F350 Regular Cab with Hawk Flatbed on XPCamper Truck Tray

con kso

Adventurer
Yes - just a matter of time on the tires.

I'm going to leave them on for the next three trips I have coming up: 1 week fly fishing up in Sierras (mostly road driving so might as well burn in the OEM tires), 2 weeks Montana (again lots more pavement pounding), 2 weeks central Baja (mild offroad, lots more pavement - some murderous potholes). Each of those three trips won't be too much of a tire challenge so I'll leave what I've got on there.

In December, however, we're going back down to southern Baja. On the way down, we'll do the long way through BOLA, San Rafael and San Francisquito and out through El Arco (I want to show the girls the cave paintings out there). Nothing too challenging on that road but it can have some sharp rocks. We'll also drive out onto the point at Santa Rosalilita and that requires some soft sand beach driving as well as one fairly hairball rocky down hill section - sharp volcanic rocks. So I'm thinking that sometime around November I may be tire shopping - I've always been a fan of the BFG AT/KOs but the last pair of KO2s I had on my last truck seemed to wear really fast - so I'm thinking I may go the Cooper route - probably 285s or so - nothing drastic. I'll buy whichever Cooper tire has the beefiest side wall - that's what I liked about the BFGs, multiple sidewall plys.

No major changes to stock suspension with the exception of a shock change to Bilsteins - again, I've always been a fan of them. I'm not sure about Bilstein fitment on 4x4 F350s though- so if you've got advice for me I'm all ears.

'
 

JCatt

Member
I'm not sure if they have anything specific for a stock height truck but Carli Suspension does special valving for lifted/leveled trucks. Might be worth a call.
 

STREGA

Explorer
Nice looking rig for sure would love to see it in person someday, going to the Expo by any chance?
 

con kso

Adventurer
Nice looking rig for sure would love to see it in person someday, going to the Expo by any chance?

Thanks! It would be a couple of long days of driving, and I might have to play hookey one day (high school chem teacher) but if I can convince my better half to jump in with me we might do it. If I do, I'll PM you - I'm really curious about your rig.
 

con kso

Adventurer
I'm not sure if they have anything specific for a stock height truck but Carli Suspension does special valving for lifted/leveled trucks. Might be worth a call.

Thanks for the tip - I'll look into them. The stock rancho shocks seem kinda mushy - I'll drive the heck out of them until December than will switch out to something a bit more robust.
 

con kso

Adventurer
I installed a Victron BMV 712 with battery shunt today - drilled a 2" hole into a pristine silver spur cabinet... thankfully it all ended up nice and cleanly finished. I'll take pics and post 'em tomorrow. I have to say, it's kinda fun turning things on and off and seeing how much they draw on the battery.

I've got a Victron 100/20 smart solar controller on order and two 100watt renogy panels just sitting here waiting to be installed - found a GREAT resource here in San Diego if anybody lives out this way, I highly recommend Bay Marine Supply in Shelter Island for 12v/solar stuff - this little shop is AWESOME. The guys in there are super knowledgeable and helpful - I can't recommend them enough. I'm pretty much convinced I'm going to switch over to big amp hour lithium batteries since I've been chatting with the folks over there.
 

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
Yes - just a matter of time on the tires.

I'm going to leave them on for the next three trips I have coming up: 1 week fly fishing up in Sierras (mostly road driving so might as well burn in the OEM tires), 2 weeks Montana (again lots more pavement pounding), 2 weeks central Baja (mild offroad, lots more pavement - some murderous potholes). Each of those three trips won't be too much of a tire challenge so I'll leave what I've got on there.

In December, however, we're going back down to southern Baja. On the way down, we'll do the long way through BOLA, San Rafael and San Francisquito and out through El Arco (I want to show the girls the cave paintings out there). Nothing too challenging on that road but it can have some sharp rocks. We'll also drive out onto the point at Santa Rosalilita and that requires some soft sand beach driving as well as one fairly hairball rocky down hill section - sharp volcanic rocks. So I'm thinking that sometime around November I may be tire shopping - I've always been a fan of the BFG AT/KOs but the last pair of KO2s I had on my last truck seemed to wear really fast - so I'm thinking I may go the Cooper route - probably 285s or so - nothing drastic. I'll buy whichever Cooper tire has the beefiest side wall - that's what I liked about the BFGs, multiple sidewall plys.

No major changes to stock suspension with the exception of a shock change to Bilsteins - again, I've always been a fan of them. I'm not sure about Bilstein fitment on 4x4 F350s though- so if you've got advice for me I'm all ears.

'
Nice setup man. I used go down to Rosalilita in the 70's. We could bomb out to the point then in a VW Bus. Rode some long,long waves there.
Pre-harbor. Enjoy. Wise choice on the 6.2 V-8. The new diesels are so complicated with emissions and ULSD unless things have changed is not available below Guerrero Negro. I'm a Toyo guy but the Cooper ST Maxx seems like a tough tire. Nothing bad heard about it.
BTW. Tell me the XT has a manual transfercase lever.
 
Last edited:

con kso

Adventurer
Nice setup man. I used go down to Rosalilita in the 70's. We could bomb out to the point then in a VW Bus. Rode some long,long waves there.
Pre-harbor. Enjoy.

That's so RAD! I'm 49, my uncle started taking us down to Baja when I was like 8 or 9, he'd eat turtle soup in Ensenada and stash tequila, mezcal, rum and kahlua in all the little hidey holes in my grandpa's '63 split window Westfalia - we'd sit in the back hiding the contraband from the customs guys.

I like camping right out on the point at Rosalilita there's a rock shelf that you get down to by driving down this rocky hill with a couple of "steps" in it - my Tundra and Callen handled it pretty well - I'm sure the FWC will eat it up but I'm going to get some better tires before we try it next winter.

I'm a "reg. cab guy" now too! Loving the manuverability of the reg cab!
 

Sisyphus

Adventurer
A super practical set-up and fitting for your uses. Have fun out there!

If you ever need a driveway in Seattle to camp at, drop me a line.

Sisyphus
 

con kso

Adventurer
A super practical set-up and fitting for your uses. Have fun out there!

If you ever need a driveway in Seattle to camp at, drop me a line.

Sisyphus

Thanks Sisyphus (keep pushing that stone, man) - and thanks for the offer. Check this out: I'm hosting some guys $60k + brand new, doesn't even have plates yet, diesel, 4x4 crew cab, leather, 2018 F250 (btw the Ford color "blue jeans" is way more awesome in real life than on any brochure) in my side yard while he's off riding motos through Baja for a couple of weeks.

I don't even know the guys last name - we started chatting at a fly fishing show up in Nor Cal and he mentioned he was riding Baja, I said, "well if you need a place to park..." and next thing I know I've got his super expensive monster truck in my side yard. I've even got the keys.

Pretty cool in this day and age the idea of trust still exists. Thanks man - if I'm ever that way I'll hit you up and if you're ever heading to Baja I'm right on it's doorstep and I have awesome secured, private parking right here at my house. And we know it can handle big trucks.
 

STREGA

Explorer
Thanks! It would be a couple of long days of driving, and I might have to play hookey one day (high school chem teacher) but if I can convince my better half to jump in with me we might do it. If I do, I'll PM you - I'm really curious about your rig.

Let me know if you go it would be fun to see our trucks together. I'm just doing day passes on Friday/Saturday and camping at the Cinders.
 

kmacafee

Adventurer
Check out the Cooper ST Maxx. The first set I had, got over 50,000 hard miles. Very tough sidewalls. Great sand traction and not too bad on highway.

Your rig is awesome.

Cheers[

QUOTE="con kso, post: 2451883, member: 109951"]Yes - just a matter of time on the tires.

I'm going to leave them on for the next three trips I have coming up: 1 week fly fishing up in Sierras (mostly road driving so might as well burn in the OEM tires), 2 weeks Montana (again lots more pavement pounding), 2 weeks central Baja (mild offroad, lots more pavement - some murderous potholes). Each of those three trips won't be too much of a tire challenge so I'll leave what I've got on there.

In December, however, we're going back down to southern Baja. On the way down, we'll do the long way through BOLA, San Rafael and San Francisquito and out through El Arco (I want to show the girls the cave paintings out there). Nothing too challenging on that road but it can have some sharp rocks. We'll also drive out onto the point at Santa Rosalilita and that requires some soft sand beach driving as well as one fairly hairball rocky down hill section - sharp volcanic rocks. So I'm thinking that sometime around November I may be tire shopping - I've always been a fan of the BFG AT/KOs but the last pair of KO2s I had on my last truck seemed to wear really fast - so I'm thinking I may go the Cooper route - probably 285s or so - nothing drastic. I'll buy whichever Cooper tire has the beefiest side wall - that's what I liked about the BFGs, multiple sidewall plys.

No major changes to stock suspension with the exception of a shock change to Bilsteins - again, I've always been a fan of them. I'm not sure about Bilstein fitment on 4x4 F350s though- so if you've got advice for me I'm all ears.

'[/QUOTE]
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,528
Messages
2,875,548
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top