[F2C]MaDMaXX

Hmm, that's a good point, though my off roading isn't intentional per sé. I've not had any response from RCI since i messaged them and emailed them a few weeks back and their presence on the forum has dropped off entirely during last year. Wondering if they're still actively in business?

Augster

Our initial off-roading trips were limited to easy and mild trails, but even then on those trails, there were occassional spots that rocks and high points caused pause and having skid plates gave me peace of mind. None of the others had skid plates at the time and their fuel tanks took some blows (GX460's).

A lot of of these niche market shops have long lead times and slow response times to inquiries; probably due to reduced staff up and down the supply chain up to the end distributor. It's just an effect of the current situation we are living in today, which is not going to change any time soon this year. I surmise we may start to see a turnaround late in the year, and perhaps a moderate rebound next year.

The impact to us that we have to plan in advance and expect extended delay of goods as the norm. Some limited application components I want for my projects are only available straight from China, so the wait for those are even longer for me.

Anyways, I saw a used RCI F150 engine plate in excellent condition on CL about a month ago, so again, it's been my preferred shopping venue. There is a huge market for such parts here in SoCal and certainly in Texas, but your mileage may vary depending upon your location in the states.

[F2C]MaDMaXX

Agreed and understood on all points.

I'm not sure i can justify the whole set, so maybe the engine and trans plates?
CL up in OR isn't going to be good, not many people in the state for starters, the irony being, that i recently got my HID's from CL, but frankly that's not going to be the norm.

Augster

It began innocuous enough: My driver's side vanity mirror light stopped working. I noticed before it died that the light would appear to be on even with the vanity cover closed, but I didn't pay any more attention to it. Thinking it burned out because maybe it stayed on too long, I get me a pair of SuperBright white LED replacements:



It was only after I pulled out the vanity mirror did I truly understand how much more serious the situation was:



A hole was burned completely through the plastic frame from the heat of the bulb, and the bulb socket showed severe burn marks and melting:



To my surprise, during handling, the bulb actually turned on. This revealed that the little momentary switch was acting wonky. I excercised it rigorously and it finally seemed to work properly. But the cover only needed to be opened maybe an 1/8" and the switch would come on. In addition, the cover didn't want to stay closed when the visor was brought down, for both driver and passenger. In fact, the passenger side opened about a 1/4" when flipped against the windshield, turning its light on. Either the two metal spring clips had weakened over the years, or the plastic that the spring clips ride on had worn down. The only solution I could come up with to resolve the lose covers was outright replacement. Ford sells just the vanity mirror assemblies by themselves for Mustangs, Explorers, CL3Z-1504098-AC:


But according to Ford parts catalog, it doesn't fit the F150. So I looked for complete visors, and although the passenger side is still available for my trim model, which I snagged a new Ford one off eBay for $39, they've discontinued lighted Charcoal visors with Garage Opener.

In the meantime, I needed to reassemble my visors and decided to go ahead with the LED replacements for now. That's when I came across the common problem of busting the incandescent bulb struggling to pry it out of the socket. I even tried slitting the body suggested here in these forums, but just couldn't get a comfortable grip to prevent the blade slipping into my fingers (which has happened more often than not in the past, including almost slicing the entire tip of my thumb off). With the bulb broken inside the socket, I had no choice but to essentially destroy the socket to get the remnants out.



Luckily I started with the passenger side and have a brand new visor assembly enroute, so the mangled socket didn't bother me none.

The SuperBrights have an LED on both sides fo the "stick," so I stuffed some aluminum foil to help reflect the rear LED:



These suckers are bright, which daylight photos don't do justice:



I figured a way to get the bulbs out of their sockets without damaging the sockets by using a tiny jeweler's screwdriver and pushing from the bottom of the socket through where the wires go through and was able to salvage the driver's side socket, though it was still all burned and melted. So now I'm on the hunt for a pristine used one...

Augster

Received the "new" passenger sun visor; appears to be an "open box," but I could find no evidence it was used or ever installed:



The original passenger visor's vanity mirror cover springs open just over an 1/8" when the visor is swung against the windshield:



Thereby activating the light:



My gf almost always brings down the visor, so the light is constantly on.



The new visor's vanity mirror cover sits tightly closed even with the visor against the windshield, the way it's intended.

Now what to do with the burned driver's side visor...

Augster

Gah!




Someone left me a little nasty surprise in the parking lot some where, at some time. Grrr...

[F2C]MaDMaXX

Ouch, that's annoying AF - though you could look on the bright side, that's the replaceable part, right?

Augster

Yea easily replaceable and cheap, too: $33 for both left and right for Ford parts.

Still, it’s just the act of causing such damage and sneaking off and having to deal with fixing it. I’ve tapped a couple cars in parking lots myself but never caused any noticeable damage.

One day I was sitting in my truck at a shopping mall waiting for my gf to return when someone parked next to me and banged her door against my truck hard enough to feel the truck twitch a bit. Luckily I couldn’t see any damage then.

[F2C]MaDMaXX

Yeah, that's the crappy part

Augster

The near-miss fire from the burned driver's visor put that high on my priority list to replace, but there was another pressing reason why I wanted to ditch my existing driver's visor: its garage controller remote was flaky at best. It would take multiple attempts to get it to open the garage, truck idling on the driveway in front of the garage door, and even rotating the visor thinking it would help. But sometimes nothing worked and I would be forced to use the remote key pad next to the door. With my previous 2011, that thing would open the garage door while I'm still driving towards the house a hundred feet away. So yea, more often than not I had a few choice words to spew to no one in particular when this new remote failed me.

It seemed like Ford discontinued the newer 2013-2014 Driver's Lighted Sun Visor with Car2U Home Automation System (garage opener) so that got me scouring the used market. I came across a nice example on eBay for $90, but fearing its vanity mirror would also be suffering from looseness due to age, I was going to go ahead with a new replacement vanity mirror for Mustangs and Explorers, CL3Z-1504098-AC, which I truly believe would fit the 12th Gen F150. But these aren't cheap: averaging about $50.

That's when I came across a brand new visor, lighted vanity with garage opener on eBay for $180, factory sealed:




A completely new visor should last at least eight years before potentially suffering the aging issues plaguing my original visors, so as rare as these fully optioned visors are now, I went ahead and pulled the trigger:



Now this visor was the older version with the HomeLink system, designed for the 2009 through 2012 models:




The newer Car2U system had a rectangular bezel with no etched icons:



The primary difference between the two is that with HomeLink, you need a donor garage remote to program it to operate the garage opener, whereas the Car2U can be programmed directly to the garage opener; no donor remote needed. I'm not sure if it was the Car2U system that had a hard time opening my garage or whether it was just failing, but the new HomeLink visor works fantastically, just like my 2011 where I can now open the garage still coming down the street.



I transferred the LED bulb, plugged in the connector...



...tucked the wiring into the headliner and mounted it with the two screws...



And that completed my total sunvisor overhaul.