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New To the Group, New to the Truck 4x4 world!


Jason Fong

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Hey everyone! 

Just moved to NS from Labrador. Presently based in Turo and looking for some adventure and outdoors fun! I am pretty much into just about everything camping, Fishing, Mountain biking, Skiing, and NOW I am HOOKED on Overlanding and 4x4 fun. I work out west right now and have a super crappy work rotation. Aka 3 on 1 off or even 4 on 2 off maybe it is very hit or miss but my goal for 2019 is to meet up with some folks, make some friends and just get out there! I am sure there are some very knowledgeable 4x4'ers or maybe even Overlanders in the group. Oh also I want to explore! Get on some roads and tracks and really push my driving skills and find out what the capability of my truck is. I am more leaning toward Overlanding as I have put on my bucket list to drive the Alaskan highway to the article circle, hit up Utah and that is just the start! Since I have mostly mountain biked, skidooed and 4x4 on atvs the Truck off roading is a very different world so I felt that become a part of a group like this it would be a great way to One meet people make new friends and also HAVE LOADS of FUN! 

Alright so enough about the other stuff now about my rig. So I drive a 2013 5.0L v8 F150, Fx4 super crew with 6.5 box its my daily driver at the moment. Well when ever I am home which isn't that often or when I can drive my summer car.  My comments about the truck is yes it is really long and big .... (perfect opportunity for a joke! let her fly! Ha) But in all seriousness Yes it has long wheel base turns like a bus BUT it is probably the most comfortable vehicle I have ever had the pleasure of driving which on long trips and many miles behind you, for me it could make the trip alot more enjoyable. SPACE is great especially when you have to live out of your truck when Overlanding. being able to stretch out and sleep in the back seat is unreal. Did it twice when driving the trans labrador highway and on multiple fishing trips or the roudy night out and I just slept in my truck. Was thinking about trading it in for something smaller but I have zero payments on it and mid size trucks where going to cost $$$'s and then more $$$'s because I would have to get some stuff for it of course.

So this brings me to the present and the future.

Present:

Pretty much stock except for some basics. I drove the trans labrador a couple times and man the truck would wash out on corners (prob because I was shredding up the road...) so I put Bilstiens 5160 reservoir shocks in the rear with a 2 inch block (1inch came on the truck) and then rebuilt my front struts with Blisteins 5100s with them set at 2 1/4" lift. HUGE difference but I am not happy with the 5100s up front now just because the difference in the fronts and the rears is insane. I got new rubber last June 5, 33" Good year Duratrac Tires 10ply (driving on roads up there and then around the mine i didn't chance it) Other than that, a beds slide for the box and a truck cap. The rest it stock for now.

Plans for 2019:

So plans for 2019 ... IRON MAN!! Because I am not going on 35s with a 6inch lift lets just face it I am going to be sitting on the belly and the front and back bumpers are going to be put to the test. I found a solid guy that fabs up custom work. The plan is to have a front, rear bumpers, skids plates replaced (have to see what the stock ones are like) and rock sliders made and some molle mesh for the box made up this year. I looked and looked and looked and just couldn't find anything I like or would even fit the f150. And If i did find something it was like 2500$$'s in US dollars plus shipping plus yada yada. that was just for the front bumper. Couldn't find a rear bumper with a wheel and storage gate anywhere. 

Discussion for comments bellow or maybe when I get out to a gathering is winches I was thinking a mounted winch that you can slide in or out to ether rear hitch post or front. But when I think about it what happens if I am deep in mud snow what ever or have the bumper burried on a ledge. how in the world am I going to get it in place and hooked up. also it is going to add and extra 12inches of geometric difference on approach angles. I dunno I am not experienced when it comes to that so I throw that out to the community or maybe a meet discussion.

And a winch, maybe a next year or future plans thing but Will def have some recovery gear and snatch straps maybe a couple traction pads just in case for the time being.

Future plans

Front suspension complete over haul. Plan on putting Icon dynamics Delta Control arms in, and either a 2.5 Reservoir Fox or icon full strut assembly up front. And when I do that I will have to get new rims to fix the back spacing limits (rims are well over due to be replaces the factories are great but yeah.) and also I will have to check out the laws but I believe the tire has to be flush with the side of the vehicle so I will need to put on wheel well fenders to meet code. Also I will be adding an Add A leaf in the rear leaf pack as the bed slide and cap is already a 400lbs let alone all the weight of the relocation of the tire and bumpers etc. 

Plan On doing all the work my self. Really enjoy wrenching my self which is good. 

Also Fix the half XXX job that I did on the wiring of the secondary panel for the LED bars and install a Dual battery system that I can Isolate ALL non OEM electronics from the truck. I don't want to touch a single electrical component of the OEM truck. I am an instrumentation, electronics and automation guy and I know very well what happens when you mess with factory stuff.

 

Anyways I have seen a couple post of guys using full size trucks so it makes me feel a little better about running a full size truck eventually when the truck becomes a woods truck I will probably switch to a 4 Runner ( I would like to say tacoma but man they are to small for me). But yeah send me a message comment on my post. DOO's Don'ts all good. Had lots of time on my hands so I did up a giant post!

looking forward to meeting the community.

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Welcome! Loving the enthusiasm and the plans 🙂

15 hours ago, Jason Fong said:

Was thinking about trading it in for something smaller but I have zero payments on it and mid size trucks where going to cost $$$'s

I can so relate to this ... I'm always looking at options as I do not wheel my RAM. The cost for me to get out of the RAM and into something smaller (more trail appropriate) does not make sense.

I've put myself into a logic gap: I got a really, really good deal on my truck (brand new). I don't want to wheel it and destroy it. On the other hand, to sell this truck and buy a used truck would mean I'm spending more money for less of a vehicle (assuming I go 1/4 ton). So part of me is thinking **** it, just wheel the RAM, but then if I'm going to wheel a truck I don't want to get back into IFS so I'd rather trade this in for an HD with a SFA and just go to town ... but then I'm spending more for a used truck to beat up in the woods.

*sigh*

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Thanks Alot everyone! and yes I was actually blown away when I found out the prices on 1/4 ton trucks. Would Love a diesel 1/4 ton wish North America was more like Australia and allowed diesel in everything ha!

Also looking to do some exploring and find some great fishing and camping spots. Hoping to develop a combination of trails more on the 2.5 maybe 3 and lower side that everyone could join in on and make multi day trips out of it. I have plans to at least tour around the coast of NS this year. I have never been down around the Yarmouth area so was thinking it would be fun to get down there and explore around. 

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 Welcome to the club!

We have monthly runs, usually the third Saturday of the month.  We have special runs once in a while.  And we help out at different events, especially the Ledwidge Lookoff car rally.  Full on Subaru style rallying!  And, maybe for you, the best for last.  We have done  a couple of multi-day runs.  With camping overnight.  In the boonies.  Getting ready to schedule one of these for this summer.  These multi-day runs combine a bit of rock crawling, mud bogging along with trail running multi-day overlanding.  The first one was even featured in Canadian 4 Wheel Drive magazine!

See ya on the trails!

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6 minutes ago, sar4x4 said:

We have monthly runs, usually the third Saturday of the month.  We have special runs once in a while.  And we help out at different events, especially the Ledwidge Lookoff car rally.  Full on Subaru style rallying!  And, maybe for you, the best for last.  We have done  a couple of multi-day runs.  With camping overnight.  In the boonies.  Getting ready to schedule one of these for this summer.  These multi-day runs combine a bit of rock crawling, mud bogging along with trail running multi-day overlanding.

That is amazing!! Every third sat, I will have to see if I can some how arrange to have my rotations so I hit some of those. I will def stay tuned for the multi day runs and events to help out and partake. When I am home I gotta cram in as much fun as I can.

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Welcome man, you've found one of the best 4x4 clubs going!  Don't worry too much about the size of your truck, I guarantee we've had bigger on the trails. 😉  From Suburbans to extended cab 8' box trucks, we've had em all. 🙂  The only thing is, not all body panels are straight on those rigs now, lol.

Keep an eye here and on the FB group for coffee night locations (every Thursday night) and upcoming runs.

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