Kach's Badlands Build

[Kach Vartan]

Got my @Fast Intentions Inc. exhaust installed. Went with the ceramic black coating to match the rest of the rig's theme. It looks and sounds great. A nice deep tone with a bit of rumble, but not obnoxious at all (in my opinion).

Big thank you to Kevin at FI for his knowledge sharing and to his team for the install. They were super quick and professional. Highly recommend them!

Sponsored

 

[Fast Intentions Inc.]

Thanks for sharing your review and we appreciate your business. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the exhaust.

Your truck looked great in our shop the other day. Looks really menacing all blacked out.

Thanks!

 

[Kach Vartan]

Some recent updates:

1. Added the Tackform springload phone mount. I considered some the other options that involved a rail type mount and/or drilling holes into the dash. In the end, I convinced myself this was sufficient for my needs. It Is very sturdy and no issues when off-roading. I also added a small GoPro mount at the OEM mounting point. In the future I may consider Tackform’s grab handle iPad mount.

2. I installed the BroAddict door hangers and hung up my tube doors. The hangers seem pretty robust. I couldn’t keep a couple of the doors from swinging out (my fault as I didn’t install them exactly level), so I used a couple of hooks and some paracord to cinch them up against the wall. Hopefully in a couple of months will be able to swap the doors when the weather warms up.

Still sitting in the garage are the Ford Performance rear differential cover and my LOD skid plate. Those are slightly outside my comfort zone so probably taking to a mechanic for a professional install.

Future projects include a winch (I like the idea of the Maximus-3’s new removable winch plate), maybe a lift, and perhaps 37s when the Goodyears wear out (only 9k miles so far).

Thanks for looking.

 

[Kach Vartan]

Spent the past couple of days getting her ready for the official start of summer. First, a good wash to get rid of most of the mud and sand from the last couple of trips.

Then, on to removing the hardtop and swapping in the soft top. I’m calling this project an 85% success. For some reason, we could not get one of the soft top bolts to line up on the left side. Probably means I need to adjust the receiving brackets a bit more, but after a couple of hours of fighting with it (and a few deep scratches on the roll bar), I gave up. Hoping the two bolts on the left side will be secure enough for now. Oddly, the soft top seems to work fine - opens, closes and latches relatively easily (even with my JTops hard top version in the way).

Any recommendations on a good paint touch up kit? Dr. Colorchip seems to get good reviews.

 

[Kach Vartan]

This weekend’s project. Step one complete. Now if I can just muster up the coverage to install this myself….

 

[Kach Vartan]

Added the extension for the spare tire bumper. Kudos to the forum member who suggested using the standard dishwasher drain hose. Picked it up from Home Depot for $8 and cut it to size. For my 0 offset wheels, that was approximately 7/8” past the end of the existing Sasquatch stops.

 

[Kach Vartan]

Wrapped up the install of the Warn Zeon winch and Maximus 3 winch mount. Probably took 5-6 hours all in over a couple of days working alone, including adding quick connects to the winch and adding the frame home reinforcements from the FP winch kit. Still have a few minor adjustments to make as the tolerances for the Maximus mount are pretty tight, but looks good and everything works great.

If I have the energy, will try to add the Raptor tailgate hinges tomorrow…

 

[Alacotter]

How’s the XPEL holding up?

 

[RWizzy]

Wrapped up the install of the Warn Zeon winch and Maximus 3 winch mount. Probably took 5-6 hours all in over a couple of days working alone, including adding quick connects to the winch and adding the frame home reinforcements from the FP winch kit. Still have a few minor adjustments to make as the tolerances for the Maximus mount are pretty tight, but looks good and everything works great.

If I have the energy, will try to add the Raptor tailgate hinges tomorrow…

Hey did you find the added weight of the winch made the front sag? I've seen a few threads saying they did. I have a bumper and winch on order so trying to work out if I need to level the truck when I get one.

Bronco looks great!

 

[Kach Vartan]

How’s the XPEL holding up?

It’s held up really well. I’ve been on a few tight trails where I was scraping dry brush and no long term pinstripes, so the self healing must be working. I do have one corner of the film on the rear passenger door that has peeled very slightly. I think more the installer’s fault than anything else. I may just super glue it down so it doesn’t become a problem later.

 

[Kach Vartan]

Hey did you find the added weight of the winch made the front sag? I've seen a few threads saying they did. I have a bumper and winch on order so trying to work out if I need to level the truck when I get one.

Bronco looks great!

It definitely causes a visible sag, maybe 3/4 of an inch. I think any larger winch would do that unless you had heavy duty springs up front. Doesn’t bother me too much though as this is not a permanent mount.

Sponsored