2017 F150 Exploration/Tow Build

[GabAlmighty]

Checking in from Revscene.

Those Falkens are sure wearing pretty nicely, I just put duratracs on my truck but when I move back down south at some point might have to look in to them.

Logging is one thing I really want to do (logging truck driver) before I don't have time to drive truck anymore, some of the forest service roads they drive are pretty crazy.

 

[McCarthy]

Yeah, would be fun!

In other news, these should help in the nasty stuff...

 

[IdaSHO]

Looks like they are fitted well.

Be sure to pack some heavy duty zip ties for those chain "tails"

Also, the bungee spider already looks overstretched.

Probably better off ditching it for some proper rubber bungees

 

[McCarthy]

Actually very good point. I didn't even notice the Bungee's, but they look like they're about to pop lol

I bought a set from the local Lordco (Canadian NAPA) and they didn't fit well, the chain was like bailing wire thin, and they just generally looked like they would last about 50 feet. Returned them and bought these, well worth the investment! These are from Canadachains and they are 10000x better. The chain links are massive.

 

[GabAlmighty]

Pray to the sweet lord you don't have a chain let go; say goodbye to your body panels haha.

 

[McCarthy]

Pray to the sweet lord you don't have a chain let go; say goodbye to your body panels haha.

Yeah if a chain lets go... Bad things happen lol. But. These chains are BEEFY. the links are massive.

 

[McCarthy]

Starting to get a LOT of snow. The Falken are performing well, except in deep (2+ feet of fresh powder) snow, but that's to be expected being an AT. An MT would perform much better in the really deep stuff. Thinking about putting on a set of 35" Duratracs I have.

 

[McCarthy]

Just for ****s and giggles... I've had a couple people talk about how these Falkens are terrible in the snow... I'd beg to differ. While they're not quite as good as a dedicated winter (Blizzak etc) they're damn good. And, I think i'm somewhat qualified to say that with how much snow we get. This was my street on the way home from work today.

Also nearing in on 20k and they still look brand new. I'll take a pic of the tread soon.

 

[McCarthy]

20,000km on the AT3W's. Fronts measure out to 16/32, rears 15/32nd's. Brand new measured at 17/32nd's. Insanely good wear so far! That's also with probably 5,000km of gravel roads, which usually destroys tires.

 

[McCarthy]

Small update- Yanked the falkens off and put on a set of 305 width DuraTracs, quite liking them! We've also got 60+cm of snow in the last week (25+ inches) so quite a good test. I also picked up an 18' BigTex car hauler for dual duty- haul the Mustang track car, and the off road toys.

This is a paved road.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

Looks good with the Duratracs on there! I find mine are good in the snow....the ice... I've had better and worse tires for ice. Overall, I'm very happy with the Duratracs.

 

[McCarthy]

So far so good- they're performing better than the AT3W Falkens, which surprised me.

 

[McCarthy]

So this thread will change slightly... I ordered a new truck about 2 months ago and it's about a week away. It's another F150, but this one is a bit different. I'll post more pictures when it arrives. As much as I love my truck and have had incredibly good luck with all my Fords (my last 13 FX4 had 170k with 0 days in the shop, this one only has 42k, but 0 days in the shop) I test drove everything, chevy, dodge, toyota, nissan, and NOTHING could touch the power of the 3.5 Ecoboost, I guess 470 ft/lbs at 2500rpm in a half ton will do that to ya!

I so badly wanted a one ton but I just can't justify an 85k (CAD) truck when the heaviest thing I tow is about 7000lbs...

Anyway, it's a 2018 F150 Lariat, 502A, crew cab, FX4 package, Max tow package, Luxury package, LT tire package, and a couple other goodies...

 

[McCarthy]

Well ****. This has been a weird week.

I rolled my truck. **** **** ****

We had a day of 50f weather, rivers of water down the roads, and 0f that night. Then, it snowed about three inches the next day. We were on a shelf road and I was leading- soon as I hit the patch where the water had flowed across the road, and tried to turn... Wasn't happening. I knew I was going for a ride. at the last second I turned the wheels dead straight which saved a lot of damage, and slid down the embankment about 20 feet, then BAM the damn thing flopped onto its side, and then some. Oh, and I was about 20 feet down a 200 foot cliff. Tree in front, but nothing stopping the truck from sliding upside down and rolling down the cliff. I hung upside down for about two hours until they could get enough rigging their to secure my truck without having to put their vehicles on the frozen patch- once secured I let go of my seat belt and almost went through the window and over the cliff, but managed to hang on.

Climbed out of the truck, and up the bank.

This started about 2pm, I got out of my truck about 4:30, and the first wrecker arrived on scene at about 6:30pm. He called two heavy wreckers after his winch didn't have enough power to do the job, and it got out about 5:00am the next morning. They basically had to pick up the truck, flip it over, drop it down, and pull it up the bank- Oh, the best part? Ford roadside assistance totally footed the bill.

Checked fluids, let it sit upright for an hour, and it fired right up and drove home fine. Now, this is for EVERYONE who knocks Ford's aluminum body panels; I rolled my truck off a cliff and had NO DAMAGE, except one ding, and a few scratched from bushes rolling down the embankment. An hour and $80 with a PDR guy today, you cannot tell anything happened, period. Ford wasn't kidding when they said the aluminum is far stronger than the previous paper thin steel panels.

This is the AFTER. I washed it, polished the scratches, and the PDR guy got out the ding on the box that was maybe an inch wide. NO BODY WORK, period.

 

[Littlehouse]

Wow, glad you are OK. Glad the truck came out of it OK as well