyota forum folks speak very highly of this guy.
So that’s about it. May do a hidden winch in the future but in general want to keep the truck looking “normal”. And yes I’m getting 21ish mph in city and 20ish highway driving. Thanks for reading my story...and thanks to my friend Howard for the good pics.
Last edited by Bearmark12; Feb 12, 2024 at 06:23 PM.
A quick share of the progress I’ve made so far on my F150 Lariat Powerboost. Bought the truck Dec. 26 on a trip to VA to visit my family over Christmas. I replaced a 2012 Silverado we drove up from Venice, FL. The vision of the new F150 was to build a truck we could take on site-seeing, off-road overlanding trips in KY and TN with my oldest daughter and her family who own a 2021 Tundra TRD Pro. However this truck is also my daily driver so didn’t want to make look too off-road trail crazy, just capable. I defined the plan as making a “Civilized Overlander” with parameters including: It must fit in my garage with a 7 ft door so not possible to do a full lift and couldn't add any length. It must be able to go over 12” high obstacles and 12” deep water. And finally, hopefully still get at least 20 mph.
Here is what has been done so far:
1. Bilstein 6112 front coilovers to level. Set the struts to slot #6 (2.5”) but only got 1.5” lift. Wanted 2” lift to look right to me so added 1/2” spacers. Talked to Bilstein and they do not offer and do not plan to offer heavier springs for the Powerboost. 6112 comes with 500 lbs/in springs, wanted around 600 lbs/in. OEM springs are 595 lbs/in. Bilstein assured me the 60mm dia. strut with the included springs would work well, just not provide the lift I was looking for. The truck handles great with the factory swaying on turns gone.
2. Stubby antennae
3. Bak Revolver X4S bed cover
4. Raptor 17” wheels and BFG KO2’s (315/70 R17).
Yes they did not fit over the rear calipers as I have Max Towing. I really like these wheels on this truck so decided to make them work by grinding .003 -.004” off the back of the calipers (didn’t go below the stamped numbers), and added 1/4” spacers...which gave me the stance I was looking for… about an inch outside the fenders.
5. Talon tranny skid plate. I did find after mounting I had to remove and mount the left wing on the outside of the main plate to get rid of an exhaust rattle around 1400rpm.
6. Oil Drain Valve
7. Custom Rock Sliders. Couldn’t find any rock sliders at a reasonable cost that provided the wheel to wheel protection I wanted (have 6.5’ bed), or that I felt were as strong as they really should be for the heavy Powerboost. So I worked with a fabricator in Lakeland FL (Timbo Customs) to design and weld up rock sliders specifically designed for my truck. See the added pics. These sliders are 111” long, have a 10 deg angle, are slightly wider than normal and have unique top plates designed to shed water and mud and keep my 90lb pup from slipping and potentially breaking a leg stepping out of the truck...we call them Tucker Plates. We also mounted them to the frame with five connectors, not 3 or 4. They are strong. Time will tell but I think they'll hold up against anything this heavy truck will encounter.
I think the quality of my rock sliders are unmatched as Tim’s build matched our spec’s perfectly and did a great job on every single weld. The guy is a true craftsman. On top of that, the price was about 2/3rd’s the cost to buy from RCI or Rocky Road as I was able to save on freight. If your interested, Timbo Customs can be contacted through their Facebook page or on Instagram. He is a trail guy himself and can install build about any mod to your truck. He had just finished installing a Desert Designs front bumper to a Raptor when I got there to install my sliders. The Toyota forum folks speak very highly of this guy.
So that’s about it. May do a hidden winch in the future but in general want to keep the truck looking “normal”. And yes I’m getting 21ish mph in city and 20ish highway driving. Thanks for reading my story...and thanks to my friend Howard for the good pics.
Sick! You need some lights in your lower grille!
What spacers did you use I’ve been thinking about some!
Thanks man...
The LED lights are so good on this truck not sure I need additional front lights. Thinking about adding ditch lights to widen view but again want to keep it looking clean. Will do a little night trailing first then see what I need. Wish I had a way to use the zone lighting while driving on trails.
Just bought the spacers off Amazon. Wheels are a forged 6mm set of 4, Coilovers are 1/2" Motofab spacers.
BlueLander is Born!
