thallendorff

Have been reading through the forums for a while now and figured I should start a build thread. I bought my truck March of 2013 from a local dealer with about 7 miles on it. I threw the idea out there to get a pick-up after talking about selling my 98' Nissan Sentra (29-31mpg) that I had been using for the last 7 years... first car, college car, but did the job I needed.

The dealer initially had us test drive a used 12' Lariat and pretty much had us sold on a Ford just by sitting in it. We had test drove a Chevy and Dodge and found the overall leg room was not what we were looking for. We took the truck for a couple days and ended up bringing it back after the weekend knowing we wanted to get into something in their F series. We kicked around different models, features, and colors and finally ended with a new 13' FX4 EB SCREW with 7 miles on it. This is our first brand new vehicle. She had just graduated and become an RN and I had just gotten my new position as a computer operations manager so it was a gift for both of us to enjoy... coincidence that I am the only one driving it?

Mechanically, I have no background outside of changing oil and the usual maintenance. Been learning as I go, which seems to be working so far as I haven't had anything blow up or fail yet on this vehicle or the wife's car.

Future upgrades:
Suspension: Leaning toward ICON Stage 3, given the reviews and experience I see people have with it here.
Gears: New territory for me here, but want to upgrade to 3.73 or 4.10; going from 3.55. Any advice you guys have here would be appreciated.
Sound: Kicker SoundGate Sub Enclosure, undecided on speakers.
Exterior: Remove FX4 logo and apply black lettering of FX4. Remove EB badge. PTM FX4 badges on sides and gate. Remove factory running board and replace with AMP PowerStep. Wire lock/unlock for tailgate. Replace 3rd brake light and rears with Recon LED.
Interior: LED lighting. Unsure on additional items.
Under the Hood: FR Front Mount Intercooler, engine cover PTM
Wheels/Tires: Undecided. Want to wait until exterior upgrades are done. Very particular on look, so for now.. the stock 18" are staying on. They actually don't look half bad as it is.



Couple days after we bought it.


My first addition to the truck was getting a K&N Series 63 CAI. This is the super efficient version, with no filter... was out cleaning it after being in a dust bowl out west.


Replaced the factory antenna with a Cravenspeed Stubby antenna. To me it looks so much cleaner and a $20 bill is all it took.


This is probably one thing I will get some grief for, but it has come in handy saving my grille from a couple pheasant and clipping a deer so far. Paid $808 for the Westin HDX grille guard with winch plate. Deductible for my insurance is $250, so in those cases I probably saved my truck the agony of being damaged by adding this. Added this in November of 2013.


Since I am saving for suspension and wheels, I decided to fill my time with some minor projects including the raptor 3 led light bar from Stage3Motorsports.


Most recently April-May 14', I added the SCT Livewire tuner with 5* custom tune - 91Performance/Tow. Been a great addition and definitely recommend.


Line-X Premium and made a bed divider from a piece of 2 x 6. Sprayed to protect and then coated with bed liner. I insulated the edges with garage seal tape to hold it in place better and prevent it from rattling around. Added a latch to keep it in place when I am using the entire width of the bed. Will add a finished product picture after work.

jedeckert1984

Looks good man! What lift, wheels and tires are you thinking about?

thallendorff

jedeckert, those are my undecided at this point. I get discount on Toyo's so more than likely will go that route.

Money doesn't grow on trees, so given whatever I get from donating plasma and small deposits out of each check determines what I get away with, since the wife likes buying stuff to lol. Considering a 4" lift, give it a little taller stance and see what strikes my fancy with wheels/tires.

jedeckert1984

I'd say go with the Rancho 4in. It's a little more expensive but the 4in is actually 5.25 in the front.

thallendorff

Is there any cutting required for a Rancho lift?

RedStx13

Truck looks good!

thallendorff

Turned out pretty good for only spending about $25-30 on it. Bottom of it is lined with weather stripping from a garage door to save the Line-X and help keep it from bouncing back and forth.

thallendorff

Well I have been busy saving up for suspension and getting a better idea of what I imagine my truck looking like. To keep something going on it I decided to add the Recon side mirror and 3rd brake light this past weekend. Turned out great. The inline crimp connectors we were gonna use ended up not working due to the thickness of insulation and the small wire inside the side mirrors . Ended up soldering the connections, which actually make me feel more confident with the finished product. Photos:

Ecoengineer

What did your mileage do with the tuner added? Go up, stay the same...or down dramatically with increased tire wear?

thallendorff

With the 87 economy, I saw a 1-2mpg difference. Not significant on that side of things, so I switched it to the 91 perf/tow and my mpg went back to what it was before and I saw an increase in available HP and low end. Again, not anything I would take out on a race track but adds to the fun of owning a truck such as this.

Tire wear, I rotate tires on a regular schedule and have noticed no abnormal tire wear since adding the tuner.