Pew Pew
Full Access Member
Some of you might have caught this in my Facebook post, but if not, I hope you enjoy everything I have to say, and I am especially excited to see the sarcasm and brutality that drops in the comments. Please enjoy my journey to 37s.
To start, I read a lot. I did not want to become the next person to ask if 37s will fit. I already knew what tires I wanted; I just needed to know what to do so I didn't run into issues, however, as you read ahead you will see that I didn't pay enough attention. Amazingly, I bought this truck in the hope of playing with it but quickly realized that I do not have enough money to replace "Raptor" parts thanks to my enlisted military salary. So, it is my street queen. Judge if you will.
I started by purchasing the tires. I did a lot of research and ended up buying from 4 wheel parts. I went with BFG KM3 37/12.5R17. I got them at invoice with $125 off for five no tax and no shipping. I couldn't ask for much more than that. Then the damn coronavirus took hold. I lost my ability to use the shop facilities on base and had to do everything in my garage. Usually, this isn't a problem, but damn I love beer, and it is never in short supply at my house. And so begin my problems.
I knew mid perch was a must. I looked up some posts and videos and felt confident. My truck is a 2014 with 99,000 miles. I knew it would not be as easy as I wanted. So, I got my springs compressed and tried to take out that stupid set screw on the driver's side. Of course, it stripped. I went through my screw extractor set and was unsuccessful. So, the next option was to drill it out. Life was excellent and I got it drilled out. Then beat the collar up, which started peeling up the FOX decal and added resistance with every hit. Finally, I was set to mid perch. Then I moved to the passenger side. Everything went along identically to the driver's side except that stupid unnecessary set screw. I got overconfident and DRILLED THROUGH THE DAMN SHOCK BODY (enjoy the aftermath video)! After getting covered in shock fluid and getting it in my eyes, I decided to leave it as it was and shower and sleep it off.
The following day, I pulled the shocks out of the front and let it sit. I got in touch with Texas Shock Works. Since I was WAY over the rebuild period, I decided to do all four, knowing that one would be a full purchase instead of an exchange. Yay. But TSW was super legit. I ordered a rush and had them within four days. AND, I paid for no extras, but very clearly got some of their additional goodies.
Since I was waiting for shocks, I decided to cut and hammer in the pinch welds. I got after removing the flares and liner. Only broke off five clips, so I call that a win! This time I started on the passenger side since I had terrible luck there and felt like making my mistakes early. All was well. Cutting was simple. Even hammering was easy. I didn't need the ten lb sledge that most recommended. A five pounder with a short handle had no problem making quick work of flattening. Then I moved to the driver's side. Cuts were going well until I got to the top. Then the angle grinder caught and pulled. It ripped partially through the closest wire bundle, amazing. Thank god I am a helicopter mechanic. Still, two of the wires were the same purple with no differentiation. I took was a random guess at which went where, and I have no lights yet. So I think I got it fixed.
So, it took me replacing all my shocks, being without a vehicle for almost a week and splicing ten wires to know finally make it to the end. I hope that someone learns from my mistakes, and I hope that the rest of you get enjoyment from my retardation. Finally, lessons learned, there is a fine line between drinking and working and working drunk.
I posted 36 photos and a video, in case anyone is dying to see anything more than the highlight pics. Here's the link: https://www.fordraptorforum.com/media/albums/journey-to-37.2111/
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To start, I read a lot. I did not want to become the next person to ask if 37s will fit. I already knew what tires I wanted; I just needed to know what to do so I didn't run into issues, however, as you read ahead you will see that I didn't pay enough attention. Amazingly, I bought this truck in the hope of playing with it but quickly realized that I do not have enough money to replace "Raptor" parts thanks to my enlisted military salary. So, it is my street queen. Judge if you will.
I started by purchasing the tires. I did a lot of research and ended up buying from 4 wheel parts. I went with BFG KM3 37/12.5R17. I got them at invoice with $125 off for five no tax and no shipping. I couldn't ask for much more than that. Then the damn coronavirus took hold. I lost my ability to use the shop facilities on base and had to do everything in my garage. Usually, this isn't a problem, but damn I love beer, and it is never in short supply at my house. And so begin my problems.
I knew mid perch was a must. I looked up some posts and videos and felt confident. My truck is a 2014 with 99,000 miles. I knew it would not be as easy as I wanted. So, I got my springs compressed and tried to take out that stupid set screw on the driver's side. Of course, it stripped. I went through my screw extractor set and was unsuccessful. So, the next option was to drill it out. Life was excellent and I got it drilled out. Then beat the collar up, which started peeling up the FOX decal and added resistance with every hit. Finally, I was set to mid perch. Then I moved to the passenger side. Everything went along identically to the driver's side except that stupid unnecessary set screw. I got overconfident and DRILLED THROUGH THE DAMN SHOCK BODY (enjoy the aftermath video)! After getting covered in shock fluid and getting it in my eyes, I decided to leave it as it was and shower and sleep it off.
The following day, I pulled the shocks out of the front and let it sit. I got in touch with Texas Shock Works. Since I was WAY over the rebuild period, I decided to do all four, knowing that one would be a full purchase instead of an exchange. Yay. But TSW was super legit. I ordered a rush and had them within four days. AND, I paid for no extras, but very clearly got some of their additional goodies.
Since I was waiting for shocks, I decided to cut and hammer in the pinch welds. I got after removing the flares and liner. Only broke off five clips, so I call that a win! This time I started on the passenger side since I had terrible luck there and felt like making my mistakes early. All was well. Cutting was simple. Even hammering was easy. I didn't need the ten lb sledge that most recommended. A five pounder with a short handle had no problem making quick work of flattening. Then I moved to the driver's side. Cuts were going well until I got to the top. Then the angle grinder caught and pulled. It ripped partially through the closest wire bundle, amazing. Thank god I am a helicopter mechanic. Still, two of the wires were the same purple with no differentiation. I took was a random guess at which went where, and I have no lights yet. So I think I got it fixed.
So, it took me replacing all my shocks, being without a vehicle for almost a week and splicing ten wires to know finally make it to the end. I hope that someone learns from my mistakes, and I hope that the rest of you get enjoyment from my retardation. Finally, lessons learned, there is a fine line between drinking and working and working drunk.
I posted 36 photos and a video, in case anyone is dying to see anything more than the highlight pics. Here's the link: https://www.fordraptorforum.com/media/albums/journey-to-37.2111/
View media item 14898View media item 14903View media item 14906View media item 14907View media item 14912View media item 14913View media item 14914View media item 14915View media item 14916View media item 14917View media item 14927View media item 14922View media item 14923View media item 14933
