I Leveled the Front, Truxxx Style

EDITED Feb 29 2012: DO NOT MAKE THIS MOD! HERE'S WHY: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f5/why-spacers-bad-idea-lots-cv-axle-innards-pics-11645/

I've been considering leveling out my Raptor since I brought it home. I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't like the "stink bug" look, plain and simple. And to be perfectly honest, that's probably the main reason this mod keeps coming back up in my mind.

However there are other functional reasons as well. I do want to replace my stock bumper and skid, but finances don't allow for that (at least in the short term), so getting the nose up in the air helps with the approach angle I've been struggling with (by adding my Bull Bar I gave up a little bit). It will also help me avoid mangling that skid plate.

I waffled back and forth between the Truxxx kit and adjusting the spring perch. MarkT pretty much wrote the definitive word regarding these two mods in terms of their ramifications, and in the end thanks mostly to Mark, I decided the Truxxx kit was a better option for me. I scored a brand new kit off eBay for $100 shipped, which made the decision even easier for me.

On to the install. I assembled these notes and many of these pics from various sources over the internet. Those with the SVTO watermark are pics I took and those left unmarked are those I pulled from elsewhere. I totally lost my notes on what came from where, so if these are yours thanks for taking them!

Go ahead and read the Truxxx install instructions then basically throw them away. They're almost worthless. Then call Truxxx up @ 888-660-5892 ext8, tell them you're going to do this install and ask them for any tips. I talked to Dave twice and both times he was really helpful in offering tips and pitfalls to avoid. Then read these notes. Between those three sources, you should be in good shape, even if you're not the most experienced modder out there.

Start by making some room. Unbolt the retainer holding the brake line in place



You can use a small flathead to push the locking tooth up on the tiestraps releasing them and allowing for reuse


I then unbolted the tie rods.

I've read one guy used standard tie down straps at this point, wrapped thru the tie rod holes and around the back of the upper control arm pivot bolts, with the other end hooked to the top of the caliper mounting post. I don't have standard straps, but I do have ratcheting straps and a bottle jack so I used those. I would suggest you probably go buy standard tie downs and use those instead.

Once tight and fully supported, I knocked the top ball joints loose.

I then knocked off the chrome spindle dust cap off, and removed the spindle nut. FYI this is a nut that looks like it deforms when torqued. You may consider replacing these with new nuts, or do what I did which is reuse them but also applied couple drops of blue loctite to each first. (According to Ford, there is no special note about either replacing them or reusing them, nor is there anything indicating these are special 'crush' or 'deformation' style nuts. The part number is N802827-S440, and run around $1.70ea retail.)





You don't actually pull the hub, brake caliper or shaft. Removing this nut allows the shaft to float and give you that extra bit of room needed to remove the strut.



I then pulled the bottom strut bolt (its TIIIGGGGHT) and then loosened (not removed) the three top strut nuts. I worked the bottle jack down slowly as the tension in the strut released until finally I was able to remove the three top strut nuts. A little 'gentle persuasion' with the pry bar and out came the strut.


Here's everything apart



Here's one of the gotchas; from the factory our struts have wedge spacers top and bottom. Apparently lots of guys neglect to remove the top spacers from the strut FIRST. They then go to put the Truxxx spacer on and it no workie. You want to pull those spacers off before putting the Truxxx on, then put the wedge on top of the installed Truxxx spacer (those wedges are the same side to side, top to bottom)








Here's where you can see why the stock studs need to be cut down. There's no clearance for 'em.



Here's a little trick I read from another guy who did this install; The Truxxx instructions tell you you have to flip the strut 180deg to reinstall it, but the bummer there is that pretty engraved SVT logo and Fox labeling is now facing the rear of the truck! Given that everything is identical side to side, why not swap the struts side to side to keep everything pointing forward as before? So that's what I did; the driver strut is now on the passenger side, and the passenger side strut is on the drivers side. Everything is facing forward as before.


After that it was a matter of reinstalling everything in the reverse order. I did have to pry down on the lower control arm to gain that extra bit of clearance required, which is where having that spindle nut removed and slack in all the cabling really helped.

Here's the torque specs I used to reassemble everything. This is from the 2009 F150 4x4 w/ 5.4 FFV Service Manual. The 2010 isn't available yet, but even so I'm fairly positive the numbers I'm interested didn't change between 2009 and 2010, and nothing here is Raptor specific. Use this, or not, with all that in mind


Here's the measurement before the mod:


And after:


And for comparison, here's the rear:


Here's an older 'before' pic:


And here's a better 'before' example pic (not my truck obviously)


And a couple of 'done' pics:




The drive is damn near identical as before. I haven't had 'er off road yet with this mod, but on road characteristics haven't changed at all, in my opinion.

Thanks for the write-up. Makes the 35's look small. Time for 37's

Great write-up J, thanks for sharing it with us and your inside info.

I'm actually surprised that you can clearly see the difference just looking at the one pic:

Thanks guys Can ya also see the blacked out rear wheel well? Made a HUGE difference on this white truck. Should have come that way from the factory.

Regarding alignment... we've got something of a mystery on our hands.

According to Truxxx, you'll need an alignment after performing this mod. So I took the truck to my dealership today to get that alignment done. They put it on the rack and came back at me wondering why I wanted an alignment on a truck that's already in spec.



I pulled out the Truxxx instructions (that have those specs on them) and after talking with the guy a bit, he determined that in order to meet the specs on the Truxxx documentation, they'd have to add a caster/camber kit for $90, and charge me a couple hundred in labor. I said 'uh yah no thank you very much' took my truck and gave Dave at Truxxx another call. After some head scratching, I sent him the above pic via email and he said he'd get with the guy who designed the kit (Paul I think his name was?) and call me back.

Damn sure makes me wish I would have put 'er on the alignment rack before making the mod. That would have been some useful before and after info.

I'll report back when I hear something.

For what its worth, I can't feel any issue at all in the alignment. She tracks straight, steers just fine, centers just fine...

There's nothing abnormal about the measurements you came up with after your install. Mine looked similar after I did the shock perch move (#2). I would advise getting the camber/caster kit installed to correct the excessive negative camber your truck has. The insides of your tires will probably wear pretty good. The reason it still tracks good down the road is because your cross caster and camber measurements still look good, and your total toe only changed slightly. In other words, both sides changed equally when you raised the vehicles ride hight. I have a huge thread about Raptor alignments and how changing the ride hight affects things on FRF you can check out. The problem you will have trying to get the camber back to 0 will result in a big loss in positive caster. Positive caster helps vehicle stability and assists steering wheel return. Its a give and take adjustment, try to get the camber back to something sensible while maintaining decent positive caster. Iirc, I got mine with a left side -.3 camber/4.2 caster, right side, -.2 camber/3.9 caster.

You don't need the kits to make the adjustment but it makes life 100% easier for the guy making the adjustments. I still need to get a kit for mine. I also believe the kits will help keep the truck in alignment. I've knocked mine out 3 times now and its always one of the lower control arm adjustment points that move. Its when I brake hard over rough terrain that I pull them back. I hope a kit will solve this.

Very good info PA. Thanks for the explanation. Can you link to the thread you mention at FRF? Or repost the info here (maybe a new thread?) Either way.

Do you have a particular camber/caster kit you might recommend?

Here's the FRF link,

http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f7/your-raptor-its-alignment-539/

I know Ford makes a kit, which would probably be fine to use. But I install a lot of this company's ( http://www.spcalignment.com/ ) stuff and its always been heavy duty/top notch. I test fitted a regular, newer F150 SPC kit on my truck (the one pictured in my thread) and it looked like it will work. I just need to call SPC and verify. That part number should be 86230. The kit is something you could install in your garage, saving you labor. You would just need to get an alignment right away since it would be pretty far out of whack after you loosened everything up.

Really appreciate all of you (especially BigJ) posting this very useful info here.

Personally, I'll stick with the approximately 2" lower front end rather than tackle all of this to get it right. Doesn't mean I don't like it just not ready to go for it.

Nice write up and pics! Interesting how the alignment turned out. I'm particularly impressed with the toe still being in spec.

KaiserM715 said:

Thanks for the write-up. Makes the 35's look small. Time for 37's

Click to expand...

I'm a 37 inch guy myself. BFG KM2's actual diameter is 36.8 on my Raptor.