2014 f150 lariat raptor conversion help

[BenBB]

Okay, I’m finalizing my final order to finish the front end swap and I could use some help with all of the little odds and ends. The tie rod ends and boots. From what I can tell there is no right and left specific part. Tasca, which is where my final order is going through lists only one outer tie rod link on there site but it is labeled left.
Upper and lower control arm bolts and nuts I am also a bit unsure about. For the lowers I believe they list the bolt as a cam bolt which I believe these are used as adjustments for your alignment but I’m not exactly sure of everything I need with those or if there is a better then stock option when using the stock upper control arms.
I also am a bit unsure about the bolts and nuts for the ucas.
Any help or part numbers and quantities would be a great help guys. Hopefully I’ll be putting this thing together in a couple weeks.

Can confirm, inner and outer tie rods are the same from side to side, so just order 2 inner and 2 outer.

That "cam bolt" might be right for the LCA pivot bolts, but I would recommend the Specialty Performance cam bolts instead, they come in pairs so you need two pair. Rockauto has them under "Suspension" then "Alignment Cam / Plate", or you might find SP on amazon or whatever. The stock setup is just a plain bolt, nut, and slotted hole, with the cam it adds a plate that indexes off a nearby hole in the frame, and uses a nut with a cam-shaped lobe to adjust alignment. Of course if you go with adjustable UCA's I would recommend a LCA pivot bolt slot eliminator, a few places make them like I think KHC...

 

[II Sevv]

Okay, I’m finalizing my final order to finish the front end swap and I could use some help with all of the little odds and ends. The tie rod ends and boots. From what I can tell there is no right and left specific part. Tasca, which is where my final order is going through lists only one outer tie rod link on there site but it is labeled left.
Upper and lower control arm bolts and nuts I am also a bit unsure about. For the lowers I believe they list the bolt as a cam bolt which I believe these are used as adjustments for your alignment but I’m not exactly sure of everything I need with those or if there is a better then stock option when using the stock upper control arms.
I also am a bit unsure about the bolts and nuts for the ucas.
Any help or part numbers and quantities would be a great help guys. Hopefully I’ll be putting this thing together in a couple weeks.

The tie rod ends are the same for both sides. Dude, just use their parts fitment directions to find the bolts. Every part will be labeled very clearly with where they go and what they fit. For example, it will say “bolt, upper control arm, mount to frame” or something like that. It’s very clear on those Ford parts websites but I would recommend “Ford parts giant” over tasca. The stock lower control arm bolts don’t have cams and the camber/caster is set by sliding the arm and torquing the bolt down. Obviously this isn’t a great method of setting and keeping the alignment so I’d recommend buying the SPC alignment cam kit. You need 1 kit per side and I bought the HD kit. The stock upper and lower control arm bolts aren’t anything special and you can literally buy them at ace hardware.

 

[Hobdog]

Thanks guys for the info. I got the rest of the parts ordered and the spc kit as well. I’m pretty excited to start wrenching on this truck and hopefully this conversion will meet my expectations.
Besides the raptor front end, I am adding the eibach pro lift springs and the deaver +3 leaf springs in the back to raise the truck a little bit. I have yet to purchase my tires and wheels but the plan is 35x12.5x17 or18 with possibly 0 offset wheels or at least somewhere in between the 35mm stock raptor and 0 offset.

 

[Doug Mikra]

Hey hobdog,

I don't know where you ended up on this build, but my company recently came out with a conversion kit that will enable Gen 2 shocks on a Gen 1 without having to weld on new coil buckets. Check out www.mikramfg.com if you're interested!

 

[Hobdog]

Hey hobdog,

I don't know where you ended up on this build, but my company recently came out with a conversion kit that will enable Gen 2 shocks on a Gen 1 without having to weld on new coil buckets. Check out www.mikramfg.com if you're interested!

thanks for the link, it looks good. I have already purchased Gen 1 coilovers for my build. I currently am waiting very impatiently on the remainder of other parts to start the build.

 

[TXRaaptor]

You could buy all the OEM parts, or equivalent aftermarket versions that may even be better than OEM, but as some have mentioned, the frame is bespoke, not just in track width, but in additional strengthening etc. So keep in mind that while from an aesthetic standpoint, you could absolutely end up with a vehicle that looks as good, or better than the standard Raptor, it likely wouldn’t hold up to anything too rough off-road, assuming you were intending hard use with the project.

either way, good luck and I’d love to see the finished product!

 

[Primez]

You could buy all the OEM parts, or equivalent aftermarket versions that may even be better than OEM, but as some have mentioned, the frame is bespoke, not just in track width, but in additional strengthening etc. So keep in mind that while from an aesthetic standpoint, you could absolutely end up with a vehicle that looks as good, or better than the standard Raptor, it likely wouldn’t hold up to anything too rough off-road, assuming you were intending hard use with the project.

either way, good luck and I’d love to see the finished product!

I don’t think Ford started making any changes to the frame until around 2012. (Which is why you’ll find that a lot of parts for a 2010/11 are not compatible with 12-14).

From what I understand, the frame of a 2010 Raptor is no different from a bone stock 2010 F150.
It took a year of Raptor ownership and frame bending, following by a year of research and R&D before Ford started to realize they needed to beef up certain areas.

The track width was never changed in any way, shape, or form on Gen 1s. Only some strengthening in vulnerable areas. The width comes from the suspensions and wider rear axle.

 

[Primez]

Thanks guys for the info. I got the rest of the parts ordered and the spc kit as well. I’m pretty excited to start wrenching on this truck and hopefully this conversion will meet my expectations.
Besides the raptor front end, I am adding the eibach pro lift springs and the deaver +3 leaf springs in the back to raise the truck a little bit. I have yet to purchase my tires and wheels but the plan is 35x12.5x17 or18 with possibly 0 offset wheels or at least somewhere in between the 35mm stock raptor and 0 offset.

This might be obvious but make sure you get a new bolt for your shock mount. It’s an easily overlooked piece but the new lower shock mount bolt is like 2” longer than stock.


Also something else to keep in mind, you’ll want to do longer brake lines in the front as well. Go aftermarket and upgrade to stainless steel. BUT the F150 and Raptor have different hard lines. F150 mounts from below, Raptor mounts from above. So you’ll either need to bend the OEM lines (not ideal) or get new hard lines from a Raptor. (I did this. I think like $100 from Tasca and not impossible to do.)

Another headache will probably be the tie rod ends. Start soaking those like a week or 2 in advance, liberally, everyday with some sort of penetrating anti seize like PB Blaster otherwise you’re going to have a hard time getting them off without a big hot blow torch.

 

[B E N]

I don’t think Ford started making any changes to the frame until around 2012. (Which is why you’ll find that a lot of parts for a 2010/11 are not compatible with 12-14).

From what I understand, the frame of a 2010 Raptor is no different from a bone stock 2010 F150.
It took a year of Raptor ownership and frame bending, following by a year of research and R&D before Ford started to realize they needed to beef up certain areas.

The track width was never changed in any way, shape, or form on Gen 1s. Only some strengthening in vulnerable areas. The width comes from the suspensions and wider rear axle.

I though frame change was 13', semantics though. Before that date there is nothing "bespoke" about a raptor frame, unless the customer had work done on the frame, which would actually make it bespoke, rather than vehicle specific.

 

[Hobdog]

I got the suspension, wheels and tires installed this week. Here is a picture of how the truck looks in phase 1 of turning a grandpa truck into something I think is cool