Josh Burnett’s Big Bad Ford F-450 Platinum

Everything is bigger in Texas… right? It certainly is if we are talking about this Ford, which we found at the 2018 Daytona Truck Meet. The owner, Josh Burnett, is from the Lone Star State, and he took his brand new 2017 F-450 Super Duty Platinum Edition to the next level.

In 2017, Josh visited the Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association show in Las Vegas for the first time. Upon swinging by the American Force stand, he fell in love (or lust, depending on your view point) with their newly released 28-inch chrome wheels. Josh decided there and then he wanted them on his new Ford. The truck is one of the first trucks in the world to be fitted with American Force 28×16 wheels – yes, I will say that again – 28×16 wheels! They are wrapped with massive 42-inch Fury Country Hunter Tires front and rear. And since it is a dually, this means he has double the wheel width at the rear.

Josh's F-450 touts American Force 28-inch wheels, as well as 42-inch Country Hunter MTs.

However, Josh faced a big problem. Somehow, some way, he had to get someone to take on the task of mounting of the massive tires onto the wheels without damaging them. On top of this, he had to find someone who could build custom wheel spacers to allow the pairs of 16-inch wheels to live together on the same axle without rubbing. Luckily for Josh, a local company in Dallas called Moonshadow answered the call. They also got the tires mounted onto the wheels, and then installed onto the truck.

The lift kit keeps everything in proportion for this truck. It is not only wide – nearly eleven feet at the rear – it is also over nine feet tall, courtesy of the lift kit and larger tires.

Josh wasn’t just looking to add some bling to the axles on this truck, oh no; he wanted to max things out in every department. The top-spec Platinum trim level was a good starting point. Then Sinister Diesel provided an intake system to add a little more power to the already powerful 6.7-liter V8 diesel motor.

To help it breathe easier, a full five-inch chrome exhaust system was added. PPEI provided the custom tuning on the truck, allowing Josh’s Ford to go as well as it shows. The stock motor puts out about 440 horsepower; however, Josh wouldn’t say how much the PPEI tune adds on top of that. PPEI’s website claims anything from 30 more horses for their Stage 1 tune, all the way up to 180+ horses for their Stage 5 Tune. Given everything else Josh has done to this truck, we can’t see it being just 30 more horses – can you?

Just as nice as the wheels is the suspension system. For his truck, Josh went with King remote reservoir shock absorbers and steering stabilizers. The extra oil in the reservoirs is good at preventing aeration, which can make the shock absorber less effective, and is very useful on a heavy Super Duty like this one. Oh, and did we mention the truck has 18 inches of lift?

In keeping with the obsession over bigness, the truck has an 18-inch lift system fitted to it. Josh didn’t want just a 6-inch or 8-inch lift system – remember, he is from Texas!

The traction bars are all powder coated white to match the body of the truck. They are beefy, naturally, to control the extra horses leaping from beneath the hood (and more importantly, the monstrous torque; 925 lb-ft is stock for this engine so given the PPEI tune, we estimate 1,100-1,200 lb-ft as it stands now).

Meanwhile, there are variable LED lights all over the place. These allow Josh to change the colors at will. We have to imagine how stunning this truck must look at night, which is a bummer, since we only saw it in the middle of the day, the Florida sunshine outshining the lights at all angles.

A Gravel Empire grille and Fusion bumper have refashioned the face of the truck to be much more imposing and awesome. Underneath, Economy Plating gave the suspension components an amazing chrome appearance that really emphasizes their presence.

Josh added cosmetic upgrades to the Ford, with Fusion Bumpers supplying the front and rear bumpers for this build. Josh then added Royal Hooks just to finish off the look on the front. Gravel Empire provided the front grille. If you want to get ahold of them, your best bet is through Instagram, where they run the lue_awcgrills page. That, or #gravelempiregrills or #gravelempire will eventually get you there. Kids today, huh?

All of the chrome work on Josh’s Ford was done by Josh Bratz at Economy Plating, a local plating business in Balch Springs, Texas. Josh Burnett decided to chrome almost all of the accent pieces on his truck, including the sway bars, link supports, Gen Y Hitch rear step, support struts for the rear step, front and rear Royal Hooks, and everything else you see in the pictures.

Just as platinum is a rare earth metal, so too did Josh apply his singular vision to make a Super Duty that stood out from the crowd.

Controlling all of the electronics for this truck could be cumbersome if it was only done by switches on a panel. To make it easier, Josh uses an EZ Lynk controller. Driven by an app on his smartphone, Josh can control the display lights mounted under the truck within the suspension. He can also change the LED light colors and activate the fog lights, LED light bar, door locks, alarm, horn, and more. Inside, the centrally mounted iPad duplicates the controls used by the EZ Lynk app on his phone.

This Super Duty looked damn good, no matter the angle.

Josh has made some other subtle modifications to the F-450 including Precision Retrofit headlights and taillights on the truck. Josh isn’t shy – driving this truck, who could be? – and he has quite an online presence. His F-450 features heavily on his Instagram, the_josh33. He’s even gone so far as to stick on a decal, should you see it out and about and want to tag him in your pictures.

As you may have noticed by now, this truck is not for the shy or shrinking. If you don’t spot this truck coming at you, Josh has the option of sounding the Horn Blasters chrome horns located under the rear of the truck bed, which will probably wake the dead.

We found some cool stuff underneath the truck, too. Like the five-inch exhaust tip and train horn array, ready to scare wildlife and people a few counties over!

“Saving the best for last” truly describes the rear of this truck. If you like your rear to be big and impressive, well this one certainly fits the bill. The sheer size, both width and height, make this F-450 hard to miss. On top of this, what with it being white and shiny with all of the chrome and platinum accents, it is hard not to be impressed.

We were amazed with what Josh achieved on his truck in less than eight months. Is Josh happy with the truck? Absolutely. Will he modify it further? He wouldn’t say, so we will all just have to wait and see.

This Ford has one very imposing rear view.

About the author

Nigel Dobbie

A certified petrol-head Nigel Dobbie is a native of the U.K. and a long-time Corvette owner. Currently living in the U.S., he drives a 2010 ZR1 and also owns a 2003 C5 Z06 that is currently in its third rebuild, which should end up as an 800 horsepower twin turbo track rat. He is passionate about motorsports, as long as it involves making right-hand turns. Nigel can usually be found trackside with his trusty Canon on any given ALMS race weekend. He is a freelance contributor for Power Automedia.
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