SomedayAdventure's "Bear" Build Thread

SomedayAdventure

Adventurist
Hello Everyone,

My name is Nate and I am new to the forum world. I write with my wife on our blog www.somedayilllearn.com . It's not a place dedicated to just offroading and camping info and it was recommended to me that I look into American Adventurist to learn more and share more about Overlanding and Family (for us anyway) adventure.

As a former football player (6'4" 300lbs) trucks are sort of a given. Chelsea and I discovered a love for American traveling in college and sort of felt our way around with our limited time and experience. That is sort of what my overall goal is with vehicle use other than the pragmatic uses. As time goes on, this idea grows along with our knowledge.
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When I started my family, coupled with my 2001 tundra's failing transmission and limited cab space, I told Chelsea I wanted a new truck right off the lot with size and power for our family's growth. I had thought about the new Tundras but found with a large cab, they shortened the bed and they didn't have as much power as they could have. So, enter our new 2014 F350 4x4 diesel, crew cab with an 8' bed.
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To be honest, now that I have already started the build project/process and Chelsea is sort of on board, I always knew I was going to build up the truck ($$$). The first thing Chelsea did approve and even requested was a Leer truck cap. The idea is that we could put an air mattress in it and keep ourselves out of the elements and off the ground while being able to set up a camp relatively quickly.

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For now, I just slowly break it in to test its capabilities (my first 4x4 and diesel). On to Anza Borrego. There's plenty of desert here in SoCal.

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Awsome tuck stop agian.jpg


Chelsea's Bed.jpg


MY TRUCK.jpg


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Welcome to the forum. Nice to see more full size trucks making the leap into the overlanding world.
 
Glad to see another local fullsize guy... love it. If you're ever looking for weekend company our towards anza, I'd be interested...
 
Nice to see more full size trucks being built up. I've been full size since 2004 and love it, currently in a 2005 Dodge CTD. You're truck should be great as you grow into it. Poking around this site will cause you to spend a few dollars but it will make your experiences so much better through efficiency and convenience. Enjoy. Hope to see you at some of the events.
 
Welcome to the site. That's going to be a fun build. If I can make a suggestion, look into Carli for suspension. They have some great Ford products, their low end products will out perform most companies high end stuff. Oh and I like the color ;)
 
I have a 6" lift on my Duramax and wish I didn't. What is it that your truck won't do now that it will do with a 6" lift? <honest question, not trying to be a wise guy>

- - - Updated - - -

My lift allows me to run metric 35's, which give me a slight comfort advantage for maybe 200 miles a year that my truck sees a dirt road. The rest of the time, they throw off all of the vehicles speed/rpm sensitive electronics, increased wear tear on suspension/front hub bearings, decreased fuel economy, slight tire rub at full stuff.
 
Never mind, I see from your site that you already have the lift. Drop me a line if you want some company on an A-B excursion. We have a 5 year old grandson that loves to go camping.
 
Never mind, I see from your site that you already have the lift. Drop me a line if you want some company on an A-B excursion. We have a 5 year old grandson that loves to go camping.

Yea I didn't notice that either lol... sorry Nate. The reason Carli went with a 4.5" instead of a 6" was they just got better performance from the 4.5. Probably the same reason Thuren talked me out of a 6" and said go with a 3". Anyways, regardless of what suspension you have on your truck I really like it. Check this site out, it'll be bad for your wallet lol... well it was for mine anyways (DTX is the original site, FTX is the new site)... fordtrucksxtreme.com/
 
Yea I didn't notice that either
yeah sorry about that. I was planning on talking about the build chronologically. There was a scenario in southern Utah which made me decide to go with the six (sort of a hasty decision). We we're driving our fist offroad trip in May last year (again my first 4x4 and it was actually my first vacation) on a road called 40mile road just outside Escalante. The washboard was so rough it snapped the back window off my leer cap. Overall, it had to do with my new found goals...keeping my truck from falling apart, clearance on dips holes and rocks, and ride comfort on rough roads. I sort of wanted a pragmatic cross between a prerunner amd a crawler with a 172" wheel base. And I've always sort of liked the 6" lift as I'm 6'4" and wanted a truck to match me.
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In Anza Borrego before any change. The Fish Creek road wasnt super bad but some bumps mounds and rocks sucked.
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Immediately after the lift and standing in front was the main reason I wanted a more comfortable ride. Now I have three boys under 4 : )
 
Welcome to the site. That's going to be a fun build. If I can make a suggestion, look into Carli for suspension. They have some great Ford products, their low end products will out perform most companies high end stuff. Oh and I like the color ;)


Solid advice, Carli gets some amazing performance out of full size trucks. I know you already have your lift, but something to keep in mind for wear and tear parts down the road.

I smell an all fullsize trip to anza soon.. Blkwgn???

I am always up for a trip, but I am a pansy so I think my desert trips are over until winter :desertsurvival
 
My personal thoughts on icon are for a Toyota, they are top notch, I know a lot of people running their stuff that love it. I am not impressed with their Dodge offerings, and think you can do a lot better for the money. For any other vehicles I would just be making something up
 
What do you guys think or know about Icon suspensions?

I may be biased, but IMO their products are top notch :thumbsup

Agreed on both counts (personal bias and quality). Icon Vehicle Dynamics built my suspension according to my specific platform - it's not off-the-shelf. Not many suspension builders can claim that ability or even willingness to do so; for example the rear shocks are the same assembly used for your full-size Ford but valved for the size and designed capacity of my Tacoma. We arrived at that solution, as well as the front, from conversations with IVD and ALCAN (rear leaf packs).

What not to do... We've had several folks bring "Franken-suspensions" that they've assembled from the advice of others on a variety of internet sources - to put it mildly they inevitably turn out miserably with parts that were never designed to go together. We recently had a guy come in with a bed full of suspension components from six different manufacturers. None of it could possibly work together (as confirmed by those companies) but the owner of the full-size truck swore up and down that he had seen it on the internet and could have a half-dozen internet buddies testify to it from their own experience. Long-story short - he mis-read the threads replacing it with what he wanted to hear and was out thousands of dollars.

I counsel you not to fall into that trap. Find a reputable suspension manufacturer and spend some quality time with them by providing the desired characteristics of the vehicle you want to build and the capabilities you desire it to have. Do not rely on the opinion of a few "experts" on the internet - their warranty sucks.
 
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