2021 Ford F150 || Building the Ultimate Overland Setup

[SherpaWill]

Well it’s officially time to jump into it and start a build thread for this thing. I have been involved in the “overland” market as a business owner for 6 years now. We have always owned Toyota’s and they always got the job done. But as my fiancé and I started going on long distance trips we always found ourselves struggling to get comfortable. Our 4Runner was built to be more on the “rock crawling” side of things and left a lot to be desired in the comfort department. We soon found ourselves looking at what the full-size truck market had to offer and landed on a 2021 F150 Lariat. We were won over by the number of amenities the truck had overall capability. These modern half-ton trucks are absolutely impressive.

The Truck:

2021 F150 Lariat
3.5L EcoBoost
Super Crew
6.5ft Bed

Here she is the day we got her. I don‘t think I have ever been so excited over a vehicle. As a young person I thought it was going to be years before owning a brand new vehicle.


We do a good bit of Offroad racing and we went through a phase with a travel trailer. I went ahead and installed a set of Firestone airbags on the truck so we could make use of its 13,500lbs towing capacity. The trailer we had weighed in at 7,000lbs and was 29ft long. We quickly learned that towing a wind sail that large is not fun. Even with all of the sway bars, and accessories for sway, we could not get the trailer to tow well. We towed a few other trailers ranging from 6,000lbs to 12,500lbs without any issues. Rather than buying another travel trailer we did some assessing of what we wanted out of the truck build. We did a ton of research into campers of all styles ranging from a GFC (GoFastCamper) to half-ton towable 5th wheels.



We quickly settled on wanting something that was lightweight and could get back into some pretty remote areas. Towable campers were out and we dove into the world of slide in campers. For a while we thought we were going to end up in a Four Wheel Camper Hawk. We ran into some sourcing issues as getting a new FWC in less than a year is a miracle it would seem. That is when we found the OEV Camp-X through the guys at BVO (Now Off-Grid 4x4 in Colorado). At twice the price of a mid tier FWC, we were initially put off by price. But when you look at the build quality and modern amenities when compared to what is offered by FWC, it was a no brainer. We wanted something that would last us some time and make it easy for us to be away from home for long periods of time.

Selling points of the OEV:
Weight - Being a half-ton truck we needed something light and the Camp-X comes in at 1200lbs.
Construction - High-end build quality using honeycomb composite and and aluminum skeleton frame for rigidity.
Insulation - The fabric sides are a double layer sandwiching insulation. The composite sides feature a really high R-value and even the windows are double pane with an air gap.
Power Management - Our Camp-X came standard with a Redarc Manager 30 system.
Power Generation - Our camper was spec‘d out by our dealer with 400 watts of solar and it is paired with a 100Ah lithium battery.
Interior Design - We were blown away by how the camper felt with the bamboo countertops and aluminum cabinetry with HDPE doors. Beautiful and easy to clean.



We picked up the camper in July of 2022 and quickly set out to get some nights in it. We quickly racked up a little over 20 nights in four months with the camper and fell in love with it. I believe it was a big part of why we settled on a honeymoon trip to Alaska to start in June of 2023. This has been a dream of mine for years and I feel very fortunate to now get to carry that out.






Thats the story of how we got here. Now, enough jabbering, on to some truck building!

 

[SherpaWill]

The Build Plan: (2/28/23)

The following items are either on the truck or are in the plans. I will do my best to color code them.

Wheels & Tires
17”x9 Black Rhino Rapid Wheels (12mm)
Nitro Ridge Grappler RT Tires (315/70/17)

Suspension
2.5” ICON Coilover w/ CDCV (Front)
2.5” ICON Piggyback w/ CDCV (Rear)
ICON Billet Upper Control Arms
Custom Rear Leaf Pack

Armor
“Raptor Style Front Bumper”
RCI Offroad Aluminum Skid Plate Package
RCI Offroad Aluminum Fuel Tank Skid
Rock Sliders

Recovery
Warn VR EVO 10-S Winch
Factor55 Fairlead
Factor55 Flatlink E
Hidden Winch Mount

Lighting & Electrical
Baja Designs Fog Pockets (Squadron SAE Amber, Squadron Pro DC Amber, S1 Amber)
Baja Designs XL80 Ditch Lights
Baja Designs Rock Lights in Roof Rack Handles
Garmin Power Switch
Adaptive Cruise Control Relocation Bracket

Coms & Tech
ICOM IC-2730A VHF/UHF 50W Mobile Radio
Garmin Overlander
Garmin InReach
Garmin Backup Camera

Performance
Aftermarket Race Intercooler (Intercooler Relocation for Winch)

Storage
Sherpa Equipment Company Storm Roof Rack System
Rear Seat Delete System

Camper
OEV Camp-X Slide In Camper
Dometic CFX3 75DZ
The Bush Company 270
The Bush Company or AluCab Shower Room
WeBoost Drive OTR Cell Booster


The Goal:
I would like to develop two setups for this truck. One that is centered around a bedrack+tent combo and the primary being the slide in camper. We often find ourselves missing RTT camping and so having the ability to switch back would also open up more trip flexibility. Some trails/locations you just cant fit a slide in camper reasonably.

 

[carleton]

Looks cool!

Would love to know the payload.

 

[SDDiver5]

Ahhh yesssss. Another person switched from Toyota to F150 because of how great it is. Welcome to the club. Looks like it is going to be a fun build!

 

[UpperLeft86]

Toyota-to-F150 gang rise up!

 

[SherpaWill]

Looks cool!

Might want to check your doorjam for your payload: with the above mods & the OEV you could easily max out your payload capacity.

2021 Ford F-150 Trailer Towing Selector

It is certainly close but so far I am coming in right at or very darn close (depending on extra gear) to the payload capacity on this truck. With that being said, before I started this I took a look at many of the Overland Toyotas in our parking lot and pretty much all of them were exceeding the payload limit by 300lbs or so. I’m going to proceed with caution and just be mindful as things progress. So far the truck still remains very stable and within comfortable driving limits.

Ahhh yesssss. Another person switched from Toyota to F150 because of how great it is. Welcome to the club. Looks like it is going to be a fun build!

I fought it for a long time, but the tech, power, and luxury were hard to find within Toyota’s lineup. Of course soon after I bought this truck the new Tundra came out and is very similar.

 

[SherpaWill]

Wheels & Tires

One of the most welcome changes on the truck has to be the wheels and tires. The truck just lacked personality and I was really happy to make one of the first changes for offroad performance. I wanted to pick a tire that was going to have enough offroad capability without sacrificing on road manners. I had heard of RT’s being a good mix and they certainly looked a bit more aggressive than what AT’s have to offer. I also decided on a tire in the 35” range as it offers good offroad performance without sacrificing too much mileage and power.

After a TON of reading and asking around I settled on the Nitto Ridge Grappler RT’s wrapped around a set of Black Rhino Rapid wheels.



So far I absolutely love the combo on the truck. There is little to zero tire noise and the tread life has been surprising.
The 315’s were also pretty easy to fit on the truck. I have a very small leveling block on the front and all that had to be done was a little massaging of the crash bars. A few could swings with a sledge hammer and it left me with enough room to clear the tires to lock while flexed. Down the road if I go to a bigger tire I will cut the bars, but for now I opted for the crash safety.

 

[B^2]

Did you look at the f-250 before you got your f-150? I play this game all the time where I try and figure out which would be the better set up for our family. What features made you choose the lariat over the XLT? Good looking truck!

 

[Todd780]

Great looking truck! I may be a little biased though, haha

 

[OVRLNDFX4]

Heck yeah bro! Love to see this! Toyota guy at heart but love the Ford we have. Sub’d.

 

[moderndaynorseman]

Ahhh yesssss. Another person switched from Toyota to F150 because of how great it is. Welcome to the club. Looks like it is going to be a fun build!

I did something similar, switched from an '07 Frontier to an '18 F150 and couldn't be happier. Biggest part was being honest about if I'm actually wanting to thrash my daily off road or if I'd rather do that with something more purpose built like a dirt bike/UTV, and the F150 sets me up better for that.

 

[sn_85]

Looks cool!

Might want to check your doorjam for your payload: with the above mods & the OEV you could easily max out your payload capacity.

2021 Ford F-150 Trailer Towing Selector

I mean at this point it's a done deal. He bought a brand new truck, modded it and has a build plan. The idea of checking payload on the doorjamb has sailed. No point in changing platforms now unless you want to lose $15k overnight on trading it in. Best you can do is upgrade to help the truck handle the camper better even if it doesn't change payload from a sticker and legal standpoint.

 

[SherpaWill]

Did you look at the f-250 before you got your f-150? I play this game all the time where I try and figure out which would be the better set up for our family. What features made you choose the lariat over the XLT? Good looking truck!

Yeah, my fiancé and I spent a good bit of time looking at trucks and deciding on what we wanted. It really came down to comfort & technology for price. At the time we were looking at trucks it was nearly impossible for anything to beat the interior of the current generation F150. The digital dash, massive infotainment system, crazy comfortable seats, adaptive cruise… the list goes on. Beyond the tech, we narrowed in on wanting leathers seats because of our love for our German Shepherd and his abundance of hair. Also, at the time we purchased the truck, we wanted a travel trailer and this F150’s 13,800lbs towing capacity was far beyond what we needed. The step up to a 6.7L 250/350 was in my mind, but it was an additional $25-30k for a new lariat diesel at that time and it was the older interior design…

Since then, my business has purchased a 2020 F350 Lariat and I am continuously un-impressed by the truck in every area other than towing our 14,000lbs work trailer. We have been all over the country in that truck with thousands of miles in the seat. The truck of same trim lacks the technology and comfort of the F150. Also, at the risk of sounding like a sissy, I always find my wrists getting tired managing the solid axle on longer trips. BUT! The truck is a work horse and can tow a crazy heavy trailer at 80mph like it’s not even there. We will see if time pushes us into Super Duty territory… especially now that they have updated the interior.

 

[SherpaWill]

I mean at this point it's a done deal. He bought a brand new truck, modded it and has a build plan. The idea of checking payload on the doorjamb has sailed. No point in changing platforms now unless you want to lose $15k overnight on trading it in. Best you can do is upgrade to help the truck handle the camper better even if it doesn't change payload from a sticker and legal standpoint.

Exactly. At the time we bought it we were planning on towing a 6000lbs travel trailer with a truck that has 13800lbs capacity.
BUT, I really wish I could have people jump in my truck and drive it with the camper in the bed. With airbags on the truck, it really does handle the camper soo well. With roughly 15k miles on the setup, I can’t justify the decrease in comfort of going to a Super Duty. It is too nice the way it is.

Now the thing that could push me to a 250 is wanting to tow a trailer with my 4Runner behind it across the country.

 

[SherpaWill]

Front Bumper & Grille

One of the things I always hated on the truck was the chrome. I know it may be some peoples flavor, but it has not grown on me. I knew right away that I would find a way to either replace it all or get it painted.

To kick it off I picked up a “Raptor Style Bumper” off of eBay. I had spent a ton of time looking at the armor that was out there and settled on an “OEM+” look for the truck. Everything else was just too big and clunky. This bumper was a reasonable balance of clearance, weight, and functionality. I plan to add Baja design lights in the fog pockets and a winch plate for hidden winch mounting… if I can figure out a intercooler relocation. I also ordered a blacked out lariat grille to avoid having to spray paint the chrome one.

This project was a bit more complicated than I had anticipated but was knocked out in a weekend. The hardest part was actually installing the proximity sensors in the new bumper and painting the emblem. There is a ton of wires to move over to the new bumper and you have to relocate the adaptive cruise control module that I will cover in a later post.