We sat down with Rogue Racing's head engineer, Robby Woods, to get some technical information on the cantilever kit and why its not just a gimmick as a way not to cut your bed, but really the only option that offers the best possible shock ratio, which results in the best possible performance in an aftermarket suspension system.
We have got a lot of questions and about the ease of installation, the ease of shock tuning and the overall performance of our cantilever system and we wanted to provide a more technical explanation.
"I'd like to take a minute to discuss a few interesting points that brought to peoples attention on our cantilever kit. As far as a bolt on solution the kit is somewhere between the ease of a shock replacement and the difficulty of a bed cage. Keep in mind when installing a bed cage to accomplish similar objectives like down travel through a longer shock you have to cut multiple holes in the bed. The kit requires zero welding, you can buy it with a .010 interference axle clamp that actually clamshells around your factory axle so no tab welding is required. Or most shops that would do a suspension install would opt to weld 4 tabs to the axle that come with a locating template. The kit is 100% bolt on with the axle clamp option. No welding, period. As for tuning it is very easy. I'll explain why, In all suspension systems there are a few variables that need to be considered. Piston torque and piston speed, piston torque is the amount of load applied to the shim stack and piston while its dampening. Piston speed is rate that the piston is moving in the shock body. A 1:1 set up like a conventional raptor is the shock mounted directly to the axle. The piston moves at the same rate as the wheel and typically has "spikes" the valving physically locks up and cant flow enough fluid fast enough to transition smooth. Like Birdman mentioned when the front blows through smooth and the rear kicks violently. High piston speed builds heat, typically a multiple rate shim stack is used to try and get the best of both worlds, but in simple terms shocks don't work well mounted 1:1 in an off road environment. Hence how much better the front suspension works than the rear. Motion Ratio, its a good friend of smooth ride. If you look at any modern trophy truck the shock is mounted to the trialing arm allowing the piston to slow down and the vehicle to "float" over rough terrain. Our kit has a 1:6 motion ratio. This has several advantages over bolting a shock to an axle. It slows down wheel hop, allows a wider range of tuning, slows down piston speed eliminating heat and shock fade, and fits conveniently below your bed. Another inherent feature is Polar Pitch, look it up its similar to Polar moment but in the lateral up and down not side to side. One element that makes an off road truck work better is weight behind the rear axle. With a mass of weight behind the rear axle when a load is applied like hitting a big bump the energy is transferred through the spring and than stored in the shock. With weight behind the axle it has a mass that it has to overcome before it KICKS. Look at most competitive off road vehicles, one may make the argument that we're not building race cars but lets be honest. A smooth plush ride is what we are all after out of our trucks without compromising the drivability on the street. My personal truck has 22,000 miles on the kit. I tow a trailer and use it as a toy. As a shock bolt on solution the ICON kit is a great solution arguably the best. But our kit cylces 1.5 of additional up travel like the ICON kit and 19.75 total inches of travel most of the gain being down travel. Our kit was designed to keep up with a 3 inch coilover, 3 tube 3 inch race series king bypass shock with high speed low speed valving, fully tuneable sway bar and bumpstops in the front end. I believe confidently that this is hands down the best solution to a bolt on suspension for any ford raptor. 1:6 motion ratio, less heat, reward weight, direct bolt on, wider tuning range, no holes in the bed, 19.75 of useable travel."
-Robby Woods
Rogue Racing