Half ton of fun. Overlanding build starting for '04 F150

[dbhost]

Photos pending. Sorry I can't find them at the moment, but I wanted to start the build thread for my '04 F150 XLT Supercab 4x4 5.4L 3V.

So here is the status so far.

Truck.
2004 F150 XLT Supercab 4x4 5.4L 3V. Engine rebuild in progress. All upgraded hardware with TSB fixes on the VCT system, and an upgraded Melling Hi Flow oil pump. 9.75" rear with 3.55 gears.
Go Rhino Brush Guard / winch bumper.
Engo E9000 (largest allowable with the winch bumper) 9K winch.
Rancho Quicklift 2.5" fitted with Moog HD coils, RS9000 shocks.
Moog Problem Solver upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends.
PowerStop slotted / dimpled rotors and Ceramic pads.
Explorer ProComp Stainless Steel off road lights. These predate LEDs.
AirRAID cold air intake
SCT XCal2.
Magnaflow high flow cats
Pro Comp 1089 17x9 rims x5.
35x12.50/17 Hercules Trail Digger MT x5. Front fenders clearances via bead trim and fold, plastics trimming for clearance.
Duracell AGM battery
Realistic TRC-465 AM/SSB with 102" whip and 6" SS spring.
Bed Rug.
Unknown MFG Fender flares with 1.5" added tire coverage.
Towing harness, and Ford towing package tranny cooler.
Line of Fire LED accessory brake / turn / tail lights.
Haul Master hitch hauler.

Completing the truck itself build I originally wanted, I am wanting to swap the Hercules tires, all 5, out for a fresh set of BFG All Terrain TAs in 33x12.50/17. I'm not rock crawling, nor do I ever plan to. I am doing beaches and forest service / logging roads, I need tread width MUCH more than I need the added height, plus I want to maintain a more reasonable center of gravity given the planned roof rack.
I want to upgrade the diffs as I believe ARB now offers air lockers for the 10.25" rear and 8.8" IFS front, along with a compressor and front / rear selector switches / valves etc... Swap over to 3.73 gearing, or at most, 4.11, towing is good, highway mileage would be better.
Swap out the OE exhaust for a Summit racing 3" cat back system, cut in and graft a 2.5x2.5x3" Y pipe on the cats, and add a reasonable Magnaflow muffler. I am looking for added power, especially on the low end, not noise.
IF possible, upgrade the Pro Comp lights with LED elements just to be different, add LED cowl lights, roof rack lights, and reverse lights grafted into rear bumper.
Android auto replacement stereo system with reverse camera monitor.
Reverse cameras, Probably a tailgate handle replacement cam. This would be able to assist in trailer hitching.


I have a Leer 122 available to me if I want it. However I am looking for an aluminum hi top contractors shell. I have considered building my own custom shell so that I can build wider and do an east / west configuration King size bed, but to expedite the build I am hoping I can con her into letting me use a short Queen...

I am moving forward with the following assumptions. #1. I can con my wife into accepting an RV short queen bed, and #2, I can source up an aluminum hi top contractors cap with side access doors. The user building the Craptor had an idea I am hoping to steal and that is using one of the side window openings to clamp a plywood pass through blank to mount the window unit AC into, make it removable.

Bed should be a platform, 19" off the floor, with hinged compartments. Front compartment divided to aquatainers, water pump, and provide plumbing and electrical pass through. As the Craptor builder showed, using an E350 battery box, or two, mount house batteries under the truck between frame rail, and side of the bed wall...

Further back compartments should house the rest of the camping gear including port o potty, Camplux water heater, lifetime cooler, kitchen stuff, etc... Bedding will be, well.. On the bed. Clothes etc... in the truck cab. Recovery gear mounted locked on the roof rack.

Build, or add lockable compartment to hitch haul to add spare gas cans, AND 2KW inverter generator.

Determine best mounting / stowage for recovery gear, including 2 sets of MaxxTraxx clones. One with hi lift pads, one without. Logging chain, recovery strap, D shackles, tree strap, snatch blocks etc... Right now everything BUT the MaxxTraxx clones fits under the back seat, along with plenty of trail repair tools.

I know I need to be super careful with weights, and as such everything will get scrutinized 3 to 4 times before it goes in, or on...

Hopefully I don't build myself into a corner where I HAVE to upgrade to a heavy duty truck...

 

[SDDiver5]

Good starting point! The 3.73 gears will likely be fine, just use the OD when you need it to hold the gear longer than it wants to. I had 4:11 gears in my excursion and I always felt like they were a little much when not towing. it was our tow pig so it worked out but going 75 without a trailer it was sitting happily at 3300 RPM.... and the V10 got 9MPG which sucked big time.

I'm on my 4th F150 and my only problem with them is that the aftermakret support for overland type gear and mods is pretty limited.

Good luck!

 

[dbhost]

Good starting point! The 3.73 gears will likely be fine, just use the OD when you need it to hold the gear longer than it wants to. I had 4:11 gears in my excursion and I always felt like they were a little much when not towing. it was our tow pig so it worked out but going 75 without a trailer it was sitting happily at 3300 RPM.... and the V10 got 9MPG which sucked big time.

I'm on my 4th F150 and my only problem with them is that the aftermakret support for overland type gear and mods is pretty limited.

Good luck!

Well, the fancy computer controlled engines, and IFS on the 4wd haven't helped that part... But I totally get it.

It does drive great, even lifted mildly with mud tires, All Terrains and it is a completely civilized drive...

 

[Skinny]

Triton V10...9mpg towing, unloaded, 65mph or 85mph. Doesnt change anything.

I'd say if you are spending the money gear as low as you can tolerate. The slight rpm increase will not really affect your cruise eceonomy unless you drive like a mad man.

You will be running heavier tires, increasing the load on the truck, and making it less aerodynamic. Good candidate for lower gears. You wont be happy spending a few K on regearing only to feel like there is some power left on the table if you went another ratio lower.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

[GoinBoardin]

Wouldn't that be a 9.75" rear end, not 10.25"? Not that it is a big deal but will matter when ordering parts.

A 33" tire with good tread, aired down, really does let you get most anywhere short of gnarly trails.

I'd go with 4.10 gears. I run 285/75R16 tires on my OBS half ton Ford (mildly built 351W & auto), originally was 3.55 ratio, I swapped to 4.10, and it works decently well. My truck has a flatbed four-wheel camper bolted on it and I live at altitude, so to do it again I'd have gone 4.30 ratio or 4.56. But lower elevation, empty, or running lighter, what I have works great, and can cruise 75mph without any concerns. I wouldn't spend the money to only go 3.55 to 3.73.

 

[Rovertrader]

I think I have a couple aluminum TJM bumpers (very similar to ARB) NIB for that generation- if you want to lose some weight up front, PM if interested…

 

[dbhost]

Wouldn't that be a 9.75" rear end, not 10.25"? Not that it is a big deal but will matter when ordering parts.

A 33" tire with good tread, aired down, really does let you get most anywhere short of gnarly trails.

I'd go with 4.10 gears. I run 285/75R16 tires on my OBS half ton Ford (mildly built 351W & auto), originally was 3.55 ratio, I swapped to 4.10, and it works decently well. My truck has a flatbed four-wheel camper bolted on it and I live at altitude, so to do it again I'd have gone 4.30 ratio or 4.56. But lower elevation, empty, or running lighter, what I have works great, and can cruise 75mph without any concerns. I wouldn't spend the money to only go 3.55 to 3.73.

Good catch. And fixed in my post. Yes it should be a 9.75" on an '04 with the 5.4L and 4wd.

If I recall correctly, the gear ratios available for that diff are 3.55, 3.73, 4.11, and 4.56, then some crazy ratios not wanting to go to.

With the fender trim and HD coils, the 35s do not rub except at the most extreme situations.

I Had 285/70R17s on it for years and loved them, but wanted the wider footprint the 12.5 got me, nto so much the 35"diameter. I'm not gonna rock crawl this behemoth when I can still get a Samurai or Sidekick for dirt money.

The big issue is I need to be able to pull, fully loaded, and maintain 75mph on the interstate without throwing engine bits everywhere. My off highway excursions are more or less limited to ALMOST rock crawly very badly abused gravel roads, logging roads, beaches. Mild, and I mean MILD river / water crossings, if it can come up to the step bars I'm not doing it... Mostly to keep my wife happy...

Think rig I can drive to work mon - fri, and leave work early Friday afternoon and be at a riverbank with camp set up before dark on Friday... Then vacation out to the PNW assuming they eventually get some rain and the fires and riots stop...

 

[Grassland]

Those are still the 4 speed auto, correct?
I'd still choose 4.10 for a wide heavy 33. You are also adding a bunch of weight regardless with the cap and house batteries etc.
Wasn't stock tire like 265/70?

 

[GoinBoardin]

Those are still the 4 speed auto, correct?
I'd still choose 4.10 for a wide heavy 33. You are also adding a bunch of weight regardless with the cap and house batteries etc.
Wasn't stock tire like 265/70?

Yeah 4R75W trans, 4th gear is overdrive at 0.7:1. Plenty of OD to enable highway cruising with 4.10 on 33" tires. And the Triton isn't a low rpm dino either. "Never fear the gear" and all that..

 

[dbhost]

Progress-ish...

I am unsure if I mentioned it here yesterday, but the Camplux 5L came in yesterday.

I am planning on a 19" clearance from the bottom of the truck bed to the underside of the bed rails. I At the bottom of the connections it measures just at 19". Problem. I either have to use 90 degree G thread fittings, and a 90 degree heaven only knows what thread flare fitting to make the gas and water connections.

So decision made. Plastic Enclosure box, if I can get one from Harbor Freight instead of forking over for Pelican all the better, and hang the unit from the side of the camper shell.

Some research I want to do though...

Joolca Gas Knect. WIll those fittings work on the Camplux?

The Camplux came with only the male half of the blue quick disconnect. I need the female side. Is there a way to get it?

 

[dbhost]

And initial setup of the Camplux is done, first test is done. OUCH!

Okay in all fairness I am testing this thing in late July, in coastal Texas. My water is hot to begin with...

Turned water up all the way, turned gas down all the way and 2 things noted.

#1. This thing gets stupid hot. I mean if I slow the flow rate down, even at the minimum gas rate, the shower gets too hot. Of course campground / pumped from the lake water WILL be cooler than the water running in the pipes in my attic. HOWEVER, after sundown, a nice back soothing hot shower will be nice.
#2. The documentation on assembly is horrible. There are seals that make no sense in the kit, lots of undefined little parts. I had to fiddle around with various gaskets and pipe dope to get the outlet water to keep from wildly spraying water everywhere. I suspect I should be using the brass G thread by Garden hose thread bushing on the outlet side.

The half G thread x 3/4 Garden hose thread female does NOT hold the provided gasket, however I have a set of Gilmour hose gaskets that hold fine...

So at this point I have a 16pc (8 sets) blue garden hose quick connects on their way. I am hoping they seal up. Use this to adapt to input and output to go to the Ensuite.

Pump wiring / lighter plug has been ordered as well.

That bit is coming together.

 

[dbhost]

Yeah 4R75W trans, 4th gear is overdrive at 0.7:1. Plenty of OD to enable highway cruising with 4.10 on 33" tires. And the Triton isn't a low rpm dino either. "Never fear the gear" and all that..

Yeah, it's a 4 speed mushbox....

Doing the calculations between OE towing package (3.73) and the difference with the larger diameter tires. 4:56 would make sense if I stay with 35s, 4.11 makes sense with 33s...

 

[dbhost]

Those are still the 4 speed auto, correct?
I'd still choose 4.10 for a wide heavy 33. You are also adding a bunch of weight regardless with the cap and house batteries etc.
Wasn't stock tire like 265/70?

I haven't had stock tire size on this thing since 2006. Not sure I mentioned it, but I bought the truck as lease return, so it was just over 24 months old when I got it. The Hankooks that were fitted were junk. I swapped in 285/70R17 All Terrain TAs almost immediately.... Back then they did not offer a 33x12.50/17... The 285s are roughly 32.8x11. That extra inch and a half tread width is pretty important to me, especially with beach / sand driving / flotation...

 

[Grassland]

I haven't had stock tire size on this thing since 2006. Not sure I mentioned it, but I bought the truck as lease return, so it was just over 24 months old when I got it. The Hankooks that were fitted were junk. I swapped in 285/70R17 All Terrain TAs almost immediately.... Back then they did not offer a 33x12.50/17... The 285s are roughly 32.8x11. That extra inch and a half tread width is pretty important to me, especially with beach / sand driving / flotation...

Yeah I avoid wide tires like the plague, but no beaches here.
If the OEM tire was anything like the Hankook on my truck, I've had wrapping paper that's more durable.

4.10 seems about right for a really wide 33 on that truck. I was going to regear my six speed then didn't and I regret it now.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Yeah I avoid wide tires like the plague, but no beaches here.

I hit the beach all the time....on skinny tires. Fortunately our beach sand is as hard as concrete...haha.

I avoid wide tires to save my gas mileage and avoid the extra weight my motor would have to spin.