Wanna see my Expedition Raptor in action??? [Ford F150 Raptor build thread]

jim65wagon

Well-known member
Thanks for the excellent pictures. While I wouldn't qualify as a Ford fan I do find myself liking the Raptor and get a little envious :)drool: long travel, locker, 400HP) of its capabilities. Nice to see someone using one of these for reals and not just out to see how far it will jump.....
 

bsl

New member
First thanks all for the 4000 views!
I hope this thread is gonna live again in the coming weeks. I just received my ARB 1355 roller drawer + roller floor, and a frontrunner water tank from www.SierraExpeditions.com. I will be reporting on their installation here soon. I just decided on the second design below, rather than the 1st one. Indeed I preferred to get some available space at the front of the drawers (at rear of bed), rather than a narrow and deep space on the side. Moreover, this will simplify filling the water tank.
This is my drawer fridge sitting "for a simulation" on the left roller floor.
Note that I've temporarily removed the rack for this install, while it's getting a new paint job. I'll soon be ready for the next trip! :wings:

Which setup would you guys have chosen?

arb2.jpgarb1.jpg
 

bsl

New member
Not great, around 15 mpg mix of city/highway (it's my daily driver). Bad news is I used to get consistently more (16+) when it was new - Good news is it does not go much down when I have the RTT on the rack. All this from a (usually) light footed Euro driver who knows what filling up with $8-9 per gallon means :Wow1:
 

KaiserM715

Adventurer
I just decided on the second design below, rather than the 1st one. Indeed I preferred to get some available space at the front of the drawers (at rear of bed), rather than a narrow and deep space on the side. Moreover, this will simplify filling the water tank.
This is my drawer fridge sitting "for a simulation" on the left roller floor.
Which setup would you guys have chosen?
I would have picked the same one you did. It looks to me like that space in between the drawers and the wheel well was made for your water tank.
 

bsl

New member
I'm almost done with the install of the ARB drawers and FRONTRUNNER water tank!
As it's a question for which I could not find any (correct) answer before buying, I did weight the drawers before proceeding to installation. I noted 31KG/68LBS for the RF1355 (roller floor), and 50.4KG/111LBS for the RDRF1355: that's heavy (but this is for their largest size 1355) but sturdy!
Overall this went pretty smoothly, one hard part being to guess the new position of the "hat sections" right before drilling. You can see the attached picture, if anybody is gonna do a similar install on a 2010 F150 5.5' bed.

For the water tank install, I bought the Shurflo 2088-422-444 12V pump, and connected it to my 2nd battery in the bed with a fuse box and lighted switch. The only "Detail" is I had to mess up a bit with the plumbing, to connect the 1/2in hose to regular RV-type potable water hose, and my existing camping shower head. However that's impressive, I've running water on my Raptor now!

I'll post more pictures when I have time,
:wings:

pump1.jpgpum2.jpgRAP1100b.jpg
 

bsl

New member
OK this time I'm really done with the install - drawers, water, fridge and 2nd battery... ready for the next trip...
A few comments on the drawer after starting using them. I like the combination of the roller floor (RF1355), and the roller drawer (RDRF1355). Of course two roller drawers would have provided more drawer storage, but with this combination I am able to fit my fridge and my "kitchen storage box" in front of it, on top of the smaller drawer. Pulling the roller floor is very easy and give good access to the fridge. By the way, I love the drawer concept of this fridge, as it avoids difficult access from the top. OK you need free space in the front instead but that's usually not a problem at a campsite.
The thinner drawer has a limited usable height: approx. 6.3 cm / 2.5 in., by 39 cm / 15.3 in. wide. This restricts items which can fit vertically. I was able to fit a snatch strap, an ARB tire recovery kit box, a small toolbox etc. For ex., a single maxtrax would fit, but not 2 of them stacked. Same thing, a hilift jack is too large to fit.
It's much better in the larger drawer, usable height is 23 cm / 9 in and width is 41 cm / 16.1 in.
In my final design, the hilift and maxtrax are sitting on the top of the large drawer, and I've built a custom simple Hilift lock (simple bolt through the roller floor, the khaki metal plate is a backup of the ones used to attach the eezi-awn to the rack).

For the water tank, I've finished my install and it's working fine, the only point is that the shurflow output is a bit less than 3 GPM, which will drain the 50L tank in 5mn or so. So I added a shut-off shower valve like this in order to reduce the flow (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JFNPJE/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i00). It's working fine, but with the inconvenient of triggering quick on/off cycles for the pump.

I've not talked about the Rotopax fuel tanks before. I have two 3 gallons, which I can install either on the rack, or in "stealth mode" inside the bed. 1 fits perfectly right on top of the fridge, and the other sits quietly on the side.

Finally I replaced my old battery box for my DieHard marine battery, so that everything looks clean. I use 2 switches for the fridge and water pump, and a watts'up meter to follow the Amp/hours.

RAP1105.jpgRAP1106.jpgRAP1109-3.jpgRAP1101-3.jpgRAP1107-3.jpgRAP1103.jpgRAP1101-4.jpgRAP1100-6.jpg
 

bsl

New member
As you've been very patient, I thought I would throw in a few other pictures, with or without the Raptor...
What do you think?

RAP1122.jpgRAP1114.jpgRAP1116.jpgRAP1117.jpgRAP1118.jpgRAP1119.jpgRAP1120.jpgRAP1121.jpgRAP1123.jpgRAP1100-3.jpg
 

bsl

New member
OK I have a few more...
 

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very nice set up. I have been thinking of a good way to house a family of 4 in my dodge. its got the shorty bed too. definitely going to have to snag some of your ideas.

where do you all sleep? in your RTT? could you do a diagram of the sleeping arrangements? if thats not too much to ask...

Thanks
Bill
 

Mrgreen33

New member
Nice build thread Kaiser!!!

Just finished reading this thread and its insainly crazy!!! Wish I had the $$$$ let alone the forethought to come up with something like this...Simply...AWESOME!!!
 

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