knowledgedropper
New member
Hey Y'all,
I've been lurking on this forum for a while now and I picked up a ton of useful information and inspiration which I can apply to my truck.
2004 F150 Lariat SCAB, 5.4L 4x4. Medium wedgewood blue/Arizona beige. I don't have any pics from when she was completely stock, but the photo below is exactly what she looked like, right down to the chrome, tubular nerf steps. The only this missing from the pic below is my ARE tonneau cover. I'm pretty bad at documenting change through photos, so I apologize for that. Hopefully, this thread will force me to be better in that regard.
(*not my actual truck above)
I've been taking my time upgrading and changing out parts, but I do like the new stuff to be as meaningful and useful as I can afford. That, being said, I think the very first "mod" was swapping to a "stubby" antenna, lol. Radio reception takes a noticeable hit, but all my favorites come in fine, so I don't mind.
Up next was replacing the tired suspension at about 123,000 miles. I run a "FoxCon" setup- Icon uniball UCAs + Fox 2.5 coilovers up front and Fox 2.5 piggyback resis out back. It's not the most aggressive kit there is, but it's perfect for my needs. I can always re-valve, right? This setup gave me a nice ~2.5" level, too.
At some point, my headlights jumped out at me as being really freakin' yellow. An aborted resto job on them revealed that my driver side housing was cracked and taking on moisture. I figured that it was the perfect time to pick up some OE Harley Davidson headlights. I've always liked the "dark side" look that they evoke.
Since changing out the headlights, I've been on a slow mission to minimize the chrome on my truck. To me, the most obvious first choice was to replace the Go Rhino! nerf steps. Craigslist was kind to me one day and I found a set of used, OE Ford Raptor running boards for a nice price. This mod killed two birds with one stone. First, it eliminated a major bit of chrome and secondly, I gained about ~2.5" of rocker panel clearance. I was extremely surprised to find that it was a straightforward bolt-on, with no modifications necessary. I had read on all of the F150 sites that I would need to drill new holes, etc. I never found an example of a SCAB doing this swap, so I'm guessing that only the SCREW guys need to modify the mounting locations.
My last mod to date, has been new wheels and tires. Once again the Craigslist deities shone their favor on me- I found a 1,000 mile old set of BFG KO2s in 34x10.5r17 for a sweet deal. I was originally planning for 315/70 or 35x12.5" but hey, the price was right. Lariat stockers are 18" so somehow, a set of 17x8.5" Fuel Off Road Trophies ended up in my garage
. Anthracite with black "faux-beadlock" ring.
Here is how she stands today (pics are from yesterday at Azusa OHV Park):
I'll probably replace the ARE with a Truxedo Lo Pro QT soft cover soon. I just like the versatility of the soft covers, plus, I retain compatibility with top rail-mounted bed rack systems like tracrac.
I've been lurking on this forum for a while now and I picked up a ton of useful information and inspiration which I can apply to my truck.
2004 F150 Lariat SCAB, 5.4L 4x4. Medium wedgewood blue/Arizona beige. I don't have any pics from when she was completely stock, but the photo below is exactly what she looked like, right down to the chrome, tubular nerf steps. The only this missing from the pic below is my ARE tonneau cover. I'm pretty bad at documenting change through photos, so I apologize for that. Hopefully, this thread will force me to be better in that regard.
(*not my actual truck above)
I've been taking my time upgrading and changing out parts, but I do like the new stuff to be as meaningful and useful as I can afford. That, being said, I think the very first "mod" was swapping to a "stubby" antenna, lol. Radio reception takes a noticeable hit, but all my favorites come in fine, so I don't mind.
Up next was replacing the tired suspension at about 123,000 miles. I run a "FoxCon" setup- Icon uniball UCAs + Fox 2.5 coilovers up front and Fox 2.5 piggyback resis out back. It's not the most aggressive kit there is, but it's perfect for my needs. I can always re-valve, right? This setup gave me a nice ~2.5" level, too.
At some point, my headlights jumped out at me as being really freakin' yellow. An aborted resto job on them revealed that my driver side housing was cracked and taking on moisture. I figured that it was the perfect time to pick up some OE Harley Davidson headlights. I've always liked the "dark side" look that they evoke.
Since changing out the headlights, I've been on a slow mission to minimize the chrome on my truck. To me, the most obvious first choice was to replace the Go Rhino! nerf steps. Craigslist was kind to me one day and I found a set of used, OE Ford Raptor running boards for a nice price. This mod killed two birds with one stone. First, it eliminated a major bit of chrome and secondly, I gained about ~2.5" of rocker panel clearance. I was extremely surprised to find that it was a straightforward bolt-on, with no modifications necessary. I had read on all of the F150 sites that I would need to drill new holes, etc. I never found an example of a SCAB doing this swap, so I'm guessing that only the SCREW guys need to modify the mounting locations.
My last mod to date, has been new wheels and tires. Once again the Craigslist deities shone their favor on me- I found a 1,000 mile old set of BFG KO2s in 34x10.5r17 for a sweet deal. I was originally planning for 315/70 or 35x12.5" but hey, the price was right. Lariat stockers are 18" so somehow, a set of 17x8.5" Fuel Off Road Trophies ended up in my garage
. Anthracite with black "faux-beadlock" ring.Here is how she stands today (pics are from yesterday at Azusa OHV Park):
I'll probably replace the ARE with a Truxedo Lo Pro QT soft cover soon. I just like the versatility of the soft covers, plus, I retain compatibility with top rail-mounted bed rack systems like tracrac.
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