M4X's Platinum Tremor Build

M4X · Jan 28, 2023

This truck was originally ordered for a customer at Autonation Corpus Christi, TX. One canceled customer order later and a dealership transfer found its way to Frisco, TX where I chanced upon it for MSRP ($90,000 w/ a $750 rebate). Sticker shows it to be a basic Platinum with just a few options:

Powerstroke
Star White
Tremor
HCTTP
5th Wheel Prep
Upfitters
397 Alt
All Weather Mats

It's clear this was probably originaly intended to be somebody's RV puller. The fifth wheel is nice to have but I will most likely only tow from the hitch (car haulers, toy trailers, etc...)

Anyhow I only have light mods planned for it since it is already built 99% to what I would have made a non tremor/plat truck anyways.

Current plans:

Sort out the unlined bed.
Might de-chrome the door handles and mirror caps. Still unsure on this one.
Forscan Mods
High Idle Mod
Radios
Better Shocks eventually.
35x12.5" ridge grapplers once the factory rubber wears off, probably on a slightly more aggressive wheel (18x9.5 that is 12.5-18mm less offset than stock (about 1" further poke out total.) such as a Black Rhino Abrams or similar.

M4X · Jan 28, 2023

Got a Toff spray in bed liner for $36 out of pocket by my dealer after some sweet talking they sold me the liner at cost and my Ford points covered 95% of it.

Before:

After:

M4X · Jan 28, 2023

Added the Rough Country bed mat on top of the liner for extra protection for soft items in the bed such as boxes and my old knees when loading and unloading motorcycles:

Bakflip MX4 is on the way to finish off the bed.

M4X · Jan 28, 2023

My first questionable decision was the floor mats. The factory "all weather" mats have questionable coverage up front and like to show dust (but it's a truck, who cares?).. I usually add the weather tech molded plastic mats. These came in today but I just didn't like them:

For starters the front weathertech mats are great, but they do like to curl up around the edges and scrape on the door panels. The rear mat felt awfully cheap. So thin and flimsy and nothing to hold it in place, not to mention the curling at the edges... it feels like these get a little cheaper each year.

I sent them back to American Trucks. I'm going to stick with the factory liners for now. It's going to be hard to beat the rear liner from the factory.

M4X · Jan 28, 2023

Made a few small edits today via Forscan (all plain English edits):

Enabled global window close
1. This required enabling the "Global Close" boolean (true or false) in both the DDM and PDM (driver door module, passenger door module.)
2. Also requires enabling a few flags on the BdyCM (body control module or BCM)
  1. Global Window Close - set to "Remote"
  2. Global Window Close - Personal 1 (2, 3, and 4 - that's 4 separate entries) - Set to Enable. This let's the 4 potential user profiles save their preference for enabled or disabled via the instrument panel settings.
  3. Global Window Close Vehicle - Set to enable (no clue what this does.)
  4. Global Window Close Method - "Press and Hold" (press lock then release, then press again and hold until the windows go up on remote)
3. Lastly one small change necessary in the IPC/M (instrument panel module)
  1. Global Window Close - set to Enabled (this enables the checkbox setting in the IPC under Settings > Advanced Settings > Windows. This setting is stored in the BdyCM under the "Global Window Close - Personal X (1,2,3, or 4) i.e. your user profile).
Disabled "Double Honk on Exit" which is where the vehicle will honk at you if you exit the cab while the engine is running while leaving your key inside the cabin. (Honk for missing key is separate I believe.)
1. One change necessary in the BdyCM (Double Honk on Exit - set to disabled.)
Enabled the DPF Percentage under the Maintenance panel in the instrument cluster so I can check/monitor how full the DPF is so I know when I need to take her for a longer drive.
1. Just one change needed in the IPC/M (Diesel Exhaust Filter Percentage - set to enabled.)

Now the last thing that i may or may not do at some point soon is enable the auto regen disable checkbox.

On these trucks you can't explicitly tell it to regen whenever - however, you can disable auto regen with a checkbox. This helps you two fold:

It allows you to disable auto regen if you're getting near full and want to purposefully delay the regen cycle like for instance if you're about to pull in to your destination and want to delay it for your departure.
It allows you to trigger an OCR (operator commanded regen i.e. manual regen) by allowing the filter to build up to 100%. The truck will then prompt you to go through a cleaning procedure which you can do in park... Or you can also go for a drive (i.e. enable auto regen)

To make this change requires only 2 settings to be changed:

Enable "Auto Regen Disable" in the IPC/M.
Set the "DPF Manual Regeneration" to option 3 (Manual Regen w/ Active Regen Inhibit) in the PCM (powertrain control module).
1. This setting appears twice for me in Forscan and I don't know why.

Now I gotta admit I'm a bit worried about doing static (parked) OCRs because there is no airflow under the truck and the Temps get really high. So you don't want to be parked over anything but concrete and want your exhaust not close to anything. I'm concerned that the 450+ degree gasses coming out of the Exhaust while sitting may start to soften the ABS undercarriage protection trim on the rear fender that's right over it, not to mention the paint in that area. It seems to me that if you are going down the road while it is regenning the airflow will keep those hot gasses away.

I also wonder what the full static 20 to 40 minute 2krpm OCR does for the DPF system as a whole in terms of longevity versus the auto regens and passive regens.

I just don't know

Information out there is mostly anecdotal and conflicting. Also there are warranty concerns for the DPF system when messing with features Ford has disabled.

It's hard to tell with Ford what is a nanny feature (no global close for instance when a lot of manufacturers enable it (my Rivian and Volvo for instance)) and what is disabled because Ford has deemed it necessary for whatever non-legal reason.

MiTremor906 · Jan 28, 2023

Nice find and start of your build. You mentioned radios, are you talking about upgrading the stock radio/speakers or adding gmrs or ham radio. If the later what are you planning on adding?

cavecreekgoat · Jan 28, 2023

M4X said:
My first questionable decision was the floor mats. The factory "all weather" mats have questionable coverage up front and like to show dust (but it's a truck, who cares?).. I usually add the weather tech molded plastic mats. These came in today but I just didn't like them: For starters the front weathertech mats are great, but they do like to curl up around the edges and scrape on the door panels. The rear mat felt awfully cheap. So thin and flimsy and nothing to hold it in place, not to mention the curling at the edges... it feels like these get a little cheaper each year.

I bought these a few months ago fo my old 2003 Suburban and thought the quality was also poor. My fronts didn’t really ever lay flat and curl at the edges, never ever getting to anything close to form fitting. The rear was a single piece like on these trucks and had similar probs. When I got them, I remember thinking how thin they were compared with the ones I had from years ago. The low end WeatherTechs are not all that IMO.

AZsurveyor · Jan 28, 2023

M4X said:
Got a Toff spray in bed liner for $36 out of pocket by my dealer after some sweet talking they sold me the liner at cost and my Ford points covered 95% of it.

Before:View attachment 110861 View attachment 110862

After:
View attachment 110864 View attachment 110863

Where did you get the plugs to cover the 5th wheel holes?

M4X · Jan 29, 2023

AZsurveyor said:
Where did you get the plugs to cover the 5th wheel holes?

They were in a bag in the glove box. I think they came with the truck. I can dig up the part number for you this evening.

M4X · Jan 29, 2023

Bakflip MX4 acquired. I've had a few of these and they've never let me down.

Vecman · Jan 29, 2023

AZsurveyor said:
Where did you get the plugs to cover the 5th wheel holes?

Confirm this - they come with the prep package. You should have them if you have the factory 5th wheel prep

AZsurveyor · Jan 29, 2023

M4X said:
They were in a bag in the glove box. I think they came with the truck. I can dig up the part number for you this evening.

Vecman said:
Confirm this - they come with the prep package. You should have them if you have the factory 5th wheel prep

Oh that bag that I have been meaning to go through since October of '21

M4X · Feb 4, 2023

SEIC (High Idle) Upfitter Switch wired up today.

Total cost was about $10 for just a few random electronics supplies.

Installation was trivial, I just wired two 10,000 Ohm 1 Watt resistors in series to get 20,000 Ohms total and soldered that to the appropriate wires in the PTO pigtail under the passenger side kick panel (all soldered connections with shrink tube) then hooked it up to one of the firewall pass-through wires and then up to Relay 1 in the upfitter box (used a crimped parallel connector and electrical tape here because of high temps) in the engine bay. Took me about 2 hours and only 2 beers.

M4X's Platinum Tremor Build

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

MiTremor906

Tremor Aficionado

cavecreekgoat

Tremor Buff

AZsurveyor

Tremor Junkie

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

Vecman

Truck Upgrader, Wallet Downgrader

AZsurveyor

Tremor Junkie

M4X

Tremor Fanatic

First Phase Of My Build Complete

Employee of the month Build

Tremor Forum Fav 👍

Ford Tremor Photos

Ford Tremor Photos

Latest Discussions

Forum List

Online statistics

Forum statistics