Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
So here's what I did on my first not-quite-quarantine-but-highly-recommended-to-stay-home Saturday:
Thanks to another member here, I 'discovered' Builtright Industries which seems to be a small company making accessories for Jeeps and Ford F-series trucks from about 2009 to present.
I'd been looking for a way to put a RAM ball on the dashboard for a cell phone or GPS (even though my truck has built in nav, I like my GPS a little better.) On my last two vehicles i just stuck the RAM ball to the dash with double-sided mounting tape but I wanted something a little nicer and more "professional" looking for the F-150. So I went with the Builtright Dash Mount.
This bolts to the removable "dash pocket" that sits above the rear view camera/audio/nav screen. Has lots of mounting holes for various items.
Installation was a breeze. The pocket removes from the dash with a minimum of tools and then all I had to do was drill 4 holes in the plastic to bolt in the dash shelf. I bolted the RAM ball on first and then put it back together. Probably took me a total of an hour but that doesn't count the 15 minutes to drive to the hardware store to get a couple of bolts and nuts for attaching the RAM ball. Here's the result:
Works great with the phone holder:
I MIGHT need a longer arm, not sure yet but I think I have one if I do (I love RAM stuff, been using it for over 20 years.)
Second mod was a rear seat release kit. So on the newer F-150 and F-250 trucks, the back seat is a 60/40 split with the 40 side on the right (passenger) side. Both seat bottoms flip up and in addition, from the factory, the back of the 40 seat flips forward for storage (that's where the jack and lug wrench are.) But the back of the 60 side is not easy to flip forward. you can do it, but you have to reach way behind the seat and flick a little metal lever that's sometimes difficult to engage. So Builtright makes a kit to make this easier.
It's pretty simple and very easy to install. There are cheaper versions of this out there (and for that matter, you could probably make something similar in your garage) but this one is well made and was very easy to install - I'd say no more than a 20 - 25 minute installation, if that. Works great even with my seat covers:
Speaking of which, I finally finished putting covers on all the seats. I went with the Cover King Skanda camo covers. They seem well made although I'm not super happy with the way they fit, especially on the front seats (there are some ugly gaps.) Still, they'll do the job of protecting the seats and that's what I expect seat covers to do, anything else is just icing on the cake:
Thanks to another member here, I 'discovered' Builtright Industries which seems to be a small company making accessories for Jeeps and Ford F-series trucks from about 2009 to present.
I'd been looking for a way to put a RAM ball on the dashboard for a cell phone or GPS (even though my truck has built in nav, I like my GPS a little better.) On my last two vehicles i just stuck the RAM ball to the dash with double-sided mounting tape but I wanted something a little nicer and more "professional" looking for the F-150. So I went with the Builtright Dash Mount.
This bolts to the removable "dash pocket" that sits above the rear view camera/audio/nav screen. Has lots of mounting holes for various items.
Installation was a breeze. The pocket removes from the dash with a minimum of tools and then all I had to do was drill 4 holes in the plastic to bolt in the dash shelf. I bolted the RAM ball on first and then put it back together. Probably took me a total of an hour but that doesn't count the 15 minutes to drive to the hardware store to get a couple of bolts and nuts for attaching the RAM ball. Here's the result:
Works great with the phone holder:
I MIGHT need a longer arm, not sure yet but I think I have one if I do (I love RAM stuff, been using it for over 20 years.)
Second mod was a rear seat release kit. So on the newer F-150 and F-250 trucks, the back seat is a 60/40 split with the 40 side on the right (passenger) side. Both seat bottoms flip up and in addition, from the factory, the back of the 40 seat flips forward for storage (that's where the jack and lug wrench are.) But the back of the 60 side is not easy to flip forward. you can do it, but you have to reach way behind the seat and flick a little metal lever that's sometimes difficult to engage. So Builtright makes a kit to make this easier.
It's pretty simple and very easy to install. There are cheaper versions of this out there (and for that matter, you could probably make something similar in your garage) but this one is well made and was very easy to install - I'd say no more than a 20 - 25 minute installation, if that. Works great even with my seat covers:
Speaking of which, I finally finished putting covers on all the seats. I went with the Cover King Skanda camo covers. They seem well made although I'm not super happy with the way they fit, especially on the front seats (there are some ugly gaps.) Still, they'll do the job of protecting the seats and that's what I expect seat covers to do, anything else is just icing on the cake:
If not for your build I wouldn't have seen it.