Selecting the Best Adventure Truck (for us)

Living life on the road means taking your home with you everywhere you go. For us, that means making sure that we pick an adventure truck that will meet our needs both now and far down the road. We need something that is reliable, comfortable, and capable of going just about anywhere. After much research and consideration, we decided on a 2023 F550 Lariat 4X4 Crew Cab. This beast of a truck is the perfect adventure companion for us and here’s why:

Off-Road Capabilities

As many people already know, being able to go off the beaten path is extremely important to us. The F550 is built to handle exploring anywhere. Its 4X4 drivetrain, along with the limited slip differential, provides maximum traction and control. The truck’s high ground clearance allows for excellent off-road performance, and down the road we plan for more suspension upgrades to make it even more capable off-road (super-single perhaps???).

Diesel vs Gas

A common question asked when purchasing a new truck is whether to go with diesel or gas engines. While there are pros and cons to both, we decided to go with the diesel engine as we prioritized the longer range, better fuel efficiency, the diesel engine brake, and a longer engine life. The added power and torque will be helpful down the road as well. The cons of going diesel are that there is a much higher up front cost, fuel is limited to certain gas stations, and there tends to be more service needed over the life of the engine. Overall we are excited to put the Ford 6.7L Power Stroke V8 Diesel through it’s paces.

One critical choice that we made for our truck was the dual gas tanks. The F550 comes with a 40 gallon fuel tank, with the option of adding a 26.5 supplementary tank. This gives us 66.5 gallons of fuel that enables us to get even further off the beaten path (over 900 miles in range) in our adventures without having to worry about carrying additional fuel with us.

F550 vs Lower Models

Many people may wonder why we went with an F550 rather than a lower model. Below are some of our primary reasons:

Weight Capacity:

It’s a monster! The F550 has a much higher weight capacity than the F450. This means that the F550 can handle more weight on the truck itself, as well as the weight of whatever it’s towing. This is especially important for adventurers and explorers who carry a lot of gear with them. The F350 and F450 can handle the weight of a camper, but that weights puts them on the higher end of their capacity. We decided to go with the F550 to give us the peace of mind that it would be able to handle additional weight if needed in extreme circumstances.

Flatbed Conversion:

We decided early on to go with a flatbed instead of a traditional pickup bed. This gives them more flexibility in how we design our living space, and it allows us to carry more gear and equipment. As the F550 comes from the factory as a chassis and cab configuration (aka no bed) this fit in well with our plan. We chose the EBY flatbed, which is made of high-quality aluminum, which saves immensely on weight and maintains durability – it’s built to last. The flatbed also comes with two 4 foot undercarriage tool boxes, which give us another 12 square feet of storage space. We honestly chose the EBY over another popular brand based on looks. Most of these flatbeds will have the same general features, but have their own style in the look of the taillights and rear bumper.

Cost vs Priorities:

To our surprise, the F550 was priced a bit lower than it’s lower models. My guess is that this is mostly due to it’s classification as a commercial truck rather than a personal truck. This means that it doesn’t have the luxuries available that the lower models do (Lariat is the top available package), but those luxuries are not as important to us as the capabilities of the vehicle. The luxuries of the Lariat package in the F550 are beyond what we really need in our vehicle, and are just that to us – ‘luxuries’. That said, insurance is slightly more expensive as it is a commercial vehicle.

Interior Features

‘Luxuries’

We actually purchased our F550 without test driving or seeing one in person first. As mentioned before, our priorities are in the capabilities of the vehicle, not the ‘luxuries’. With that said, we are blown away by the interior of the truck. The Baja interior (color and trim) is absolutely stunning. It gives the truck a fun, adventurous look. The dashboards are extremely user friendly and provides clean views of everything that I can imagine we need to see while operating the truck.

Full disclosure: our newest vehicle before this truck is a 2013; technology and vehicle comforts have improved exponentially since then. Nonetheless, we are extremely happy with and excited about the interior. We will be doing some modifications to make it ‘overland’ friendly – navigation, workspace, etc. – so stay tuned for those updates!

Longevity

In addition to the tech and comfort of the vehicle, the longevity of the interior is extremely important. We purchased Ford’s all-weather proof mats, and I can already tell that these are going to be a life-saver for us, considering our planned lifestyle of being off the beaten path for much of our adventures. We also went with the platform running boards, which will provide us with a support where we can remove or wipe off our shoes after our adventures.

Space

Lastly, we went with a crew cab in our truck. Our current overlanding rig, our Tacoma (see picture in another post here), is an access cab. We originally thought this would be more than enough space for us, but quickly realized it was not nearly enough with our two cats and all the gear we want to keep readily available. The crew cab has enough space that we can keep the two cats in the back comfortably with gear storage underneath. This also enables us to have the option of taking our family and friends on adventures with us when we have our truck camper unloaded at our campsite.

“Package” Upgrades

We went with the Payload Plus Package Upgrade and the High Capacity Trailer Tow Package upgrade for our vehicle.

The Payload Plus Package Upgrade gives the F550 even more weight capacity. This upgrade includes upgraded rear springs, upgraded stabilizer bar, and a limited slip axle. These upgrades are essential for overlanding, especially in an F550, as they provide stability even with a heavy load.

The High Capacity Trailer Tow Package upgrades the rear axle, provides the trailer brake wiring kit and increases the capable Gross Combined Weight (GCW) of the truck (the combined weight of a truck and trailer). We decided on this package more as a future plan rather than for our current state. We know that we will eventually tow a rock-crawling rig, dirt bikes, or some other toy behind our truck and we want to ensure we are not limited in this option.

Note: In our video, we include the dual gas tanks as part of the High Capacity Trailer Tow package – this is actually a separate offering from Ford.

Conclusion

Overall, the F550 Lariat 4X4 Crew Cab in Agate Black is a great adventure companion for our journey. Its off-road capabilities, weight capacity, and flatbed conversion make it an ideal choice for overlanding. If you’re planning a similar adventure, keep in mind that no vehicle will be perfect for anyone. It’s important to notate the pros and cons of each option, create a list of your priorities, identify what is a need and what is a want, and understand that while we say this is perfect for us, nothing is going to be absolutely perfect for every situation.

Watch our YouTube video to see awesome footage of our truck, courtesy of Reyes’s drone pilot skills!