I had a reservation up to the last minute but when they kept raising the price my wife and I decided we could not say our payment was $1200 a month without crying.
Loved doing the Bitter Springs trail when I lived in Vegas years ago. Had a lifted and offroad equipped Jeep Liberty. Not many full sized pickups out there. Kudos for taking the Lighting there. Totally miss the wide open land and trails of the desert. Here in the mid-Atlantic, the only places to go are paid offload parks which feel like playpens compared to the thousands of miles of trails on BLM lands in Nevada. Getting ready to buy a Lightning but more for the the full house backup power capabilities than anything else. Great video! It's one of few reasons I liked living Vegas.
Absolutely loved your video!!! I’m happy you made it to show the capability of the Lightning. Last half of last year I’ve been camping off grid on mine with a pop up camper and about to post some videos of those trips.
thanks! we shot this before we had our camper reinstalled on it. it's all tricked out now, with a CVT tent, road shower, 270 degree awning, and fuel packs for the diesel heater and the powered paraglider that we tow behind it. didn't do much camping over the winter, but we're stoked to get back out there now that the weather is turning nice.
very well done- I've got a Lightning and love off roading. Mine did awesome in fairly deep snow this season, but I haven't taken it off road much. This gives me confidence to get out there more.
@@Gamer_Aviator Same, I had some hail damage and it was in the shop for a month and I had to go back to driving an ICE F150 and it felt like going back to a horse and buggy. So many haters want to dog an EV truck for whatever reason, but if you don't regularly tow things over 150 miles one way it blows away any other full size truck in terms of performance. Plus I am rolling with a giant battery, camping has now become glamping.
Thanks for the beautiful and honest review/video. We just completed the Usal beach road and spent two nights out on the beach in our 2023, SR XLT with a 2200 pound Alaskan cab over. The road is rutted, potholed, wash boarded and soft but the Lightning handled it no problem. We did get stuck on the Oregon dunes but I probably should have avoided them considering the camper! Cheers,
Loving your "adventure" videos ! I want to start doing off-road but havent found the time (or money??) for another hobby! .. in the mean time I watch your videos :D
This is the best example of real world off roading I've found of an electric yet. Coming from the gas world, I'm pretty impressed with what I see. I think a decent set of AT or RT tires on smaller wheels (if available), a 1" or so lift, and maybe disconnecting the sways would make that thing a sleeper off road.
Since making this video we put AT tires on it, and they're great. I've seen some videos where people lifted it, but I've also heard that it messes with Blue Cruise. We haven't gone down that route, but I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew that it wouldn't break something else. I'm hoping that when Ford refreshes the Lightning line that they make something like a Raptor package available for it. By then mine should be far enough in that I can trade it in without taking a huge loss.
@@Prototheria one of the stock tires took a puncture on new year's, so i took it to the local discount tire. the puncture was right on the edge between the sidewall and the tread, so they couldn't fix it. rather than buy a single new stock tire, i swapped them all out for a set of Cooper Discoverer ATPs with the replacement warranty from Discount. no complaints - they work great off road, and they're still quiet on the highway.
We ended up swapping out the stock tires for better off-road tires because we took sidewall damage in one of them. Won't 18" wheels result in lower clearance and worse performance overall?
@@creator_aviator I have a Lightning Lariat with 20" stock wheels/tires that I swapped to 18" with similar offset wheels and kept the same tire diameter and width (from 275/60/20 to 275/70/18). In general, 18" should not impact clearance or performance on it's own. It might even have a slight benefit in town if the wheel/tire combo you pick is lighter with a similar offset. Of course, A/T or M/T tires will negatively impact highway range somewhat due to higher rolling resistance, but you have already done that. Owners who just swap tires usually see minimal range/efficiency impact with same size tires. Leveling/lifting has more impact on the highway. I have both A/T tires and a level kit which has benefits offroad but has a 5-7% highway range hit in my case. Enjoy the truck!
@@Gamer_Aviator I got one of the 2" kits from Amazon. I went aluminum, but even the $50 Rough Country kits have good reviews. No issues with BlueCruise and I have about 400 miles on it since the install. I'm GUESSSING it's designed to still function even with a load in the bed, so it is tested at/near that angle anyway. Your 360 camera does get a bit out of alignment at the corners, but that's all I have noticed. Self-park even worked without issue.
@@Gamer_Aviator Also, great video on the off-road capabilities of the stock truck. I just took mine out on a muddy Texas ranch and was surprised how it handled it as well.
😂 Wow, great trail, enjoyed the fantastic scenery. I'm decidedly jealous!
Wish you could join us.
I had a reservation up to the last minute but when they kept raising the price my wife and I decided we could not say our payment was $1200 a month without crying.
Loved doing the Bitter Springs trail when I lived in Vegas years ago. Had a lifted and offroad equipped Jeep Liberty. Not many full sized pickups out there. Kudos for taking the Lighting there. Totally miss the wide open land and trails of the desert. Here in the mid-Atlantic, the only places to go are paid offload parks which feel like playpens compared to the thousands of miles of trails on BLM lands in Nevada. Getting ready to buy a Lightning but more for the the full house backup power capabilities than anything else. Great video! It's one of few reasons I liked living Vegas.
Absolutely loved your video!!! I’m happy you made it to show the capability of the Lightning. Last half of last year I’ve been camping off grid on mine with a pop up camper and about to post some videos of those trips.
thanks! we shot this before we had our camper reinstalled on it. it's all tricked out now, with a CVT tent, road shower, 270 degree awning, and fuel packs for the diesel heater and the powered paraglider that we tow behind it. didn't do much camping over the winter, but we're stoked to get back out there now that the weather is turning nice.
nice! is it standard or extended range?
Extended
Standard. We actually did a range test a week ago. Working on that video now. We learned much and still love the truck.
very well done- I've got a Lightning and love off roading. Mine did awesome in fairly deep snow this season, but I haven't taken it off road much. This gives me confidence to get out there more.
Awesome drone shots. 1 year into my lightning (but 7th F150) and first EV. Really love it.
thanks! we're loving it too.
@@Gamer_Aviator Same, I had some hail damage and it was in the shop for a month and I had to go back to driving an ICE F150 and it felt like going back to a horse and buggy. So many haters want to dog an EV truck for whatever reason, but if you don't regularly tow things over 150 miles one way it blows away any other full size truck in terms of performance. Plus I am rolling with a giant battery, camping has now become glamping.
Thanks for the beautiful and honest review/video.
We just completed the Usal beach road and spent two nights out on the beach in our 2023, SR XLT with a 2200 pound Alaskan cab over. The road is rutted, potholed, wash boarded and soft but the Lightning handled it no problem.
We did get stuck on the Oregon dunes but I probably should have avoided them considering the camper!
Cheers,
Loving your "adventure" videos !
I want to start doing off-road but havent found the time (or money??) for another hobby! .. in the mean time I watch your videos :D
That's awesome. Thanks for watching. I hope you'll be out there off-roading soon.
This is the best example of real world off roading I've found of an electric yet. Coming from the gas world, I'm pretty impressed with what I see. I think a decent set of AT or RT tires on smaller wheels (if available), a 1" or so lift, and maybe disconnecting the sways would make that thing a sleeper off road.
Since making this video we put AT tires on it, and they're great. I've seen some videos where people lifted it, but I've also heard that it messes with Blue Cruise. We haven't gone down that route, but I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew that it wouldn't break something else. I'm hoping that when Ford refreshes the Lightning line that they make something like a Raptor package available for it. By then mine should be far enough in that I can trade it in without taking a huge loss.
@@creator_aviator Interesting. What AT tires did you go with? And since I posted that I saw that Tire Rack sells 17's for the truck.
@@Prototheria one of the stock tires took a puncture on new year's, so i took it to the local discount tire. the puncture was right on the edge between the sidewall and the tread, so they couldn't fix it. rather than buy a single new stock tire, i swapped them all out for a set of Cooper Discoverer ATPs with the replacement warranty from Discount. no complaints - they work great off road, and they're still quiet on the highway.
Wow, this was definitely a nail-biting journey. Thanks for sharing. 👍
😊
FOLLOW US on other platforms: www.creatoraviator.com and join the adventure!
Don’t mention bitter springs to Boone!
Needs 18 inch wheels for more sidewall.
We ended up swapping out the stock tires for better off-road tires because we took sidewall damage in one of them. Won't 18" wheels result in lower clearance and worse performance overall?
@@creator_aviator I have a Lightning Lariat with 20" stock wheels/tires that I swapped to 18" with similar offset wheels and kept the same tire diameter and width (from 275/60/20 to 275/70/18). In general, 18" should not impact clearance or performance on it's own. It might even have a slight benefit in town if the wheel/tire combo you pick is lighter with a similar offset. Of course, A/T or M/T tires will negatively impact highway range somewhat due to higher rolling resistance, but you have already done that. Owners who just swap tires usually see minimal range/efficiency impact with same size tires. Leveling/lifting has more impact on the highway. I have both A/T tires and a level kit which has benefits offroad but has a 5-7% highway range hit in my case. Enjoy the truck!
@@JasonEcholsTexas Where'd you get your level kit? I read that lift/level kits will adversely affect BlueCruise - did you have any issues with yours?
@@Gamer_Aviator I got one of the 2" kits from Amazon. I went aluminum, but even the $50 Rough Country kits have good reviews. No issues with BlueCruise and I have about 400 miles on it since the install. I'm GUESSSING it's designed to still function even with a load in the bed, so it is tested at/near that angle anyway. Your 360 camera does get a bit out of alignment at the corners, but that's all I have noticed. Self-park even worked without issue.
@@Gamer_Aviator Also, great video on the off-road capabilities of the stock truck. I just took mine out on a muddy Texas ranch and was surprised how it handled it as well.