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Bought my 2018 just last month. Such a nice truck! Smooth, comfortable, quiet, strong motor. Will occasionally tow a car trailer (7000 lbs) so wanted to upgrade a few things to make towing safer. Installed the Bilstein 5100 shocks front and rear. Rears were easy, front took a few hours. Lots of online videos on this, but basically separate upper control from knuckle, unbolt tie rod end and sway bar ends, remove nut in the middle of axle hub so the hub can pull away from the axle, then the spring/shock assembly is not to hard to get to and remove. The front shocks have 5 height settings on the lower spring perch. The highest setting gives about 2.1" front height. I went with the middle setting (1.26" estimated gain), and others have mentioned this results in about 1" gain in height. I wanted so rake still, so when I put my 700 lb tongue weight onto the hitch the truck hopefully will be level.
Since I plan on doing some towing, besides the Bilsteins, I also installed the Roadmaster Active Suspension kit in the rear. Very easy install, 2 settings on the spring preload (I went with the lower setting, 1mm spacing between the coils, measured with the white disc provided), the lower setting probably enough additional spring rate for my towing needs. This kit raised the rear a bit, even the lower setting probably gave about 1/2" to 3/4" added height.
These 2 mods resulted in a very controlled and comfortable ride. Not at all jarring or rough. Just hoping when towing, the rake of the truck is correct. I can always adjust heights in front again (though I would rather not!).
Here are some before, then after pics, and a few pics of the suspension.
and the after pic:
Easy to adjust the preload of the RAS kit in rear. Just jack up the rear so suspension hangs, turn a bolt so less spring preload, lower truck. I hear the rears may settle a bit after some miles, will wait and see!
I wouldn't call this a build thread, but really just some accessories that I found to be very nice to have. Thought would share with everyone:
The tailgate, though skinned with aluminum, is still pretty heavy. Got the DeeZee Tail Gate assist. Installs in about 15 minutes, well worth the cost. No more worries with dropping the tail gate.
The other aftermarket item I got right away was my Line-X spray on bedliner. This is the second truck we have had sprayed, always very satisfied with the product. As seen in the picture, I installed the boxlink plates (after getting the Line-X), and just use E-track accessories on the boxlink plate. I am using a wood beam socket, clips into the boxlink, drop a 2x4 between the sockets, going to make a removeable barrier so small items will stay toward the tailgate in the bed.
I heard about the Huskey wheel well liners from Eric at Line-X (San Jose, CA). Super easy install, protects the suspension stuff from road debris, and even the underside of the aluminum bed from stuff hitting underside.
Have a BakFlip MX4 bedcover on order. That should be the last of the aftermarket parts for a bit. Will try to update as I learn more about the truck, and answer any questions folks might have!
Put the Bakflip MX4 bed cover on today. Pretty easy install, even doing it solo. Well packaged, very complete set of hardware, good instructions. Read a number of various owner modifications to attach a drainage tube to the rail, vs the suggested method in the instructions. I didn't want to have the long black tube extending from the rail, down to the plastic cover plate just behind the cab, so I used a hole on the side of the bed, just below the rail. A 1/2" copper fitting (a street 90 deg elbow) worked well with a short piece of plastic tubing (5/8" ID) from rail to female end of elbow, then a 2 ft long piece of plastic tubing (1/2" ID) from the male end of the elbow into the hole in the side of the bed. I used a 2 ft long piece so any drainage exits the tube closer to the ground rather than wetting too much of the inner bed wall. Bought my Bakflip from Truck Alterations. Most companies can only list retail pricing on websites, but call them on the phone and they will give you an awesome price. Out of courtesy, I won't state the price either, but take the best price you can find on Amazon, know a COUPLE hundred off that, you're in the ballpark!
Thanks
What you did to your suspension is exactly what I had planned for mine, in fact all these mods, the parts are in the shed awaiting truck arrival. Good info on the Bilstein front struts as I was between 1.26 and 1.75. I'll be towing a 7000# TT with a 750# tongue weight and your ride height came out just about right. One thing I did a little different was get a Lund Genesis Elite cover. It has the Harrtz fabric like my wife's Mercedes. Two things now that I think about it. I have Hellwig rear sway bar coming too. I like that "Husky" came by for a cameo!
Last edited by Wicked ace; 08-04-2018 at 02:51 PM.
I will have to look into the benefits of the Hellwig rear sway bar too! The RAS rear spring kit seems to already add a bit of roll stiffness to the rear. Really can't evaluate the truck for level until I can hitch up my trailer. Just hoping that the truck and trailer can end up being pretty level while towing. I like the current look of the truck with a slight rake, but definitely don't want the headlights aiming upward when towing! Thanks for the feedback!
Put the Bakflip MX4 bed cover on today. Pretty easy install, even doing it solo. Well packaged, very complete set of hardware, good instructions. Read a number of various owner modifications to attach a drainage tube to the rail, vs the suggested method in the instructions. I didn't want to have the long black tube extending from the rail, down to the plastic cover plate just behind the cab, so I used a hole on the side of the bed, just below the rail. A 1/2" copper fitting (a street 90 deg elbow) worked well with a short piece of plastic tubing (5/8" ID) from rail to female end of elbow, then a 2 ft long piece of plastic tubing (1/2" ID) from the male end of the elbow into the hole in the side of the bed. I used a 2 ft long piece so any drainage exits the tube closer to the ground rather than wetting too much of the inner bed wall. Bought my Bakflip from Truck Alterations. Most companies can only list retail pricing on websites, but call them on the phone and they will give you an awesome price. Out of courtesy, I won't state the price either, but take the best price you can find on Amazon, know a COUPLE hundred off that, you're in the ballpark!
Put on my BakFlip MX4 (also got a great deal from truck Alterations) yesterday, did your drainage tube mod today and it worked out great. I was able to use the 5/8" plastic tubing on both sides of the copper elbow. I'm guessing since you have Line X (I don't) you probably had to go with the smaller tubing to fit through the hole and exit the bed. Any issues with this set up and leakage? The copper elbow is not 100% "downhill" flow in my case, looks like your's may have a slight angle as well. The other thing I was concerned about- do you ever hear the tubing hitting/scraping against the truck when going over bumps or anything?
Anyways... thanks for the tip on this mod and nice looking truck!
Hey, thanks for the feedback! Appreciate the positive note. No noise from my vinyl tubing inside the bed cavity. It goes out to the external access so probably lots of rocks and other stuff bounces around there too. Been quite happy with my setup, been through rain, washes, seems good, stuff pretty dry. Get a little water from the tailgate area of the MX4, but pretty minimal. On my copper elbow I used a "street elbow", which is a female 1/2" copper fitting on the upper end, and a male 1/2" fitting on the lower end, that being the main reason I went with 1/2" ID tubing on the outlet, it just fit better on my copper fitting exit. I don't recall if the 5/8" vinyl tubing would have trouble fitting through the side hole of the bed, but the 1/2" tubing was a nice fit. I'm guessing you used a standard 1/2" copper 90 deg fitting (female both ends) ?
Either way works! I was just mixing and matching what I had in my plumbing supplies
08-02-2018, 12:57 AM
2018 F150 XLT 4x4 Supercrew 3.5 EB, SB
