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I just wanted to chronicle a small build I am doing.
I have a 1991 Vw vanagon syncro gl westfalia. But, I wanted something a little different, some diversity. I wont be selling it (I will never get the money back that I put into it). It has front rear lockers, brand new 1.9tdi, rebuilt transaxle, rebuilt front diff, new brakes front and rear, every piece of rubber in the suspension has been replaced.
So I picked up a camper trailer from expedition portal. This was an impulse buy so now I have to build a truck to tow it. You will probably learn moreabout my tendency to impulse buy.
It is a 2022 Sasquatch trailer. It is a new company and this is their field test model with a little over 5k miles on it. The for sale thread and photo gallery are linked for more info. https://expeditionportal.com/forum/t...t-unit.230220/ https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...U4am42R1gyendR
I traded in my 2020 f150 xlt super cab rwd (roush super charger, intake, exhaust, tune, bell tech lowering kit, air bags, wheels)
I used USHIP and this was my first bad experience. Front driverside wheel was scratched while loading. I still haven't been compensated, but in truth I have been pretty lazy about it. The dealer dinged me 300 bucks for the wheels.
The truck was fun while I had it. It was originally an impulse buy that I learned to quickly regret. It was toooooo Loud. It originally came with a mbrp single exit exhaust.. I swapped it to a roush but it was still loud. It was so loud to the point I didn't remote start it, because I didn't want to wake up my neighbors at 6am. The supercharger was incredibly fun. Like amazingly fun. It just didn't mesh well with the rwd. The truck is always fighting for traction. One interesting thing is that it had wayyyy better gas mileage than my currentl 3.5
After all these crazy sale and trade in prices I decided to take a shot. I shopped around my area but the highest offer I got was $29k locally. I get it. At the end of the day it is a lowered rwd xlt. The market is small for this truck. The dealer I purchased from originally offered me high 30s for a trade in. So after a few weeks of shopping there inventory I made my decision. It is a 2020 f150 super cab 4x4 lariat. special edition. It was owned by the dealer and had 22k miles on it. According the dealer a manager used it as his personal vehicle. My initial reaction. I love the 3.5. I have 0 need for more power, even coming from a supercharged 5.0. I love how quiet it is. I can't even hear it when I remote start in the morning. 4a is awesome! It rained and had some dusting of snow and I had 0 issues on the stock hankooks.
The graphics grew on me. One thing I noticed was that every single time the truck got wet in the rain or got washed there would be mud dripping from the bed trim and from the body. Turns out the manager at the dealer ran a dog breeding scheme in the country and drove on dirt roads. There was dirty EVERYWHERE. I sprayed down the frame/body cavities and am finally at a point where I don't see birght orange mud dripping off. It may be hard to tell, but you might be able to see how much dirt there was. It took over 4 days of cleaning. I am 100% sure my neighbors think I hate the Earth and just wanted to destroy nature. But, but you can see all the rocks that came out and the build up under the bed rails.
I had to head to the dealer and pick up new trim for a total of about $277. I gorilla'd the trim pieces off and broke at least 3 or 4 clips of each trim piece.
Next step is new wheels and tires.
I went with Raptor beadlocks. So I picked up a total of 8 wheels and tires. one set of 4 was perfect and shipped from ebay in new york. It was a good price, but the dummy shipped them with the faces towards each other and they got chipped and gouged to hell. I will be tossing those on my trailer. I put the better wheels on the truck. I went with cooper St maxx 285/70/17 from discount tire. They stripped the heck out of one of my beauty ring bolts. So I have a new set on order. Each bolt is like 10 bucks. The suspension is stock no leveling kit. There is no rubbing with normal driving. Full lock, forward, reverse, I have no issues. I haven't taken on unimproved roads yet so i have no comment yet on that aspect. I don't have plans on suspension until I get a few more mods done and see where it sits.
This Saturday I will be driving up to Norwood MA to get an RSI smartcap sport put on. I also ordered the drop rack and two large bins. Front runner slimline rack for the cab, two wolf boxes. I need to find a water container. I was thinking front runner or vaast. I currently have a water port for my westy. I will be picking up the trailer in Colorado the end of April. So I am getting ready for our first camping trips. There should be more to come. Once it stops being built I will transition into just posting camping pictures. So mods can move this thread wherever they deem necessary.
Got my Boosted Auto tow mirrors in today. Took about 10 minutes to get them done. I had to pull way harder than I though to break the clip free for the mirrors. It turned out great and I love it. I haven't decided if I want to paint the caps leadfoot or not.
The trim piece is taken off by using a trim tool and prying it off. There are 4 clips total. Start towards the front of the vehicle first when removing the clips.
Remove the two clips. Depress the release thats towards the front of the truck.
Remove the two 10mm shiney nuts. Be careful of the bottom one so that it doesn't fall into the door panel.
On the outside of the gasket there are two more black nuts you have to remove.
Yank the mirror off. With more force than you think you need.
Re-install in reverse order.
Mirrors folded
Little hard to tell, but the running lights on. Sorry I tried to get the amber and failed.
Tomorrow I am driving 7 hrs to Mass to get an RSI smart cap, drop side rack, and the large bins put on. I also have the front runner cab rack, two wolf boxes, two water coming in soon. I also have Ford tremor running boards coming in. I have a cross country drive coming up on the 15th to pick up the camper trailer. I will have some time to decide on the "lift" I am going to get. Ideally I would do zero lift, but I will need to beef up the suspension a little. I was thinking the Icons 0-2.5 lift or BDS. Still haven't decided.
Thanks! Ya I love the wheels. It was between these and method wheels. The beadlock bolts are a pain in the AAAAA so I will see how long I keep em. The boost mirrors are so nice I really am glad I got them. I will really be seeing how they do tomorrow.
Long Saturday for me. Went up to Capworld in Norwood, Masschusettes. Loaded up the truck with the house lady and dogs and took off at 3 am. No traffic and toook 5.5 hours it was well timed. Got there a bit after they opened up and they got to work. I thought Virginia and Maryland had bad drivers, but wow Massachusettes is on a whole different level. Its a bunch of bad drivers honking at each other for being bad drivers. Swung by Boston and visited my Cambridge where my father grew up.
The guys at Capworld were cool enough to let some wary travelers rest in their waiting room. Charlie over here refuses to lay down on a bare peasants carpet and needed my jacket.
I am digging their dual purpose storage/tv stand
Its literally going down.For those interested Norwood stocked up. You wont have to wait until after June for your RSI smart cap. These guys are squared away. They hda the cap and rack assembled and ready when I got there. Bulk of the time was the wiring or whatever they did integrating the 3rd brake light. Took a little over an hour total.
And here it is all done. Its times this like I wish I had a long bed. Shortbed caps look dumb. I opted for the drop Rack and two large bins. All said and done it was around $7400 including installation. Pricey, but building up the leer and ARE the way I wanted came out pretty close.
Those boost side marker lights are BRIGHT!
Very simple and clever design that utilizes the stock bed lights. The bins are GREAT. I will take pictures of the drop rack, bins, and rear view. The bins don't obstruct the view through the cap. The caps rear window is smaller than the truck window. The mounting bolts for the molle rack on the inside of the bins seems like a nice place to put another set of mounting solutions. I will explore that later. Maybe some quick fists.
Stopped by Alive and Kickn. I guess I am not so much a fan of ipswich steamed. I do like it fried. The lobster sandwich got more expensive $29 now.
So after 1000 miles on the boost mirrors I can say they are awesome. They do have more wind noise, but its more prevelent at illegal speeds. Not that I would know. The mirrors are so awesome and LARGE. I obsessively use the blind spot mirrors on them too. The drivers side has 0 vibration. The passenger side has a slight vibration, but its barely noticeable. The image isn't distorted. I am told this is normal on oem too, but thats coming from boost. They said if it was excessive to record it and they would take care of it. It definitely doesn't warrant that. The folding mirrors are absolutely necessary. This is my favorite mod so far even after I got the cap.
This was the first "long" trip with the house lady and dogs. The suspension must be addressed soon. Expansion sections on highways, bridges, bumps are too much for the dogs and her. I will do a test run by adding all the free weights in my gym in the bed and see how it differs on similar crappy roads. So that means I will cross the border into Maryland and let their roads do their worst. If its still bad I will have to drop my future childrens college money on some Icon suspension. Its fine we need more vocational skills. No one wants to be a plumber, electrician, welder, line worker anymore. There is money to be had!
My RCI tranny skid plate and two gas tank skid plates came in. Yes. That is correct I said two. I am stacking two on top of each other and using extra long bolts for extra protection. So I will try to get those on as soon as I can before I head out on April 15th. The rest of the stuff is coming in. So I will need to start getting to work.
I really need to figure out how I am going to load everything that we will need for our new trailer, the house lady's inflatable paddle board that just takes up so much space and 3 tire/wheels. I also forgot to post the dogs rear seat. It sucks and I need to figure out a better solution. Anyone know if 1/4inch abs plastic sheet will give enough rigidity to 5 inches of foam? I have a brilliant idea and have 0 idea how to explain it aside from just doing it and taking a picture.
Long Saturday for me. Went up to Capworld in Norwood, Masschusettes. Loaded up the truck with the house lady and dogs and took off at 3 am. No traffic and toook 5.5 hours it was well timed. Got there a bit after they opened up and they got to work. I thought Virginia and Maryland had bad drivers, but wow Massachusettes is on a whole different level. Its a bunch of bad drivers honking at each other for being bad drivers. Swung by Boston and visited my Cambridge where my father grew up.
The guys at Capworld were cool enough to let some wary travelers rest in their waiting room. Charlie over here refuses to lay down on a bare peasants carpet and needed my jacket.
I am digging their dual purpose storage/tv stand
Its literally going down.For those interested Norwood stocked up. You wont have to wait until after June for your RSI smart cap. These guys are squared away. They hda the cap and rack assembled and ready when I got there. Bulk of the time was the wiring or whatever they did integrating the 3rd brake light. Took a little over an hour total.
And here it is all done. Its times this like I wish I had a long bed. Shortbed caps look dumb. I opted for the drop Rack and two large bins. All said and done it was around $7400 including installation. Pricey, but building up the leer and ARE the way I wanted came out pretty close.
Those boost side marker lights are BRIGHT!
Very simple and clever design that utilizes the stock bed lights. The bins are GREAT. I will take pictures of the drop rack, bins, and rear view. The bins don't obstruct the view through the cap. The caps rear window is smaller than the truck window. The mounting bolts for the molle rack on the inside of the bins seems like a nice place to put another set of mounting solutions. I will explore that later. Maybe some quick fists.
Stopped by Alive and Kickn. I guess I am not so much a fan of ipswich steamed. I do like it fried. The lobster sandwich got more expensive $29 now.
So after 1000 miles on the boost mirrors I can say they are awesome. They do have more wind noise, but its more prevelent at illegal speeds. Not that I would know. The mirrors are so awesome and LARGE. I obsessively use the blind spot mirrors on them too. The drivers side has 0 vibration. The passenger side has a slight vibration, but its barely noticeable. The image isn't distorted. I am told this is normal on oem too, but thats coming from boost. They said if it was excessive to record it and they would take care of it. It definitely doesn't warrant that. The folding mirrors are absolutely necessary. This is my favorite mod so far even after I got the cap.
This was the first "long" trip with the house lady and dogs. The suspension must be addressed soon. Expansion sections on highways, bridges, bumps are too much for the dogs and her. I will do a test run by adding all the free weights in my gym in the bed and see how it differs on similar crappy roads. So that means I will cross the border into Maryland and let their roads do their worst. If its still bad I will have to drop my future childrens college money on some Icon suspension. Its fine we need more vocational skills. No one wants to be a plumber, electrician, welder, line worker anymore. There is money to be had!
My RCI tranny skid plate and two gas tank skid plates came in. Yes. That is correct I said two. I am stacking two on top of each other and using extra long bolts for extra protection. So I will try to get those on as soon as I can before I head out on April 15th. The rest of the stuff is coming in. So I will need to start getting to work.
I really need to figure out how I am going to load everything that we will need for our new trailer, the house lady's inflatable paddle board that just takes up so much space and 3 tire/wheels. I also forgot to post the dogs rear seat. It sucks and I need to figure out a better solution. Anyone know if 1/4inch abs plastic sheet will give enough rigidity to 5 inches of foam? I have a brilliant idea and have 0 idea how to explain it aside from just doing it and taking a picture.
awesome! I like that canopy, mine is a basic crown and I wired the light to the bed lights as well. I haven't put too many miles on the mirrors yet but no noise from the oem ones yet and no vibrations from the passenger side, perhaps it was a bad batch of mirrors from mfg? Who knows! Enjoy!
03-28-2022, 01:56 PM
Elizer 2020 f150 build
