Diesel Brothers Rework F-250 into Hardcore Off-Roader
Mutual gym buddy’s stalled 2011 F-250 build becomes an F-150 Raptor replacement for under $25,000.
The F-150 Raptor is nothing to sneeze at, as we all know. The truck was made with off-roading in mind, a factory-built prerunner ready to bash its way through sand dunes and rough trails at speed thanks to the 450-horsepower twin-turbo 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6.
Alas, the F-150 Raptor wasn’t built to do tough jobs like pull trailers or take heavy loads. That’s where Keaton “The Muscle” Hoskins and Josh “Red Beard” Stuart of Discovery Channel reality series Diesel Brothers come in. Their mutual gym buddy, Josh, owned a Raptor at one time, but opted to build a replacement out of a 2011 F-250 in order to work and play hard.
“The Ford Raptor is an awesome truck,” says Hoskins. “They’re fast, but it’s a light-duty truck, and it’s a gasser. They cannot tow a lot of weight. Our F-250 build is gonna have the same capabilities as the smaller Raptor build, but be able to have a bigger payload with a diesel engine.” And while their buddy’s stalled project already had the expensive parts necessary to help complete the build, the duo and the rest of the Diesel Brothers crew only had a budget of $25,000 to finish what Josh started.
The crew first go to work on adding another six inches to the 6-inch lift already on the F-250, while also ensuring the lift is set up properly so the truck remains usable, whether towing a trailer or jumping a big bump in the road. This is followed by a cold-air intake installed on the truck’s 6.7-liter Power Stroke turbo diesel for more power, and an Edge Insight CTS2 monitoring system to tune everything with a few options.
“The Edge monitor is huge for anybody operating any type of machinery,” Hoskins says. “Whether it’s an airplane, a snowmobile, a truck, a boat, if they know what they’re doing, they wanna know the machine they’re running, and how it’s performing. This monitor will give us all of those things on a little display for us to watch while operating it.”
With the height and power handled, the Diesel Brothers crew go to work attaching the Raptor-style front clip to the F-250, as well as custom-fabricated pieces like the front and rear bumpers, the headache and roof racks, and the wild beadlocks for the 20-inch Sota wheels wrapped in 46-inch Michelin off-road tires. The body itself receives a wrap to promote Josh’s energy shot business, the perfect touch to tie everything together.
“The F-250 Raptor-style diesel build that ‘Muscle’ promised to finish for our mutual gym buddy Josh is finally done,” says Diesel Brothers chief Dave “Heavy D” Sparks, “and it turned out way, way cooler than I expected.” Now, this F-250 is ready to ride with all of the Raptors out on the desert roads on the weekends, then help its owner grow his business on the weekdays.
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