2021 Ford F150 -> XTF pre runner build log

[kabacj]

I'm in!



When I saw the factory five XTF at SEMA I knew it was in my future.




My experience building the GTM into a super unlimited race car that I documented here https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...+modifications


gave me a huge respect for Factory Five engineering. In the GTM kit, I was delivered an incredibly capable platform that I and others were able to build into a winning race car AND an insane street car. It was my first ever car build, my first ever race car build, and many more first ever things. The fact that I was successful was all about the foundation I started with and the community here that encouraged me and helped me along.



I have been waiting for years for a V8 raptor like the Raptor R. For me, a V8 is mandatory.

I wanted a truck that was more about the well-rounded experience vs just the bragging rights stat sheet. TRX… its cool and fast, but it’s not what I want.

I wanted a truck with all the nice infotainment features that come in a new vehicle AND next level capability on and off road. For me , cars and trucks are just as much about the total user experience as the numbers on the spec sheet. The user experience is especially important as a daily driver. Ford has invested millions and millions of dollars making the F150 into the best selling truck in America so it’s a great place to start.

Considering what I want , what are my choices? Pay a stupid premium for a raptor R. Wait and hope the Raptor R some day sells at its 109k sticker price which is still kinda high considering what you can buy for $109,000 dollars … or build exactly what I want using the Factory Five XTF… and here we are.





This will be a daily driver toy not just a weekend toy.

Its gotta jump high.





Jumping things is really fun, and having a full size pickup that can fly is unique.

Power needs to be respectable but its not going to be a drag truck. 37 inch tires really ruin your strip times so ill focus on optimizing performance as a pre runner.

Although I'm really far from the desert, the desert is one of my favorite places. Ill move west soon enough so I might as well build the truck ill want when I get there.





Step 1

Find a good F150 to base my build on. Unfortunately Ford does not make it easy to know exactly what you get on a truck, but after doing lots of research I landed on the below.



Requirements

V8- even a stock motor can be boosted to very impressive levels and sounds great

Lariat trim- I think this is the sweet spot for features that will carry over to the XTF

FX4- drive modes and drive train that are helpful in an off road truck

9.75 inch rear end 3.73 gear ratio

Max Tow package – so I get bigger rear brakes, more cooling capacity in the engine and transmission and the heavy duty 9.75 axle

360 camara- this tech is so cool and actually not common on new cars. Ford has a great system.

Sync 4 – I like the giant screen

Pro Power onboard – its handy to have a decent generator built into the truck





I was looking for a low mile truck and something that is corrosion free. I want this thing to fly apart without any difficult rusted nuts and bolts.

I cast a wide net 250 miles around my house and found 5 trucks.

I landed on this one.



10,000 miles on the clock. Got an oil change every 3000 miles according to CarFAX.

It had the panorama roof and nice sound system as a plus.

it has the tow package , but the hitch is pristine... It never towed anything.

It barely had anything in the bed

And the body is absolutely perfect.



I drove it home. 22.6 MPG on the 120 mile drive home. pretty good!

[kabacj]

Now that I found a foundation for my build it was time to collect the parts needed for the kit.

When Ford builds an F150 with the Max tow package where you get bigger rear brakes, enhanced engine and transmission cooling and a heavy duty 9.75 rear axle you also typically get the 36 gallon fuel tank.

The bigger tank is definitely useful when you are pulling a load and getting poor gas milage, however the 36 gallon does not fit in the XT1. In the kit the fuel tank is relocated toward the rear of the truck and mounted perpendicular to the center line of the truck . The 36 gallon is too long to fit across the frame.

Here are the tanks side by side.

[IMG][/IMG]

In addition to swapping the 26 gallon tank from a 2015 to 2023 F150 I also needed to order a 26 gallon fuel pump from Ford. Changing the fuel pump will allow the computer to calculate the distance to empty and the sending unit is calibrated to the fuel level of the 26 gallon tank.

I’ll cover the tank swap when we get to that point.

[kabacj]

After a break for family vacation, its back to building.

The next step is getting the rear end rolling and functional.

Since another hobby of mine is woodworking, I like to incorporate wood into the build any time I can. In order to hold the truck up on the suspension temporarily, I quickly added some wood.



This truck is all about suspension. Factory Five really went all out when they chose the dampers for this kit. Fox are a leader in this space and provide a huge range of specialty solutions for everything from mountain bikes to trucks.

We get a set of premium shocks in the kit.



We have adjustments for both low speed and high speed compression.



This is competition quality kit that will allow both setup of comfort or performance

In addition to the dampers we get two spring rates on the rear. One softer 450 lb rate for the beginning of the travel than a stiffer 600 lb rate to support huge bumps and jumps.

[kabacj]

Most of my time has been spent on hanging the body panels and evaluating what needs to change as I put gen 13 F150 body panels on a Gen 14 cab.

With the body panels in place, I was able to install the headlights.

Factory five include a harness to switch between the stock wiring and the aftermarket headlights.

Here is a shot of the DRLs in the day.



And at night

[kabacj]

I like the idea of having a generator along with me at all times so I looked for an F150 with the pro power option. Pro power gives you two outlets with 20 amp service in the bed.

In order to get the bed off these accessories as well as the LED bed lights need to be removed.

[IMG][/IMG]

The thing about any of the accessories and gizmos on this truck is everyone of them needs to be moved over to the XT-1 build or the truck complains either on the dash info screen or via the Ford Pass app or both.

[IMG][/IMG]

[kabacj]

In order to build a more capable truck than anything you get from a major manufacturer, it’s necessary to start over with a new frame. The frame needs to prioritize articulation as well as have the ability to take advantage of a race quality off road suspension.

One feature that takes the truck to the next level is a second shock called a bypass shock. Here is an example




Using a shock like this you can tune each portion of the travel of the shock.

Each section of the travel has its own damping adjustment that is completely unrelated to the travel before or after.

Many traditional mono tube shocks are limited by a common set of valves that limit how drastically you can adjust travel throughout the stroke. Especially without physically opening the damper and changing valve packs. Using both a standard mono tube shock and a bypass shock at the same time it’s possible to blend the best of both worlds. The mono tube provides a fixed damping curve and the bypass shock provides a stepped curve where it’s possible to tune each section of the stroke. The bypass shocks allows adjustment of each portion of the stroke with adjustment knobs outside the shock. Changes can be made quickly on the fly for each step of the travel.


Of course if you go this route ( as I will) it’s necessary to re tune the shock sent with the basic kit. Since the bypass shock will do part of the damping work, it’s necessary to remove some damping from the stock factory five tuned Fox Shock. Luckily the Fox 2.5 dual compression adjustable shock is fully rebuildable and tune able using basic hand tools and a compressed nitrogen cylinder to recharge the shock.

I plan to both test the performance of the standard kit built on the Gen 14 F150 as well as build and test the next level performance afforded by a bypass shock.

Finally the frame will accept air bump stops as well.



Air bump stops are yet another shock to help you control that last bit of travel before the shock hits bottom.

The great thing is no matter where you want this truck to be from a performance standpoint the frame is already built to accept the upgrade.

I can’t wait to start testing!

[kabacj]

After pulling all of the wire mounting christmas trees out of the bed the next step is to pull the bed off. This will be a father son project, so my son started pulling all of the bed bolts.

[IMG][/IMG]

After pulling the tail lights there was simply one bolt holding he fuel filler pipe that needed removal.



Using an engine crane the bed was easily lifted off. From there the bed can be carried by two people without a problem.

[IMG][/IMG]

Next we pressure washed the frame and drive line while keeping the open wire loom ends in a plastic bag to prevent them from getting wet.

[IMG][/IMG]

[kabacj]

I solved a mystery from a few weeks ago. I was looking for an M9-1 bolt for the Ford 9.75 inch differential housing. Using my tap and die set I sized the bolt to be 9mm but I could not find a thread pitch that matched and I guessed the thread pitch was 1MM. Of course there are no 9M-1 bolts to be had anywhere except a few titanium bolts listed on Amazon.

Turns out my problem was I didn’t have the tap and die that matched the bolt.

Somehow I have survived using my tap and die method of sizing nuts and bolts for many years, but this project has stumped me a few times.

I found a good solution.



I thought I had every tool under the sun, but this one really helps. Now I know the size of the bolts that go into the Ford 9.75 differential cover.

5/16 - 18.. That was easy!

[kabacj]

With the bed off next is pulling apart the grill and fenders.

You are going to need some good trim removal tools as everything on this truck is designed for quick assembly.... but not necessarily quick disassembly.

pulling out the wheel well liners might help me see what's going on in the grill area so they came off first. Now at least I could see how things were attached.

[IMG][/IMG]

next easiest thing to pull off was the bumper. lots and lots of sensors here.


[IMG][/IMG]

I'm pretty sure these are part of the radar system that helps you maintain your cruise control distance as well as sees things that you are going to hit and does something.... nobody says it works super well, but whatever. Oddly it lowers your insurance premium , so it must have some usefulness.

i

3 hours into the disassembly and we decided to call it a night. We backed the truck into the garage that we spent the earlier part of the day cleaning out. The truck JUST fits. Everything is big with this build but lets see if i can do it in one side of my garage.

[IMG][/IMG]

[kabacj]

With the proper 5/16-18 bolts I swapped out the Ford bolts for the longer bolts provided by Factory Five. Because we sandwiched the axle brace between the ring gear housing and the differential cover we need longer bolts to maintain strength. Note that this Ford Performance cover adds another 2 qts of gear oil capacity. The cast iron Ford performance cover should also aid in stabilizing the differential housing. In theory the cast iron with additional gear oil will also aid in cooling.



The FEDEX guy has been making many trips to my house these days. Friday he showed up with some hot off the presses lower control arms.



These are the heavy duty off road lower control arms offered as an option with the kit. A less over built version will also be offered for street use. I asked factory five to send the arms uncoated to save time so we could keep going with the build. One benefit of getting the arms uncoated, is the craftsmanship is on display. These are MIG welds!



A few coats of Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black -Satin and we are ready to start the build up. Note that Eastwood chassis black exactly matches the look of finish Factory Five apply to the frame. Factory five specified a powder coat for the frame that has high corrosion protection, but at least the Eastwood finish looks the same.

[kabacj]

Since I plan to do lots of testing and adjusting of the suspension I figured i need to outfit myself with the proper tools. One tool thats very helpful is a preload adjuster.

Here is the preload adjuster aka spanner wrench from FOX. Note the part number. 803-00-832 this preload adjuster fits the Fox 2.5 DSC damper included with the kit.



The adjuster attaches to the top collar on the shock like this allowing you to crank down on the spring increasing or decreasing the static ride height. Right now I just have the adjustments at zero pre load to see where everything ends up.



The other thing needed for the next step is the CV axles. Factory Five had longer CV axles made to allow for both wider track as well as more travel. You can see the increase in length on the Factory Five CV axle compared to the ones removed from the stock F150.

[kabacj]

Now that the bodywork is on the frame, i need to address the changes from the gen 13 F150 to the Gen 14 F150.

The tail lights are my first task. While using the gen 13 lights would be easier from a bodywork perspective, the wiring changed and the blind spot sensor changed. I would basically need to rewire a gen 13 tail light to simulate a gen 14 and make the Blind spot sensor fit. Anything is possible, but i know I can make the tail light fit in the factory five bodywork so thats the approach I took.

I also like the gen 14 tail light so there is that.

This isn’t going to work thats for sure.




My first idea was to make a mold directly form the bed I kept for this purpose. I will have an exact copy of the tail light housing and surrounding sheet metal and I can just graft that into the factory five parts.



So i covered the area with cling wrap.



Built an enclosure.

Covered the area in a thin layer of fiberglass and poured in some foam.



That was fun. I’ve never done that before.

I got this mold where I was able to pull off the part i needed.





I got a bit carried away with the plasticine filling in all the divots in the mold. some of them were for clearing the light housing .. oh well. This works, but the second try will be better.

[kabacj]

The F150 frame is gone.

I was holding on to it as a reference while we sorted out the fit of the 2021 cab on the factory five chassis.

I was anxious to get the frame out of the way and had a plan to move it this weekend when I got a call from a guy who I sold some F150 parts to. He wanted the frame but only the front section.

I told him either you take the whole thing or nothing.

He agreed but he only wanted the front to repair his F150 project. I agreed to cut the frame for him. That was a little scary to be honest.

I sent him several pictures .. you sure you want me to cut this right???!

I’m going to cut it on the yellow tape lines..





I scanned the internet for the frame sections ford sells and this looked about right.

Of course this guy didn’t give me any money yet so i might end up with two pieces of frame if this doesn’t work out.



At least the cutting part was easy.

And now i can lift the frame up into his box truck.



Thankfully it worked out.

I gave him a bunch of other stuff that I don't want to bother selling . He is a nice young guy and Everybody wins.

[kabacj]

Looks like Road and Track came out with an article on the XT1 yesterday

http://https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44298958/ford-f-150-factory-five-xt1-kit/

The next AM was a work day for me so my son was responsible for completing the front end tear down.

In no time at all I got a text with these pictures.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[kabacj]

After pulling out the grill you need to remove and save the grill shutter motor for re attachment later.

I forgot to take a picture with it installed, but this is where it sits in the shutter mechanism

[IMG][/IMG]

the splines in the motor fit into the drive axles that move one left and one right shutter. All shutters are connected by a pretty elegant mechanism that snaps on and off easily




Because i have been traumatized by plastic parts that break when you try to disassemble them I was a little scared to do this , but I tell you, ford has come a long way with their plastic materials science. The shutters are just pliable enough that you can bend the shutter vain in the middle by pulling on it and prying at the edge and it just pops out without breaking!! What a concept!

pry here and bend the shutter from the middle and it pops right out.

[kabacj]

First question for the group.

I am being very careful to make sure to keep track of anything that is plugged in because the trucks computer seems like it does an inventory of every item that it expects to be connected at startup. I also notice that it does a verification that sensors are in range. That's a reasonable thing to do..

one of my tasks today is to plug everything back in and check the truck with a scanner and verify that the truck thinks everything is OK. After that the motor and trans come out and the cab comes off.

oddly i found this one plug that does not go to anything. The plug actually goes to the white block off which is attached to this bracket. The plug is right in the area of the headlight and if it did plug in somewhere it seems like that's where it would reach.

anyone familiar with what it is? unless you took the truck apart you probably would never see it. My google searches come up dry.

[kabacj]

Thanks for the info Erik.

Your videos are also helpful as I can see how things are setup in the GEN 13 F150 vs Gen 14. That of course and a lesson on how to fit two turbos into barely enough space.

[michael everson]

I cant even imagine taking such a beautiful truck apart. I would guess you can recuperate some of the cost by selling off everything you don't need?
Mike

[kabacj]

I cant even imagine taking such a beautiful truck apart. I would guess you can recuperate some of the cost by selling off everything you don't need?
Mike

Hey Mike,

Yeah I think I can sell off the bumpers, bed, fenders stuff like that because those are the parts you most often damaged in a fender bender. All the parts are pristine condition so they should make someone happy when they swap out a damaged part.

I'm not going to lie saying It doesn't hurt me a bit to take apart such a nice truck . The truck is wonderful , but it really needs something... a little spice.

I think this project is really going to solve that problem. Haha

[kabacj]

We are nearing the final phases of the build.

Today we installed the rear anti roll bar.

This is a simple task of U bolting perches on to the axle



We noticed that one perch wanted to be in the same spot as this tab that was used to hold a plastic push in fastener. This fastener held the wires and brake line. We are re routing those so the bracket is no longer needed.



We clipped the bracket off and the mounts and anti roll bar can be aligned so that everything is balanced and the links are perpendicular to the axle.





The anti roll bar is an important part of the suspension as it allows us to run a softer spring yielding a compliant ride. Instead of using the coil springs to counter act the body roll, the anti roll bar isolates those forces and keeps the truck cornering flat.

Like everything with mechanical systems, you don’t get something for nothing. To get the nice anti roll feature, we trade off free articulation of the suspension.
When you plan on taking the truck out for a day of rock crawling or desert running the bar can be quickly removed to allow for max travel.

[kabacj]

With all the front end components built up and ready to go, its assembly time. We installed the upper and lower control arms, shock, as well as the CV axle.



Then we installed the upright.



The upright is best done as a two person job, but lifting the upright balanced on a jack could make this a difficult one person job.





With one front corner assembled, it becomes obvious how much wheel travel this truck has. With the lowest part of the frame 16 inches off the ground the front brake disks are only 9 inches off the ground.

[kabacj]

Because i am paranoid that somehow I messed up the electronics. The truck complains a lot when moving it around without all the sensors attached. For example, it will not go into drive when the hood open sensor is disconnected.

I plugged everything back in for a test.



Success!

I also got an accessory backup camera like you would use on the back of a trailer or camper shell. This will allow me to retain the 360 camera with the tailgate on or off.

[kabacj]

Part of being a beta builder is discovering what Ford has changed between the Gen 13 F150 (2015-2020) to the gen 14 F150 (2021-2023)

Of course the exterior changed and as a result some of the trim pieces changed as well.

One of those trim pieces that changed is the cowl plastic that goes between the windshield and hood.

Here you can see the gen 14 in the foreground and gen 13 behind it.



The hard parts, windshield wipers etc are the same and in the same spot, but the plastic is different where it lines up with the hood and the creases in the hood.



Unfortunately the plastic pieces that touch the cab are also different. I had some hope that I could simply make the plastic pieces that touch the cab work, but it does not look like it.

Here is how the Gen 13 cowl cover plastic fits on the gen 14 cab plastic.



This is how it’s supposed to fit. Showing Gen 14 cowl plastic on top of the gen 14 cab plastic.



Another slight change between the Gen 13 and Gen 14 is the filler door assembly.

Gen 14 (except the raptor) is square



Gen 13 and Gen 14 raptors use this round filler door and filler.

[kabacj]

OK now it’s time to really take the plunge of disabling the truck and getting ready for my kit delivery this week. As I said before, it’s hard to take such a nice truck and turn it into a non working pile of parts… but I know it’s going to be worth it. Here goes!

First is the exhaust. Wow that was easy. Removing the hangers from the frame and loosening the clamp the muffler twisted right off!





That was EASY! The truck sounds better too.

Next is the rear end. A few more bolts and it’s free.



It’s probably not necessary exactly at this point in the build but it’s just two hanger bolts and the quick disconnect fuel line fittings so we also dropped the almost empty gas tank. According to the truck I had 8 miles of range but feels like there are a few gallons left in the tank.




Now the truck needs to come out of the garage for the next step. I dont have my kit yet which includes casters to roll the truck without a rear axle so I simply used the casters i use to jockey the cars around inside the garage under the rear springs.

[kabacj]

Ok now the hard part. Getting the body off the frame. As a beta builder I’m just trying to figure this out. I’m not representing the fact that this is safe or the best way to do it. It’s just what I did . (Legal disclaimer over now on to the fun)

When researching this part I saw many videos of lifting an F150 body off the frame. Ford drop the body directly on during assembly. This should be easy… famous last words.

Since it was 5.00 in the evening on Sunday, I figured this is a good time to start lifting the body off the frame.

Step 1 was orienting the body so I could insert the factory five frame either from the back of the body or the side depending on what happens with my attempted lift. Next we get the body on jack stands



We basically lowered the frame to get the body on the stands by removing the front wheels.



Next i inserted the lifting frame under the body. You need to get the body high enough to clear the transmission which is the highest part of the frame drivetrain assembly.



Then using the engine crane and straps we slowly lifted the frame a few inches at a time resetting the 2x4 stilts at each new height.



And we have successful separation !!

[Higgybulin]

Definitly sketchy! But I'll give you points for ingenuity! You have my attention!
Higgy

[kabacj]

Definitly sketchy! But I'll give you points for ingenuity! You have my attention!
Higgy

Haha. Higgy

Both my son and I had nightmares on Sunday night that we would wake up to the truck on the pavement on Monday AM.

But to be honest now that the monument to the F150 greets me every AM on my way to work and when I get home I'm getting used to the idea of having the truck body up there.

It’s actually very very stable.



If this giant boat is ok why isn’t a tiny truck body ok?




Just think of the wood platform as a giant jack stand… seems kinda normal now… maybe?

This is how I convince myself stuff like this is OK. Ha

[JohnK]

If this giant boat is ok why isn’t a tiny truck body ok?

Is that your boat? Now you've got my attention! She's a beauty!

[kabacj]

Is that your boat? Now you've got my attention! She's a beauty!

Hey John

No I wish that was my boat. I have a Catalina 22 with a swing keel. I lifted that boat 4 feet in the air to drop the keel and repair it. That’s why I was pretty sure I could lift an aluminum shell a few feet up. The boat still floats so hopefully the truck lands safely too.

[kabacj]

MAJOR mile stones this weekend.

First start and the truck moved under its own power and stopped!!

Of course I press the start button for the first start and the battery is almost dead. Ha. But 5 min on the battery booster it fired right up.



One of the amazing things about this Ford Performance (whipple supercharger) install is that you don’t flash the ECU. You simply put in the hardware and fire it up! That was a bit scary to be honest. The ECU quickly learns the fuel air mixture and you are good to go. Pretty amazing really. No smell of un burnt fuel. No bad habits noticed so far. I really can’t believe it was that easy to add so much hp. The super charger kit still comes with the Whipple tuner and OBD2 connector so you can monitor the system as well as make modifications in the future. Very nice.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Hey John...just sayin'





Jeff

[kabacj]

Hey John...just sayin'





Jeff

Haha. You got me Jeff for sure. I originally planned on taking the truck down off the stand I had casters and plywood pads built into the lifting frame but. It kinda looks good to me in the driveway.

Nobody has mentioned anything to me about it, but Saturday I’m sure they all will come by to see what’s going on this time.

[kabacj]

The other big difference between Gen 13 (2015 to 2020) and Gen 14 (2021 to 2023) is the headlights and taillights.

I am torn between keeping the gen 13 look and changing the truck to look like a gen 14.

There are two major concerns. First is the wiring and integration with the computer systems in the truck. The tail lights have the blind spot detection system built into the taillight housing as well as possibly some integration into the trailer backup assist gizmos. The headlights are LED and have the computer controls and low amperage wiring associated with those.

Of course the headlights and taillights are a different shape on the gen 14 compared to the gen 13 the XTF was based on.

I have a few ideas on how i can solve the bodywork. I took some 3d scans of the headlights and tail lights





I could mill out or 3D print a mould that looks like the gen 14 bodywork, make a fiberglass part and then graft it into the factory five bodywork. Im not sure what will be fastest and most accurate.

[kabacj]

So it’s 10.00 at night on Sunday and we got the motor and frame out from under the body. I under gunned the lifting frame. Making a 6.5 by 8 foot rectangle using only one 2/4 allowed too much flex for my comfort, so I ended up laminating another 2x4 inside the original frame to make everything much stiffer mid lift. That and figuring out how to get the frame / motor as low as possible and how to move it all around took some time.

But we got it done.


It was too late to drop the body down on to the casters like I had planned so it’s going to stay there for a week.
The next step is to free the motor/ transmission and front differential from the frame.




I plan to lift the whole assembly up and drop it into the factory five frame that should arrive on Friday.

[kabacj]

Now that the motor is running its time to install the air box and air filter supplied with the ford performance super charger kit.

The super charger kit air box fits into the same space as the stock air box… except. The bottom of the airbox has two pegs that register in the two round rubber mounts on in the stock engine compartment. Unfortunately the bypass shock mount interferes with the airbox.



Cutting a hole in the airbox bottom would be a big deal except for the fact that there is already a giant hole in the airbox bottom! Seems like even the enlarged snorkel that siits in the stock location is not large enough to accommodate the airflow needed to supply the supercharger. Ford/ Whipple trimmed the bottom out of the airbox to accommodate. Well we are making another hole.



Some quick work with a cut off wheel then the air saw and we have another hole in the bottom of the air box allowing it to clear the bypass shock mount.



After some sanding and clean up of the hole. Now the air box fits.

[kabacj]

Today is the day!

Customer frame number two is on its way from Factory Five right now! The crew left at O dark 30 to beat the holiday traffic. I can’t wait!

[kabacj]

It is very different working on a rolling computer vs the mostly analog factory five cars we are used to. The computer has something to say about just about anything you do or touch.

Here is an example. I had not yet connected the braking system when I started the truck for the first time. Of course to start the truck that means connecting the battery. Once the battery is connected the truck immediately starts complaining about brake fluid levels, the fact that the braking system is inoperable. Of course the accident avoidance system cant work because the pre brake assist cant work so it complains about that.

Ok no problem (OK,OK,OK) to all the codes. Then this is the best, The truck immediately puts on the electric parking brakes and refuses to take them off. The buttons don't work!

Of course this is probably a good safety measure. If you don't have hydraulic brakes it’s probably not good to move the truck. Keep the electric brakes on.

But I want to move the truck. Nope you cant.

Well F150 computer I know how to fix you. I’ll just unplug your connection to the electric brakes. Let’s see how you deal with that.





Well I won that battle. Now I can push the truck.

OK F150, I’m going to move you wether you like it or not. I’ll just put the truck in neutral. Nope you cant. The gear shifter is controlled by the computer. It isn’t physically connected to anything. Human, you can move the gear shifter all you want . We are in park.

OK F150, luckily the ford engineers thought of this and have a way to take the truck out of park even if the computer is dead.



Pull this little orange tab and we can physically take the transmission out of park via a cable connected to the transmission.

NOW i can move the truck. Wow, that was a new experience.

When computers take over the world, at least you will know that you will be able to drive your factory five Cobra, hot rod, coupe, GTM, hot rod pickup, or 818. Your Factory Five XTF… the computers own that one.

[kabacj]

The UPS guy is getting a workout thanks to the XTF!

My Raceline forged bead lock wheels arrived.




17 inch wheels will be great for having lots of sidewall to avoid hitting those big rocks.



Every off road truck needs a good light kit. The first shipment of parts from Baja Design arrived



And my set of 37 inch BF Goodrich KM3s 37 x 13.5 x 17. Thats a whole lotta tire.



Lots of installing to do!

[kabacj]

The guys rolled in bright and early which was excellent. Some quick teamwork and we had all of the boxes unloaded.



Next we rolled the frame off the flatbed adjusting the loading ramps to account for the offset of the casters.



In no time we were unloaded. Time to get building!!!… oh after I go to work. I really need to adjust my priorities.

[kabacj]

As many of you know. The day after delivery is mostly about where am I going to put all this stuff.

After we got over that hurdle, it was time to get into the final disassembly.

First item was getting the motor free of the chassis. I am trying to avoid taking anything apart that I can, so that made lifting a bit awkward.. and quite heavy. Of course I realize now that the coyote is annoying to lift as there are lift points and hooks that make the lift easier. Oh well its been done without the proper lift hooks before. I needed to add straps all over the place to make it balance and some are just backup without much load like the one over the manifold. Ugly, but it works. I ordered the lift hooks for next time.



we took apart the front suspension and pulled off the hubs, uprights brakes etc to re use. We are accumulating a pretty big pile of parts that will not be reused.



While my son focused on disassembly. I started working on the rear axle housing. First clipping off the shock mounts as we wont need those. I love plasma cutters.







Then a quick clean up of the axle. removing the remainder of the lower shock mounts



Then removing the rust scale on the cast iron housing. Let me tell you a needle scaler is the best thing for this job. It can get into all the nooks and crannies and makes the housing ready for paint in no time. It does make a huge racket, but it does a great job. each one of those needles acts like a hammer and pulverizes the rust leaving clean metal. Its only good on heavy metal parts as it would deform sheet metal very quickly.