Heavy Duty National Springs
Fast forward again to yesterday and today - Happy Fourth of July everyone.
RPG and I have been playing with some different Spring configurations part of their on-going testing and my change in rear setup and how much gear I now carry.
RPG changed out the springs late Tuesday afternoon to the HD model we and made a quick run out to Plaster City to try them out. Jarrett from RPG had his new Raptor. He had just picked up a bunch of Hardware and we decided to put them into my truck for some extra weight during testing. Figure we had about 500Lbs in the rear, plus two passengers for most of the runs.
Truck ran great, we opened up the rebound some and that made a nice difference in the washboard areas. The new springs, even with more gear, allowed us to go faster thru the whoops and take some serious drop offs at speed with good control and no bottoming out. On the highway she is running like a dream. As smooth as she was before and mods.
I had the go-pro mounted to the painted fascia above the bumper, not a good place, way too much vibration and the videos are tough to watch.
We stopped for some cold beverages at one point, and best I can figure, I forgot to strap the cooler back down. BIG MISTAKE! in my cargo setup the cooler sites on a heavy duty wood box that also hold the racing jack. The racing jack has a ratchet strap that holds the jack into the box. and the box was held to the bed frame by a couple of hose clamps. The box also holds the fire extinguisher and the shovel. It needed the strap to hold the box down.
I do a hot run and then we switch drivers and Jarrett goes about 25% faster than me. As we are coming close to the beginning, I notice some water bottles on the trail. WTF! Didn't see the white cooler, you will plainly see in the picture and video. We stop the truck. F-1 Bac-Flip is closed, so is the tailgate, smells like stale beer, open it up and cooler is gone, box is busted up and tailgate and bedrug got thrashed. There is beer everywhere in the bed, what an amazing mess. The Hose clamps had pulled out of the box and the exposed screws tore up the sides of the box.
So how did the cooler manage to open the F-1 and escape?
My Oldest son Grant, home from College, brings back the carnage
Took everything out, pressure washed everything. Gutter worked great to drip dry the Bedrug
Decided to make some slots in the repaired and reinforced Box. So in case I forget to strap the cooler down, the box will already be securely strapped by itself.
Observations:
Checklist: I think I need one, Passengers in the Truck, check, Tailgate closed, check, All items securely strapped in, check, CO2 handle fully closed - oops
yeah I have messed up on all of the above. Is it the banging around? the heat?, the excitement of the whole Raptor experience? Alzheimer's?
TPMS Bomb: Failed on the trip, I got several urgent annoying warnings. The aftermarket TPMS was annoying too. It has a default setting of 25 PSI where a loud warning siren goes off. I need to dig into the manual and see if I can adjust the threshold.
Mac Tie Downs and other cargo management - All worked great as long as the idiot driver (me) remembers to tighten down after use.
Bac-Box: didn't budge, neither did the Red Loctited clamps for the F-1 Bak-Flip.
On-Board Air -CO2: worked great, coiled hose allowed me to fill all 4 tires and Jarretts without lugging it around or re-positioning. Forgot to close the handle and I may have lost some pressure thru the quick connect fitting. Discovered the next morning when I emptied the back.
Engine Light came on after we aired up and hit the road home. Can not figure out why and will take into Dealer. All temps OK, CAI ok, filter ok, no other error messages.
Go-Pro: Got to find a better mounting place!
National HD Springs: Fantastic! Love them, Thanks RPG!
