OK, so what's wrong with my truck (or the driver)? It's a brand new 2019 SCREW, less than 5,000 miles logged so far. I've had it all over Colorado, including on relatively steep offroad terrain, mountain passes, in some late season snow at elevation, heavy rain, highways at 100+ mph, Starbucks lines, you name it. But for the glitchy CarPlay interface and door locks, I've LOVED everything about this truck. Performance has been awesome.
Then came an impromptu Sunday morning fishing trip with my son and some friends. Until yesterday, I'd never run it on wide open washboard gravel roads. The experience was, well, a combination of pathetic and scary. The back end constantly broke loose. "Skittish" as some have described it is an understatement.
I tried every single drive mode combination I could think of. Nothing helped. Anything over 10-12 MPH was flat out dangerous, particularly around corners. Passengers were frightened. Driver B - who has owned and driven trucks and heavily modified offroad vehicles his entire life - took over and had the same result. Raptor is now off his list. We were getting passed by 1980-something Honda Civics, motorcycles, loaded down SUVs. No joke. The wifey doesn't want to be back in the truck "until it's fixed."
I did some angry research last night and came across several posts about wheel hop and axle wrap. Is it really possible that this "King of the Offroad" truck comes from the factory so deficient that you need thousands of dollars of modifications just to be able to safely traverse gravel backgrounds in dry conditions? As sad as it is to admit, my 2008 bone stock V6 4Runner with 210,000 miles would have absolutely crushed the Raptor yesterday.
I know these questions will be asked, so here's some background info:
- The tire pressure was a little high. I had it set at 38-39 front and back cold, which by the time we hit the road I'm sure had increased to 42 or so. It was a warm day. I see that most recommend running 38/34 for standard daily driving with weekend excursions stuff. I can and will make this adjustment. That said, I can't imagine losing 4 PSI in the rear tires is going to take this from pure shit to even acceptable.
- We had 4 people in the truck, one thirty-five pound 4 year old plus three adults. Minimal cargo in the bed, maybe a 100 pounds. Fishing poles and a cooler.
- We tried every single driving mode combination we could think of. 2wd, 4a, 4h. Normal mode, Sand/Mud, Baja, Deep Snow, even towing and whatever the other one is.
- No performance mods yet. Stock tires, stock wheels, stock suspension. I have plans to buy a Cobb Stage 2, upgrade the wheels, put on new tires, and do a bunch of other stuff, all of which is back-burnered pending this troubleshooting expedition.
- I'm not a professional race/baja/offroad driver and I'm light on Raptor street cred. I didn't own a Gen1, I don't have a million dollars worth of other vehicles in the garage, I'm not sponsored by RedBull. That said, I've spent plenty of time on trails and backroads in CO, WY, Utah, Montana without any issues, in deep snow, driving rain, bluebird sunshine, and everything between. No problems, no crashes, no scary experiences like yesterday.
One other possibly related thing to note is that the truck has never liked highways with segmented sections. Expansion joints, I believe. The ride quality is terrible and everyone looks forward to getting back on regular roads. (My 4 year old has a good time on them, truth be told, as he's realized that he can use the intense vibrations to make funny noises with his voice.)
So WTF is up here? Do I have some suspension issue? Tire problems? Am I the world's worst driver? In touting the amazing offroad performance of these engineering marvels, did everyone forget to mention that washboard gravel and light duty offroading are big no-nos? Are my options really limited to: (1) slow crawl aggressive terrain; (2) send it for some epic mid-flight picture; or (3) stay on pavement?
