Ford Maverick 2026 Upgrades

It’s white. It’s got steel rims. It looks like a utility locator company truck. And I love it. Here’s a running list of upgrades I’ve added or rejected from my base model Ford Maverick XL Hybrid:

• Mabett Bed Storage Cubbies. The biggest upgrade was filling the spots in the bed with these two plastic cubbies. They fit just enough bungee and tie downs to do “truck stuff”. They come with 4 screws each, so be sure to get some M6 screws to fill all the holes.
• Jump Starter. Hasn’t arrived yet, but the USB-C plug I installed kept draining the battery to nothing. Had to jump it. Humiliating. Get one of these instead.
• Mabett cup holders and trash can. Tiny but mighty, this center console fills the gap below the charger block. The can stays centered in the Flexbed bracket, and I have an extra spot for empties on a road trip.
• Mabett Mud Flaps. I had zero road grime after a trip to Seattle and back in the rain. Couldn’t have a better endorsement. Install by removing and replacing the stock clips.
• Mabett Under Front Seat Storage. Just a bit of extra room for a first aid kit and other stuff I want but won’t need all the time. Keeps me from having to fill up the backseat storage so much.
• 12V bed plug; particularly useful for running pumps for the stand up paddle boards. Just pop off the electrical cover and connect it up. You will need the key on to run the hybrid motor, most likely.
• Mobile antenna for my Baofeng. Helped me get mobile and use my Ham license.
• Tailgate Molding Rivets, Plastic. The ones on the tailgate keep breaking. I keep the pack in the truck. These are much sturdier.
• Tailgate hole cover; mostly for paranoia factor of getting sand or rocks stuck inside the tailgate.
• Hitch Hole Cover. Just plain vanity. The tail end looks chopped up without it.
• Adeptus Mechanicus sticker. Heralding its arrival as a hybrid being, my steel steed gets an emblem of the machine god. Some day, when my flesh disgusts me enough (or my knees give out), I will join her in communion with the Omnissiah.
• Snarky Plate Surround — BOUGHT A TRUCK — FOR THE GAS MILEAGE. My family is going to disown me when they see it, but I bet I’ll get fist bumps in the Fred Meyer parking lot.

It’s not all Xibit-style customization up in here. The Flexbed stuff is nice, but it needs to go further. The attachment bracket used for the trash can was supposed to be a Ford thing used across their line. Not sure it took off. I want it on the dash for a phone holder. I want it on the bumper for tailgating, add more cup holders or something. Make it sturdier. Make it universal.

Rejected Upgrades — these ones failed due to practicality, functionality, or budget reality:

• Rough Country Tonneau Cover. As a former Ranger owner that had a fiberglass flat top installed, I love the idea of the latest covers, but I don’t find myself using the bed for anything but hauling right now. Since the bed is so small, removing it every time to store it in the garage seems like a pain. Check Reddit for the best recommendations. People really like the 3-piece ones. Hard Cover is better if you get snow.
• USB-C in the bed. I couldn’t find one that didn’t stay active all the time and drain my battery. When I left town, I had to jump it when I got back. Since I uninstalled it, no issues.
• Inverter in the bed. A 12v inverter is going to last longer inside the truck than wired into an open bed. Just plug it in when you need it into the 12v outlet. Get one near the tailgate with the 12V connectors..
• Wired motion detecting lights. Just get a few magnetized LED handhelds from Harbor Freight and attach them in the cubbies. Mischief managed.
• Under seat storage dividers. I’ve got the hybrid, so space is at a premium here. Just put a blanket under there to stop your secret stash from rolling around.
• Rain guards for the window. Almost pulled the trigger on these after one too many drips in the drive thru. The in-channel ones were recommended. Instead, I keep a cloth in the door now. Helps wipe the dust from the Fischer Price interior too, lol.

Wyse 3040 Thin Client as a CUPS Print Server

 I bought a HP LaserJet Pro M405dn via surplus from a previous company, and it has become the most reliable printer I've ever owned. It’s compact, quiet, and the refills are cheap to this day. The only problem was it didn’t come with a wireless card.

When we had a reclaimed desktop as a Plex server, I plugged it in there on USB and shared it on the network. Windows 10 made that doable, but not easy. WSD issues, permissions for Work and surplused laptops running business versions of Windows. The problems piled up, and I got fed up. I went searching for a print server.

If this were 2010, I’d buy a raspberry pi and be done. But the tariffs and RAM crisis have made even the stock models as rare, and I was fed up. Enter the Wyse 3040, a refurbished line of thin clients from Dell. Small but mighty, this thin client was an Intel Atom SBC with soldered ram coming in at 2GB and 8GB storage.

For an OS, I tried a few distros, including the Dell  but could never get them to be compact enough. Debian 13 was my savior. A headless, compact build out of the box took up less than 4GB on install, and the installer boot disk came with non-free drivers that saved the day:

1. Plug in a mouse and keyboard and DisplayPort monitor.
2. Unlock UEFI
3. Unlock the BIOS with the default password, Fireport,  if needed (mine came unlocked from the reseller linked above)
4. Plug in your boot disk to USB. There’s a USB 3.0 blue port on the front which felt faster on the third install. Grumble grumble…
5. You want the advanced install options so you can survival select a pared down set of options and install the non-free drivers.
6. During install, be sure to select xfce for your GUI instead of the heavier Gnome ones. You can even go headless, but I did not.
7. You will need to enable some kernel modules to see the eMMC after launch  the installer can see your storage just fine, but the OS can’t boot without them. This thread on Reddit was awesome. After install, enable the modules as the OP says, but then make them load every boot by following this comment. The UEFI trick is also necessary.
8. You might need to do similar kernel module shenanigans for your WiFi card. I did not, as you will see later.

After that, I was able to boot, enable SSH to get into my print server headless, and the rest could be done remotely. CUPS was the next challenge. My Xfinity (Comcast) router had their crappy hotspot turned on. This blocked devices from finding each other on the network. 24hrs later, it was off and I was running headless. I installed the printer via USB and configured CUPS in a browser. The test page was a sweet victory.

I had a memory of printers with expansion slots for WiFi back in the dark days of the 2000s, so I googled my printer. It turns out the dn in the model number means direct networking. Under a panel, I found an Ethernet port. An office move meant the router was sitting right next to the printer, and I could have just plugged it directly in all along. Oh well. What’s a bit of trouble in GRUB for old times sake?

For reference:

• A good walkthrough, but the info is dated: https://qubitsandbytes.co.uk/install-a-new-os-on-a-dell-wyse-3040/