Following my first build thread, it's probably time I start documenting this one.





This has been an Iowa truck its whole life, and from the looks of things it was definitely a gravel road truck. The chrome was chipping off of the edges of the wheels and the running boards are in horrible shape. I found some 21+ Sport wheels locally so I nabbed those right away.







I previously just kept a bin in the bed with various bits of recovery equipment, air compressor, tie-downs, etc. I decided to do swing boxes and I like these a lot better. Right one has the ****** strap, axle straps, shackles, and air compressor. Right one has the tie-down straps and shovel. I had to remove the two lower tie-down points to get the cases on, so the Box-Link tie down points will hopefully suffice for anything that needs strapped at the rear.





To further Sport-ify the truck, I found a plain black front grille for cheap and painted the center part in matching Magnetic. Still on the fence if I like it or not, but it's not too hard to swap back. I'm not happy with the clearcoat I used,



On the inside, I grabbed a dashcam power adapter that goes inline with the mirror and got that hooked up:



And I really wanted an easy place to plug in my phone for CarPlay, something I could just slam in and out with one hand, no fiddling with cables or anything. I 3D-printed a bracket that braces itself in the useless trailer brake cubby. This is version 4, I like it so far. I'm trying to figure out if I actually secure it down to the console trim, maybe there's some adhesive I can use that won't totally ruin the trim if I ever have to pull it off.

 

The truck was still running Sync 3.0 when I test drove it, and the display was almost non-functional. Each screen tap took about 45 seconds to register, and then all at once it would register all of the last 45 seconds of taps. I updated to 3.4 as soon as I got home and all is well now.

I poked around a bit in Forscan and disabled the key reminder honk and enabled Lincoln mode on the auto-folding mirrors.

Two issues right now - no driver's heated seat. Looks like it's pretty common and likely the heating pad. I did that in the 2011 so not too worried. I also get the "Check Rear Park Aid" about 3/4 of the time when I put it into reverse. The two driver's side sensors have visible damage on them, which I'm guessing isn't helping. I reached out to the dealer to see if they want to help me out with either of those issues...time will tell.

 

I love my swingcase. Tucked and out of the way, but holds a good amount of gear. New rig is looking good.

 

Got to tow with the new truck for the first time. Honestly with 470ft-lb I thought it would feel faster. The old 5.0 did about as good on the uphill on-ramp getting to 65. The 10 speed is nice, it handles most hills in 10th, occasionally drops to 8th to keep it at 75. Maybe 1-2mpg better than the 5.0 while towing, about 5-6mpg better around town and commuting. Very smooth and quiet though, AC seats are great after standing on hot pavement for 8 hours. Oh, and I got the Magnetic mirror caps installed, further de-chroming things.







Unfortunately, I had a trailer hub fail, overheat, and explode the tire.





Luckily I was able to safely pull over and get roadside assistance on the way, unfortunately they were no help because U-Haul won't let them touch the hub.



So my wife had to come pick me up with someone else to drive the truck home and I just drove the race car the rest of the 75 miles home. The repair guy took the trailer with him back to the U-Haul repair center. Definitely an exciting first trip.

 

Continuing the de-chroming efforts. Picked up a set of Magnetic running boards locally for $80. Here's the truck they came from:



I think he converted to power running boards. I swapped them on in the dark last night, still needs a wash as they've been sitting outside. They seem to be a bit lower profile, not quite as wide. Pretty pleased I didn't have to shell out $600 for these things new from Ford.

 

I'm pining after the '19-'20 Limited dual exhaust setup. The bumper bits aren't cheap enough to just splurge on, though, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for a deal.

Installing the swing cases meant I had to take out the rear lower tie down hooks. I need to figure out a way to replace those - I carried a welding gas tank in the back and attached the strap to the swing case brackets, but I don't trust them with any real load. The inner washer is just a plastic piece with just enough strength to hold the case. Maybe if I replaced those with metal piece, I could drill holes in the swing case bracket and use those as tie points when I need a low strap. The box link brackets are still in place and would work for a higher strap, like for a motorcycle or tall cargo.

 

I've been missing the lower rear tie down spots since installing the swing cases. I decided to beef up the swing case hardware and then install those tie-down points to the swing case brackets.

The swing case kit I bought didn't come with hardware, so I used some M6 bolts I had lying around. I went and got some grade 8 5/16" hardware plus some fender washers. The kit came with a plastic donut that goes behind the taillight and the brackets bolt through them. I added a fender washer on top of that donut to spread the load a bit, it felt like tightening the bolts just a little too tight could shatter the plastic.



Put the tie-down points onto the brackets:


I keep a couple of 2x6s in the back so when I put my car on the U-Haul trailer it doesn't rip the bumper off of it, so I made a way to keep those secure:


I wouldn't use the tie down points for something big like a load of landscaping blocks or a motorcycle, but they're enough for keeping a propane tank or similar from rolling around.


Towed again this weekend, luckily this time nothing caught fire. Filled up with 93 beforehand to see if I felt a big difference, but didn't notice much. The truck cruised nicely at 75, handled most hills in 10th gear, only occasionally dropped to 8th for the steeper ones.

 

Glad i found the new thread - if you're towing, and of course you'll need two tanks to get it all evened out, you should notice a little better MPG/less dropping gears - the biggest thing according to tuners is keeping the engine out of the rev range where pinging happens more often and having premium gas so it's more resistant to it - i found with my towing that after a while, the engine slowly gets worse MPG as the "build up" of pinging affects the long term stuff and the cats' temperature, which will cause more fuel to cool them down. I explained that poorly, but i think you get the idea.

New truck looks good, i know your trailer isn't massively heavy, but next trip, try locking out 9 and 10 and see if the MPG settles after several miles at the higher RPM.

 

I started to say that as an older dude who loved the age of chrome, I was really loving that big bright grill Ford put on there.

Then you blacked it out! LOL!

To each his own! Gotta love choice!

 

Yeah, definitely not a small area to paint, so product/technique choices matter more i would say.

For the actual grille portions, not the bars, did you also use magnetic on those? If so, and you're not happy with those sections, i would wager that some plastidip black would work perfectly in those areas.