G's Raptor

[Yukon Joe]

Agreed, thanks for the info. My new 1" RPG uca's are sitting in a box, I need to get them installed, thanks for the pics, that will be helpful during the instal.

 

[E63]

That is the difference... Mine are 1.5 raceline. It is amazing change on the feel/control of the truck. Make the 3 ton beast feel like an YZ50...

-Greg

Greg, thanks for the feedback, glad you are enjoying the mod.

Pretty sure he's using the 1" ball because of the stock rims. You are using the 1 1/2". The 1" doesn't allow the bolt to be recessed in the ball.

Correct!

Your truck is badass Man. I'm hoping to get all RPG's parts on my truck soon. Then We'll be the two RPG'd Raptors running around Poway.

Cool. What color is your Raptor? A Blue one parked next to me at Kaminski's last Friday.

This is good info and the first time I have seen it. Thanks for getting it!!

My pleasure, thanks for the feedback, mtf

 

[E63]

National Springs - Part 1

So thru no fault of RPG or National Springs and only because the amount of gear I decided I needed to carry around increased, did I require a change to the Leaf Spring set up. National inspected the old set of springs after we took them off and there was only ¼” decrease from spec, so it was all weight related. National re-arched them, painted them again and RPG made someone a sweet deal on this slightly used set.

National Spring is a locally owned family business that has been operating since 1947. Ben, the manager/owner is on the left.

From their web site:
National Spring, Inc. is a full service spring and suspension shop located in Santee, California, just east of San Diego. The company was founded in 1947 by George R. Hill, and through years of hard work and commitment to quality, he and his family established a reputation for building the highest quality springs available. For years our custom and off-road springs have been the standard to which all others are compared.

We specialize in custom leaf and coil springs for cars, trucks, off-road vehicles, RVs and heavy equipment. Each set of custom springs are engineered to your specifications. Many variables are considered during the computerized design process, including ride height, dry weight and payload capacity. In most cases, our progressive design will improve the ride characteristics of your vehicle. Our custom springs are hand built at our facility using American steel. We also carry OEM replacement products and repair broken or sagging leaf springs.

They are very unique in how they go about custom forming their Springs, but I am getting ahead of myself, see it all starts on the computer modeling they have been developing for 20+ years, they pride themselves on their custom engineering capabilities. It is why many professional racers drive the extra distance to have them do the work. Their showroom was filled with thank you pictures from Baja race winners









Ben explained to me that there are many ways to make spring packs, the fastest is to simply run the material thru a roller forge, then group/bind the pieces together hiding the small gaps between the leafs (seen when in an uncompressed state). This creates a “pre-load” on the spring that is not desirable. Also Springs that are formed via a heat process have a tendency to lose their shape over time. National has always taken a different approach. Each leaf is "Cold" pounded into shape over huge steel anvils. Each one is then placed behind the other with no tension until there are no gaps between the leafs.


They do use the forge to heat the ends of the leafs so they can be placed in this huge press that punches the end holes, and can also trim the edges as effortless as a paper cutter. (besides holding a heavy ass piece of spring steel)


I took a short video of the process but alas it didn’t come out. Almost got a burning hot piece of steel in my face as I tried to get close for a good shot. It is extremely loud with a lot of metal on metal banging, think Lord of the Rings, ( or not).

 

[E63]

National Springs - Part 2

In my day job, I am an efficiency expert specializing in automating workflow processes, and I can tell you, even though the entire process is mostly manual, there is very little wasted effort as this heavy steel is hoisted from one process to another. Even the hammer blows were eerily precise and efficient as the rebound from each blow is used to set up the next.

RPG did something special to their spring packs. They use two holes in the center to locate and center the sets. This makes the fabrication process significantly more difficult as both holes have to line up perfectly for these hand arched sets. The shop was filled with RPG steel (easily identified by the two holes in the center) in piles upon piles of work in progress.




I was very impressed watching these old world craftsman ply their trade. They work damn hard and were just closing up shop when we returned from the desert at 8:00pm

While Ben was showing me around and explaining the various processes, Corey took over the biggest floor jack I have yet to see, with equally massive jack stands.



With air tools, the truck at the perfect working height and a comfortable rolling stool, Corey had both sets replaced in 40 minutes.

Those are the experimental set in front that are now on my truck.




An hour later we were at Plaster City and put them through a nice workout.

 

[E63]

Great Day

(about 3 weeks ago present day)
Nothing like a full Raptor day. Jarrett and Corey made it down to my shop by 9:30 and we ripped into the beast. We did some base line tests comparing full range of travel with the stock shocks vs. the Fox 3.0, installed the RPG UCA, Increased the Shock pretension thereby raising the front by about 2". We then went out to National Spring and replaced the Std duty springs with some experimental springs that RPG wanted to try out. Raised the back about even with the front. Bed was loaded with 400 lbs of trail gear and we went out to a Trials course out by Plaster City. Spent the next 3 hours having a blast tearing it up. Making adjustments to Rebound and Compression on the rear shocks, only adjusting one thing at a time and then testing.

here are a few late night thoughts from the day.

Corey is an amazing driver, never knew my truck could do some of the things it was put through today.

The temporary tie downs to Tire and bed rack with full CO2 tank, cooler etc held up great. the Mac Tie downs arrived today, can't wait to get them on. would have been nice to have installed already... Maybe glass beer bottles wasn't the best choice, we lost one in the cooler.

It is incredible how much of a difference a half turn on the external bypasses can make to the ride. Adjusting them I think is probably best left to experts.

Nothing like getting hands on driving coaching by an expert. Man I learned a lot today.

The new Dash Z lights held up great, no issues, Night time driving coming home was great, even though they are aimed a little low.

The new springs were a huge improvement, yet we decided after putting them thru the paces that I still need to move up to the HD. the ride on these springs was the smoothest yet of any setup so far, but due to the amount of weight I am carrying, this particular set up would be better suited to someone carrying less weight. They were a softer progression, high arch design.

We reduced the pressure in the rear bump, while decreasing compression bypass and increased rebound rate in the 3.0. Again each step was incremental, only adjusting one variable at a time.

New Co2 setup worked great. Learned that I can use Co2 in the shocks as needed. Virtually identical to N2, very slight difference in pressure as temp changes. Once shocks are dialed in I may never need anyway, so brand new N2 set up is going back.

I have been testing EGR Vent Shades. In the dusty desert they actually trap the dust on the side windows. After two days of trying to get the windows and the in-channel shades to seat, it simply doesn't work. It takes several attempts to raise the windows, it is simply too tight in there for an in-channel shade.

Tomorrow I will be visiting my friends at Discount Tire, I'm bringing Pizza(s) and new aftermarket TPMS system that others have been successfully using. They will be seeing the beast in all her dirty glory. It was 106 degrees and gusty winds...not another sole in sight.

Feeling good about the truck, she performed magnificently. Looking forward to completing upcoming upgrades to bed/gear management, springs, TMPS and more.

We tested and documented full rear travel of the Std duty National Springs which by design is limited by the rear Shock. We also did a similar test for the front and was able to document greater front travel with the new Fox 3.0 and the UCAs. There are some nasty rumors running around that the National springs limit rear droop, that is simply not true.

 

[KaiserM715]

We tested and documented full rear travel of the Std duty National Springs which by design is limited by the rear Shock.

Can you give a comparison of travel for the stock leaves vs Std Natl vs HD Natl?

 

[E63]

Can you give a comparison of travel for the stock leaves vs Std Natl vs HD Natl?

My understanding is that the travel is determined by your shocks and that it is important that the Springs not limit or restrict same.

My point was that there were some rumors being passed around that the National Springs limited the full travel of the shocks. Not the case.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I'm enjoying the build, nice behind the scenes write ups.

I think kaiser was looking for actual numbers like you has for the UCAs that compared the difference.

 

[E63]

Agreed, thanks for the info. My new 1" RPG uca's are sitting in a box, I need to get them installed, thanks for the pics, that will be helpful during the instal.

I am glad the pics and write up will help. Hope you have a friend to help, ambitious project to do on your own.

 

[E63]

I'm enjoying the build, nice behind the scenes write ups.

I think kaiser was looking for actual numbers like you has for the UCAs that compared the difference.

Oh ok, My Understanding is that there is no difference in Rear droop travel with the RPG Stage 3 or 4 to Stock. Obviously there is a big difference in performance...