My Latest Toy... RCSB 5.0 XLT Build

[TN_Ryan]

Just a quick update, I forgot to mention earlier that I had installed the Raptor Hi-Lock transfer case and TCM when I did the 4-Link install. Figured it was as good as a time as ever, so she now has 4A mode, which has been a game changer on the street! I leave it in 4A all the time now...can't get caught without traction now But I can also mechanically lock the transfer case in 4-Hi at the track. Which will give me peace of mind that I'm not burning the clutch up in the transfer case.

In other news...picked up some stock aluminum 17's to use as drag wheels...they weigh 26lbs, so figured they'd be a good cheap candidate. Didn't care for the stock silver color though...so I had them powder coated gloss black

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[Aonarch]

Just a quick update, I forgot to mention earlier that I had installed the Raptor Hi-Lock transfer case and TCM when I did the 4-Link install. Figured it was as good as a time as ever, so she now has 4A mode, which has been a game changer on the street! I leave it in 4A all the time now...can't get caught without traction now But I can also mechanically lock the transfer case in 4-Hi at the track. Which will give me peace of mind that I'm not burning the clutch up in the transfer case.

In other news...picked up some stock aluminum 17's to use as drag wheels...they weigh 26lbs, so figured they'd be a good cheap candidate. Didn't care for the stock silver color though...so I had them powder coated gloss black

Could you share the part number of the transfer case that you used?

Love the build.

 

[TN_Ryan]

Could you share the part number of the transfer case that you used?

Love the build.

Absolutely…

ML3Z-7A195-AH

 

[White95]

The Raptor hi-loc T-case has been on my to-do list since before I ordered my truck. Did you have to make any alteration to your main driveshaft?

 

[TN_Ryan]

The Raptor hi-loc T-case has been on my to-do list since before I ordered my truck. Did you have to make any alteration to your main driveshaft?

Yes sir, had to shorten by 1”. But other than that…fairly easy swap. No problem doing the PMI for the new TCCM…I was able to grab one of the last drive mode switches that have 4A without the E-Locker button. Took me a few dealers before I found one that would order it for me since Ford’s stock only showed 1 available.

 

[White95]

Yes sir, had to shorten by 1”. But other than that…fairly easy swap. No problem doing the PMI for the new TCCM…I was able to grab one of the last drive mode switches that have 4A without the E-Locker button. Took me a few dealers before I found one that would order it for me since Ford’s stock only showed 1 available.

Nice! Have the part number for that switch? I like a good impossible quest.

Did you shorten the shaft or the slip yoke?

 

[ReverendQ]

Update:

When I first bought this truck I had a specific list of options I wanted the truck to have. 1 was Push To Start, and the other was Passive Entry. Both of which I missed dearly. (I know, first world problems )

Since I bought the passive entry style door handles early on when I was paint matching the truck, I already had those installed and ready to go. I started this process out thinking I'd just add a few wires to the existing harness and be done with it. But once I started looking at how many wires were needed, on top of the fact that I wasn't really happy with the fact that you can't back pin the BCMC. I started to investigate replacing the entire harness instead, which meant replacing more than 1 harness. I began acquiring the correct OEM harnesses I would need, this included the door harnesses, the dash harness, the floor harness and finally the main engine bay harness. I bought all of the harnesses except the engine bay harness used. There are a couple recyclers on eBay that do a great job on removing harnesses from vehicles without cutting a single connector, they even remove the holding clips with the correct tools, which allows you to snap the harness back into place as designed. Which makes reassembly much easier. The harnesses aren't very expensive, in fact the main engine bay harness was less than what I paid for the aftermarket LED headlight harness.

By now I was pretty far down the rabbit hole, wondering what else I could add. Memory seats would be awesome since my wife and I share the truck. We have a Lariat 502A Crew Cab F150 that does the "work", like towing the toys and whatnot. But this truck is our "fun" vehicle...if I can ever get my Foxbody Coupe painted...that will be our "nice day only" vehicle. ? Anyways, back to the truck, so I figured, if I was going to add memory seats, why not add adjustable pedals and electric tilt/telescoping steering column as well?!?! Ambient lighting would be nice while I was at it...since I bought Lariat 502A harnesses, I had all the right plugs for whatever upgrade I could desire. I was just a matter of installing said option, and programming it via Forscan.

After 2 months of acquiring the necessary components, it was time to begin. And now seemed like as good of time as any to tear a perfectly fine truck apart to upgrade it!

The dash and door harnesses aren't difficult, getting everything out to replace the dash harness is the tedious part. It's not hard work perse, the dash comes out fairly easy in these trucks...there's just a lot of crap that has to come out first before the dash can come out. The engine bay harness wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was able to snake the harness from the drivers side to the passenger side wheel well, where I was able to remove it from the truck. Installation of the new engine harness was reverse of removal...with the wife's help, we were able to snake it back through and plug everything back in. The engine bay harness has several large connectors on it that make it a tad more difficult to install. Not terrible...but you do need to plan your route.

The floor harness was the "fun" one...since Ford never made a regular cab truck with all the options I was wanting to install, the only solution was to shrink a crew cab floor harness. I was able to layout the regular cab harness along with the crew cab harness and begin working on removing wires that are no longer needed.

After working on it for the last 3 weekends, I am happy to report that she is back on the road sporting her new upgrades! She now has passive entry, PTS, multi color ambient lighting, B&O DTS sound system, 12" cluster upgrade, memory adjustable pedals, and memory tilt/telescoping steering. Programming was no joke...I spent a few hours on the laptop in the truck getting everything to cooperate. Everything works, I don't have any DTC's and I couldn't be happier!

And finally, some pictures of her out on a drive yesterday

Next on the list is front park assist along with adaptive cruise...now that I have the correct engine bay harness and bumper harness, I just need to source the parts, install them and finally program it. Also on the list is the tailgate release, I still have the standard XLT tailgate unlock. I will be working on upgrading that to the electric release feature. After that...it will be time to install my 4 link suspension I have sitting off to the side patiently waiting ?

Hey Ryan, Incredible and impressive.

When you put the memory buttons in, do they operate the pedals? I optioned power pedals in when my PB was built. Later I added the memory buttons, along with DSM, new door harnesses, new seat harnesses, PRB, PFM, and so on. While the memory buttons do operate the mirrors, they don't operate the pedals.

Also, have you associated any of the memory buttons with the key fob? I cannot figure out how to enable this is Forscan. I cannot get Profiles enabled.

If you have done these things, may I get a peak at your AsBuilt for the changes needed to enable the pedals to be set by the memory buttons and the key FOBs to operate the associated memory.

Thanks, Kevin

 

[TN_Ryan]

Nice! Have the part number for that switch? I like a good impossible quest.

Did you shorten the shaft or the slip yoke?

RL3Z-14B596-CA is the part number for the drive mode switch without E-Locker. Hopefully they have more available now.

I had them shorten and rebalance the driveshaft, it was only $130 since the factory driveshaft is steel.

 

[TN_Ryan]

Hey Ryan, Incredible and impressive.

When you put the memory buttons in, do they operate the pedals? I optioned power pedals in when my PB was built. Later I added the memory buttons, along with DSM, new door harnesses, new seat harnesses, PRB, PFM, and so on. While the memory buttons do operate the mirrors, they don't operate the pedals.

Also, have you associated any of the memory buttons with the key fob? I cannot figure out how to enable this is Forscan. I cannot get Profiles enabled.

If you have done these things, may I get a peak at your AsBuilt for the changes needed to enable the pedals to be set by the memory buttons and the key FOBs to operate the associated memory.

Thanks, Kevin

Yes, my pedals move with the memory recall depending on whether it's mine or my wife's setting. And I was also able to get the profiles working, so the key fobs are tied to a memory profile (1, 2 or 3) and the APIM recognizes the key fob and greets the profile created on the screen to match that memory profile.

I'll send a PM with my ABT files for the BCM and APIM. Let me know if you need the DSM...I don't have that one backed up on my laptop...but I don't remember having to change much on the DSM honestly. Most of the programming was spend on the BCM and APIM.

 

[White95]

RL3Z-14B596-CA is the part number for the drive mode switch without E-Locker. Hopefully they have more available now.

I had them shorten and rebalance the driveshaft, it was only $130 since the factory driveshaft is steel.

Thanks for the info.

 

[mancrab]

Next on the list is front park assist along with adaptive cruise...now that I have the correct engine bay harness and bumper harness, I just need to source the parts, install them and finally program it. Also on the list is the tailgate release, I still have the standard XLT tailgate unlock. I will be working on upgrading that to the electric release feature. After that...it will be time to install my 4 link suspension I have sitting off to the side patiently waiting ?

holy shit this guy is a wizard

 

[Billflangjr]

holy shit this guy is a wizard

I'm Lost just looking at that !!!

 

[Gatorbud]

How much did they take off the driveshaft when they rebalanced it?

RL3Z-14B596-CA is the part number for the drive mode switch without E-Locker. Hopefully they have more available now.

I had them shorten and rebalance the driveshaft, it was only $130 since the factory driveshaft is steel.

 

[Rockman5159]

Nice truck

Well guys, I figured I'd might as well show off my hard work over the last several months. Picked this extremely clean 2021 4X4 RCSB 5.0 XLT 301A truck with 30k miles up back in early June and this is what she looked like....

Older gentlemen had traded the truck in for a Raptor Ranger of all vehicles...I kindly asked the Ford dealer that I bought the truck from in South GA to remove the brush guard before I drove it home to TN LoL This is what she looked like after removing the items I didn't want...minus the steps, those came off the next day!

At this point I had already ordered some new goodies, the truck did come with a MBRP dual rear exit exhaust on it. Which sounded awesome, but not a fan of dual rear exit anymore. Although, back in the 90's I had my fair share of trucks with dual rear exhaust. Truck also had Katzkin covers on the factory seats...not sure the color, but they didn't match the interior very well. Plus I had other plans...

Ordered a Ridetech 3/5 lowering kit along with some Niche SUV 22 wheels...wheels came in before the lowering kit. So I had to go ahead and get these bad boys mounted up.

Once the Ridetech showed up, it was game on! I also ordered a new blacked out MBRP side exit exhaust...love the sound of the MBRP, not too loud, not too quiet.

I was also actively shopping for new bumpers, grille, headlights and door handles to perform a chrome delete. In the meantime...not sure how these boxes got here....maybe the wife ordered them ?‍

After some late night shopping, I found the deal I was looking for. Picked up (2) new 10 way power seats with heat WITH bonus...Katzkin covers that match the slate interior of my truck! Along with the center console, console shifter, 12 screen and APIM and the HVAC controls all for $1600. Couldn't beat it with a stick...LoL Only problem was the junkyard was in Kansas City, lucky for me, I got a buddy that lives just outside KC. So he went and picked it all up for me...we then worked out a deal to meet up over the long July 4th weekend. Since this was a XLT it did have some nice features already, like 360 cameras, dual zone auto climate control and the 8" cluster along with remote start. However, the older gentlemen that originally ordered this truck, ordered it with vinyl floors And at the time Ford had a national backorder on regular cab carpet. So instead of waiting...I did what we all would have done, and installed all the new goodies anyways

While I was in there, I added rain sensing wipers, ordered and installed the heated steering wheel harness (from a forum member) along with running a new harness to supply power and the necessary wires for the heated seats to work. From there it was time to focus my attention to the outside again...found a killer deal on some adaptive headlights from a forum member, picked up the HCM and the full harness to make all the features work along with new LED fog lights to complete the look. I also had my buddy paint my new bumpers and door handles, I installed the Ford Performance Side Vents and Grille while I was at it. The blacked out Ford emblems add the finishing touch in my opinion. I also switched from the Niche wheels to the Ford Performance 22's due to the offset...I just wasn't digging the +30mm offset.

Ford finally got their carpet issue resolved, so she now has carpet!

One thing that was apparent once I swapped the stock 17" wheels for the same diameter but much heavier 22's, was the fact that the 3.31's had to go! Since this is a sport truck, the E-Locker had to go as well. I installed a Eaton TrueTrac along with some 3.73's to help with the heft of the 22's. The rear was easy, I've done a million gear installations in my days, but getting that front diff out is a different story. Not impossible by any means...but first time I've ever had to take the front diff out of a Ford F150 LoL

And finally, the icing on the cake! The Whipple install...must say, it's a very nice kit. Couple things I didn't care for, 1 was the 2 back bolts that hold the supercharger down to the heads. And 2, I didn't care for the intercooler pump location, since I trimmed my valance, the pump would have been visible since Whipple mounts the pump to the bottom of the driver side frame rail. It seems Whipple was running out of time and rushed the design/location of the coolant pump on a Friday afternoon. I mounted mine in a different location that is more out of site.

The most recent upgrades have been a tri-fold bed cover...it's been over 20 years since my wife and I owned a regular cab truck, you forget how easy it is to just throw items in the back of the crew cab. Out first several shopping trips out in the regular cab resulted in my wife sharing all the available passenger side floor board with the items we had just bought LoL So a bed cover was needed to keep our valuables locked up in the bed. And thanks to some of the forum members on here, they confirmed for me that the Ford Performance Raptor wheel indeed is a heated steering wheel. So I went ahead and picked one of those up and installed that over this past weekend.

Let me know what you guys think...any thoughts on future mods?
nice truck! Is getting harder to find RCSB nowadays

 

[TN_Ryan]

How much did they take off the driveshaft when they rebalanced it?

1"

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