Thanks man! The evolution of this thing has been a ton of fun. I've actually gotten some more mods done since those pics, so I'll add some more updates.
After a while it got to where for some reason the amber sideview mirror reflectors just drove me crazy. It's like I would gaze past the rest of the truck and fixate on those things and I grew to truly loathe their existence. One day I decided to do something about it and paint them Matte White. * * * * * * So I popped off my amber sideview mirror reflectors very easily with a thin flathead screwdriver applied at the outer edge. Then I took a coarse 3M sanding block to them, once i got some heavy scouring done i followed up with a fine 3M sanding block because I like to overdo **** (and I wanted to be damned sure the new paint would adhere to the reflectors). After that the reflectors were shot with a very light mist of Flat White Valspar rattlecan from about 12 inches away in a fluid sweeping motion. I let the paint dry for about 20 minutes and then went back outside and gave them another pass with a light mist and then left them out to dry. Like I said, overkill is the name of the game, I ended up repeating this process over and over for a total of about 7 coats of the Flat White. Once that was done I came back and shot them with 2 separate coats of a Flat Clear sealant also made by Valspar. Left them overnight to dry and then popped them back in the mirror housings on my way out the door to work the next morning. I did this about 3 weeks ago, the paint on the reflectors has held up to some direct desert brush and 2 rounds of the powersprayer at the self car wash, so I'm pretty sure that the paint is good to go. Here is the final result.... much better than the ugly amber eyesores that previously flanked my steed.
I also added some 11 leaf Deavers in the rear. This did wonders for the Raptor offroad. The Raptor has an incomparable front suspension setup for a stock truck, but what most people don't realize is that besides the Fox Shocks and bumpstops, the rear suspension setup is really not very different from a regular F150. The stock 3 leaf rear leaf springs were just not cutting the mustard when I would run whoop-filled trails at upwards of 90 mph. Basically the front end would be owning the terrain and the rear end would be bucking like a coked-up Tijuana hooker. This made it more difficult to keep the truck under control at high speeds. Ditching the 3 leaf stockers and upgrading to the 11 leaf tuned Deavers Suspension rear springs was one of the best mods I've done yet. What was once a wily back end now cuts through the desert with a newfound silky smoothness. These are what the inadequently thin stock 3 leaf springs look like: And here are some generic Deaver pics.... Much more beef:
