- Factory Five’s new XT-1 kit transforms a 2015–’20 Ford F-150 crew cab 4×4 into a desert pre-runner.
- Starting at $24,990, the XT-1 replaces the F-150’s standard ladder frame with a full tube frame with a long-travel suspension.
- Factory Five says the new frame is 100 pounds heavier, and it makes the F-150’s fenders 90 inches wide (the widebody Raptor R has 87-inch hips).
Bored with all the factory-built Baja trucks out there like the Raptors and TRXs and ZR2s? Well, you’re in luck, because Factory Five Racing just cooked up a new kit that’ll turn a 2015 to 2020 Ford F-150s into something more akin to a trophy truck than a Raptor. The XT-1 kit brings new meaning to “frame-off restoration,” replacing the F-150’s ladder frame with a full tube-frame setup, complete with new long-travel suspension. All you need is a truck, some can-do mechanical aptitude—and $24,990.
Do It Yourself
The XT-1 kit is the first Factory Five design to use a factory interior, and indeed the finished truck looks completely stock inside. Underneath is a different story, with Ford’s frame replaced with a tube-steel monster that Factory Five says weighs 100 pounds more than the stock item but is twice as strong. The new frame pushes the front and rear tracks out so much that an XT-1 is 90 inches wide at the fenders—3 inches wider than a Raptor R, itself not skinny. That additional width requires a lot of new bodywork, including the hood, front end, and front and rear fenders. Body panels are fiberglass, with carbon fiber a $6999 option.
The hardware behind 16 inches of front suspension travel.
The suspension, though, is the XT-1’s reason for being. The control-arm independent front suspension (with CV joints and four-wheel drive) includes long-travel Fox remote-reservoir dampers and delivers 16 inches of travel. The rear end is even wilder, replacing the F-150’s leaf-spring design with a four-link coil suspension that stretches for 20 inches of travel. The XT-1 is designed to run 37-inch tires, same as the Raptor R.
Extra-Cost Extras
Besides the carbon body panels, there are a few other options. The $699 tow package restores the F-150’s towing capability with a hitch, panhard bar, and axle-limiting straps. Rear anti-roll bars are $399, but isn’t comical body roll part of the desert-truck experience? A race cage for the cab will be available at some point but isn’t yet priced.
As for the donor-truck starting point, you’ll want a 2015-2020 F-150 crew cab 4×4 with the 26-gallon fuel tank (a 2021 or 2022 model is also compatible but more complicated). Either the EcoBoost twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 or 5.0-liter V-8 engines will work. Say, didn’t Ford just release a 700-horsepower bolt-on kit for that 5.0? Break out your credit card, we have a great idea!
The XT-1 kit goes on sale in August, so you can start cleaning out your garage now. Pull in with an F-150 this fall, leap out next spring ready to ignore speed bumps entirely.
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Senior Editor
Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He’s now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.