10th Generation F-150 Overland build (The Craptor)

Todd n Natalie

OverCamper
Part of any successful trip, is keeping the children happy and entertained.

On that note, the latest addition to the overlanding rig is a "movie theatre". The kids seem to enjoy it quite a lot, and the entire setup adds less than 6lbs to the camping gear! Sure its not Hollywood quality, but the portability and low power consumption is perfect.

Here is the setup, the screen is hanging from my rear awning (it needs ironed out still)

-Ozark trails 100" projector screen

-Miroir M75 DLP micro projector (runs 2 hours on a charge)

-Usb to HDMI adapter

-Cell phone with Netflix subscription

-Battery powered Memorex speaker
That is a fantastic idea!
 

OBS460

Well-known member
Here is an update with the light demonstration on a back road. (No traffic on this stretch of road at night)

Visibility is sufficient, you could say.
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
One of the shortcomings of the 10th Gen F-150 when it comes to off roading is its lack of front suspension travel as stock wheel travel is around 5.3" and its bus like turning radius. The rear wheel travel is quite good as it sits, so ill leave the rear spring pack alone.

To address this, I started by measuring shock lengths with the suspension fully compressed and at full droop. At full up travel, the shock still had 1.5" of travel left. Yet at full down travel the shock was the limiting factor. I spaced the shocks down 7/8" with a washer stack, and proceeded to trim the droop stops off of the upper control arms. (longer shocks will be ordered once I decide what I want, and the droop stops are still the limiting factor as per the OEM design). Next, I carefully ground down the steering stops while checking angles and for any clearance issues.

Suspension travel now sits at 6.5" and I was able to reduce the turning circle to 38' 5" (factory rating is 51') I can also lift a front tire 22" before a rear tire lifts. With a 139" wheelbase, this puts the RTI around 463. (Stock 2015 F150 Fx4 is 410, stock 1st gen raptor is 550). Eventually ill go to a uniball upper control arm and relocate the factory frame stops, this should bring me close to 10" of total travel.
 

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D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
Instead of farting around with "ceramic wax" why not do a proper ceramic coating? You can do it for less than 100.00, it last for years, and it out shines the spray on stuff.

I put the Mckees 37 ceramic coating on my truck and my wifes car. They both glow when they are clean and there is no need to wax or reapply anything for years.
 

OBS460

Well-known member
Instead of farting around with "ceramic wax" why not do a proper ceramic coating? You can do it for less than 100.00, it last for years, and it out shines the spray on stuff.

I put the Mckees 37 ceramic coating on my truck and my wifes car. They both glow when they are clean and there is no need to wax or reapply anything for years.


I likely will in the Spring, it was just a spur of the moment purchase when I was walking through the store. Or, I may vinyl wrap the truck as it would protect the paint more and I can replace sections as needed when they're scratched up.
 

OBS460

Well-known member
I finally got around to building up my onboard air system, and I installed quick connects on both the front and rear bumper. I mounted the pump under the windshield washer tank as this will keep it out of the elements and close to the battery.

The pump is a Superflow MV-50 (2cfm ish) and will air up my 33x11.50s from 20psi to 35 psi in 2 minutes per tire.
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
Today I made a couple air manifolds and I incorporated a pressure gauge/bleed valve in the rear one. Now I can hook all 4 tires up to the air system simultaneously to air up or down (rear bleed valve will vent all 4 as they are on a common line)

Was it necessary? Not really, but its cool! Hah
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
The fiberglass topper has served us well, but we found the head room very limiting. I had considered doing a topper lift system, but I didn't want to deal with the added complexity and potential twisting of the frame off road.

We really like the idea of a topper like the AT Overland Summit system and thought about building something that would be similar.

Luckily, a local owner of this ARE topper wanted to trade for a mountain bike and I just happened to have an extra one gathering dust! So, ill be cutting and hinging the roof on this unit to make it suit our needs. The internal frame is quite beefy, and reduces the amount of fab work we will have to do.
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
Today I mounted the topper by bolting it to the bed rails, as I wanted something more secure than the aluminum topper clamps I was using.

The rear bolts are solid mounted. Then the front/center bolts are mounted with a spring to allow the chassis to twist without excessively transmitting that torque into the topper frame, similar to the mounting setup of a radio box on military trucks.
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
With cold weather rapidly approaching, im trying to get all the parts I've ordered installed. Today's project involved adding ports for upcoming A/V mods, and a pair of 110V outlets that are more readily accessible (the inverter is mounted under the seats). The lower dash panel had sufficient clearance behind it, and lent itself well as a gracious host.

This home theatre outlet fit the bill pretty well, I may scuff the panel and repaint them together to make it blend in a bit better. But in the meantime. It's nice to be able to easily plug in a laptop or bottle warmer (for my infant son, not N2O unfortunately..).
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
Our 1000w Harbor Freight inverter was a tad lacking when it came to heavier loads, so I upgraded to a Xantrex 1800w Pro inverter.

One of my favorite features is the remote display and power switch, as it allows me to monitor: battery voltage, DC amperage in, and AC wattage going out.

This inverter also has the ability to automatically transfer between battery and shore power, so this will be utilized at campsites that have shore power available.
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
The next system I wanted to tackle was the suspension damping.

After looking at a variety of options I knew that I wanted:

- Added shock cooling
-Ability to be rebuilt
-More travel
-Tunability

The Gen 2 Raptor suspension went to the Live valve in 2019, and subsequently there have been a lot of people upgrading. This large influx of shocks on eBay have driven prices down to very reasonable levels, and now there are live valve delete kits to use them as a standard shock.

So today, I addressed the rear end. The 10th Gen F150 uses a 12mm lower eyelet and a stud upper mount. I ordered a Pro Comp eyelet to stud conversion to convert the upper fox mount to a stud, the lower bolted in normally with a little trimming on the roost guard. Drivability is fantastic, and I have gained 2" of overall suspension travel!

The fronts will be next, stay tuned!
 

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OBS460

Well-known member
Suspension flex has improved about 6" (front tire is raised to 28"), this was at street tire pressure as well. The front sway bar has been removed as well.

My calculated RTI is around 589, and I hope to improve to over 600 once I get the new front shocks on.
 

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Grassland

Well-known member
How tall are those blocks??

Looks like you squeezed those in there! Are you running an extra leaf as well?
How do your leaves like the flex and travel they are doing now?
Mine are shot from being overloaded for years, and I get lots of noise and twisting from them when flexed like that
 

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