2015 Ford F-150 (Retired)

[DaveCN5]

I just picked up my 2015 F-150 this week. I have a pile of lights sitting in the garage right now. I haven't had time to start installing yet, but am noticing a couple of things. This is not an installer friendly truck.

Problem #1. First off there is no where to mount a siren speaker. It has active shutters in the grille and bumper That prevent putting a speaker anywhere with a direct shot into the open. I am going to have to crawl under the truck and make some sort of a custom bracket, but still am not sure where to put it.

Problem #2 All aluminum body means no magnet mount lightbars And there is no way I'm about to drill holes in a $45k truck. BackRack and other similar manufacturers don't have any products in stock yet for the 2015's.

Don't get me wrong, as a truck this thing is fantastic, but from an installer's point of view, this is going to be a nightmare. I will post progress as as I go since I haven't seen any other 15 F-150 installs yet.

 

[tsquale]

Sweet looking truck though!

 

[Detroit VAP]

The Acari mount should still work on the new F150.  It is mounted through the third brake light.  Wires would be run through the brake light area.

 

[Jamey@NNE]

Yes acari does work with that truck. It uses a completely different platform from a normal acari due to the 3rd brake light being bigger. We have them listed on our site.

http://nnepublicsafety.com/acari-drill-free-mount/

 

[DaveCN5]

I thought about going down the Acari route. However, I can't justify spending $240 on it, when a BackRack usually costs $275. I'll just have to wait for the new ones to come out.

 

[Jamey@NNE]

Just emailed my backrack rep and they are avaliable I can have one to my shop by Wednesday if you want one.

 

[cbpdogboy]

Howdy Dave!! Long time no see....nice truck!!

http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-f-150-headache-racks/

http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-f-150-truck-bed-accessories/backrack-back-rack-cab-guards-44391166.html

 

[rond]

Nice looking truck. I say drill the holes. I have never had any dealership give me any issues for holes I have drilled in all my vehicles. Especially if you are planning to keep the truck for a long time and is not a lease. Just my opinion.

 

[Fighting17th]

Howdy Dave!! Long time no see....nice truck!!

http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-f-150-headache-racks/

http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-f-150-truck-bed-accessories/backrack-back-rack-cab-guards-44391166.html

Just a heads up, I would HIGHLY discourage you from buying from CarID. It's a very long story but I had a HORRIBLE experience buying a winch grille guard from them on ebay. Wrong product shipped (their mistake and incorrect ebay listing), horrible return policy, had to repackage myself, then told I needed a pallet to return it which I had to provide. Over  30 miles in my own vehicle to return to a UPS location they told me I could take it to, only to find out that that location wouldn't take it. Over another 30 miles in my own vehicle to return to the correct UPS FREIGHT facility. Over a month to finally get the correct item I paid over $500 for. I was promised a partial refund for my trouble which I never got. Argued and spent hours on the phone and received nothing. Finally won a paypal dispute and got a full refund. Then to make things even worse, they harassed me over phone, email, voicemail, etc. trying to get me to resend payment. I saved all of my words that I could have said, ignored their harassment, and kept the grille guard. They are a horrible company that doesn't care one bit about you once you send payment.

Okay, rant over... Lol.

Nice truck by the way!

On a side note, the DeeZee headache racks are awesome. We have the silver one on our Utility truck that I built, and I liked it so much that I bought the black one for my truck (from another source than CarID! obviously). Very easy to mount lights, antennas, etc. plus they look great

 

[DaveCN5]

Thanks for the tip on CarID. I was curious about them because they seemed to "pop up over night". My friend is a BackRack dealer and I should have it on Monday (hopefully).

 

[DaveCN5]

I got the BackRack installed today and will hopefully start installing on Saturday.

 

[unlisted]

Do you have an underbody skid plate at all? I ran into the same speaker mounting issue (grille shutters, also it being a bp100 didn't help any...) ...anyways... I have the skid plate option on my ram and there was enough in front of the front axle I was able to use it as a mounting plate.


Even had factory holes which lined up with the bracket!

 

[DaveCN5]

I do have skid plates. I haven't crawled under the truck too much yet to poke around. On my last F-150 there was room behind the headlight housing to mount, but the radiator in this truck is huge. I'll take pictures for future reference for other people who buy a 15 F150

 

[Storm4200]

You could always Push bumper mount a pair of speakers ...

Also, what are you planning on installing?

 

[johnwadeg]

Installed some lights in a 2015 f-150 work truck this monday, luckily no speaker had to go in the grill, just lights. It was pretty tricky getting the grill out as well. first 2015 we had touched, took about a hour and a half to figure out how to get it out.

 

[DaveCN5]

That's what I was afraid of. I would love any tips you can give! My plans to install have been delayed due to work.

 

[johnwadeg]

For a speaker I'm not 100% sure on where you might could mount it, as you can see its a very tricky grill, I wasn't paying much attention when I was up under the truck, you might could squeeze something behind the license plate holder up front?

On top of the grill it had maybe 6 screws and about 10 clips (+/- a couple) to hold the matting/plastic on top of the grill, once you get that off there are the 4 brass looking studs in the corners that have plastic carriage head type pieces that lock into place so you don't have to hold the nut and bolt while tightening. You can also see 3 holes running along the bottom be careful of these, they have 3 plastic studs that have a metal piece that holds them on, you can only get to them from up under the truck and they are an absolute bitch to get off, I ended up breaking one of them. and last there is a 5/16 bolt behind the ford emblem on the back side of the grill. Again, this took me about a hour and a half to 2 hours to figure out how to get it out, Take your time figuring out how to get it off, I hopes this helps you, I tried my best to describe it.

Also, with the shutters/louvers we had to mount the Ions directly to the grill, We couldn't Recess the lights any. 

here is the truck   https://youtu.be/oVhYAURckfc

 

[cbpdogboy]

Dave,

My 2014 F-150 has the speaker mounted to the upper frame support of the radiator on the right ide..very straight forward install and loud due to the speaker being located directly behind the grill with no obstructions.

 

[DaveCN5]

Okay, thanks Steve. Unfortunately the 14's and 15's are very different.

 

[DaveCN5]

I had time to finally start working on the truck. This thing is tricky to work on.


Grille removal- there is 2 ways, easy way and hard way. Johnwadeg you did the hard way. Easy way is to remove all the push pins holding in the rubber cover over the radiator, the. Remove the 4 black bolts holding the grille assembly to the frame. remove the 3 push pins on each side holding the rubber flaps to the grille. Take off the headlight insert and take off the 8mm bolts on each side. Lift up and the grille comes off in 1 piece. Takes 20 minutes.


Siren speaker- if you crawl under the truck, lay on your back and look up at the front of the engine, there is a support behind the small radiator behind the bumper. Great place to mount the speaker. Very protected, but the sound can still flow through the radiator. Picture is taken laying in front of the front passenger wheel.





Running wires - it is much easier to run wires to the driver side. There is a factory boot right behind the brake pedal you can get to without having to tear apart the inside of the truck like you would if you went to the passenger side.


That's all I've got for now. Need another day and some more packages to arrive so I can finish. Some teaser pics for now.

 

[Radarcop290]

Beautiful truck!   I've been trying to get our agency to purchase some type of pick up truck for traffic enforcement purposes.    They are EXTREMELY effective in "blending in" to regular traffic and 99.9% of the motoring public would NEVER suspect that a cop, let alone traffic cop, would be riding around in a pick up truck as a patrol vehicle.  There are two agencies I know here in Maryland that use unmarked pick up trucks with great success.   The Maryland Transportation Authority Police (they are pretty much Highway Patrol at all our toll facilities other than the Airport and Ports they work) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police.   Here is an article about the success of the Indiana State Police using unmarked Pick Up trucks for enforcement purposes.   I know it was off topic, sorry, but great job none the less on your install.   It looks fantastic.

http://fox59.com/2014/08/28/police-using-new-unmarked-police-trucks-to-catch-hoosiers-going-too-fast/

 

[pdk9]

Not a bad start Dave. Any possibility of moving the lightstick higher up (I'm guessing it'd have to be behind the grill though)? I think the newer F-150 grill has the same problem as the NGPI utility grills, where it's easiest to mount grill lights on the lower portion of the grill, but I think they'd be a lot more effective if mounted higher up

 

[DaveCN5]

Nope. That's the only place I could get that 1) had something I could mount to and 2) wouldn't interfere with the active shutters. Phase 2 will have lighting higher up.

 

[Station 3]

nice ride

 

[Luismariadarlene]

very nice ride sir love how its coming out.

 

[DaveCN5]

I've had pretty much zero progress due to an insanely chaotic last couple of weeks. Short version of the story is I've been cleared to run slick top, finally, and been waiting for some new products and hardware to de designed and manufactured. I'm basically going to change everything except the rear HAW'S and front intersection lights. This is where I'm at for the time being.

 

[MiFF]

Nice install. Not so find of the truck though. I still think the 2015 f-150s are ugly. Just me though.


Are you still in michigan? If so I'm surprised they'll let you run slick top.

 

[DaveCN5]

Yup, still in Michigan. Being in Emergency Management allows us to do things a little differently. We are technically not considered either Law Enforcement or Firefighters. Our department issued take home Tahoe (which I'm not allowed to post pics of) is a slick top as well. I still have to be 360* compliant though.

 

[MiFF]

Ah, I see. Well congrats on the position. Too bad you can't post the Tahoe.

 

[TritonBoulder47]

Lookin good Dave!!!  You gonna upgrade those Cannons in the reverse lights to 360s...?  I saw a drastic improvement when I upgraded to the 360s, but I was also running Fairys...  lol

 

[DaveCN5]

I haven't seen them in person. The Cannons are damn bright because I replaced the OEM bulb. Placement is everything! Now I just need the freight company to deliver my pallet and a day off to get some work done.....

 

[DaveCN5]

I had a couple hours this morning free. So I was able to get the Cencom finally installed. Not a lot of good places to put it due to the full console, but I like it.

 

[DaveCN5]

I had a couple hours this morning free. So I was able to get the Cencom finally installed. Not a lot of good places to put it due to the full console, but I like it.

 

[Storm4200]

So what's coming ...? Looks great so far

 

[pdk9]

Cencom looks good.


Can u at least give us a list of what's installed on the OEM Tahoe?

 

[DaveCN5]

Cencom looks good.


Can u at least give us a list of what's installed on the OEM Tahoe?

Our slick top is fully marked. Inner Edge, Sound Off Intersectors, 4 Ghosts in the grille, dual vipers in the rear side windows, dominator 8 in rear windshield, then Vertex HAW's all around.

 

[DaveCN5]

So what's coming ...? Looks great so far

That's a good question. I can't really decide. We do a lot of traffic control and a lot of scene lighting for crime scenes and during accident reconstruction. I already have a Dual Color Apollo 600 that is going to replace the light stick in the grille since it has flood mode. I also plan on getting a grille guard so I may just wait to get that first then I can also mount my PAR 36 flood lights to it. There's a lot of possibilities going through my mind at this point, haha.

 

[DaveCN5]

I'm finally getting started on phase 2. Still have a little ways to go though. Front is pretty much done. Hardest thing to do was getting the dual Avengers installed in the headliner. Crazily enough, the best solution ended up being the coat hanger method. Thanks guys!

 

[pdk9]

I'm finally getting started on phase 2. Still have a little ways to go though. Front is pretty much done. Hardest thing to do was getting the dual Avengers installed in the headliner. Crazily enough, the best solution ended up being the coat hanger method. Thanks guys!

View attachment 143986

View attachment 143987

looks good Dave. Any chance of moving the avengers more centered around the RVM? IMHO, they look a little awkward right up against the A-post, with a big gap between them.

Also, I wish the lightstick could've been mounted higher up in the grill.  I think some M7s on each side of the ford emblem would look better for the grill and move the lightstick to the rear

 

[DaveCN5]

looks good Dave. Any chance of moving the avengers more centered around the RVM? IMHO, they look a little awkward right up against the A-post, with a big gap between them.

Also, I wish the lightstick could've been mounted higher up in the grill.  I think some M7s on each side of the ford emblem would look better for the grill and move the lightstick to the rear

The Avengers are where they are for 2 reasons. 

1) The headliner - look at the top edge of the windshield, you see there is a "recess" in the headliner by the A pillars. The spot is the perfect size for avengers and they sit almost flush with the headliner under the RVM.

2) Semi's - Due to the layout of our county, I am almost always running code on the highway. Semi's were hard to move because they couldn't see any of my lights if I was behind them. Avengers in the top corners (I refuse to drill holes in the mirrors) are the widest points and I can sneak over and at their height they hit the semi's mirrors perfectly and almost instantly get out of the way. 

The Apollo 600 has flood mode aND I like having it at the bottom of the grille be a use there is something to mount it to there and when I run flood mode it does a better job of lighting up the road then having up high.