New Guy: From Gen 1 to Gen 2

[FordTechOne]

Well I ended up buying a set of Husky Liners from a fellow member who's local. Threw them in after lunch and am very pleased with them, Ford honestly should've put something similar on from the factory.

After searching around on the forum about these there seems to be some bias against them, and it's not without reason. I definitely had to work them a bit to make them go in happily. Here's a few notes in case anyone is considering them:

1. Enlarge the two holes that have the factory flare screws going through them. On the first side I didn't do this and they were a royal pain to line up. On the second on I opened them up with a 13/32" drill bit and they lined up no problem.

2. I found it easier to get both ends seated before getting the flange fit between the flare and the bed. Install the front side first, I did this on the first liner and tried putting the rear end in first on the second liner and could not get the front up into the bed because of how much thicker the cross section is on the front vs the rear which is thinner.

3. I beveled the edge of the flange on the liner with a dremel. It definitely helps it slide between the bed and flare easier.

4. I used a plastic body trim tool (like $7 at Harbor Freight for a set) to get the flange between the flare and bed. Once you get both ends of the flange in you can slide the trim tool along the middle easily to seat the rest. It's not easy to do by hand and metal tools might end up marring the flare.

5. I heard concerns about the passenger side rubbing the wiring for the live valve actuator on the shock. It seems to clear the wire just fine as there isn't much slack in the wire. I clearanced that area with my dremel, but it probably wasn't needed.

6. People seem to be concerned about the liners holding in dirt. I have a hard time seeing this happening. The liner contours to the wheel well pretty nicely. The only area there is a gap is above the shock, which if Husky reworked their mold they could close that area off by not having the liner bump out for the shock. And anyway, that area is vertical, you'll be hard pressed to get dirt packed up there. And the truck is aluminum so even if there was dirt up there, it wouldn't hurt much of anythng.

7. The last concern I saw was people thinking the liner would be ripped out during off roading. I don't think this would happen. You'd pretty much have to rip your flare off to remove this liner. And there's about 1.5" clearance between the liner where it clears the shock and the inside of the tire.


Anyway, I definitely consider it money well spent. I look forward to being able to easily clean my wheel wells

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Wow! Nice work, came out great!

 

[ayoustin]

Bit late posting this here but figured why not. Put another 3k miles on the truck over my Christmas/New Years break with the girlfriend. Drove down to Greenville SC, then down to Naples FL to see some family and spent some time in Tampa for a few days before heading back to SC and then back to MI. Sitting at around 6200 miles now, still no issues or complaints though I need to find some time to take truck into the dealer for a recall on the backup camera.

Oh and I got the front windows tinted to match the rears, ended up with 20% ceramic. I also installed a dash mount for my phone and a gopro. I outlined what I did in this other thread where someone else did something similar: https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/while-i-have-the-dash-apart.65925/page-2

Here's some photos from the TN/KY area going through the smokies. Going to get the bed Line-Xed once it warms up and am currently looking at RTTs and bed racks for when the girlfriend and I go camping or to a weekend racetrack event. If anybody has a recommendation for a bed rack I'd love to hear; looking for something simple that's easy to take down when I have to haul my motorcycle and priced $700 or below.

 

[K223]

Bit late posting this here but figured why not. Put another 3k miles on the truck over my Christmas/New Years break with the girlfriend. Drove down to Greenville SC, then down to Naples FL to see some family and spent some time in Tampa for a few days before heading back to SC and then back to MI. Sitting at around 6200 miles now, still no issues or complaints though I need to find some time to take truck into the dealer for a recall on the backup camera.

Oh and I got the front windows tinted to match the rears, ended up with 20% ceramic. I also installed a dash mount for my phone and a gopro. I outlined what I did in this other thread where someone else did something similar: https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/while-i-have-the-dash-apart.65925/page-2

Here's some photos from the TN/KY area going through the smokies. Going to get the bed Line-Xed once it warms up and am currently looking at RTTs and bed racks for when the girlfriend and I go camping or to a weekend racetrack event. If anybody has a recommendation for a bed rack I'd love to hear; looking for something simple that's easy to take down when I have to haul my motorcycle and priced $700 or below.

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Damn man your using that truck! Good for you. So you were in Naples. Close to my neck of the woods. Escaping the MI winter some? You have to love those mountains in WNC.

Keep enjoying it!

 

[ayoustin]

Damn man your using that truck! Good for you. So you were in Naples. Close to my neck of the woods. Escaping the MI winter some? You have to love those mountains in WNC.

Keep enjoying it!

Thanks! I had 2 weeks off work since most automotive OEMs shut down before Christmas and don't open until the new year. My mom and step father have a condo down in Naples and the rest of the siblings were spending the holiday with their significant others' families and didn't want to fly with the pandemic. So the girlfriend and I spent a few days with them and then another few days up with my old man who lives just up in Tampa.

I don't go down that way super often but am hoping a good opportunity presents itself to move down to the Carolinas some time in the next year or two. I've lived in the midwest my entire life and while I don't mind winter it'd certainly be nice to be able to work on the racecar during the off season with a few less frozen fingers and living closer to some mountains would be fantastic too.


I also forgot to mention that I finally picked up a bed extender too! I swung by the Ford dealer down the street from my old man's house while we were down there and lucked out that they had one in stock. Was able to use the points they gave me when I bought the truck which knocked the price down to like $170 so I was super happy about that.

 

[K223]

Thanks! I had 2 weeks off work since most automotive OEMs shut down before Christmas and don't open until the new year. My mom and step father have a condo down in Naples and the rest of the siblings were spending the holiday with their significant others' families and didn't want to fly with the pandemic. So the girlfriend and I spent a few days with them and then another few days up with my old man who lives just up in Tampa.

I don't go down that way super often but am hoping a good opportunity presents itself to move down to the Carolinas some time in the next year or two. I've lived in the midwest my entire life and while I don't mind winter it'd certainly be nice to be able to work on the racecar during the off season with a few less frozen fingers and living closer to some mountains would be fantastic too.


I also forgot to mention that I finally picked up a bed extender too! I swung by the Ford dealer down the street from my old man's house while we were down there and lucked out that they had one in stock. Was able to use the points they gave me when I bought the truck which knocked the price down to like $170 so I was super happy about that.

Bonus! The bed extender can come in handy with these short beds, no doubt. As you can imagine, it’s easier to work all year long on cars and even run them. You don’t think about it much otherwise, when your in a place it rarely gets cold lol

 

[ayoustin]

Bonus! The bed extender can come in handy with these short beds, no doubt. As you can imagine, it’s easier to work all year long on cars and even run them. You don’t think about it much otherwise, when your in a place it rarely gets cold lol

Absolutely! On my gen 1 it had the extender when I bought the truck and was a bit dismayed when I found the bed to be about 6" too short to close the gate with my motorcycle loaded but the bed extender solved that problem. So I knew I'd need one for this truck as well. They really do add a ton of space, with the extender I've never felt like I've needed a longer bed.

 

[MNRAPTR]

Nice Raptors! Also appreciate your insights about the Husky liners as I have a pair in my garage that I never put on, but after seeing yours and your writeup, I think I will put them on.

 

[ayoustin]

Nice Raptors! Also appreciate your insights about the Husky liners as I have a pair in my garage that I never put on, but after seeing yours and your writeup, I think I will put them on.

Thanks! The Husky liners are a great addition in my opinion. While I was down in SC over the holiday we ended up going through some light mud areas, stopped by a DIY carwash and sprayed out the wheel wells in just a couple minutes. Super easy to clean, crap just sprays right off.

 

[JimC427]

Nice Raptor!

 

[Jr24]

You've got a good looking Raptor. I love the non-applique look. I special ordered my 802a without the appliqué or the decals because I wanted to be a little different, plus I figure that anyone who knows the trucks will know its a Raptor without advertising it. There very few Raptors without the appliqué. Ive seen maybe two others in the three years I've had mine.