2012 Silver Gen 1 SCREW

[GearHeadSVT]

August 2024:

Once my tailgate fell of, I knew it was time to just pull it off, and make a bed support. So that's exactly what I did. I decided to take inspiration from the SVC bed support, as I thought it was the most straight forward to build, and also would allow me to run a tailgate when I want, but also able to pull the tailgate off and not have to worry about shit flying out of the back.

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Over the next couple months, I took a lot of overtime at work, and wasn't able to get out in the truck much, or continue to do any upgrades up to this point, although a friend of mine did get an avalanche grey Gen 3, so that was pretty sweet.

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January 2025:

I began my Wendigo Watch 2025 prep, and also for Christmas had gotten a Badlands Offroad Jack, and I ended up getting the cutting files off of Etsy for the jack mount, and had a friend with a CNC plasma table cut it out for me.

For my prep, I did the standard maintenance stuff, cleaned the air filter, changed the oil and oil filter, made sure everything was up to *****. For the more in-depth prep, I decided to throw limit straps on the front end, buy a fire extinguisher mount to weld on the bed support, got RCV's IWE delete sleeves, made a metal bracket to hold the optima yellow top I threw in over the summer, as the OEM battery holder was not enough to hold optima in place, welded and mounted the Badlands Jack, and did some fluid filming and rust prevention.

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Nice truck! That was a great write up covering your continued build. I could look back to use this for reference. Thank you.

I’m new to FRF and I’ve been reading a few different tabs regarding the front axles and IWE delete, there’s a lot of mix opinions. Curious, What’s your opinion with deleting or keeping the IWE in reference for a daily driver?

 

[SilverGen1]

Nice truck! That was a great write up covering your continued build. I could look back to use this for reference. Thank you.

I’m new to FRF and I’ve been reading a few different tabs regarding the front axles and IWE delete, there’s a lot of mix opinions. Curious, What’s your opinion with deleting or keeping the IWE in reference for a daily driver?

Thank you! I will try to keep it updated as best as I can!

As far as IWE deletes go and daily driving the truck, I'm not sure what I would do. I had run the IWEs for about 2 years with no luck of having "reliable" 4WD at any point during that time. I ended up getting a new job, where I needed to commute about 45 minutes each day, compared to my old commute of 15 minutes. So I ended up picking up a 2013 Focus ST to daily. Love it. Back on track now, originally I wasn't sure how the IWE delete would change the drivability of the truck. My original interpretation was that the IWE delete would keep the truck in 4WD, all the time. Obviously that's not the case, it just makes the only disconnect of 4WD in the transfer case. So with not dailying my truck any longer, and the want of a reliable 4WD system, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I honestly couldn't be happier with how they work, so far, no issues, no weird noises, and no worry on the trails. I am excited to try them out this summer as Silver Lake Sand Dunes here in Michigan will test these out a little more than the trails.

But now onto my opinion.

Do they effect drivability at all?

No. My truck handles no different than when I was on IWEs, I legitimately cannot tell the difference. However, I went from averaging 10.5-11 mpg to now I'm happy to see 10 mpg.

The other kicker

Do they wear out your CVs and front differential? I mean yes, because now they're constantly spinning, but in my mind, they're not under load, so had bad could it really be? I had talked to numerous people who had installed these previously and had been running them for years without problems.

Would I run them if I was still daily driving my truck?

I honestly don't know

If money was no object and I didn't care about trying to squeeze out some mpg's, then yeah I would definitely throw them on

If I only went offroading a couple of times a year, and never really went into 4WD, then no I'd probably keep the IWE system to prevent additional wear on my 4WD.

At the end of the day, I would weigh out how much driving you do, how much off-roading you do, and how much you care about gas mileage. Also, how much you value 4WD.

 

[TomDirt]

I am (unfortunately) familiar with this view in the past. IYKYK.

 

[Big Blue]

@SilverGen1

Great thread and sweet truck. I look forward to your continued mods and adventures. I love hearing stories/seeing pics of how people get bit by the Raptor bug.

Give this a read, you might enjoy. BTW, I've been to Silver Lake many times. One of my favorite Raptor spots. I've gotten air so many times there that I got a letter from the FAA telling me to stop.

*Big Blue's Guide to Raptor Runs*

This thread is dedicated to my experiences, comments and suggestions with various Raptor Runs offered through FRF: I consider myself a serious Auto enthusiast. I have had lots of cool rides, as a matter of fact, since it’s only the wife and I, every car/truck I have owned would fall under the...

www.fordraptorforum.com