00TL-P3.2

Crossed over 8,000 miles this morning. Nothing new to add, but still very happy with it.
Averaging around 18 mpg, due to it being skewed by towing & winter blend fuel. We're in frugal mode right now, hoping to buy a house very soon. Once that's done, may look into a bedcover, headlights & a tune.

00TL-P3.2

Closing in on 10k miles.
Have a set of LED replacement headlights (bulbs) sitting on my desk. Have looked at quite a few & these seems to be the best fit (cutoff & light against oncoming drivers) to use in a halogen reflector setup [flamesuit on]. A few guys over on the F150 forum have them & the results seem to look good.
At $50, if I'm not happy with it, I'm not out much.
Also, removed the lower air dam yesterday, gives the truck a bit more of an aggressive look, for free (maybe at the cost of <1 mpg).

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I want to see pictures! Words are very taxing!

00TL-P3.2

Best before I have, from a low-ish angle, showing the air dam in place.


Quickie after shot in the office parking lot:


Replacement LED bulbs. 3 chips per side, 6 per bulb. From the reading I've done, these are the closest to replicating the filament placement of a halogen bulb.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Thought you would get a kick out of this. Had a double-header weekend with some clients and when I got back, new trailer had been delivered. Here's a sneak peek! Should get vinyl next week (hopefully)...

00TL-P3.2

That looks like a massive rig. Dimensions & weight?

Once this house buying experience is over, may have some business for you. With F1 starting back up & there being a pink car on the grid, my girls are wanting to "drive a pink racecar". So may need some youth kart quotes, need to get the oldest behind the wheel of a rental to see what she thinks.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

^ No problem. My business has shifted to almost all cadet karts Funny how I fought that initially but now I'm down to 3 Adult/Junior karts (one for sale so will be down to 2... and not counting mine), but 3 cadet karts!! I'll be at the track tomorrow with two kids... one on my kart and coaching another on his own kart. So yeah, shifted my focus since winter a bit

The trailer is 7'x20' with a 2' V-nose... so about 22' long. Craziest part... only weighs 1914 pounds!! And this thing has lights inside, power, etc. That's only about 450 pounds more than my little 6'x12'. Pretty crazy.

00TL-P3.2

^ Looks pretty awesome. Will need some more shots!
Not bad weight, not sure what out 7x12 tips the scales at. Odds are, if we upgrade it'll be to something like an 8x20-25x7-8, if we plan on a mobile shop. Then the 7x12 can be my toy trailer

Got some before shots last night, planning on installed the new lights tonight & will try to get some after shots for comparison. Tricky to find a good, not busy, really dark road around my house.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, I was going to tow it today but the local courier is late again with our Amazon order, so will have to use the 6'x12'.

Oh well. I have some flooring on the way... vinyl will hopefully be done next week, and have some fasteners coming for the walls so I can put up some of the Pit Pal products I have. Then I'll buy a small toolbox, mount that in the V-nose, and use it as the base for a work bench. I'll probably snap some proper pics once the flooring is in...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Truck looks great, without the dam, it looks like a raptor!

00TL-P3.2

Raptor might be a stretch, but I'm happy with the look for now.
Hoping to get the LEDs installed tonight.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Sexy, either way, man...
thanks for the pics.

00TL-P3.2

It's a pretty slow moving project.

CCColtsicehockey

Awesome new trailer JB. Can't wait to see it all setup.

00TL-P3.2

Finally got around to getting these in. Took about an hour, taking my time. Could probably do it again in under a half hour, knowing what I'm doing now.
Massive difference.

These are the bulbs I used:
A few garage shots (Samsung Note5 on auto) during the process:
Passenger side done:

Both finished:


Some after & comparison shots. All the Before/After shots were done with my Nikon D70S with the same shutter/apeture settings, in the same spots (roughly), about 26 hours apart.






Low beams only

Low with fogs

High, low, fogs


A few on the road, Note5 on auto:



Need to at least do the fogs now, the color difference is really noticeable:

CCColtsicehockey

They look good and look like they have much brigther light for sure.

Curious though from the pictures it looks like the light dispertion is not as good as the halogens or is it just the pictures?

00TL-P3.2

I think it's the photos, it honestly reminds me a lot of the 2013 & 2014 F150s with factory HID that I nearly bought before this one.
I had to put the camera/lens in full manual to get it to shoot with next to no light. So probably more me.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Dang, what a difference! Worth it

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Wow. That's stock housings? So you basically removed your old bulbs and used the ones you linked?

00TL-P3.2

Plug-n-play. I'd ordered canbus adapters just in case & ended up not needing them.
Only have a bit of time with them, but have no flicker or any other issues. Plays well with the auto-stop on the 2.7 too.
We'll see as I get some more night experience with them how they hold up. We had some good heavy rain today, so I'll be checking for any moisture in the housings.

Chapter29

Sharp looking Truck

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

That's pretty impressive. I would have thought there'd be a lot more scatter with the stock housings.

Hmm... maybe this could be a temporary solution until I do a retro fit

00TL-P3.2

From what I've been reading. A guy on the F150 forum has been through a few variations of LED bulbs. Went as far as to find measurements for halogen bulbs with filament placement & these were the closest match, may be why they aren't as bad as most LED swaps
And, shockingly, they're cheaper than a lot of the Sylvania Silverstar halogen options.

00TL-P3.2

Crossed 10k miles on Sunday coming home from visiting the parents.
Nothing new on the horizon, have to write a to the IRS this week & we're working on buying a new house.

Anyone know anything about using wheel spacers on trucks? Would like a little less tuck than what they have right now. Looks like 1.25-1.5" spares puts them right where I need to be without having to alter the stock hubs/studs. Seems Fred Goeske & Bora are the 2 brands touted the most over on the F150 forum. Curious if they're going to have any negative daily or towing impact. Not in the market to buy new wheels right now & am too indecisive about what I'd want.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

That looks so much better. Wonder if I can get the same set for my NB Miata. It has the projectors with halogen lights from the factory.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Spacers are a no brainer...just get recommendations on spacer torque specs on a truck and follow it to a T.

00TL-P3.2

Should be, the ones I got come in multiple bulb sizes:


$230 plus tax/shipping isn't bad, compared to likely 1k minimum for wheels/tires.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

and you can resell them when you're done!

00TL-P3.2

Livernois just posted this gem in April:

Makes me want to tune this thing. Sounds like they're safely pushing the 2.7 up to around 400hp on a 93 performance tune.
Granted, they don't specify how these 2 trucks are set up, could be that the 2.7 has a 3.73 rear end & the 3.5 has the 3.31, would skew the result a bit.

MCDavis

My tuned '13 3.5EB was a beast, even on the heavy 275/65/20 BFG KO2s.
Many people actually claim the 3.31 geared EB to be quicker than a comparable truck with 3.73 gears due to the 3.31 loading the turbos a bit more. The 3.73 will feel a bit more "snappy" though.

The gains you see on a simple tune only upgrade with a turbo is impressive, and relatively safe too if done with some understanding. I will say that I'm continually impressed with the 2.7EB, but one thing that concerns me and I found it troubling with the 3.5EB is the lack of engine braking when compared to a larger displacement engine. Coming down steep grades relied heavily on the transmission, more so than I was typically comfortable with. My only real gripe though.

Tune it. You won't regret it (if done safely).

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

oh yeahhhhhh
i wanted to do that to my work truck

00TL-P3.2

The 2.7 definitely lacks in engine braking, but the only thing I tow is a sail of a cargo trailer, so that makes up for it somewhat. And, it's mighty flat here, so not a ton of need for strong engine braking.

At $600 for (I believe) 4 tunes, the LMS isn't a bad deal. Ideally, a 93 perf & a 93 tow tune are what I'd get, with a 91 in case I'm somewhere that I can't get 93.

MCDavis

I ran a 91 tune on 93 octane fuel. The difference between the two tunes is minimal, and the buffer in octane kept the knock down, etc. Just my $.02.
I had good luck with 5 Star, but you should also give Torrie McPhail at Unleashed a call. He's a man of few words, but his work is phenomenal. Also my $.02...4 tunes is overkill as you really only need 2...a tow and a daily driver/performance tune.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

How are the LED headlights holding up? Still recommend them?

My truck is going in for long tube headers Monday...

00TL-P3.2

No complaints, no issues, still have yet to be flashed aside from one instance while hooked up to our loaded trailer. Still haven't had a chance to see how they do at night in the rain. Been unseasonably dry here.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Gotcha. Good to know. I think I'll pick up a set after summer or so... once things settle a bit. I have to adjust my headlights now as it is when I tow, so I can just go a little lower with the LEDs...

fsttyms1

Banks has a tuner coming out that is change on the fly and it wont trip the ecu so dealers wont know you tuned it.

fsttyms1

I see the new 2018 F150/Raptor get the option of Bang & Olufsen for a stereo upgrade.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I see fatty not having the balls to buy one










but still being cooler than me in almost every regard, sadly.

crazyasiantl

iTrader: (7)

I got the Auxbeam LEDs as they were recommended by a friend.. they have a fan on them, and you can hear them over the engine noise sometimes, so I may look into a replacement if it bothers me. Any cons on the set that you Have?

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the LEDs I have are really blue, but they match my DRLs, and they look the same as the newer F150/Explorer.. I guess I'm just not used to them just yet.