Clunking sound on Gen 3 too

[SurfRaptor]

Does anyone have experience with using their own set of chassis ears? I'm at the point where I would buy them myself, get them set up, and take the service manager for a ride so they can hear it for themselves.

 

[Raptorbert]

Does anyone have experience with using their own set of chassis ears? I'm at the point where I would buy them myself, get them set up, and take the service manager for a ride so they can hear it for themselves.

I was considering that. You can always “rent” them from Amazon.

 

[SurfRaptor]

I was considering that. You can always “rent” them from Amazon.

I saw that on Amazon and thought the same thing but are they high quality enough?

 

[Raptorbert]

I saw that on Amazon and thought the same thing but are they high quality enough?

Only one way to find out, I’m honestly not sure. The clunk bothers me but in my case it’s so minor and circumstantial I don’t feel like going a 3rd time to get it looked at just yet.

 

[emco]

I have purposely waited to jump in. I have a late 2021 F150 Raptor with many of the suspension symptoms/ complaints listed in this 106 page thread. My dealer just installed 4 brand new shock units from Fox (mfg date of 7/23) and all the looseness, vibrations, unsettled suspension issues are now gone. The truck feels super tight and planted on the road, even over the little cracks and washboard surfaces. I suspected cavitation in the first 1/8 inch of travel with the original shocks and I was right. Also, if the shock mounting points are not torqued to spec (I would say go past spec at least 10 foot lbs) there may be slight movement, as they are of crappy engineering and tolerances. I no longer have vibrations in my floor board, gas and brake pedal. The truck doesnt feel like the suspension is loose and crappy anymore. DEMAND all new Fox shocks if you want your Raptor to ride the way it should. My next fix will be aftermarket tie rod ends or replacements to alleviate the slight thud or bump felt when cranking the steering wheel back and forth rapidly. This is not a major issue and many of you most likely don't even know it exists on your trucks. I had my son and his friend hold both front wheels tighly and I rapidly turned steering wheel back and forth which reveals the play (light knock) in the tie rod(s). I believe these problems are specific to 2021 and early through mid production 2022 models. I was able to drive a new 2023 model and found no loose suspension or tie rod knock (as I call it) present.
In my opinion, the 2021 and early '22 Raptors are the most desirable. I have heated steering wheel, auto start delete, adjustable abient lighting, digital readout in my Heat/ AC controls, and the torsionn front axle!

 

[Raptorbert]

I have purposely waited to jump in. I have a late 2021 F150 Raptor with many of the suspension symptoms/ complaints listed in this 106 page thread. My dealer just installed 4 brand new shock units from Fox (mfg date of 7/23) and all the looseness, vibrations, unsettled suspension issues are now gone. The truck feels super tight and planted on the road, even over the little cracks and washboard surfaces. I suspected cavitation in the first 1/8 inch of travel with the original shocks and I was right. Also, if the shock mounting points are not torqued to spec (I would say go past spec at least 10 foot lbs) there may be slight movement, as they are of crappy engineering and tolerances. I no longer have vibrations in my floor board, gas and brake pedal. The truck doesnt feel like the suspension is loose and crappy anymore. DEMAND all new Fox shocks if you want your Raptor to ride the way it should. My next fix will be aftermarket tie rod ends or replacements to alleviate the slight thud or bump felt when cranking the steering wheel back and forth rapidly. This is not a major issue and many of you most likely don't even know it exists on your trucks. I had my son and his friend hold both front wheels tighly and I rapidly turned steering wheel back and forth which reveals the play (light knock) in the tie rod(s). I believe these problems are specific to 2021 and early through mid production 2022 models. I was able to drive a new 2023 model and found no loose suspension or tie rod knock (as I call it) present.
In my opinion, the 2021 and early '22 Raptors are the most desirable. I have heated steering wheel, auto start delete, adjustable abient lighting, digital readout in my Heat/ AC controls, and the torsionn front axle!

If only I had dealers as willing as yours around me.

 

[emco]

I made the senior/ expert tech at my dealer drive my truck and a new '23 and he immediately said "what do you want to do?" I think many of the early shocks were defective or of "pandemic build quality". Don't these apprehensive dealers want the shop hours for warranty work, no?

 

[Raptorbert]

I made the senior/ expert tech at my dealer drive my truck and a new '23 and he immediately said "what do you want to do?" I think many of the early shocks were defective or of "pandemic build quality". Don't these apprehensive dealers want the shop hours for warranty work, no?

I don’t think so. My pessimistic opinion is they live for out of pocket easy work like oil changes and brakes. I had a clear and obvious exhaust leak on my previous in warranty raptor and I had to literally get in an argument to replace the section of exhaust that had a broken and missing tab. They wanted to literally put a sheet metal screw through it with some adhesive.

 

[emco]

youre probably correct. Simple jobs are their bread and butter. Different subject and probably for a different thread or forum, I am now a little dismayed that the word on the street from Ram is the TRX price will come down to compete with the basic Raptor. The new TRX will have a 500+ horsepower inline twin turbo six cylinder (Hurricane?). I think the gen 3 raptor should have utilized a sightly larger displacement V6 twin scroll putting out around 550HP. Now the Raptor is behind the new smaller displacement TRX 3.0 liter engine in both HP and torque. Best of luck with your suspension issues.

 

[Raptorbert]

So I thought I'd reach out to Fox service directly to find out if there's a specific change that they had to do to get rid of the clunk. I thought if maybe ford was unwilling to fix it I could just fix it with my next servicing with a new updated valve stack or some other part. While I didn't get a specific answer it seems like it was a redesign literally to just address the noise. The fox tech said that the ones that are part of the build date SSM work perfectly fine outside of the noise. It almost makes me wonder if these revised shocks were in some way neutered to appease the noise complaints. Anyone else?