2011 Ford F-150 FX4

[rherold9]

What motor is in there? 5.0?

Yes, the 5.0 coyote

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[WRXtranceformed]

That is awesome man, such a good call picking up a capable truck. I can't believe how much I love driving mine, I really did miss it and its convenience. A 36 gallon tank is crazy too, how many miles can you get out of that with the V8 if you aren't towing, just like normal daily driver duty up there?

[Jake]

A 36 gallon tank is crazy too, how many miles can you get out of that with the V8 if you aren't towing, just like normal daily driver duty up there?

I haven't tried a MPG run of "unloaded, highway" but if the MPG average is around 14, it estimates 515 miles when it's full. I think a few people on the forums have managed to get 650+ out of a tank with straight (calm) highway driving, likely with the 3.5 EcoBoost. Unloaded, the 3.5EB does better on the highway than the 5.0, but towing, they're near identical.

[WRXtranceformed]

Wow that is awesome. IMO you definitely made the right motor choice though, I have heard anecdotally about a lot of issues with the ecoboost, both on forums and from friends who are area mechanics here.

[PDenbigh]

Nice Jake! Glad to hear it's doing so well for you. I love the 36 gallon tank too. I made it from Staunton, VA to Killington, VT on one tank, a touch over 600 miles. That was before the bigger tires so I don't know if I could do it again.

Are you digging the backup camera? That's one of my unexpected favorites on mine.

As you said, nothing like the right tool for the job.

[Jake]

Are you digging the backup camera? That's one of my unexpected favorites on mine.

As you said, nothing like the right tool for the job.

Oh man, it's so great. The best part is that there's the typical red/yellow/green lines on the edges of the camera's view for distance, but also a black dotted line down the center. I've hooked up the trailer several times now and it's the easiest damn thing to get right on the first try.

[rherold9]

I think this confirms my choice on picking up an FX4. Hoping a can find a dark metallic gray as well. I really like the color. There is an abundance for 2011+ FX4's with 40-50k miles for 27-28k. Hopefully getting one by August :thumbup:

[Senor_Taylor]

I think this confirms my choice on picking up an FX4. Hoping a can find a dark metallic gray as well. I really like the color. There is an abundance for 2011+ FX4's with 40-50k miles for 27-28k. Hopefully getting one by August :thumbup:

Wow, you're making moves quick.

[rherold9]

Wow, you're making moves quick.

That's what she said

[*insertusernamehere*]

I think this confirms my choice on picking up an FX4. Hoping a can find a dark metallic gray as well. I really like the color. There is an abundance for 2011+ FX4's with 40-50k miles for 27-28k. Hopefully getting one by August :thumbup:

Wow, you're making moves quick.

NOT EVERYONE IS A BROKE BITCH TAYLOR, GOD I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THIS.

[Senor_Taylor]

I think this confirms my choice on picking up an FX4. Hoping a can find a dark metallic gray as well. I really like the color. There is an abundance for 2011+ FX4's with 40-50k miles for 27-28k. Hopefully getting one by August :thumbup:

Wow, you're making moves quick.

NOT EVERYONE IS A BROKE BITCH TAYLOR, GOD I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THIS.

Shoot, I forgot. Thanks for reminding me. I guess that's what we get for buying old and busted BMWs and Mazdas.

[rherold9]

Yeah, sorta happens when you grab a real world job, you make money and can afford decent things.

[Jake]

I pulled a Lee and bought some sweet LEDs, yo.

There was a thread on the F150 forum about LEDs as reverse lights, because the stock bulbs don't really illuminate well for the sake of a backup camera, so you end up having to ride the brakes to (barely) get enough light. Because I always back into parking spots at 47 mph and thus use no brakes ever, I decided spending a few dollars on LED bulbs was worth it.

$24 later and...



Yay.

Also, put the first door ding in it on Sunday. Parked in DC and unintentionally threw my door open into a little metal garden retaining piece. Oops. Very small ding and only about 1" scratch so didn't bum me out beyond "you idiot, look next time."

[WRXtranceformed]

I pulled a Lee and bought some sweet LEDs, yo.

There was a thread on the F150 forum about LEDs as reverse lights, because the stock bulbs don't really illuminate well for the sake of a backup camera, so you end up having to ride the brakes to (barely) get enough light. Because I always back into parking spots at 47 mph and thus use no brakes ever, I decided spending a few dollars on LED bulbs was worth it.

$24 later and...



Yay.

Also, put the first door ding in it on Sunday. Parked in DC and unintentionally threw my door open into a little metal garden retaining piece. Oops. Very small ding and only about 1" scratch so didn't bum me out beyond "you idiot, look next time."

:thumbup: Did it help visibility a lot with the backup camera? My brother laughed at how absurdly bright mine were this weekend
Bummer about the door ding!!! Those are the worst *pucker* moments

[Jake]

I honestly haven't tried backing it up at night yet! Drove it to work today though (see convertible thread for other shenanigans) and when I backed in to my spot in the parking garage, the image did appear a bit brighter and/or less red-tinted.

[Jake]

Took a photo last night when I was parking to show off the LEDs. This is a decently lit street off of 17th but I think the closest street light was behind the Camry a ways. Definitely a helpful improvement over stock.



I'm kinda thinking I could change the bed lights above the back window to LED, too. Would be a nice improvement when loading/unloading at night.

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah that looks awesome, tons of visibility. The cargo light swap is also a good idea. I had planned on doing mine, but then I realized for some reason GM wired it so that it can't be turned on while driving. I would rarely use it anyway so the idea was shelved. A lot of people install perimeter bed LEDs and I think it's an OEM accessory you can order though. That's another great solution to lighting up your bed to find stuff at night

[Jake]

Mileage: 54,800

The oil life monitor was claiming 8% remaining, it was 90*+ outside and I had no desire to drop a metal skidplate in my driveway in such heat to do an oil change. So, off to the dealer. And for about $17 in labor, it was worth it to not get sweaty and have to dispose of the oil.

Of course, the service advisor tried to sell me on a new air filter, MAF/EGR cleaning, and rear brakes. I'll do the rear pads when they make noise, a dirty filter sounds like a great excuse to get a CAI, and I have MAF cleaner at home. Thanks, bye.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff. I figured I'd make that dirty air filter even nastier and joined a few friends on Sunday for my first-ever off-road experience. My friend Aaron has run the Peter's Mill Run trail down in Edinburg a few times and got a group of us together. I called Joey up and asked if he wanted to play co-pilot and drive part of it, which was a natural "yes."

So we all met up around 10 AM and got to it.

Vehicles:

• Jake & Joey: 2011 F-150 FX4
  
• Aaron & Sofyan: 2004 Mercedes ML500
  
• Mike: 2010 Toyota Tacoma SR5 (manual trans)
  
• Raj: 2015 Subaru Forester XT
  
• Tom & Jacob: 2013 F-150 Raptor

Heading to the trail head:



Discussing some basics:



Attempting to flex:



Mom will like this one:



Aaron's ML500 - featuring roof basket, brush guard, and big ol' BFG all-terrains. He got it at enough of an angle that you could grab the front fender and rock it back and forth.



Joey taking the wheel for a bit:



The trail was narrow at spots, but nothing that wasn't wide enough for my truck. We met up with another of Aaron's friends, who has a Raptor (4" wider than mine) and he was getting through with no issues either - albeit much less clearance to work with.



Decided I'd see how far I could get up this hill, made it pretty far:



The Raptor owner got a running start and promptly beached it on the running boards. Aaron pulled him off with the ML:



[youtube]HNlNIYo-Ooo[/youtube]

Nineteen. Degrees.



End of the trail:





Managed a new low score!



We found a fairly open cul-de-sac type of area that was juuust muddy enough for some fun. Took turns getting a running start and bombing through the couple of puddles. Nothing too big but pretty fun regardless. Tom let me take the wheel of his Raptor for one run, and otherwise I beat on my own truck. Thank you Joey for the cameraman skills. The Coyote sounds SO good at full bore.

[youtube]ekg84oMrzgg[/youtube]

General observations about the day...

Holy balls this is fun. I want to do more of it, with a harder trail next time.

Bridgestone Dueler H/L highway tires are more capable than I thought they would be.

The torque multiplication in low range is hilarious. There were plenty of places where I could go up or down a hill in 1st gear with no throttle or brake input. I mostly kept it in 2nd as the motor didn't need to spend all day at 4500 rpm. Plenty of torque in 2nd, and frankly, we could have done fine in 4 High, but that doesn't sound nearly as macho as "gaddammit I put it in fo' low and locked the diff harrgghhh."

Joey made a good observation - Ford sold the FX4 trim as their "factory off-road spec" second to the Raptor. How many 100% stock FX4s ever see a trail? Everyone seems to want lift kits and tires and whatever else, and here we are seeing how far we can go with none of that. Pretty neat.

Tires and overall length will be the two downfalls if I do more of this. Ground clearance is fine (I don't have running boards) and could be improved slightly if I pulled off the air dam under the bumper (two bolts). The factory skid plates (I have three) gave me some peace of mind, although I never really got in a situation where they were necessary.

This will definitely happen again, and I'll invite you MMers with the appropriate vehicles to join. Wasn't my event to get crazy with this first time.

Trucks are fun.

[SlimKlim]

10/10 day. Have been shopping for body-on-frame SUVs literally since I got home. Somebody help me.

[WRXtranceformed]

Dude yes, I hope to do this someday in the Canyon. I was actually going to ask you about your air dam, that is much less intrusive than mine is (which is designed to be removed for off-road use and reinstalled for cooling / mileage purposes). I never thought I would see a mighty Raptor beached like that, but that looks like the right kind of mound to do it! Very nice!