A solar eclipse is a rare thing of compelling beauty, much like this tricked out '04 Ford F-150 4x4 owned by L&G Enterprises of San Dimas, California. Known throughout the Southern California automotive customizing industry as one of the best paint and body shops around, L&G has painted thousands of the Southland's hottest trucks, including OFF-ROAD's Project F-350 Ford, which you will be seeing in future articles, and numerous other vehicles for some of our sister publications like TRUCKIN' and SPORT TRUCK. When the time came for the shop to build its own vehicle, no expense was spared. Working with Ford Motor Company, L&G was awarded a new '04 F-150 SuperCab for customizing. After learning that an identical F-150 was being built in a 2WD configuration, L&G teamed up with that truck's builder, Street Scene Equipment, to create a dynamic duo - L&G on the 4WD and Street Scene Equipment on the 2WD
With L&G's intent to create a useable daily driver that could still romp around the sand dunes of Glamis, the factory suspension was removed and a new 8-inch California Super Trucks coilover setup was installed by Custom Truck Shop in San Dimas, California. As part of the new suspension kit, Sway-A-Way coil springs were wrapped around specially valved, matching shocks. The end result is a front suspension that can be tuned depending upon the intended terrain.
The rear of the truck was lifted with newly arched Atlas leaf springs which make the truck sit level. The rear shocks consist of Sway-A-Way bypass valve units that have been integrated into a custom-designed and fabricated bedcage that allows for maximum shock travel. The bedcage also serves as a spare tire rack and holds the relocated Optima YellowTop battery. Speaking of tires, massive 37x12.50x17 BFGoodrich Baja T/As wrapped around Walker Evans 17x9.5-inch wheels reside at each of the truck's corners.
More than satisfied with the stock 5.4L V-8 powerplant, only a few additions were made to improve the truck's performance, such as the Gibson 3-inch after-cat stainless steel exhaust system.