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letsgetthisdone

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I would personally delete the IWE's, too much hassles. Mine have the RCV delete collars and I noticed almost no mpg change. But now they don't slip in high torque/high load "crawling" scenarios in 4Lo.
 
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full-race geoff

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The biggest strength improvement in the gen3 strut tower is this small seemingly innocuous piece of metal at the bottom of the frame rail. This ties the entire structure together and would have saved my gen2 from cracking/breaking.

if you have a gen2 this is cheap and easy for any half decent mig welder to add to your truck. We Probably should have an entire thread dedicated to just this piece

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I finish welded the strut tower at the areas that ford did not (and more to go). This is something I’ve always done this to every chassis I’ve prepped for myself and the entire structure will be stiffer as a result. The process sucks tho, brutal labor.. you have to give a damn to even consider spending this much time with the wire wheel and the MIG

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full-race geoff

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the rear axle and links went together like butter.


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Its a pleasure not having to deal with leaf springs, u bolts, and shackles/bushings!
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I used 5/8” grade 8 hardware to allow the hardware to install/remove without worrying about fuel tank. (Future self :banana-mario:) I saw this idea from RPG and it worked well

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Anyone that’s installed links or leaf springs on an f150 knows what I’m talking about - why does ford block the driver side rear hardware this way ?!?


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I did not install the pan hard bar yet. It bothers me how far over the axle swings at full droop with it in place. This shouldn’t bother me, but it does. Goosetuned’s truck is in front of me and looks like it’s 2”+ to the rhs

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Maybe we will address that in 2025
 
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full-race geoff

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I would personally delete the IWE's, too much hassles. Mine have the RCV delete collars and I noticed almost no mpg change. But now they don't slip in high torque/high load "crawling" scenarios in 4Lo.
Does RCV make them for the 2021 3rd gen knuckle? And pardon my ignorance here can you explain how is the delete better than removing the vacuum line altogether?

I am nervous about the overall strength of the aluminum front diff Housing..
 

downforce137

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Does RCV make them for the 2021 3rd gen knuckle? And pardon my ignorance here can you explain how is the delete better than removing the vacuum line altogether?

I am nervous about the overall strength of the aluminum front diff Housing..

i think the housings are ok going forward, but reversing under a load in 4wd is the issue..

the ramp on the pinion/ring coast side causes deflection in reverse and over stresses the housing..

i dont think theres been many failures in drive/forward, but plenty with backing up trailers up hills and things in 4wd.. quick internet search will prove this.

my 19 gen2 had a bunch of stress cracks inside around the ring side carrier bearing and started leaking fluid thru the outside.. i replaced it with a junkyard housing last year..

 

letsgetthisdone

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Does RCV make them for the 2021 3rd gen knuckle? And pardon my ignorance here can you explain how is the delete better than removing the vacuum line altogether?

I am nervous about the overall strength of the aluminum front diff Housing..

Idk if they fit the newer knuckle/hub, but I doubt ford changed the splines when moving to electronic control vs vacuum, it would have been pointless extra cost.

The delete collar is larger than leaving the IWE in, and just unhooking vacuum/electrical. It takes up all the space between the hub and axle faces to enage 100% of the splines. The collar in the IWE doesn't have 100% spline engagement IIRC.

The axle spinning full time won't effect the diff housing since theres not really any torque on it. Just the tire speeding up and slowing down. It's nothing compared to actully being in 4wd. My gen1 and gen2 have both been fine, and I was 120k miles (70k of those miles with the deletes installed) before the gen1 got totaled, no issues. The Gen2 I put the deletes in at 50k, and its now at 100k with no issues.
 

taco_drifter

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Does RCV make them for the 2021 3rd gen knuckle? And pardon my ignorance here can you explain how is the delete better than removing the vacuum line altogether?

I am nervous about the overall strength of the aluminum front diff Housing..
The housing in my friend's 21' exploded spectacularly the first time we went snow wheeling. He was in reverse trying to rock out and it majorly popped.
 
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