Justin: Hey. What's up, guys? Justin with americantrucks.com. Thanks for joining me
for another installment of our customer build series here today. Series of videos where we
catch up with different truck customers from all over this great country, talk about their
rigs and all of the modifications, what they like, maybe what they don't like,
future modifications, and, hopefully, give you guys some ideas for your own truck at home.
Today, we're talking to a young man named Carl about his 2014,
5.0 Liter F150. I like Carl's rig, he's got a simple kinda build list going on,
as you guys will see here in a minute. Simple but functional as well.
Guys, if you wanna see a complete breakdown of Carl's modifications, feel free to check out
his build page back at americantrucks.com. Or, if you're catching this on YouTube,
just go ahead and click on that link below in the description. But, let's say what's up to Carl.
Let's talk about this 2014, 5.0-liter truck. Again,
tell me how long you had this thing again, Carl?
Carl: Had it for coming up on three years now.
Justin: Okay. Very cool. And, like, we talked about a little bit off-camera,
that you come out of a Mustang, I can relate to that in the getting of the truck because
probably makes more sense in the Northeast, as we all know, to have a truck, right?
Carl: Mustangs are a lot of fun but there's definitely a lot more function for trucks.
Justin: I couldn't agree more, man. Well, let's talk about some of your modifications. I always
like starting upfront, I feel like it's the best place to start. And, you got a couple of things
going on. The first thing that caught my eye, though, was that barricade, the pre-runner bumper,
the skid plate, and it's loaded up with a winch. How was your experience with that?
Carl: I love the bumper. It's given me a lot more room to get over obstacles in the front, and did
some personal things getting that winch in there with the Rough Country Winch Mount. I love it.
Justin: And you use the winch to pull maybe some
of your buddies out but also some bushes, you were telling me, right?
Carl: So far, I've only had to use it for yard work but...
Justin: Hey, it's always good to be prepared.
With that, you said it gives you a little bit more room to approach stuff.
I saw you had the trail grapplers. What size of trail grapplers you got on there?
Carl: They are 35x12.50 for 17-inch wheels.
Justin: Yeah. So you got the Helo Wheels 17x9 set plus 18-millimeter offset, which
fill out those wheel wells great. How was your experience with the trail grapplers? I know,
I love them, I have them on my truck, but I wanna hear from you.
Carl: They're absolutely my favorite tire. I had [inaudible 00:02:06.968] D2s and G1s,
but there's nothing like the trail grapplers.
Justin: I agree. Pretty quiet, right, too, for, like, a mud-terrain tire?
Carl: Yeah. Very quiet.
Justin: Nice, man. So we talked about the bumper upfront,
the barricade, and you do have the tailgate assist from Barricade back there, correct?
Carl: I do. And that's very nice. It could open a little faster but I
really can't complain about it. It's better than shocking those cables.
Justin: I hear you, man. I also noticed you put
the Power Stop kit on the Z36. Is that the truck & tow kit, correct?
Carl: Yes. I love the brakes and they're definitely a plus with the 35s.
Justin: Right. But seems a little heavy, right? A little harder to
slow down with those wheels on there. What about RedRock intake? We got the 4x4 intake,
you got a 5.0-liter truck. Is that thing producing nice noise?
Carl: It is beautiful to hear. And, obviously, with the 35s, I'm not noticing much of a power
gain but it's a cold air intake so it's all about the noise, anyway.
Justin: I hear you, man. So we also have the drop
steps. I believe those are the drop steps from Barricade on the truck?
Carl: Yes. And they match the front bumper perfectly.
Justin: And, your truck does have a 3-inch lift kit, so the drop steps certainly helps, I'm sure,
getting in and out of that thing. So let's talk about that lift kit, because it's 3 inches,
from Rough Country, obviously, give you some room for the 35s. But, how is the truck ride?
Carl: It rides like a dream. Way better than stock. There's no weird noises when I'm driving
on the beach, down in the outer banks, or anything. It's super smooth, and I love it.
Justin: Talk about trail grapplers,
do you have any tuner or anything like that going on with the truck at this moment?
Carl: I don't yet, but one day I'll get there.
Justin: A good segue for future modifications. Any future mods you have in mind?
Carl: Probably the tuner, if finances ever work out, hopefully, a supercharger,
but I can't see that happening any time soon. And, probably some Raxiom Headlights at some point.
Justin: Yeah, I was gonna say, everything looks great with the truck. If anything,
just maybe the lighting was the only thing I recommend, but I'm a less-is-more type of dude so
I can understand your desire to keep things simple in that regard too.
Carl: And anything I can do to get rid of all that chrome.
Justin: I hear you. So we talked about maybe future modifications being a tune, maybe a
super-charger somewhere down the road. And, what do you think? Maybe some lighting you were saying?
Carl: I'm looking at a few options from Raxiom right now. Backup LEDs would be
pretty nice also, it gets pretty dark around here.
Justin: I bet. Yeah. I was looking at some of your pictures. Yeah. It looks like you have a nice,
little off-road spot by the house, you had some pictures done. Is that close to your house there?
Carl: Yeah, it's about 45 minutes away, so pretty quick drive, it's all highway.
Justin: And they get some mud and they look like a little soupy back there.
Trail grapplers made a sure work of it, huh?
Carl: Absolutely.
Justin: That's great, man. Well, listen, there's one goofy question I always like
to ask guys and I'll ask you as well. Any name for the truck, Carl?
Carl: Actually, yeah, Rosie from the AC/DC song,
because she ain't exactly pretty and she ain't exactly small.
Justin: I like that, man. See, every time I ask people that, well there's always some kind of
story, and that's why I do it because... I would say, most people have a name. There's
a few oddballs that don't, and I can respect that, but the folks that do name their truck,
their car, they always seem to have a cool story about it, so. As a fan of AC/DC, I can approve.
Well, listen, Carl, I appreciate you joining me today, brother. Nice work on the truck. Again,
nice and simple, purposeful modifications,
and looking forward to some of those future things you have in store as well.
Carl: Awesome. Well, thanks for the opportunity.
Justin: All right, guys. There you go. That was Carl and Rosie, his 2014,
5.0-liter truck. I love that, man. Big AC/DC guy here, and that's why I always like
asking that question because more times than not, you get a pretty fun story behind it.
Guys, we hope you enjoyed Carl's build here. Again, if you wanna see a complete breakdown
of his modifications feel free to check out his build page back at AT, or if you're catching
this on YouTube, just go ahead and click on that link below. But in the meantime,
I'm Justin. Thanks for watching. For all things F150, keep it right here at americantrucks.com.