THREE-PEAT
Cody Hill’s First-of-its-kind 2017 F-350
WHEN TRUCK BUILDER CODY HILL’S FIRST RIDE MADE IT INTO A MAGAZINE, HE SET THE BAR FOR HIS NEXT PROJECT PRETTY HIGH. When his second truck made it not only into a magazine, but into SEMA as well, he really started pushing his limits. For his third and most recent build, Cody had visions of grandeur.
When the redesign for the new 2017 Ford F-350 was released to the public, Cody immediately fell in love with it. He decided that he wanted to build one for SEMA, but he understood that finding parts for a brand-new truck would be difficult. Knowing that if he were to accomplish the build, he’d be one of the first with a fully custom, new body-style F-350 in the Midwest, if not the continental U.S., he forged ahead undaunted.
Moments after his first test drive Cody bought the F-350, and the salesman informed him that he indeed would be the first person in Oklahoma to own one. That was in September 2016, which only gave him about four weeks to get his new truck ready for SEMA in November. He had his work cut out for him, not just because of the roadblocks inherent to building a newmodel truck in a short time, but this new build had to outdo the trucks from his past.
MOMENTS AFTER HIS FIRST TEST DRIVE CODY BOUGHT THE F-350, AND THE SALESMAN INFORMED HIM THAT HE WOULD BE THE FIRST PERSON IN OKLAHOMA TO OWN ONE.”
Most crews spend an entire year prepping their vehicles to be shown at SEMA. Cody had just 30 days; so he immediately got down to it, sending emails and making phone calls to get his sponsors locked in.
With no time to spare,
Cody sent his truck to Stryker Off-road Design to get the suspension installation underway. Fortunately, his friend, Kevin, works for Stillman Transport; so, he hauled the F-350 from Cody’s home in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Marryville, Tennessee. Once the F-350 landed in Tennessee, the team at Stryker installed one of their custom 9.5-inch lifts. The lift features a front 4-link setup, as well as 2.5 remote reservoir coil-overs, reservoir shocks, rear traction bars and an add-a-leaf. The complete suspension setup was installed in merely a week, and the truck was sent back to Cody who still had quite a bit of work to do.
No sooner than the A2L series front and rear bumpers by Bodyguard Bumpers showed up, Cody, his friends and family began the paintmatching process for all of the suspension pieces and bumpers. He enlisted help from his longtime friend and painter Michael La Plante. The color scheme was decided as soon as the truck was purchased: a mix of original Ford Silver Metallic and Jolly Rancher Red.
Once the tedious process of laying all that color was finished, it was time to reassemble all of the parts and install the lighting in the bumpers and on the body. Between the light bars and LED cubes from Heise LEDS, and the lights provided by The Retrofit Source, there’s no place this F-350 can’t go.
After installing his Gravel Empire one-of-one custom grille, everything else followed in a rush, like the Rockford Fosgate stereo setup, AMP Research Powersteps, bedcover and hidden train-horn setup.
The final piece of the puzzle before the truck headed to Vegas was the wheels. Wheel choice was a toss-up during most of the build process, but Cody ultimately locked down a decision to run a set of American Force Code wheels in a body-matching Jolly Rancher Red. A big truck needs big wheels, so he went with 24-inchers wrapped in 38-inch Nitto Trail Grapplers. After a whole lot of cleaning, the F-350 was finally headed off to SEMA.
After three sleepless weeks, there are many friends, family and sponsors Cody would like to thank. First and foremost, he’s grateful to his wife, Chelsey, and his dad. Derek Allred, Wade Shafer, Michael La Plante, Chuck Kriss, Skyler Howell, Brock Barker and all the sponsors who created the products and got them out in time also deserve a big thank you for the pivotal roles they all played in getting this brand-new Ford F-350 to SEMA for its big debut.