The Truth About The Ford Raptor

[MagicMtnDan]

When I read this article this morning I must admit, my jaw hit the floor. Is it just me or does this article elude to a conspericy by Outlaw to lead people down a path of certain destruction in order to sell kits?
Read it twice and that's my perception.

"Conspiracy?" No chance. Bad judgement? IMO, absolutely. Bad judgement by both the company and its event participants. But it appears a lesson was learned as these types of events aren't being run anymore (at least by that company).

You're not that far off as I got the same impression, I personally don't believe it was Connors fault nor did he think it was going to lead to sales. I 100% blame the drivers of the trucks for the frames bending and leave 0% blame on Ford regardless of what they upgraded the following years.

As an adult I take full blame for what I break on my trucks

Besides throwing Outlaw under the bus I think it was very well written

I agree for the most part. I don't think they threw Outlaw under the bus. To me the article seemed well written and factually correct.

Personal opinion: When a company leads a driving event over a course (on or off road) they need to know the risks to people and equipment and be prepared to deal with issues, problems and accidents (and injuries or worse). Legal issues will certainly be involved. Everyone needs to be aware of the risks and take responsibility for their actions. Although in the age we live in only the lawyers will win whenever something does go wrong.

Note: I've organized a number ("many") Raptor Runs (I may have been the first to use the term) and each time I did it I had a pre-drive drivers meeting where I stressed safety, safety and safety. My runs organized the route and stressed that we were not racing and no one should feel peer pressure to do anything they're not comfortable doing. And we talked about not getting in over your head. I laid out the course, shared maps with participants and reminded them that it was their choice to participate and they were responsible for their driving and actions. The runs we did were for fun and on one ever paid anything other than one dollar for the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park map. The owner of the company that organized the events in discussion went with us on one of our runs (you can see the thread on this forum). And after that run he started doing his own runs for profit.

There has been a learning curve with the Ford Raptor. If you've been on these forums you've seen the learning curve which involved a pretty high cost for those who paid a high price for not knowing what they could have (should have?) known. They paid to fix their Raptors while everyone else learned lessons vicariously which is a good thing.

Blaming the drivers/owners of the Raptors that were damaged is easy. The hard part is what they had to go through to learn about off roading especially at higher speeds.

Not pre-driving a course that is to be driven at any kind of high speeds is a recipe for expensive "lessons." And not only pre-driving the course but taking notes with a co-driver/navigator and that's where experience comes into play. Almost no one on these forums has that kind of experience (knows how to takes highly useful notes and knows how to use them). That's another learning curve that I have yet to see addressed on the forums.

The Raptor is like any kind of power tool. It can do a lot especially in the right hands. And even in the right hands it can get someone hurt. Spending a lot of time with power tools is the best way to get to know them and use them safely.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

I agree, Outlaw wasn't necessary to mention and could have gotten the same point across without using names.

Was nice to learn though that Ford strengthen the rear frame, cool!


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[Killjohnathan]

This is my opinion from someone who came from very little offroad experience -

I think the article misses a very important point. Some of us drive our trucks knowing that we are going to break them. That is part of the fun. Drive, destroy, rebuild stronger. I attended my first Raptor Run and I WAY over drove my driving ability and my truck paid the price. BUT IT WAS AWESOME!!! I wear the scars on my Raptor like a badge of honor. The guys that are going to these Raptor Runs are guys that want to push their limits and the truck. If not, why go? I do believe that the vendors deep down want us to break our trucks so that they can sell us bigger and better parts. I DO NOT see a problem with this. They are a business and they are in the business of selling awesome raptor parts. With that said, I do not believe any vendor on here would purposely try and lead people on a path to break their trucks. That is just an outlandish and stupid thing to suggest, (which is what the author did).

Drive it, Break it, Repair it, Repeat

Love working on my truck!

 

[Biggest]

Perception of the masses that read the article would all be similar. The author or sponsors of the article clearly have an axe to grind and an agenda. We here at FRF are a bit more informed than the average raptor owner, that being said, we represent about 10% of the raptor owners.
Last year Ford launched an attack on Aftermarket companies that used the word "Raptor" in their names, we saw these companies wisely pick their battles and change their names. This article and the singling out of a particular company has all the classic tell tail signs of Coroprate sabotage! As the old adage goes, " play with the bull and you will get the horns!"
I'm happy that I am one of the informed 10% ( thanks to FRF and it's members) and I am able to " pick sense out of nonsense "

 

[bakkbakk]

Best explanation I have seen.

One of the things I dislike the most about both the raptor community and non-owners perception of the vehicle is the "it's almost a trophy truck" attitude and "if you don't off-road 5 days a week then you shouldn't buy one".

I never hear this sort of attitude to people who buy a jeep wrangler, but honestly that's about where I class the raptor, it's closer to a jeep than it is to race truck. It's a factory vehicle with some nice upgrades for more off-roading than a normal F-150, but it is still very pale in comparison to even aftermarket prepared vehicles, let alone purpose built ones.

That being said, I still think the raptor is the best deal going in terms of new trucks, for only a couple g's more than a loaded FX-4 it is a much better truck.

What you said is correct. I ordered mine because Its the same price for an fx4 as it is a raptor and you get a hell of a lot more. If you bare bones a raptor you still get leather seats and all of the offroad stuff etc. I mean yeah, if you want to pay $1000 for a sticker, youre going to run the price up.

I wont be offroading mine when it comes in but some of the ****** streets I drive on and the speed I usually drive at, this truck will actually be perfect for it. Someday Ill grow up

 

[GBrown1867]

As someone who has been involved with the Raptor for over three years, was on the first Outlaw Raptor Run and now a team member of Raptor Expeditions like others I was speechless when I read this. Some of the info regarding the truck is true and some of the info about the first run is true. But the slanderous way it was written is not. The first Outlaw run was a learning experience for all involved. Connor did not bend his frame prerunning it, all we had were CB radios and no GPS. (Like I said a learning experience)

Runs we provided at a later date mandated race radios and GPS were in all the trucks. Carnage went way down and people had the time of their lives and are begging for us to start them up again. However, due to issues beyond our control we cannot offer supported runs. Trucks did bend their frames on the first run and many more have been bent by people all over the world since then. Companies have started because of the Raptor bending frames. The first company to produce a bump kit was SDHQ not Outlaw. I think RPG and ADD were 3rd and 4th. So to imply it was a marketing tool by Connor is BS. Do all of these shops make money by us breaking and modifying our trucks, of course they do.

It has been said many times by me and others, the Raptor is not a Trophy Truck and if you drive it like one you will break it. So what the writer is saying is nothing new, just rehashing old information and throwing a reputable company under the bus so to speak. Pretty ****** up if you ask me.

 

[Madcowranch]

While I agree with some of the author's points, I get the feeling this article demonstrates the lack of personal accountability that is so prevalent in our society. People today want to point the finger or blame someone else for their lack of good judgement and/or mistakes. It just burns my ass.

I doubt any other product in the world is bought "off the shelf" and subjected to the kind of abuse and has such high expectations as the Ford Raptor. I say job well done, Ford!

 

[COBRA90GT]

...the lack of personal accountability that is so prevalent in our society. People today want to point the finger or blame someone else for their lack of good judgement and/or mistakes...

 

[Biggest]

It's all old news and a lot of cut and paste and plagerism on articles and post from over the last few years, question remains " why now " Is this article being rehashed? Something stinks.

 

[SPRSNK]

What a crock of shit. This is filled with misinformation, lies and out right slander. I also take offense (again) to my original post being edited so that they can attempt to prove an idiotic theory about the run, what happened, how it happened and what was said 2.5 years ago.

I want to know what idiot brought this "story" up again and rehashed their own article from 2.5 years ago.

---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 PM ----------

It's all old news and a lot of cut and paste and plagerism on articles and post from over the last few years, question remains " why now " Is this article being rehashed? Something stinks.

Exactly.