It's here! 11 days early. Toms build thread.

Keep the faith and positivity:)
I ordered 2/15, order confirmed 2/16, and dealer gave my VIN today (2/24). My scheduled production is week of March 22nd! And it is for the '21 model what I ordered.
So things are moving at Ford, just takes a little time and patience!
This forum, Blue Oval forums , is a great source of information.
THAT'S SO AWESOME! CONGRATS! Just saw you're are getting a winch.....I've seen a lot, now I feel I should have gotten one too! LOL
 
Keep the faith and positivity:)
I ordered 2/15, order confirmed 2/16, and dealer gave my VIN today (2/24). My scheduled production is week of March 22nd! And it is for the '21 model what I ordered.
So things are moving at Ford, just takes a little time and patience!
This forum, Blue Oval forums , is a great source of information.
I saw him at the dealer on 2.16.21, we built it that day, he said he had to have it in the lastest Thursday which would have been the 18th of February, then he said he would find if it got put into production in approx 2weeks....which would be March 4th........fingers crossed with my impatient self lol
 
THAT'S SO AWESOME! CONGRATS! Just saw you're are getting a winch.....I've seen a lot, now I feel I should have gotten one too! LOL
Change your order before it is to late. Regret is a BITCH. Make this the way you want your truck to turn out. You have this golden opportunity to make the change. good luck. ? ? ? :cool:
 
I was totally surprised to get a text yesterday afternoon that my Tremor was here! I couldn't type I'm ready now fast enough. lol. He said in a few hours since they needed to inspect and detail. I cleaned out the 2013 F150 FX4, hit the car wash for a nice appearance for trade in purposes and was off to the dealer.

+/- 7 weeks. Works for me! Wasn't supposed to be here until the 17th. Ordered Jan 17 with a truck order processed date of 20 Jan.

Sport, Ultimate, 7.3L, dual batteries/alternators, bed cover, etc, etc. Most of the goodies. Did my first upgrade with the cup holders last night. They just happened to show up yesterday. Time to go mess with it. Didn't get home until well into the darkness hours last night so only have a couple miles on it.

Got a small pile of stuff in the garage for it. Built right bed storage, etc all ready to be installed.

Tom
Hi I'm interested in your truck. I live in Vegas, do you mind if we come stop by today to look at it? My number is 702-751-4163. We'll move quick if we like it but want to check it out today (3/8). One of us is only in town for a few hours and we'll be using this on a mountain.
 
A fairly technical recovery this evening. A guy with a 4runner slid off the trail a ways off from here on a slippery off angle area. With no choice he went with gravity and down hill to no where land. Once down some he crossed over a ridge to this valley and tried to come up. Sitting at a 45 degree angle and at a fairly decent roll angle he gave up and made the post to SNORR.

I had to back down the ridgeline maybe 500yds or so for one anchor point then the jeep that can maneuver easily followed by another full size to anchor the other side. Vision a slingshot. I setup my winch to the Jeeps front bumper and the other full sized truck, we shall not name brand, ran his winch to the Jeeps front bumper other side. Worked like a charm. The Jeep never moved.

We connected to the uphill side a-arm initially for stability and winched until straight, then re- rigged to 2 points for the pull.

Another great day in Vegas enjoying our toys!

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Here's a video of the recovery.


Tom
 
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The plastic tote/storage bin in the bed had to go. I wanted it to work but just not enough room. The idea was if I needed the full bed to haul stuff I'd be able to simply remove but with so many vehicles getting broke into these days something to slow them down a bit needed to be added. Plus i needed more room for "stuff". I had another smaller storage bin of stuff that I wanted to have in the truck.

$269 if i remember correctly at Lowe's. Works for me. Biggest downside is that I had to space it +/- 6 inches from the front of the bed to allow the lid to open enough to be usable. So lost even more bed space. Really the only time I use the bed is general house stuff so not killing me. I bought the truck for a daily driver and to be used offroad not to haul.

Anyways, I like. It's not full size (width wheel well to wheel well) so still able to haul say a bunch of 6ft 2x4s on the sides, etc.

The included install kit was nice. 2 options. Basic 4 holes nut/bolt or rivnuts. It came with a basic rivnut install tool too. So went down that road to make it a simple one person install job. Done in no time.

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Tom
Where did you get the tool holders from? I like the set up!
 
The best spent +/- $300 bucks ($288/Amazon) and 3hrs used ever! The Tremor should of came from the factory like this! Leveled!!! Love it! Only drove it around the block a couple times but 100% different feel/attitude. Just a slight rake of 1/2-3/4 of an inch now.

Lots of love/hate out there on kits, manufactures, etc. I really wanted to go full up suspension changing when I first got it but nothing is really available for a gasser. So figured for $300 bucks what the heck for the time being. Not that much $$ and time invested. Plus I'm still using what I paid for. Shocks, tires, etc.

Hate on it or not a Ready Lift 66-2726 2.5" leveling kit with track bar relocation. Many posts out there of like/hate so had to read between the lines and make a call.

A good time to do it since a run is planned for tomorrow (Saturday) with a bunch of coworkers that I'm leading. Should get everything settled and tested out.

Overall fairly simple. Just some wrenching. Took 3hrs to complete with a buddy helping this morning in the driveway. Not too special on tools. The biggest I was missing was a 30mm impact socket and luckily my buddy had one.

Another 20-30 minutes screwing around to get the steering wheel centered (it took 4 full turns down/towards you).

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I still need to research on how to adjust the headlights. Hopefully there is a post somewhere that says turn 3/4 of a turn type of dealio to get me in the ballpark.

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Before pictures.

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+/- eyeballing it on the numbers/tape measure. Don't be too critical of me.

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Tom
That looks awesome.
 
So I jumped on the FB Ford Super Duty Tremors group buy on a NAVTV COF-F50 module. $425 down to a group buy price of $300.

I actually used the code a day or so after the date and worked.


Anyways, pretty straight up. The directions were fairly useless but plenty of vids on YouTube walking one through the easiest way to go.

Worked like a charm after I did one change in ForScan and did a firmware update on the module.

No more camera turning off!!! Hated that when off-roading. Every time I look down to see what is ahead of me I have to hit the button since it turns off at 5mph'ish. Plus when towing one can run any of the rearward views at any speed. The left and right blinker view off the mirror camera is pretty sweet too. Covers any blind spots and makes it easy if one is towing to really watch the inside line your trailer is traveling through.

45 minutes or so to get to the point of testing. Add in some laptop updates/changes to stuff and cleaning up under a 90 minute job taking your time.

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I 3m double side tapped the module to the bottom right of this module. Plenty of room. The vid I watched said you have to go upper right to clear but that was a pre 2020 SD in the video I watched.

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I ran the USB update cable for the module up into the center dash piece. Seeing as how I have a big hole in it already for my radio power, antennae and other accessories it was a easy place to drop it tucked under my Builtright center dash mount. I zip tied the cable to one of the tabs on the module to be sure it didn't get pulled out.

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I had to do the ForScan change and update the module firmware to get the left/right blinker function to work.

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I had to change the B in this line to A. The directions are good with what to change.

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And a module firmware update.

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Left/right camera views when you hit the blinker.

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I only did one take on a video as I drove around the block. Good enough.


Tom
 
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Thanks for the detailed write up, Tom. I will be following your lead as soon as I can sort out the delivery of the module.
This was the video I looked at. Covers the basics. There was a ton more. I just looked at the 1st thing and rolled into the install. Followed for the most part.


Tom
 
Soooo, here we go. Grab a cocktail. This is a looooooong one.

But first maybe bow your head for a couple. I'm pretty sure we lost one of our own. One 2020 F250 Ultimate Sport Diesel Tremor is more than likely going to be called totaled.

No one that I know. Not on a group run either. Just one of those things at a place referred to as the Ft Apache Saddle on the west side of Vegas with a million dollar view of the city. It's an off limits area known to the off road community but not well marked. We've been trying for over a year to get the city/BLM to really put in some effort to cut off access with little to show. Every couple months there's another recovery. With this being the worst by far. We refer to these recoveries as FART. Ft Apache recovery team..

SNORR got the call late Thursday and several headed out to assess. I was already in cocktail mode so home for the night. The one picture that was sent, though a bad angle, screamed Tremor to me. The recovery was called off pretty quickly due to the severity, location and darkness (midnight). 9am Friday was the planned meet but got changed to 1630 due to most of the admin/technical peeps were at work.

We didn't get much/anything done Friday night. We learned a TON on what won't work though... In the past we've gotten away with using a electric sledge hammer and driving in 3ft of rebar/concrete anchor stakes in multiple spots to use as winch cable redirect points. Not on this one. The ground was too solid to really get them driven in plus the late start and darkness was starting to bite us. We gave it a couple tries with nothing to show and called it around 2230. A couple guys brought up pizza and tacos so it was munch time. By the time I got home, cleaned up and a couple cocktails in me it was 0100 with my alarm set for 0700... Ugh, hated that alarm.

Pics from Friday:

Standard... Pictures are 2D. They do no justice to depict how scary of a place this is.

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The owner used what he had to attempt to secure it. One big breeze and 250+yards down she goes into a neighborhood of houses I certainly can't afford.

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The truck on the right is a Diesel Tremor. Testing his home made winch brackets that he is now selling that worked like a charm! ( http://gormantechservices.com/winch/) Colin Gorman. He and the Power Wagon had fun backing up the 200 yards or so to the pre-staging area. Thus Tom kept his truck back there both days...

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We had a new plan and the needed items located before we departed Friday night.

Seeing as how I still haven't eaten a single bite of anything since last night's pizza time for a break.

Pt 2 will be my next post here in a bit that will cover Saturdays extraction. Lots of pictures and videos.

Tom
 
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Soooo, here we go. Grab a cocktail. This is a looooooong one.

But first maybe bow your head for a couple. I'm pretty sure we lost one of our own. One 2020 F250 Ultimate Sport Diesel Tremor is more than likely going to be called totaled.

No one that I know. Not on a group run either. Just one of those things at a place referred to as the Ft Apache Saddle on the west side of Vegas with a million dollar view of the city. It's an off limits area known to the off road community but not well marked. We've been trying for over a year to get the city/BLM to really put in some effort to cut off to access with little to show. Every couple months there's another recovery. With this being the worst by far. We refer to these recoveries as FART. Ft Apache recovery team..

SNORR got the call late Thursday and several headed out to assess. I was already in cocktail mode so home for the night. The one picture that was sent, though a bad angle, screamed Tremor to me. The recovery was called off pretty quickly due to the severity, location and darkness (midnight). 9am Friday was the planned meet but got changed to 1630 due to most of the admin/technical peeps were at work.

We didn't get much/anything done Friday night. We learned a TON on what won't work though... In the past we've gotten away with using a electric sledge hammer and driving in 3ft of rebar/concrete anchor stakes in multiple spots to use as winch cable redirect points. Not on this one. The ground was too solid to really get them driven in plus the late start and darkness was starting to bite us. We gave it a couple tries with nothing to show and called it around 2230. A couple guys brought up pizza and tacos so it was munch time. By the time I got home, cleaned up and a couple cocktails in me it was 0100 with my alarm set for 0700... Ugh, hated that alarm.

Pics from Friday:

Standard... Pictures are 2D. They do no justice to depict how scary of a place this is.

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The owner used what he had to attempt to secure it. One big breeze and 250+yards down she goes into a neighborhood of houses I certainly can't afford.

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We had a new plan and the needed items located before we departed Friday night.

Seeing as how I still haven't eaten a single bite of anything since last night's pizza time for a break.

Pt 2 will be my next post here in a bit that will cover Saturdays extraction. Lots of pictures and videos.

Tom
Another reason to get the moonroof.
 
Pt 2... Pt 3 will have the videos since there is so many pictures in this.

I guess no time like the present. I'll eat later. Tossed the phone for a desktop to make this easier.

So, Saturday... Nice to show up at the meet spot to find one of the guys got there early and has bacon, eggs, etc cooking away for some breakfast burritos.

The Makita electric Jack Hammer is out and a Hilti electric hammer drill is in. (SNORR is buying/looking for one for our trailer since it worked so good today!) 2ft 1" and 3/4" bits did the duties. 3/4" if you don't want the square cement stake to ever come out and 1" if one wants to save them.

We set up several winch redirects using these stakes and got a load on the truck before removing the temporary restraints the owner had put on the truck to some rocks and the ones we put on Friday night as additions. Once that was done and we felt good I did my best to do the splits... It is one long azz reach from the sunroof to the e-brake with one foot in the truck and one on earth. I don't stretch that far... I got some tension on it but not a ton. Verified it was in park and seeing as how it was in 4lo when it went over we felt safe to continue with little risk of it taking off on us once righted up. Plus we had 2 winches connected up.

Some random shots of our stakes, rigging, etc. throughout the day.

We had to re-rig and re-do several times as we progressed up the hill. It was a ALL day thing starting at 0800 and driving home close to 1700. Winch, winch, winch, re-do everything, winch, winch, wash, wax and repeat.

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Though there was some tweaks to the cement stakes we used today not one failed throughout the day. Bent... But still worked.

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As we worked our way up the hill our unused gear slowly followed us being dumped in a pile.

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I ended up in the drivers seat once the tires touched down to start. Doors got opened and airbags shut in them so I could see. The drivers window was down at the time of the accident and it survived. The rear passenger window is the only one broken and the tint held it together. After pulling it up some and all feeling good we popped the hood to look around. Not too many fluids leaked. Some tranny fluid. We all knew for sure the motor would be hydro locked from sitting like this for nearly 2 days but after a couple of hours of being upright I decided to tap the button to see. Yup hydro locked. Too much oil in the cylinders. That makes this a nightmare pull. Heavy truck up a nasty hill.

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Some random shots through the day.

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We did a ton of rock stacking to all of the steep ledges to assist the truck in going up and over them. The time spent paid off big time!

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Getting closer...

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This isn't a full size friendly point on this trail. Doable but easy to avoid if there is something smaller that can do the job. My truck is about 200 yards away from here.

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VICTORY!!!

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And if any Jeep, Dodge, Toyota owner thought they would do the final pull to victory it would of been beat down time! They were warned. It was mine!

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LOVE being able to run the rear camera at any speed!!!

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And she's outa here... Luckily the owners good friend works at Pic A Part. Once out they buzzed over and grabbed a truck.

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Pt 3 with the videos I took coming up.

Tom
 
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Pt 3. Less typing, more visual...

The troops showing up. I buzzed up a few minutes ahead of everyone.


Winch cable re-directs.


I think there is a limit on the amount of videos I can post... Trying for 6 more.




Tom
 
Yup, limited...




Tom
You keep on amazing us with your life and your stories. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR CREW.
Absolutely Amazing Stuff.
You Are The Man Tom ?????????????
 
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