SSM 47757: Harsh ride quality.

[FordTechOne]

I thought I read here that these trucks are shipped with spacers that stiffen the suspension for transport that need to be removed.,, Or a dream perhaps..... FordTechOne would likely know..... and I recall there is a “transport mode” that needs to be turned off, perhaps it also stiffens the active shocks so the trucks don’t move around on the transport trailer (but I’m absolutely guessing there). See “disable F-150 transport mode”

Those were used on Focus RS, but I’ve never seen them on an F-150, and they’re not on the PDI checklist.

As far as Transport Mode, many of the vehicle’s electrical features will not function if it hasn’t been disabled. The Instrument Cluster will also show “Transport Mode - See Dealer”.

 

[tone228]

So I’ve been complaining about the stiff ride quality on my 2019 Raptor, and the advise that’s often given is to lower down my tire pressure. I am not doubting the benefits of doing such, especially for traction, but the question that continues to plague me is shouldn’t the much touted Live Valve system supposed to be constantly monitoring conditions and adjusting (in milliseconds)? Because it sure doesn’t seem to be doing anything special at all. It rides like a ¾ ton single cab truck on the road, in that I feel every road imperfection and stuff is rattling...until I hit a big bump then I can feel the benefit of bigger shocks. Off road seems to get bounced around a lot too, and never really “adjusts”. I hit a series of small dirt holes on the trail the other day and the truck started bouncing violently, straight up and down, and uncontrollably until I could bring it to a stop; exactly like what I’d expect from a “normal” truck....but not a Raptor with super fancy suspension. I find it hard to believe this is all because I didn’t let nearly all of the air out of my tires as has been suggested. I think I need to ride along with some other Raptor owners and see if its just me or if the truck needs to be looked at under warranty.

I think you answered your own question. I just got my 2020 Scab a couple weeks ago. I’ve watched and read tons of reviews before I purchased my truck, almost all of the reviews have said the trucks rides smooth or they use the old Cadillac cliche. But there was a handful of videos and reviews by actual Raptor owners that had the same complaints as you, so going into the test drive I was expecting a somewhat harsh ride, but it is a truck at the end of the day. My test drive was in southern Pennsylvania and there was nothing but smooth curvy roads. The truck blew me away at how it handled, I was not expecting it to feel as sporty as it did. I live in NYC and we have some of the worst roads in the country, so I can literally feel your pain when you say the truck rides stiff, jiggly and bounces you around. What you have to understand it this truck has a suspension that was engineered to sustain high speed desert running. It’s designed to be able to jump a few feet in the air and not break anything. It’s going to be stiff at low speed and small bumps will make the body on frame jiggle, that’s just the nature of the truck. What this truck can do that no other vehicle can has to be experienced at higher speeds with bigger bumps. I’ve driven down roads that in my regular car I can barely hit 5 or 10 miles an hour without scraping the bottom of the car but in the Raptor I can hit them at pretty much any speed I want, I’m talking about 50-60mph over the same surfaces and the truck just floats over it like nothing without breaking a sweat. So if you want something that’s going to coddle you and ride like a Cadillac you bought the wrong truck. I had a Ram 1500 as a rental for a couple of weeks with its rear coil springs, that is probably what you’re looking for. Really smooth ride that you won’t feel the small road imperfections. The Raptor is a race truck, it’s not going to ride like a car.

 

[Raptor430]

I thought I read here that these trucks are shipped with spacers that stiffen the suspension for transport that need to be removed.,, Or a dream perhaps..... FordTechOne would likely know..... and I recall there is a “transport mode” that needs to be turned off, perhaps it also stiffens the active shocks so the trucks don’t move around on the transport trailer (but I’m absolutely guessing there). See “disable F-150 transport mode”

Raptors are not shipped with coil spacers, instead they inflate the tires up to a very high PSI to help reduce any swaying or flat spots on the tires while in transport.

The only vehicles that are transported with coil spacers that I know of are GT350's and GT500's. When these vehicles arrive at the dealership we remove the spacers, and install the lower lip spoiler and adjustable camber plates on the R models.

From what I have read on FMC dealer transport mode can be turned off by following a few simple steps or if the vehicle travels more than 150 miles from what I recall.

 

[Raptor430]

We had a customer who was experiencing this same issue, I rode in his truck and it was pretty bumpy. From what I have read when the live valve system has a fault it will set all 4 shocks into full stiff mode. This truck felt like it was in full stiff mode, even the smallest bump was not absorbed but transmitted through the truck. We took the vehicle in and hooked it up to our IDS (Ford Integrated Diagnostic System). The IDS allows you to choose from a table of sensors or inputs the Live Valve system has. The ride height sensors were giving out different readings when they should have been similar. We tried initialized the two sensors and were unsuccessful in completing the procedure. We decided to reflash the live valve module, and then initialize the two ride height sensors. This step asks you to have the truck completely empty of any additional weight, (no driver), door closed, it even asks you how much fuel the truck has in it. Once we completed this procedure we took it for a road test and it was immediately noticeable. The truck was absorbing the little impacts and felt much smoother. I took the customer for a road test and he was happy with the results, so much so that I have not heard back from him since.

 

[Oldfart]

We had a customer who was experiencing this same issue, I rode in his truck and it was pretty bumpy. From what I have read when the live valve system has a fault it will set all 4 shocks into full stiff mode. This truck felt like it was in full stiff mode, even the smallest bump was not absorbed but transmitted through the truck. We took the vehicle in and hooked it up to our IDS (Ford Integrated Diagnostic System). The IDS allows you to choose from a table of sensors or inputs the Live Valve system has. The ride height sensors were giving out different readings when they should have been similar. We tried initialized the two sensors and were unsuccessful in completing the procedure. We decided to reflash the live valve module, and then initialize the two ride height sensors. This step asks you to have the truck completely empty of any additional weight, (no driver), door closed, it even asks you how much fuel the truck has in it. Once we completed this procedure we took it for a road test and it was immediately noticeable. The truck was absorbing the little impacts and felt much smoother. I took the customer for a road test and he was happy with the results, so much so that I have not heard back from him since.

That's really interesting. I see posts now and then with people really unhappy with their ride quality, and they have adjusted their tire pressures properly. I always feel bad for them, when I know how nice my truck rides.

 

[Idaho]

We had a customer who was experiencing this same issue, I rode in his truck and it was pretty bumpy. From what I have read when the live valve system has a fault it will set all 4 shocks into full stiff mode. This truck felt like it was in full stiff mode, even the smallest bump was not absorbed but transmitted through the truck. We took the vehicle in and hooked it up to our IDS (Ford Integrated Diagnostic System). The IDS allows you to choose from a table of sensors or inputs the Live Valve system has. The ride height sensors were giving out different readings when they should have been similar. We tried initialized the two sensors and were unsuccessful in completing the procedure. We decided to reflash the live valve module, and then initialize the two ride height sensors. This step asks you to have the truck completely empty of any additional weight, (no driver), door closed, it even asks you how much fuel the truck has in it. Once we completed this procedure we took it for a road test and it was immediately noticeable. The truck was absorbing the little impacts and felt much smoother. I took the customer for a road test and he was happy with the results, so much so that I have not heard back from him since.

The rear end of my '19 I just got feels quite stiff as well even after lowering tire pressure and ensuring I was in "Normal" mode for the suspension. My truck was a production date of 11/18 so perhaps it is applicable to the SSM posted back on page 1. What would be the best way to speak with service advisor to get this addressed in this way? Reference the SSM or just describe the symptoms and hope they go through the IDS process as described above?

Additionally I did notice it feels a bit stiffer than some of the other 19's I was test driving before my purchase.

 

[Raptor430]

The rear end of my '19 I just got feels quite stiff as well even after lowering tire pressure and ensuring I was in "Normal" mode for the suspension. My truck was a production date of 11/18 so perhaps it is applicable to the SSM posted back on page 1. What would be the best way to speak with service advisor to get this addressed in this way? Reference the SSM or just describe the symptoms and hope they go through the IDS process as described above?

Additionally I did notice it feels a bit stiffer than some of the other 19's I was test driving before my purchase.

The truck that came in to our shop was stiff all around, front and rear. I don't know if what we did using IDS will help the rear only. It took us 45 minutes to do all that I described above, if we had to do it again we could knock it out in 25-30 minutes. From my understand the truck that we worked on had an issue with a ride height sensor on the front right. That sensor was giving an incorrect reading causing the system to go into Limp mode/failsafe mode to protect the system. Maybe the valve in one or both of your rear shocks has done bad.

 

[19RaptorPB]

bookmarked

 

[EastEndAngler]

is there anyway to check shock settings via ForScan. Lately I feel like my front suspension is stiffer than it was when I first took delivery. I did have any issue a few weeks ago while driving on the beach where the DIS displayed "Terrain Management Unavailable" along with "Service Advance Trac" warnings.

 

[19RaptorPB]

is there anyway to check shock settings via ForScan. Lately I feel like my front suspension is stiffer than it was when I first took delivery. I did have any issue a few weeks ago while driving on the beach where the DIS displayed "Terrain Management Unavailable" along with "Service Advance Trac" warnings.

This is what ultimately led me to get rid of my 2019. Ford doesn't care that it rides stiff and they can't feel it anyway because it's "normal". I had them reset my LiveValve module and it worked for about two key cycles and then went right back to the hay wagon ride. Good luck.