Hi all,
I'll try to keep this brief:
"New to me" 2013 Raptor... picked it up very reasonably way down Mississippi way. 117k miles and darn near perfect in/out, top/bottom. Clearly this truck has *never ever* seen off-road use, I've never seen any truck's under-body so pristine. I was also downright shocked at its performance on the 1300+ mile drive home, as it managed to return exactly 15.8mpg with the cruise set at 75 on the interstate... I was expecting no more than 13, given the displacement of the engine. So... a few questions:
1 - Wheels/tires (what else is new?) - don't want to offend anyone, but this needs attention first. Someone stuck 22's on this thing, and while you could say they look kinda cool, I believe them to be an absurd "mod". A truck of this nature - designed for a "baja" like environment - I'd bet my life that the engineers at Ford spent plenty of time on the suspension design... and that didn't stop at the wheel hubs. I'm relatively certain those 5 inches of sidewall "lost" when switching to 22's has compromised the suspension's ability to perform as designed significantly... sidewall *is* part of the equation. I'd like some guidance. I plan to go to an 18" rather than an OE 17" size, just to leave a little extra room for larger brake rotors, should I decide that is needed down the road. OE offset appears to be +34 or 35mm, depending on the source. I'm not looking for a roller skate look, so I'm thinking anything I can find with some positive offset... like a 18x9 with at least a +10mm or greater offset. Comments and/or input would be greatly appreciated on choice of width and offset... pics even better. I want it to look good, but not at the expense of any rubbing or other nonsense... this truck needs to be all business.
2 - Suspension - OK, so with 117k on the clock, those Fox shocks are certainly very tired. I've also got a lot more rear wheel hop than I'd like. I think that going to 18's on the wheels/tires will help, but I'd like some input on refreshing the suspension. Are the OE Fox shocks rebuildable, and if so, is this worthwhile or are the current aftermarket offerings far superior? This truck will no longer be a street wanderer... it'll see significant and heavy off-road use, but it will never tow more than a couple of ATV's on a 14' single-axle trailer... never more than 3000lbs towing with minimal tongue weight. I'd like the suspension to be as compliant as possible for sucking up heavily wash-boarded/rocky/rutted roads/trails... this is exactly why I bought a truck with motocross-like suspension travel. I have never outfitted a truck like this before, so I'd love to be pointed in the right direction, even if it's to a company who specializes in setting up these suspensions. We typically go WAY back in the mountains, and the roads are extremely poor... so I'd like this baby to float over that stuff as close to motocrosser style as possible. There will be no (intentional) jumping or "playtime" off-roading with this truck either... just covering garbage surfaces as quickly as possible is the goal. So I'm inclined to lean as soft and compliant as I can - but please feel free to advise me if my goals need a course-correction.
Those are my most pressing concerns right now. I'll be going over the truck with a comb to find any worn components, change all the fluids, and add a few durability items - additional capacity and filtering for the engine oil and adding an oil-cooler, possibly looking into freeing up the exhaust - sorta looks like too small of a straw for 6.2 liters to be sucking through. ANY input on common failure items, things to watch out for or that needs beefing up, I'm all ears. I want to set her up right because when we go where we go (especially for my work), a properly functioning truck can be critical - to the point of life/death as I frequently work in oil fields in northern Alberta where a showstopper failure would leave you in a very serious pinch... no people or services for extreme distances. I'm after a bulletproof truck, cost no object... it's all about reliability, durability, and safety.
Many thanks in advance!
Dave
I'll try to keep this brief:
"New to me" 2013 Raptor... picked it up very reasonably way down Mississippi way. 117k miles and darn near perfect in/out, top/bottom. Clearly this truck has *never ever* seen off-road use, I've never seen any truck's under-body so pristine. I was also downright shocked at its performance on the 1300+ mile drive home, as it managed to return exactly 15.8mpg with the cruise set at 75 on the interstate... I was expecting no more than 13, given the displacement of the engine. So... a few questions:
1 - Wheels/tires (what else is new?) - don't want to offend anyone, but this needs attention first. Someone stuck 22's on this thing, and while you could say they look kinda cool, I believe them to be an absurd "mod". A truck of this nature - designed for a "baja" like environment - I'd bet my life that the engineers at Ford spent plenty of time on the suspension design... and that didn't stop at the wheel hubs. I'm relatively certain those 5 inches of sidewall "lost" when switching to 22's has compromised the suspension's ability to perform as designed significantly... sidewall *is* part of the equation. I'd like some guidance. I plan to go to an 18" rather than an OE 17" size, just to leave a little extra room for larger brake rotors, should I decide that is needed down the road. OE offset appears to be +34 or 35mm, depending on the source. I'm not looking for a roller skate look, so I'm thinking anything I can find with some positive offset... like a 18x9 with at least a +10mm or greater offset. Comments and/or input would be greatly appreciated on choice of width and offset... pics even better. I want it to look good, but not at the expense of any rubbing or other nonsense... this truck needs to be all business.
2 - Suspension - OK, so with 117k on the clock, those Fox shocks are certainly very tired. I've also got a lot more rear wheel hop than I'd like. I think that going to 18's on the wheels/tires will help, but I'd like some input on refreshing the suspension. Are the OE Fox shocks rebuildable, and if so, is this worthwhile or are the current aftermarket offerings far superior? This truck will no longer be a street wanderer... it'll see significant and heavy off-road use, but it will never tow more than a couple of ATV's on a 14' single-axle trailer... never more than 3000lbs towing with minimal tongue weight. I'd like the suspension to be as compliant as possible for sucking up heavily wash-boarded/rocky/rutted roads/trails... this is exactly why I bought a truck with motocross-like suspension travel. I have never outfitted a truck like this before, so I'd love to be pointed in the right direction, even if it's to a company who specializes in setting up these suspensions. We typically go WAY back in the mountains, and the roads are extremely poor... so I'd like this baby to float over that stuff as close to motocrosser style as possible. There will be no (intentional) jumping or "playtime" off-roading with this truck either... just covering garbage surfaces as quickly as possible is the goal. So I'm inclined to lean as soft and compliant as I can - but please feel free to advise me if my goals need a course-correction.
Those are my most pressing concerns right now. I'll be going over the truck with a comb to find any worn components, change all the fluids, and add a few durability items - additional capacity and filtering for the engine oil and adding an oil-cooler, possibly looking into freeing up the exhaust - sorta looks like too small of a straw for 6.2 liters to be sucking through. ANY input on common failure items, things to watch out for or that needs beefing up, I'm all ears. I want to set her up right because when we go where we go (especially for my work), a properly functioning truck can be critical - to the point of life/death as I frequently work in oil fields in northern Alberta where a showstopper failure would leave you in a very serious pinch... no people or services for extreme distances. I'm after a bulletproof truck, cost no object... it's all about reliability, durability, and safety.
Many thanks in advance!
Dave
) mentioned getting the OE Fox units rebuilt. You guys must have some "known good" vendors out there that you could recommend for the suspension conversation, I'd imagine. I'd really appreciate if you guys could throw me a name or 2 of companies worth talking to. This is probably the most important part of the truck's mods, for my intended use.
