load lifter 5000

[GordoJay]

5% off-road is about what mine sees. I don’t want to own multiple vehicles, let alone have to trailer a purpose-built vehicle to the playground, so my daily has to be capable of doing the hardest things I want to do off road. The Raptor is both a comfortable daily and good off road. Plus it looks good in a Starsucks drive through.

 

[pbtjrlmrt]

Funny how some will spend twice as much on rear springs when a product like this just to "level" their truck. When a product like this does so much more for less.

I spent a lot of time talking with the guys at RPG and Deaver. Both said that airbags are silly on the Raptor. At least for my intended purpose which is to use the Raptor for it's intended purpose and also carry recovery gear while towing a 3500lb trailer to a base camp. Sort of an overland/baja setup. There are a lot of ways to set up the suspension to meet particular goals. Mine was to retain factory Raptorness while increasing load carrying slightly. The solution for me was a custom set of Deaver springs built special using the stock springs as the base. Basically added 2 leafs to the pack and custom arch. Nothing needed or wanted in the front.

If I had wanted to put geiser springs on knowing that the added stress to front suspension components would cause issues in the future for very little practical gain then Deaver would have done a different build to accommodate. Both Deaver and RPG suggested leaving the front alone...again...based on my needs.

Airbags limit articulation and create a failure point. ON road they serve their intended purpose well. Build your truck to your intended purpose, talk to guys who know the Raptor and understand suspension that can guide you. If you only get advice from the forum most will just say geiser and Deaver +3 which is a one size fits all solution for an unknown problem. Suspension mods for aesthetics are counterintuitive to making your truck better off road or for towing. If you're modding the suspension the first priority should be performance/reliability unless your priority is looks then the sky is the limit cause you don't have to have any knowledge you just have to achieve your particular style.

The Deaver custom pack was cheaper than the +3 boxed solution and again, Deaver recommended against their +3 pack for towing anything. Their words "The +3 packs and all their pre made Raptor packs for that matter are progressive. The stock leaf pack is a 2 stage design and building on that design will give much better results for towing while retaining baja off roadability"

No suspension setup is perfect. There is no holy grail. You'll see a lot of opinions...most uneducated...because there are a hundred ways to set up the suspension. You only need to understand your individual needs and work with experts that can help guide you to the solution that fits your particular situation. The stock suspension ran the Baja 1000 then drove home and that's good enough for me...LOL

https://media.ford.com/content/ford...aptor-tackles-baja-1000--then-drives-the.html

It would cost a lot of money to "change" the suspension but for a few hundred you can tweak it here or there to get what you need. For me..Airbags that limit articulation and create a failure point don't fit into my needs or wants and that's why I don't use them.

 

[Rollofire]

I had these on my last F150 FX4 with an onboard compressor self leveling and it was great. Just set it at the height you want and no matter the load it always self levels to the same place everytime!

 

[Zilla]

I have these installed with Daystar cradles. They allow me not to attach the bags at both ends so they don’t impact the factory suspension (to my knowledge). But when I pull my boat I can inflate the bags and they set into the cradles and lift the rear perfectly. Had a local fab shop customize the brackets so that this will work. I don’t remember where it was but there was another thread on here with lots of pictures which convinced me to go this route.

After towing and off-roading in mine I have had other friends do this to their Raptors as well.

I will say that I wouldn’t leave them inflated all the time. The ride in the truck is much better on the street without the bags while unloaded. Mine stay at 5psi unless I’m towing.

 

[SSWIM]

I have these installed with Daystar cradles. They allow me not to attach the bags at both ends so they don’t impact the factory suspension (to my knowledge). But when I pull my boat I can inflate the bags and they set into the cradles and lift the rear perfectly. Had a local fab shop customize the brackets so that this will work. I don’t remember where it was but there was another thread on here with lots of pictures which convinced me to go this route.

After towing and off-roading in mine I have had other friends do this to their Raptors as well.

I will say that I wouldn’t leave them inflated all the time. The ride in the truck is much better on the street without the bags while unloaded. Mine stay at 5psi unless I’m towing.

Yep. I have the air bags with cradle system. They work great. Still works in the dez just
fine.

 

[GordoJay]

... The stock suspension ran the Baja 1000 then drove home and that's good enough for me...LOL

https://media.ford.com/content/ford...aptor-tackles-baja-1000--then-drives-the.html

I agree with you, but I'm calling BS on this. Again. I looked that truck over in Tooele. It had completely different springs on the rear, a full pack with no block, and I'd swear that the whole truck sat an inch or two higher. Here are the corporate weasel words from your article: "The factory-spec Raptor springs and Fox Racing shocks were adjusted to accommodate the added weight from the safety cage and fuel cell."

Edit: typo

 

[Steebo]

probably. But how many REALLY offroad their raptor. small percentage.

granted it's definitely not a towing vehicle. those air bags look to make the ride a bit nicer.

Please dont. I'm to young and oblivious to believe people buy the raptor just for looks

 

[Steebo]

I agree with you, but I'm calling BS on this. Again. I looked that truck over in Tooele. It had completely different springs on the rear, a full pack with no block, and I'd swear that the whole truck sat an inch or two higher. Here are the corporate weasel words from your article: "The factory-spec Raptor springs and Fox Racing shocks were adjusted to accommodate the added weight from the safety cage and fuel cell."

Edit: typo

Reason why I bought the truck haha. But it's definitely not the exact same as the one they ran in baja but it's extremely close. I believe all that was added was a fuel cell, roll cage, and a 3 inch lift. What the lift included is still a mystery to me but everything else was stock

 

[TurboTJ]

Read that many times in various articles. Far from scientific. Just normal sense tells me though that the vast majority of travel most do are on paved roads, or even roads that do not need 4x4 activated if not paved.

But let's do the math in your case. How many miles does your truck have on it right now?

And how many of those miles were doing no bs 4x4 driving? Truck in 4x4 going where a normal vehicle could not go.


Naturally you are probably in the .0005% of owners that took their truck down to baja. haha


Highly doubtful many have their truck in 4x4 high for 1500 miles by the time they have had it 30,000.

All the sudden 5% looks like a lot more than it sounds right.

This is absurd logic. So if i don’t daily my Raptor (i.e. then only use it for off-roading) that is somehow better?? In that case, it might only have a few thousand miles but all would be on dirt or going to/from the trail?

I only use my windshield wipers a few times a year. Probably < 1% of the time. Maybe I don’t need those either?

Also, miles aren’t a great metric. I do some rough 4WD trails that take hours but I only make it a handful of miles. 4 miles offroad/4K miles on the truck. Hours might be better.


I buy stuff to have it when I need it, not all the times I don’t. Maybe this is what we should look at. Or, you should cancel your insurance because you only use that like 0.01% of the time??

 

[TurboTJ]

Also, this might be useful to look at but I’m by no means a suspension expert. Still trying to learn.

https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/finally-got-a-true-removable-towing-solution-see-pics.58963/