Hey all, I wanted to get a build thread started. This first post is just a repost of my introduction in the new members area...

Hello everyone! My name is Brad and I currently reside in the southeast corner of South Dakota. I'm completely new to trucks and off roading, but found this forum through my other passion - motorcycles. I found Punkskalar's thread about building his Yamaha XS650 and started poking around and liked what I saw - especially the DIY threads and mentality that seems to be the norm here. A lot of the other truck and off road forums I've seen are "where can I buy" or "I had this place install this part on my ride" type threads.

My ride is a no frills 2003 F150 XL, regular cab, long box, and 4.6L V8. I originally thought about making it into an off roader, but soon discovered that I didn't really have the right starting point to build what I wanted without some major $$$ and modification. No worries though, my buddy pointed me in a new direction - adventure/expedition travel. The more I read about it, the more I like it. I've always been an outdoorsman, spending more nights in a tent during the summers growing up on an Iowa farm than in my own bed. Motorcycling is still an important part of my life, but I'm kind of getting to that point where I've done pretty much all there is to do on a bike, and want to try something new. Besides, I'm also the proud owner of a 4 month old Newfie/Lab mix puppy and always feel bad when I leave her home when I go riding.

Anyways, back on the topic at hand, I do understand that my F150 might not be the ideal long term starting point, but I'm new to the sport and figure working with what I have to get my feet wet is better than doing nothing at all. The only things I've done to the truck at this point is got the 4WD working again, and upgraded the wheels and tires. Future plans involve upgrading the suspension (probably just shocks for now), getting a cap so I can have a dry place to sleep and store my gear, putting bed liner on the rockers to prevent rust and scratches, and fabbing up some real bumpers for rescue/winch situations.

Here's how she sits today, modifications to come as time and money allow!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m4/bdbecker_2006/XL%20Forum/truck.jpg

As the title of this thread suggests, this will be a slow but steady build thread. Money and time are resources that I have limited quantites of (who doesn't), but I wanted a place to share my progress, so here you go...

Last fall, I decided it was time for new tires. The OEM 245's were not going to cut it, so upsizing was a must. I sourced tires in the area and online, but before pulling the trigger, I decided to check Craigslist just to see what was out there. In SD, it's often tough to find exactly what you need because there are so few people here as compared to other states, but I got lucky and found a set of 285/75R16 Dayton Timberline AT's on a set of Eagle Alloy 101 wheels for $500.

The owner wanted to put 22's on his F150, and just wanted to get rid of them. It was a fair deal as far as I was concerned - the wheels alone go for about $130 online, and the tires were about 75% when I got them. The deal got even sweeter when I sold my factory steels for $250 on CL.

I did have to get new lugnuts, the rusty chrome one's he gave me were not going to cut it - I opted for some Gorilla lug nuts in black. They ran about $80, but were well worth it IMO. No center caps came with the deal, but I really don't care. All said and done, I have about $330 wrapped up into the wheels and tires.

Here she is with the factory steel...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m4/bdbecker_2006/XL%20Forum/beforetruck.jpg

Here she is with my $330 CL specials...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m4/bdbecker_2006/XL%20Forum/truck.jpg

I installed Monroe Gas Magnum shocks on the front a few weeks back - the OEM shocks were shot. I had been saving for Bilsteins, but after a rough set of train tracks froze up my passenger side, I had to get them fixed and in a hurry before driving 500 miles two days later. The local auto parts store had these in stock, and the price was right, so I threw them on. So far so good - the ride quality has increased dramatically. Next paycheck, I'll be replacing the rear ones as well.

Another Craigslist steal last night. I picked up a Unicover Safari truck cap for my truck. After a lot of searching, I finally found one in great condition for an unbeatable price of $125. My buddy said he could paint it to match for about $150. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have the sliding glass up front, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm sure if it bothers me that much, I could find a replacement piece somewhere, but I'm going to leave it alone for now.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m4/bdbecker_2006/EXPO/IMG_4482.jpg

Now that I have a cap, I can start working on storage and sleeping solutions. Eventually, I'll probably be adding a roof rack. After talking to the folks at Unicover, I found out that there is a 150 pound weight limit for any racks on the roof. This means I'll probably need to fab some auxillary support structure if I ever decide to store more than my spare tire up there.

Now that I have a cap, I can start working on storage and sleeping solutions. Eventually, I'll probably be adding a roof rack. After talking to the folks at Unicover, I found out that there is a 150 pound weight limit for any racks on the roof. This means I'll probably need to fab some auxillary support structure if I ever decide to store more than my spare tire up there.

I'd make the rack structure tie into the bed instead of the cap - come off the bed rails with angle-iron or something to the outside of the cap, then build the rack up from there. Has been mentioned around here a few times. That way you can use it without the cap if you need to (not sure in your case if you'd ever need to), and there is nothing passing through the cap for leaks, and nothing stressing the cap for cracks. And if you find that you need more storage, you can extend the rack forward over the front of the truck.

There has to be some pics of this on here if you search, or on http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/