badm0t0rfinger's overland build.

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badm0t0rfinger

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I thought I may as well start a build thread since I finally bit the bullet and started actually building up my raptor to be meet my overlanding needs.

I bought my Raptor from a dealer in Maryland in December of 2014 and it arrived to Hawaii late February 2015.

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This is from the day I brought it home!

I almost immediately started with the cosmetic, minor and yawn inducing mods:

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First to go was the annoying mirror reflectors and the ugly floppy antenna.

Next up I wanted to put in a winch in the truck. I happened to already had a Superwinch Talon 9.5S on hand for my old Land Rover that I ended up selling. I wanted to get a 12k winch, but ended up throwing in what I had on hand, and its worked well so far.

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The only real downside with this setup compared to a Land Rover or Jeep is that the plug for the winch is under the hood, requiring you to pop the hood to access the winch. More on that later.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a set back right after installing the winch. A large truck in front of my ended up chucking a decent sized pebble into my windshield, sending a huge crack along the top of the windshield. Thankfully Safelite had my windshield in stock and replaced it the very next day.

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The next little issue that came up was that Hawaii is a front plate state and when I installed the winch I ended up removing the front plate and never really got around to reinstalling it, and a verbal warning from some of Honolulu PD's finest motivated me to correct that.

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I ended up using the factory plate mount and flipping it upside down and using two nutserts on the bumperette. I kind of liked the offset look. Reminded me of the ecoboost as well. I also added some VisionX 4.5 light cannons mounted on SDHQ A-pillar mounts. You can just barely see them above.

The biggest thing holding up my build was the shipping rates to Hawaii, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the perks of being in Hawaii. The Raptor served admirably as my surf-mobile!

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Around October 2016 I ended up getting orders to the East Coast and had to put everything on hold, as I had to pack up my house and all my tools, then I moved out of my place so I could get renters in. I ended up shipping my truck from Hawaii early in December 2016.

After a few months of bouncing around between hotels, renting rooms and couch surfing I finally found a place to call my own. After getting my tools, I was back at it. My first mod was by necessity as I ended up getting two flats in the span of about 2 months. So I ended up buying a whole new set of tires. After researching a bunch of different tires I ended up going with General Grabber X3s. I also made the jump to beadlocks.

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I loved the X3s. They are super heavy though and going to beadlocks didn't help at all. I'm glad I have them as it allowed me to confidently air down on some of my trips to the Outer Banks.

My next modification was to make it so I no longer had to pop the hood when I needed to use the winch. Thankfully Superwinch had a remote kit for my exact winch. Using some spare parts I had I was able to make a nice mounting plate for the receiver and tuck the wiring out of the way.

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Forgive my lack of gloves in the video, it was just a proof of concept.

I'm super glad that I ended up installing this neat bit of gear since just a few months later we got hit by a massive snow storm and it came in super handy helping the neighbors out.

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Unfortunately my day ended early as I ended up frying the winch. Thankfully the part that broke was easily fixed thanks to the Superwinch's killer customer support.

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I spent most of the later part of 2018 and early 2019 gone, as my post history may suggest, but I came back with a bunch of money saved up (which I spent on my Jeep... oops!) and started doing some more mods to help with reliability, future-proofing and extending the life of my truck.

Though I was home for when a hurricane hit my neck of the woods. Thankfully I was able to put the truck out of harms way and no one was hurt. But driving back home (I live closer to the water so I stayed with a friend) was something else.


The first order of business was fixing the passengers side tail light which had a crack in it, and there is nothing jankier than a fogged up light on 50 thousand dollar truck.

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I also ended up installing a Mag Hytec diff cover and replacing the fluid with Royal Purple 75W140.

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Though I didnt take any pictures, I also installed the SDHQ ABS guards.

My most recent modification was the "saudi" style trans cooler. It was a super easy install. ended up taking about 3/4ths a quart of trans fluid.

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So where does that leave me? Well I want to modify it more! I have a few things already ordered and on the way. I have a Leitner Designs cargo rack on the way. I have a CVT awning sitting in my garage waiting to be installed. I'm going to install new brakes and lines once I get 60k. Long term I want to go with a new suspension system. I will update as I build here in the coming weeks! Thank you for reading.
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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The Leitner Designs cargo rack arrived last Thursday and I installed it right away. Pretty straight forward install. Didn't like drilling into the bed but I knew it had to be done. Ended up coming out pretty awesome looking and super utilitarian.

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Also moved the spare tire to the bed full time with a more rugged ratchet strap than the cheapo husky brand one I had been using.

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I may end up getting a Decked drawer system eventually but this worked really well for me for what I need.

I also was able to install my CVT Awning and my Front Runner surfboard/SUP cradle. I ended up going down with a few friends to Outer Banks and testing it all out. The rack felt sturdy, the board stayed in place despite 80+ mph speeds. I really enjoyed myself. Driving out on the sand was great fun and I got to winch a few people out. All around good time.

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I want to get some sort of on board air system so that I can fill up the truck without relying on cheap tire inflators or paying for air at a gas station. I ran at about 25ish PSI the whole time on the beach. It was a weird feeling on the road until I could fill up about a mile after the beach.

Another thing that became pretty evident is that with the added weight of 3 passengers and all the gear on board I definitely need to check out the brakes. I will be getting some steel braided lines and maybe some new brakes once I get back from a short trip I leave on soon.
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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I ended up taking a long road trip earlier this month. Drove through mostly back roads through Virginia and stopped at Shenandoah National Forest before crossing into West Virginia. West Virginia is a lovely state, and had some of the best roads of the entire trip. Ended up booking it up through Ohio, sticking mostly to the interstate. Then went home to visit some family in Michigan and Ontario. Ended up hitting up Toronto and NYC on a whim. Both of which were not very fun at all navigating in the Raptor! Heres a few pics from the trip:

Driving Skyline Drive:

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On a backroad in Michigan:

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Afterwards on the way to the lake:

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And after towing anything bigger than a small uhaul trailer!

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Anyways, I ordered some parts that arrived while I was on vacation. I should be able to install them this weekend if all goes to plan. I have another Outer Banks trip planned next weekend too, so stay tuned!
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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As a quick update, Ive been super busy since my last post, especially with the goings on in the middle east the last month or so plus I'm in the middle of packing up all my things and moving.

For Christmas I received some stuff for my camera which I've always enjoyed taking pictures and making videos, something I did a ton of during my first few deployments to pass the time, but I haven't had time to do it until now. So as a quick update and a shilling of my own youtube channel...


Feedback is greatly appreciated!
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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I ran into some delays with some stuff getting shipped to me, but no worries. I still wanted to knock out a video.
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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I got around to installing a Builright industries dash mount. Its a really sturdy piece, and I'm really excited to set it up in the future.


I'm super excited to leave on my cross country trip in less than 3 weeks now. I'm packing up all my stuff this weekend and will be moving out of my house in about 2 weeks. Its getting real. There is still a few things I'd like to knock out before I leave!
 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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Finally received my last part of the rack that I ordered and got that installed.

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Also received the correct skid plate from RCI and got that mounted. You can see it in this quick video I cut.

 
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badm0t0rfinger

badm0t0rfinger

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Here's a better picture of the RCI skid plates. Also shows you I need to get under there and apply another coat of paint.

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Sozzy12

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Build is looking good... Not a fan of the Rotopax after a local forest ranger was killed last summer, but to each his own...
 
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