Offroading Wednesdays: 2018 F-150 Road Trip to Moab
Stage 3 Motorsports takes a desert trip to remember.
Sometimes you have to travel off the beaten path to find the best trails, especially if you’re planning an off-roading trip. This group of friends decided to go to Moab, Utah, but didn’t stay too close to the map marker. The Stage 3 Motorsports crew started in Phoenix and traveled to Salt Lake City, and they had a heck of an adventure. Their trip happened last year, but we’re featuring it today as an Off-Roading Wednesday Throwback. Let’s see what they experienced in Moab, and what you might need to do to your truck if you want to take a similar trip.
A Trip to Gemini Bridges
The goal of this trip was to drive under the Gemini Bridges, about three hours from Moab, as the GPS tells it. Getting there wasn’t terribly eventful, though there were a few areas where they had to really get off-roading, although they didn’t even have to switch out of two-wheel drive.
The F-150 might not have the off-road chops of a Jeep or a Land Rover, but it had no trouble navigating under Gemini bridges and around Bull Canyon. The footage they took is gorgeous. What would you need to do to take a trip like that?
Stage 3 Motorsport’s F150
The 2018 F-150 featured in the group’s video is actually their budget build. The goal was to show off how you can construct a fantastic off-road F-150 without breaking the bank. By the time it was featured in the Trip to Moab video, the crew had spent about $7,500 upgrading it. This included a Bilstein suspension for the lift and clearance they needed when exploring Bull Canyon, as well as a set of BFGoodrich KM3 off-road tires. The KM3s apparently offer better grip and traction than their predecessors, the KM2s, even when the F150 is in two-wheel drive mode.
D.I.Y. Your F150 for Offroading
If you balked at the $7,500 price tag that came with Stage 3’s budget build, don’t worry. You don’t need name-brand Bilsteins or BFG tires to create a build that will serve you well while you’re exploring the wilderness in your pickup. All you really need is a suspension that will give you a bit of extra lift and clearance. The F-150 doesn’t sit as high as some other off-road vehicles, leaving you at risk for bottoming out or damaging your undercarriage.
Look Forward to Hitting the Backroads
There are other things you will probably need to keep you moving on the trails, like a set of off-road tires, good lighting and a winch, but those can be addressed later. For the moment, if you’re looking for a starting point when it comes to turning your F-150 into an off-roading beast, look at your tires and suspension first. The stock wheels and tires won’t give you the traction you need, and the suspension just can’t stand up to the wear and tear of the trail.
Once you make those upgrades, you’ll find that your off-road pickup will serve you well, wherever the road takes you.