Prerunner Maniac Online Magazine
Forum | Classifieds | Blog
Pics | Videos | RSS Feeds
Create an Account or Log in to post on the forum and Subscribe to the Magazine
Lost Password?
No account yet? Register

Vote for Us
Top 4x4 Sites

F 150 Long Travel Prerunner by Brenthel Industries
Print E-mail Bookmark and Share

Prerunner That's Not Afraid Of Heights

This F-150 prerunner was built to fly.

A while back I start hearing about a fab shop in California, Brenthel Industries. I was told they make some great long travel kits, so I go online to see if I can get some more details. I find their site, I click to view their long travel kits and all I see are CAD drawings. Now if you have worked with this type of software it might be easy for you to paint the picture in your head of what this kit will do, but for a magazine editor it was like I was looking at Chinese.

I sent them an email asking if they had pictures I could look at, and like any busy fab shop they said we will be getting them on our site real soon. So I waited wondering what to expect, when will I get to see these CAD drawing transformed into a metal work of art.

Looking online for prerunners to feature I meet a photographer online that tells me he has an F-150 he is working on and it has the Brenthel Industries long travel kit on it. He sends me a few pics and my jaw hit the keyboard. I knew I had to get a hold of these guys. So I pushed and finally after some testing they did, I got some pics and a video to share with you.

You'll notice by the title of this feature that this prerunner was built well. Some people measure the performance of their prerunners by how fast they can tackle 2 foot whoops at 50 mph, others test their mettle by how high they can fly. This prerunner was built to fly.

Looking at the front of this prerunner you will notice it uses the Brenthel Industries Long Travel Race Kit for '04 to '08 2WD Ford F-150s. This kit started life in 3D CAD modeling software, then after the parts were cut it was TIG welded. It uses 1" monoballs for the inner lower control arm pivots, is 5" wider per side giving you 17" of whoop eating travel.

The kit includes:

  • Boxed Upper control arm (eliminating balljoints)
  • Boxed Lower control arm (Using 1" monoballs for inner pivots)
  • Custom Fabricated Upright
  • Hardware Kit; Heims, Monoballs, Misalignments
  • Steering kit (Heims, Rod ends, Billet clevis, and hardware)
  • Extended brake lines

This race long travel kit accepts a 2.5 coilover and a 2.5 bypass shock to help you dial in your suspension for what ever the desert throws at you. Brenthel's shock of choice just happens to be King Shocks.

The rear suspension on this truck is simple and effective. They started with a set of Deaver Springs, and using the Brenthel Industries Spring Under kit, they mounted the springs under the axle to give this truck more bump travel. Keeping the bumps in check again Brenthel Industries chose King Shocks this time in the form of a 3.0 bypass shock. The shocks are mounted to a custom bedcage, and this set up gives the prerunner 19" of travel.

Making room for the 37" General Grabber tires mounted on Robby Gordon wheels is a set of FiberWerx front fenders and rear bedsides.

Jumping, and abusing a truck like this requires a bit of work to be done on the rear end if you want it to survive. Brenthel Industries used one of their modified rears to ensure this prerunner will keep moving after it lands a huge jump.

Speaking of huge jumps, if you plan on building a prerunner of this caliber you need to think about safety, and Brenthel Industries did not forget this part. This F-150 prerunner is caged front to back and includes Brenthel Industries Race Seats. Also inside the cab is a 5" HD GPS so they never get lost.

After adding all the cage work, extra shocks, dual spare tires, and trying to turn 37" tires you will notice your truck runs like a pig, so to fix this Brenthel Industries added a supercharger, Pace Headers and a Magnaflow exhaust. You can see by the pictures and the video this added a significant amount of power to the 5.4.

For most of us owning a prerunner like this is something we all dream of....but it doesn't have to be a dream. Save your pennies and do it in steps. The first step is to call Brenthel Industries, form a plan, and you too can be storming the desert like this high flyer.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)


 
In This Issue of Prerunner Maniac
Lucas Oil Off Road Off Road Racing On NBC
42nd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Results Story
42nd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Post Race Quotes
42nd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Official Finishers
Halloween Weekend 2009 Dumont Dunes
SEMA Show Coverage 2009
Truck Tent by Napier
TORC Off Road Racing Series Finale in Las Vegas
F 150 Long Travel Prerunner by Brenthel Industries
Pump My Prerunner
Pump My Prerunner Sponsors
Las Vegas Off-road Fabrication and Parts Ranger Long Travel Suspension Kits
auxiliary Fog lights, Driving lights, Off Road lights, HID lights, Flood lights, Light Bars, light Covers Radflo Shocks
Long Travel Leaf Springs
Offroad Wheels and Tires
Fiberglass Fenders and Bedsides Paint and Body
Driveline Services Vehicle Wraps

Prerunners | Offroad Racing | Side x Sides | Down and Dirty | Free Classified Ads | Gallery | Forum | News
Contact | Links | RSS Feeds | Advertise | Media Kit | Ad Rates | Site Map | Home

© 2007-2009 Prerunner Maniac, All Rights Reserved | Prerunner Maniac is a division of Crazy Dog Publications LLC.
Graphic Web Design :: Las Vegas Web Hosting