My 2011 FX4 mod thread

veefer800canuck · Apr 17, 2014

My supercharged 2011 FX4 mod thread

Hey TRS, loving my new-to-me 2011 FX4, big leap over my trusty old 1994 2WD.

Here she is the day I got her home, looking like every other one, except with a Rhino Liner freshly sprayed in by the dealer.

Thought I'd start a thread to keep track of the mods to the truck that I will be doing over the next while.

Starting slow, and working up to something that hopefully will be special to me anyhow, not a radical desert truck, nor a full on SAS mud warrior or rock climber, but worked over here and there so it suits my needs and usage patterns.

First off, an easy mod: horns. I originally put this over in the electrical section, in case anyone is searching over there in the future, but I'll quote it here to keep everything going in one thread.

veefer800canuck said:
Ordered a pair of horns off EBAY, both Hi and Low tone meant for a Ford, with bracket and wiring.

Install was 100% plug and play, literally took less than 5 mins, simply bolted the included bracket in place of the original one, loosened the horns, and faced them to 6 o'clock to keep the weather out.

Wiring was identical, plugged right in, no hassle. Added a short chunk of split loom on the wiring between the two horns, and HOLY LOUD!!!

AND, a lot nicer tone than just the Low one by itself.

veefer800canuck · Apr 17, 2014

Next up, wheels and tires.

285/70-17 Cooper Discoverer A/T3 in a "P" designation, NOT the LT version of the same tire.

Didn't want or need the extra load capacity, the LT tires are heavier, and potential additional hit on fuel economy and ride quality that an LT tire might bring.

They look HUGE rolled up next to the truck.

And the wheels. 17x8 Black Rock rims with machined lips and black centers. 0 offset, so they won't be inwards any further than the stockers were.

UNFORTUNATELY, UPS (pronounced OOPS) must have unloaded one of the rims BEFORE the plane landed, and it had a lovely dent in the outer lip of the rim.
They came to pick it up today, and a replacement has already been shipped out yesterday.

Thank you Discount Tire Direct, and NO thank you to UPS. Grrrrrrr.

veefer800canuck · Apr 17, 2014

I have gotten a set of OEM torsion bar keys from an earlier Explorer, same P/N as the Ranger ones, which I will install and adjust for approx. 2" of lift in the front.

Belltech 6400 shackles are on the way for the rear, should be here any day now.

Once those are on, and wheels and tires mounted, I'll evaluate the need for a 3" PA body lift, and see where that leads me.

Either way, body lift or not, it's getting some Bushwacker pocket style fender flares, I like them better than the OE ones, they are wider, and keeping them in plain black I think will offset the grey on the truck, and compliment the black rims.

veefer800canuck · Apr 17, 2014

Oh yeah, here's the dented rim, dammit.

The black thing that looks ragged above the rim lip is the plastic protector for the outer lip, which apparently was not designed to be dropped from 10,000 feet on final approach. LOL.

veefer800canuck · Apr 19, 2014

Well, I got a day of double-time OT today, and went a little bit trigger happy with the online shopping. There goes the OT pay, BYE-BYE! :sad:

Ordered the Bushwacker pocket style flares (F&R), the 3" body lift, and the 3" shifter extension.

Hopefully my '94 will sell soon, and when I get the new truck lifted and the rims on, I'll be selling off the stock tires (keeping the rims) and also the stock fender flares.

That should offset the spending spree.

snake · Apr 21, 2014

NICE truck!!

veefer800canuck · Apr 21, 2014

Thank you Snake. Hopefully it'll be a little nicer after a few mods!

Will update as things progress!

veefer800canuck · Apr 25, 2014

Replacement wheel arrived, no damage this time, thank goodness.

Belltech shackles are in at the post office, but I'm working until Monday, so they'll have to sit a bit.

Tires get mounted up Tuesday, body lift should be here May 1st.

Pics to follow!

veefer800canuck · May 5, 2014

Tires and wheels are on

Finally got the wheels and tires mounted, was waiting for the shop to get in 4 new TPMS sensors for these rims.

I didn't want to swap over the original ones because I wanted them to stay on the stock 16" rims to be used with a set of winter tires, after I sell off the stock Wranglers.

Sorry, just garage shots for now.

Shackles and TB crank, 3" body lift to be done soon.

And this is the last night these two will be keeping company, the Old Girl is leaving tomorrow with her new owner.

veefer800canuck · May 5, 2014

Oh, and the RPM at 100km/hr in 5th gear dropped from 2344 to 2150.

Depending on how the fuel mileage is with the new tires, I may swap in some 3:73 gears at some point, to bring the RPM down to 1955 or so at that same speed. Not sure yet.

Was getting 12L/100km (almost 20 MPG US, & 23.5 MPG UK) with the stock tires and 4:10s, so we shall see how much of an effect the wider, heavier tires have, coupled with the decrease in cruising RPM's. Hopefully stays the same or gets better, will report back after the first long highway trip.

veefer800canuck · May 27, 2014

Round 2 of the mild suspension lift.

I had originally fitted the Belltech 6400 shackles and cranked the torsion bars.

It was OK, but needed a little more.

I just so happened to have a set of OEM lift blocks from an older Ranger, left over from when I bought a set of 4x4 leafs and fitted them to my old 2wd ranger.

Since I didn't need the lift blocks for the '94, I just tossed them under my workbench and forgot about them. Until now.

Hit them with a rattle can and fitted them to the back. U-bolts were plenty long enough, so I reinstalled and torqued them to spec.

Of course, it was sitting high out back, so I grabbed the older stock ranger torsion keys I had bought off Ebay, and proceeded to fit those as well. I used the bottle jack method to get the adjusters in and out, and it was quite easy.

And finally, here we go. Stock suspension raised up as much as one could reasonably do, without getting crazy.

veefer800canuck · May 27, 2014

Went to Ford today to have my speedometer recalibrated.

Apparently there are limited options for tire sizing that they can account for, Ford doesn't let them plug just anything in there.

So they programmed in the largest tire size that the system would allow, and I'm still out by 5% according to my GPS.

Oh well, they felt bad for me and didn't charge me a cent.

I guess if I really want it to be accurate, I'll have to get an aftemarket module like a Yellow Box or similar.

Mark_88 · May 27, 2014

Looks good!

I went from a 14" rim to 15" and have been consistently 10 km/hr over my speedo according to my GPS...

The only down side of that to me is that I've probably been shifting lower than I could have for the last 3 years...so probably plenty of carbon buildup in the engine...

I might try a set of those spring blocks on my truck some day...looks easy enough for my level of expertise and my array of tools...

veefer800canuck · May 27, 2014

I emailed the folks at Yellow Box to see what they had for me.

Now I gotta crawl under the truck and find out if it has 2 wires from the speedo sensor or 3.

veefer800canuck · May 28, 2014

Got my new chrome grille today, and put it on.

2004-2005 honeycomb style.

Unf, the emblem doesn't fit. I need a smaller one.

Ebay to the rescue!

My 2011 FX4 mod thread

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