BAJA FORGED SUPER DUTY
The design process…with T
Have you checked out the latest PPG ad featuring our customer painter and designer….Theresa Contreras?
Here are a few words from her, about our Baja Forged Ford Super Duty.
The SD came about because everyone loved our Ford Ranger, and the color that I custom blended in my mixing lab using all PPG paint. So this was all about building its big brother, and recreating the color palette and our design aesthetic in an exciting new way.
The function started with the Pronghorn utility bed that we had to make our own by putting some custom touches on it. So when I saw this big square bed, I knew it needed some work. We had already decided that we would add some modularity to it by adding some cross bars, but when the bed was placed on the truck, I sat staring at it … I am all about stance! I will sit looking at the side profile in a gaze… its like the Mona Lisa… proportions are everything. There is something about having the right proportions on something that makes it so aesthetically appealing, but most people don’t know why… its proportions! So when I saw the bed on the truck, and we already had the wider carbon fiber fenders in the front, the tires in the rear stuck out like a sore thumb! Well, that must be taken care of, and people… when they see that I’m in my gaze, they know its just more work for us all, lol! So, as I gazed at it, I realized we needed a rear fender flare. Mind you, its small, not even that big, but I tell you, you might not even notice it, but it really does make ALL the difference in the world!
The cool part was many people showed us how much they liked it as well! We won a Ford design award at SEMA 2019, a Pro-Eagle award at SEMA 2019, and PPG did a feature ad on me and our truck (shown above). Pretty rad stuff! Super grateful for the reception, and I hope that comes through in this reflection… as I LOVE doing this! And I hope it shows, that our whole shop loves doing this, because there is an amazing team that truly makes this ALL happen!
So check out our Super Duty and all the other great stuff on it. It fulfilled our needs, but some of these products might be able to help fulfill yours. Sara is going to go more in depth on the products, because I just make them look good, lol! OK I use them too.
Until nexttime! -T
P.S. … and next time I’ll tell you what inspired this paint color.
BAJA FORGED SUPER DUTY
The functionality of it all… with Sara
After its debut at the SEMA Show in November 2019 we have attended the King of The Hammer (KOH) in Johnson Valley, CA and The Mint 400 in Las Vegas.
I don’t know what we love most about our truck since there are so many great upgrades done to the truck and we haven’t even used all of them yet!
Check out our review on some of our favorite products…..
Suspension, wheels, and tires…
To us one of the most important things is Suspension. It is so important to invest in a good suspension set up that you can trust and still has all the qualities you are looking for.
We get customers that want to find the lowest priced suspension for a truck or SUV that they just spent a lot of money on, and they usually plan on keeping their vehicle for a least a few years. So why would you want to put the cheapest suspension on your vehicle? A better quality suspension will save you money in the long run.
For us we look at three major things when picking a suspension setup for our personal vehicles, and for our customers…. Is it Reliable?….How does it handle on road?…..How does it handle off-road? We went with the ICON Vehicle Dynamics Stage 7 set up on our Ford Super Duty. We really wanted to build a truck that we could drive in comfort for our long road trips, but also handle off-road when we are out in the middle of now where. A lot of times when we are heading out to an event we have a fully loaded truck and usually a trailer full of product, and/or show vehicles that we are taking out. So reliability is huge for us and I hope that it is for you as well.
I don’t know about you, but all of our vehicles are our daily drivers as well as our off-road vehicles. So when looking for a suspension kit, we focus on products that offer comfort on and off-road. We have found at times you may have to sacrifice one for the other. When we started running the ICON Vehicle Dynamics kits we realized that we could have booth. One of my favorite things about giving rides to people is their reactions to how impressed they are with the ride quality of the kits.
Wheels and tires
We love the wide front end set up with our Baja Forged Carbon Fiber front Fenders, but we wanted to make sure that we filled it out correctly with the right wheel and tire combo. A lot of people understand the importance of making sure that their tire has the correct rating to tow the heavy load, but they often neglect that their wheels also have a weight rating. Knowing that Method Race Wheels offers their HD series wheels that have a heavier load rating up to 4500lbs, we thought they would work perfect for our project. If you are looking for a heavy duty wheel, make sure to check them out.
Next we wanted to find a tire that would help enhance and work well with the rest of our set up. We decided to wrap our Method Race Wheels in a set of BF Goodrich 37×13.50R18E Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 tires. These tires are a great looking and a great performing tire as well. They offer a quiet stable on road ride, yet perform excellent when out on the trail. They feature extra sidewall protection which really comes in handy when in areas with sharp rocks and trail debris that can cause flats. The last thing we want to do is change a flat out on the middle of the trail, but we have our Pro Eagle jack mounted in the bed if we need to.
Equipment…
We have not used our Tepui Roof Top tent yet and I am really sad about this, but with all this social distancing maybe I will be able to head out for a secluded camping trip soon, and get to use it. So far we have set it up a couple of times for shows, and find it very easy. We have had the soft style tents before, and find they are harder to set up than the hard shell style rooftop tent. So far, this Tepui hard shell tent seems to be a much more convenient set up and much lighter product…I think I am going to really like it, but I will have to let you know once I have actually used it…..so stay tuned for an update.
I do have to say I love our ARB Awnings. This is not the first time we have had the awnings, but every time I am more impressed with them, and how useful they are. The only hard part of setting them up is my height. I can’t really reach them with our large trucks, and it makes it hard for me to do the set up by myself, but with the help of a friend it is a really easy and fast set up. It is so much nicer not having to carry around a big bulky Ez-up.
Ok, so my new favorite products
We installed the 60 gallon Transfer flow tank, at first I was a little hesitant on the upgrade….but until I had to make the drive to Vegas for The Mint 400 and I didn’t have to stop to get gas….Game changer! I don’t know about you, but I am in a zone and not having to stop makes a world of difference. Plus, I was towing our trailer with a SXS on it as well, and I try to avoid going through gas stations or crowded areas when I am towing. I am really glad my sister installed the Katzkin leather seats as well….These things are so comfortable, and since I never had to stop to get gas a comfortable seat was a must. All the hands free Scosche Products we received came in super handy as well. It was like I had my own personal set up for my comfort, and it worked with our Ford CarPlay. I didn’t have to take my eyes off the road once.
All in all, so far I am really happy with all the products and set up of our Ford Super Duty…I can’t wait to use it more and really put it through some more testing. I think the biggest thing I am looking forward to is using the B&W gooseneck set up. We haven’t needed to use it yet, but I can’t wait to see how it pulls. Unfortunately, I will have to wait till we are all off of this quarantine, and can get back to traveling again.
Let me know if you have any questions on any of these products or any other brands…We have been doing this for 22+ years and have come across pretty much everything. We would love to help you find your next product to outfit you rig!
-Sara Morosan
Products Available
Stage 7 kit
OnBoard Air System
If you missed our newsletter about KOH and The Mint 400 you can find if on our Blog page….Here
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