Big-List-of-Firsts Build - Input and expertise welcome!

[jdmurph]

Actually, yeah, a ton. Thanks for asking!
I keep meaning to update recently, but I haven't yet had the time. I am hoping to set aside some time this weekend to summarize. In the meantime, here's a visual update from this past September, when I took it out on an inagural camping/14er climbing trip in the Rocky mountains. It performed like a champ, but it gave me a long list of things I wanted to change and improve on it. ?
It already looks very different than this. Stay tuned this weekend for more!

John,
Any updates on your truck?

Brett

Sponsored

 

[Brett Fields]

Tall cap!

OK. Looking forward to some updates...

 

[jdmurph]

Long-Overdue Massive Update...

It's been a whirlwind 10 months since I bought the truck!

I keep meaning to update with the numerous things I've done to it, but between holding down my job, and prepping/selling a house, and moving to a new state, it's been waaaayyy down on the list of priorities. But I have done a ton to the truck, and projects are ongoing.

But here we are, and I will try to summarize with as much quick detail as I can.

Here's the quick list of where things stand.

Added:
-Fox 2.0 Ford Performance shocks/coilovers
-Camper topper + drawer system
-Mountain hatch Tailgate surface
-12 Gal Water tank
-Traction boards (x bull; I plan to replace with Maxtrax soon)
-Dometic fridge
-Solar panel/100aH battery/redarc management
-270 degree awning
-Bushwacker fender flares
-Raptor grille
-Covercraft seat covers
-Tremor step bars


In progress:
-Full pull-out kitchen rebuild (my current winter project, more on that later...)
-Ditch lights (repurposing lights that came with the camper topper)
-Winch mount (hidden inside OEM bumper


Planned:
-Better UCA's (current fabtechs aren't great...)
-Winch/completed recovery kit; kinetic rope, soft shackles, etc
-OME leaf springs
-Cell booster/repeater


After a whirlwind move from TX to CO in July of 2022, I refocused on the truck pretty quickly. The whole point of moving, for me, was to fully invest in the camping/overlanding lifestyle.

I have been interested in the GFC camper toppers for a while, and expected that I would buy one. I was starting to try to figure out when I could plan a road trip to Montana to get one installed at their facility. But while waiting, I found a guy locally who was selling a custom-built GFC-style topper. He had built it in his garage, for his Ranger, about a year prior. But after using it heavily for that time, he decided his personal wants were better served by a full-size truck. He was selling his build, along with a drawer and pull out kitchen system for the bed, with pre-installed solar, wiring, lighting, a 12 gallon water tank, a 4" air/foam hybrid mattress, and an ARB awning, for less than the cost of a GFC alone. I just had to get my own fridge and battery. Having just spent a firstborn child worth of currency on the move, I was ready to be thrifty, so I bought it.

So far it's turned out to be pretty solid. I need to redo some of the wiring, which was just taped and zip-tied to the frame, and is now suffering from wear and tear.
The mattress is great. No notes.
The solar system works well too. Everything is wired to a Redarc mangement system (wifi/app enabled for monitoring), and I wired the 100Ah battery to the starter battery, so it receives fast charging when the truck is running as well.
The drawers were....fine. Not really what I wanted, but functional and did the job for our first camping season in CO.
More on that later...

He also sold me rear Bushwacker fender flares; I bought the front flares to match, and added them.
I didn't take any pics of that install, but you'll see it in later pics.

Shortly after that, I ordered a Mountain Hatch tailgate surface....with a stated 6 week lead time... Tick tock.

Later on, in a fit of ego, I bought a Raptor style front grille, complete with smoked amber lights, and installed that in an afternoon. What can I say; I'm extra AF.

In this picture, you can also see the XBull traction boards I bought. I should have sprung for the MaxTrax, but I was feeling cheap at the time. This was my mounting solution for the XBulls, as they don't nest tightly like the MaxTrax do. I plan to do what I should have done in the first place, and swap them for the MaxTrax, and side-mount them on the driver's side access hatch of the topper.

12 weeks after I ordered it, the Mountain Hatch still hadn't shipped. I'd been politely asking for updates for a bit, with constantly changing revised ETA's as response; blaming broken manufacturing equipment.
Suddenly, in response to one of my update requests, they said they were canceling my order. I was a bit irritated, as I didn't want it cancelled. I didnt' mind waiting. I raised a bit of a fuss about it, and after a few days, they said they re-instated my order.
I had my tailgate surface a couple weeks later.
And then a couple weeks after that....I received a second one...
I'm selling the extra, if anyone wants it.

Meanwhile, I realized the ARB awning kind of sucked, for my purposes. It wasn't big enough, and was a pain to put up and take down, alone. I already knew I liked the 270-degree awnings, and so I bought an OVS awning.
This turned out to be one of the biggest design challenges I faced. The awning came with mounting brackets that were meant to top-mount to a roof rack, or rails. Having the wedge camper, I couldn't top-mount the awning. I had to side-mount it to the extrusion frame of the lower part of the topper. Problem was, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I looked for existing solutions for a couple months, and didn't really find anything.
One day I came across a custom double-U awning mount, made for a smaller, similar awning. While too small for mine, it gave me the idea I needed to manufacture my own, using two U-brackets.

Which brings us to Winter, and what I'm working on now.

I have had the truck out camping with the family, and alone, several times. It became pretty quickly apparent that the drawer and pull-out kitchen weren't what I wanted at all. I spent hours on YouTube and forums, exploring options. I spent hours in Sketch-up, designing variations on different ideas I saw, to try to build out something that served my purposes.
I was thiiiiis close to pulling the trigger on a plywood design, when I came across the PullKitchen on a forum.

This was the answer. Aluminum extrusion-based, rather that plywood. It would be lighter, stronger, and more precise than the wood-based designs I'd come up with. I tooled around in Sketch-up for a couple more hours, and came up with a version that would fit my Ranger, and my Dometic fridge, and a Dometic gas range that I liked.
I was convinced enough about this design to order $600 worth of aluminum extrusion. Waiting for that now...

I will post about that build progress as I go.

In the meantime, I've also ordered a winch mount from 589 Fab, that will hide inside the factory bumper.
https://589fab.com/products/hidden-winch-mount
Need to select a winch to go in it soon.

Here's a few shots from a couple weekend camping and hiking trips this past fall. And some assorted pics of random details.

Added a small safe, a collapsible trench shovel, and a hand axe.

This is a freshly-stripped bed, from last week, ready for the rebuild.

 

[Trigganometry]

Long-Overdue Massive Update...

It's been a whirlwind 10 months since I bought the truck!

I keep meaning to update with the numerous things I've done to it, but between holding down my job, and prepping/selling a house, and moving to a new state, it's been waaaayyy down on the list of priorities. But I have done a ton to the truck, and projects are ongoing.

But here we are, and I will try to summarize with as much quick detail as I can.

Here's the quick list of where things stand.

Added:
-Fox 2.0 Ford Performance shocks/coilovers
-Camper topper + drawer system
-Mountain hatch Tailgate surface
-12 Gal Water tank
-Traction boards (x bull; I plan to replace with Maxtrax soon)
-Dometic fridge
-Solar panel/100aH battery/redarc management
-270 degree awning
-Bushwacker fender flares
-Raptor grille
-Covercraft seat covers
-Tremor step bars


In progress:
-Full pull-out kitchen rebuild (my current winter project, more on that later...)
-Ditch lights (repurposing lights that came with the camper topper)
-Winch mount (hidden inside OEM bumper


Planned:
-Better UCA's (current fabtechs aren't great...)
-Winch/completed recovery kit; kinetic rope, soft shackles, etc
-OME leaf springs
-Cell booster/repeater


After a whirlwind move from TX to CO in July of 2022, I refocused on the truck pretty quickly. The whole point of moving, for me, was to fully invest in the camping/overlanding lifestyle.

I have been interested in the GFC camper toppers for a while, and expected that I would buy one. I was starting to try to figure out when I could plan a road trip to Montana to get one installed at their facility. But while waiting, I found a guy locally who was selling a custom-built GFC-style topper. He had built it in his garage, for his Ranger, about a year prior. But after using it heavily for that time, he decided his personal wants were better served by a full-size truck. He was selling his build, along with a drawer and pull out kitchen system for the bed, with pre-installed solar, wiring, lighting, a 12 gallon water tank, a 4" air/foam hybrid mattress, and an ARB awning, for less than the cost of a GFC alone. I just had to get my own fridge and battery. Having just spent a firstborn child worth of currency on the move, I was ready to be thrifty, so I bought it.

So far it's turned out to be pretty solid. I need to redo some of the wiring, which was just taped and zip-tied to the frame, and is now suffering from wear and tear.
The mattress is great. No notes.
The solar system works well too. Everything is wired to a Redarc mangement system (wifi/app enabled for monitoring), and I wired the 100Ah battery to the starter battery, so it receives fast charging when the truck is running as well.
The drawers were....fine. Not really what I wanted, but functional and did the job for our first camping season in CO.
More on that later...

He also sold me rear Bushwacker fender flares; I bought the front flares to match, and added them.
I didn't take any pics of that install, but you'll see it in later pics.

Shortly after that, I ordered a Mountain Hatch tailgate surface....with a stated 6 week lead time... Tick tock.

Later on, in a fit of ego, I bought a Raptor style front grille, complete with smoked amber lights, and installed that in an afternoon. What can I say; I'm extra AF.

In this picture, you can also see the XBull traction boards I bought. I should have sprung for the MaxTrax, but I was feeling cheap at the time. This was my mounting solution for the XBulls, as they don't nest tightly like the MaxTrax do. I plan to do what I should have done in the first place, and swap them for the MaxTrax, and side-mount them on the driver's side access hatch of the topper.

12 weeks after I ordered it, the Mountain Hatch still hadn't shipped. I'd been politely asking for updates for a bit, with constantly changing revised ETA's as response; blaming broken manufacturing equipment.
Suddenly, in response to one of my update requests, they said they were canceling my order. I was a bit irritated, as I didn't want it cancelled. I didnt' mind waiting. I raised a bit of a fuss about it, and after a few days, they said they re-instated my order.
I had my tailgate surface a couple weeks later.
And then a couple weeks after that....I received a second one...
I'm selling the extra, if anyone wants it.

Meanwhile, I realized the ARB awning kind of sucked, for my purposes. It wasn't big enough, and was a pain to put up and take down, alone. I already knew I liked the 270-degree awnings, and so I bought an OVS awning.
This turned out to be one of the biggest design challenges I faced. The awning came with mounting brackets that were meant to top-mount to a roof rack, or rails. Having the wedge camper, I couldn't top-mount the awning. I had to side-mount it to the extrusion frame of the lower part of the topper. Problem was, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I looked for existing solutions for a couple months, and didn't really find anything.
One day I came across a custom double-U awning mount, made for a smaller, similar awning. While too small for mine, it gave me the idea I needed to manufacture my own, using two U-brackets.

Which brings us to Winter, and what I'm working on now.

I have had the truck out camping with the family, and alone, several times. It became pretty quickly apparent that the drawer and pull-out kitchen weren't what I wanted at all. I spent hours on YouTube and forums, exploring options. I spent hours in Sketch-up, designing variations on different ideas I saw, to try to build out something that served my purposes.
I was thiiiiis close to pulling the trigger on a plywood design, when I came across the PullKitchen on a forum.

This was the answer. Aluminum extrusion-based, rather that plywood. It would be lighter, stronger, and more precise than the wood-based designs I'd come up with. I tooled around in Sketch-up for a couple more hours, and came up with a version that would fit my Ranger, and my Dometic fridge, and a Dometic gas range that I liked.
I was convinced enough about this design to order $600 worth of aluminum extrusion. Waiting for that now...

I will post about that build progress as I go.

In the meantime, I've also ordered a winch mount from 589 Fab, that will hide inside the factory bumper.
https://589fab.com/products/hidden-winch-mount
Need to select a winch to go in it soon.

Here's a few shots from a couple weekend camping and hiking trips this past fall. And some assorted pics of random details.

Added a small safe, a collapsible trench shovel, and a hand axe.

This is a freshly-stripped bed, from last week, ready for the rebuild.

Nice write up! When you get your aluminum extrusion the best way to cut it is with a chopsaw and a new carbide blade. Use some saw blade wax to keep aluminum buildup on the blade and your cuts will be precise, square and look professional. Nice slow cuts and it’s like slicing a butter stick.

 

[Brett Fields]

great to see! I needed a little injection of inspiration to get back on my own project.
It looks awesome.
B.

 

[jdmurph]

Nice write up! When you get your aluminum extrusion the best way to cut it is with a chopsaw and a new carbide blade. Use some saw blade wax to keep aluminum buildup on the blade and your cuts will be precise, square and look professional. Nice slow cuts and it’s like slicing a butter stick.

Thanks for the tips! I ordered all precisely pre-cut lengths that should all just work without cutting. But I will need to cut a curve in one piece... That'll be fun ?.

 

[jdmurph]

Big Camp kitchen update:

It's 95% done, and mounted in the truck!

It's been a multi-week project, filled with learn-by-failing moments, and lots of small engineering challenges. I would do a lot different if I did it again, but I'm still pleased with the results.
Happy to take questions, but I'm going to just fill the thread with a bunch of photos, to show the progression.

 

[LookARE]

Long-Overdue Massive Update...

It's been a whirlwind 10 months since I bought the truck!

I keep meaning to update with the numerous things I've done to it, but between holding down my job, and prepping/selling a house, and moving to a new state, it's been waaaayyy down on the list of priorities. But I have done a ton to the truck, and projects are ongoing.

But here we are, and I will try to summarize with as much quick detail as I can.

Here's the quick list of where things stand.

Added:
-Fox 2.0 Ford Performance shocks/coilovers
-Camper topper + drawer system
-Mountain hatch Tailgate surface
-12 Gal Water tank
-Traction boards (x bull; I plan to replace with Maxtrax soon)
-Dometic fridge
-Solar panel/100aH battery/redarc management
-270 degree awning
-Bushwacker fender flares
-Raptor grille
-Covercraft seat covers
-Tremor step bars


In progress:
-Full pull-out kitchen rebuild (my current winter project, more on that later...)
-Ditch lights (repurposing lights that came with the camper topper)
-Winch mount (hidden inside OEM bumper


Planned:
-Better UCA's (current fabtechs aren't great...)
-Winch/completed recovery kit; kinetic rope, soft shackles, etc
-OME leaf springs
-Cell booster/repeater


After a whirlwind move from TX to CO in July of 2022, I refocused on the truck pretty quickly. The whole point of moving, for me, was to fully invest in the camping/overlanding lifestyle.

I have been interested in the GFC camper toppers for a while, and expected that I would buy one. I was starting to try to figure out when I could plan a road trip to Montana to get one installed at their facility. But while waiting, I found a guy locally who was selling a custom-built GFC-style topper. He had built it in his garage, for his Ranger, about a year prior. But after using it heavily for that time, he decided his personal wants were better served by a full-size truck. He was selling his build, along with a drawer and pull out kitchen system for the bed, with pre-installed solar, wiring, lighting, a 12 gallon water tank, a 4" air/foam hybrid mattress, and an ARB awning, for less than the cost of a GFC alone. I just had to get my own fridge and battery. Having just spent a firstborn child worth of currency on the move, I was ready to be thrifty, so I bought it.

So far it's turned out to be pretty solid. I need to redo some of the wiring, which was just taped and zip-tied to the frame, and is now suffering from wear and tear.
The mattress is great. No notes.
The solar system works well too. Everything is wired to a Redarc mangement system (wifi/app enabled for monitoring), and I wired the 100Ah battery to the starter battery, so it receives fast charging when the truck is running as well.
The drawers were....fine. Not really what I wanted, but functional and did the job for our first camping season in CO.
More on that later...

He also sold me rear Bushwacker fender flares; I bought the front flares to match, and added them.
I didn't take any pics of that install, but you'll see it in later pics.

Shortly after that, I ordered a Mountain Hatch tailgate surface....with a stated 6 week lead time... Tick tock.

Later on, in a fit of ego, I bought a Raptor style front grille, complete with smoked amber lights, and installed that in an afternoon. What can I say; I'm extra AF.

In this picture, you can also see the XBull traction boards I bought. I should have sprung for the MaxTrax, but I was feeling cheap at the time. This was my mounting solution for the XBulls, as they don't nest tightly like the MaxTrax do. I plan to do what I should have done in the first place, and swap them for the MaxTrax, and side-mount them on the driver's side access hatch of the topper.

12 weeks after I ordered it, the Mountain Hatch still hadn't shipped. I'd been politely asking for updates for a bit, with constantly changing revised ETA's as response; blaming broken manufacturing equipment.
Suddenly, in response to one of my update requests, they said they were canceling my order. I was a bit irritated, as I didn't want it cancelled. I didnt' mind waiting. I raised a bit of a fuss about it, and after a few days, they said they re-instated my order.
I had my tailgate surface a couple weeks later.
And then a couple weeks after that....I received a second one...
I'm selling the extra, if anyone wants it.

Meanwhile, I realized the ARB awning kind of sucked, for my purposes. It wasn't big enough, and was a pain to put up and take down, alone. I already knew I liked the 270-degree awnings, and so I bought an OVS awning.
This turned out to be one of the biggest design challenges I faced. The awning came with mounting brackets that were meant to top-mount to a roof rack, or rails. Having the wedge camper, I couldn't top-mount the awning. I had to side-mount it to the extrusion frame of the lower part of the topper. Problem was, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I looked for existing solutions for a couple months, and didn't really find anything.
One day I came across a custom double-U awning mount, made for a smaller, similar awning. While too small for mine, it gave me the idea I needed to manufacture my own, using two U-brackets.

Which brings us to Winter, and what I'm working on now.

I have had the truck out camping with the family, and alone, several times. It became pretty quickly apparent that the drawer and pull-out kitchen weren't what I wanted at all. I spent hours on YouTube and forums, exploring options. I spent hours in Sketch-up, designing variations on different ideas I saw, to try to build out something that served my purposes.
I was thiiiiis close to pulling the trigger on a plywood design, when I came across the PullKitchen on a forum.

This was the answer. Aluminum extrusion-based, rather that plywood. It would be lighter, stronger, and more precise than the wood-based designs I'd come up with. I tooled around in Sketch-up for a couple more hours, and came up with a version that would fit my Ranger, and my Dometic fridge, and a Dometic gas range that I liked.
I was convinced enough about this design to order $600 worth of aluminum extrusion. Waiting for that now...

I will post about that build progress as I go.

In the meantime, I've also ordered a winch mount from 589 Fab, that will hide inside the factory bumper.
https://589fab.com/products/hidden-winch-mount
Need to select a winch to go in it soon.

Here's a few shots from a couple weekend camping and hiking trips this past fall. And some assorted pics of random details.

Added a small safe, a collapsible trench shovel, and a hand axe.

This is a freshly-stripped bed, from last week, ready for the rebuild.

curious why you haven’t liked the FabTech UCAs i have the black tubular ball joint ones not sure if that’s what you have as well? i’m running them with king 2.5s and haven’t had any issues but also haven’t really compared them to anything else. did you end up replacing them? was it worth it?

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