Full Time RV Truck Upgrades (and one BIG Issue!) 😡

2021-03-21
Chad

UPDATE (2020-03-23) – We were contacted by the law firm handling the class action lawsuit and they asked us to share this link to their investigation page. There is also a form to fill out to help them collect more data on people with this issue:
classlawdc.com…
If you have this issue, please fill out this form!

We get asked a lot about our truck… What upgrades have we done, what problems have we had, etc.
We’re going to cover all of that, including one problem that makes me SUPER ANGRY! But, I’ll save my big beef with Ford till the end so we can start with the positive stuff.

DashCam 🎥

Search Youtube for “dashcam footage” and you'll understand why this was one of the first upgrades we installed. When driving 30,000 lbs down the road, we want to have evidence of our own safe driving. You never know when some yahoo is going to go for an insurance claim and stop short on us!

We've been using the Vantrue N2 Pro Dual 1080P Dash Cam since day one! We got the kit with the hardwire Kit+ GPS Receiver Mount, so we have evidence of our location and speed burned into the footage.

ProClip Vehicle Mounts

We've been using ProClip mounts for well over a decade! Through two Ford Explorers, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Jeep Wrangler, a Jeep Cherokee, and now our Ford F350, they've been a solid performer! We've found no other mounts that are as flexible as these and require no drilling or permanent mounting.

See our full article here.

Fuel Tank

While this is NOT an upgrade, we're including it because we get asked about it a lot and it is important when you get 8.5 MPG on average.

Our truck came with a 48 gallon fuel tank. That gives us about 400 miles of range, which is plenty for our travel style (slow).

Toolbox and Tonneau

If you saw our tools video, you know how important tools storage is for us. The key with any toolbox when towing a fiver is height. It needs to be low profile or no profile above the bed rails to leave clearance for tight turns.

If you're going to use a toolbox and tonneau together, they need to play nice together… See the separate video we did on that.

Suspension Upgrades

There are two things we did to try to improve the ride quality on the truck…

The first are Sulastic Shackles. These are kind of like a spring for your leaf springs. They provide an extra step of cushion between the leaf spring and the frame.

The second is a set of Air Lift LoadLifter 7500 XL Air Bags and AIR LIFT 72000 Wireless Air Leveling Compressor. Also, with this upgrade, I removed the bump stops for the helper leaf springs on the truck. That way, instead of the helper springs engaging under load, the air bags take that extra weight.

Whether or not these upgrades helped and how much they helped is very subjective. I (chad) think they helped a little.. Tara thinks they helped VERY little.

We also installed Centramatic Wheel Balancers to each wheel. These dynamically balance each entire wheel assembly while driving.

Valve Extenders

Filling the inside tire of a dually truck is a pain in the rear! Over the years, I've tried various extender solutions, with none of them fitting the bill. Then, I came across the Dicor VHS Series Inflation System. Yes.. the same Dicor that makes lap sealant and such for RVs. This setup uses steel braided hoses to move the fill point for BOTH the inside and outside wheel right up to the front for super easy access!

Be sure to watch the video for tips on installing these!

UPDATE!: The Dicor extenders are apparently out of stock and no longer selling them. However, one of our viewers found this replacement: amzn.to/3vN5xxY…

Truck Bed Side Step

Getting into the toolbox on our F350 requires getting into the bed of the truck, which means rolling up the tonneau, or getting out a step stool. I just fixed that with the BedStep2! This retractable step mounts right at the front of the bed just under where the toolbox is. It mounts right to the frame and is very solid! Now that I've proven the concept, it's time to install the other side!

Leaky Wheels!

Ford's SuperDuty F350 wheels look great! But, they have a hidden flaw! 🤬

The aluminum wheels and steel valve stems cause galvanic corrosion between the two. This, in turn, causes a slow leak that just increases over time. Additionally, the TPMS is tied to the valve stem and we've had several of those go bad also. I'm not sure if the issue is a lack of coating on the wheels or what, but I have not heard of this issue on the F450 wheels, which are also aluminum. We've spent over $1500.00 fixing this TEN TIMES!

Ford, is tight-lipped on the issue. Likely because there is a class-action lawsuit against them regarding the matter.

The bottom line is, the wheels are garbage and Ford isn't doing anything about it until the lawsuit is settled.

Come on, FORD! Step up and make this right!

Mud Flaps!

I forgot to mention them in the video, but we love our custom mud flaps from duraflap.com! A US made product, these are better (and cheaper) than anything we've found. duraflap.com…

Products 🛒

Note: Some of the links below are vehicle specific, so be sure to check that before ordering.

Some of the links/codes on this page are affiliate links, meaning if you choose to purchase using our links, we will earn a commission.  This commission comes at no additional cost to you but helps us keep providing the content we love to share.  We recommend these products because we have found them to be helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make. 
Every product we recommend, we use ourselves.

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