2021 Gen-3 Ford F-150 Raptor | Undercarriage Inspection | Weird Stuff Found

200MPHCOBRA

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Give me a warmed up aluminum block 7.3 in a 150 Tremor. You wont need a science project 3.5 with a 100 pound exhaust to still sound like shit. And they will sell a crap ton of them.
 

ibismojo

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Trust me, you want to keep the weight over the front suspension as low as possible. The 7.3's iron block would make the truck nose heavy and would be worse than the Gen 1 as far as handling goes.

Ford Performance lists the 7.3 at 580 without water pump, ac, alternator, starter, and the 5.2 sc at 536 with water pump, ac, alternator, starter.

However, you have to add in the front mount heat exchange for the air-to-water intercooler on the 5.2. That's gonna add weight: the heat exchanger, the tubing, plus the weight of the fluid needed to cool the charged air of the 5.2 in a vehicle that's significantly heavier vs its original application. The cooling capacity for the engine will probably need to be upped as well, adding weight for a larger radiator along with more coolant. Whatever weight savings you may have started out with over the 7.3 will most likely be negated.

As for engine development, there are companies out there that have started performance development of the 7.3 way before the TRX was officially released, one of which is lead by a former Ford 7.3 engineer, Brian Wolfe. It's easily pulling 780+ hp without boost (built bottom end, ported heads, high redline). Some idiot article-commenters were complaining the 7.3 doesn't rev enough....1, it can rev plenty. 2, revs have nothing to do with how well you could move a heavy vehicle....there's thing called gearing....also, ever watch the Audi diesel R10 move around Laguna Seca with a 5k redline? lol

I just can't see a 700+ hp 5.2 SC V8 being a good idea to move 5600 lbs under constant load. Going down the drag strip is one thing, moving around the desert not-slowly is something else.
 
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CobraBob

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I had to go back and watch the video again to see the exhaust again. I still amazed at what Ford engineers decided to do, trying to improve the exhaust note. It's definitely a head scratcher when you consider the cost. One hell of a nice truck, though. The interior is awesome, and you have to love the American flag in red they included. Love it!
 

cmacmustang

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A couple years ago I was working for a company (I will not name them) here in Vegas that specialized in the Raptor platform. The number one complaint of Gen 2 owners was "but muh veeeee-ate!". Did it matter that the HO EB made way more torque down at low RPM than the old 6.2? Oh hell no. Did it matter that the lighter HO EB drastically improved handling offroad? Nope, not one bit. It looks and sounds to me like the new exhaust on the Gen 3 is specifically designed to end the complaints of the sound of the EB compared to the old 6.2.

Now that Ford added a 5 link I am still wondering why they stuck with rubber bump stops and haven't upgraded to Fox hydraulic bump stops. With all of the investment into a better performing rear suspension it seems counter intuitive to cheap out on the bump stops. You can reinforce the frame area around the factory bump stop all you want, but if you can't slow the rear axle/suspension down as it comes to full bump, stuff will bend/break. After market bump kits are easy money in the Raptor aftermarket and should probably be the first upgrade for any Raptor owner who plans on driving off road.

You can bet on companies like Camburg, RPG, and SDHQ will have upgraded upper and lower links, adjustable panhard bars with FK rod ends and bump stop kits in no time for the rear suspension. I wonder if King or Fox will offer an OEM replacement bypass coil over for the rear?

Overall the Gen 3 is easily the best Raptor yet and I can't wait to go on a run with one of the local Raptor groups to see how it performs firsthand.

Here's some pics from my time in the off road industry. The blue truck was a 2015 F150 with 18" of travel (2.5 coil over, 3.0 bypass, J-Arm) up front and 24" in rear with a 3 link (my old 2002 GT stealing some clout). The Super Duty was a 2017 and we were asked by SEMA to contribute to this build. We designed and built the bumpers, the chase rack in back and the leaf sprung cantilever suspension on that truck.
Cost and NVH are the reasons not to use hydraulic jounce bumpers. The yellow jounce bumpers are not rubber they are made of closed sell foam. Also they do a great job of slowing the axle down to keep from going metal to metal, there is a reason they are used by every auto manufacturer. In the pictures you cant see but there is also another one on the shock rod.
 

DoneItDeliberate

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Cost and NVH are the reasons not to use hydraulic jounce bumpers. The yellow jounce bumpers are not rubber they are made of closed sell foam. Also they do a great job of slowing the axle down to keep from going metal to metal, there is a reason they are used by every auto manufacturer. In the pictures you cant see but there is also another one on the shock rod.
Yep, factory bump stops are super sick...
f-150-raptor-bending-frame-rail-2.jpg


Hyrdo bumps > solid bumps in all off road applications
 

cmacmustang

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Yep, factory bump stops are super sick...
f-150-raptor-bending-frame-rail-2.jpg


Hyrdo bumps > solid bumps in all off road applications
That's true there were issues for some of the first Gen trucks but they were fixed with a frame reinforcement while using the same jounce bumper. Yes hydraulic jounce bumpers are used in non-OEM off road applications but they would never meet OEM requirements. That's almost like saying because people run DOT slicks on the street that Ford should put them on the Mustang.
 
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stang99x

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It's not an act, the HO EB is superior to the 6.2 and 5.0, supercharged or not, in this application. I can't stress enough how much the lighter weight of the EB benefits the Raptor while hitting trails at speed. It is night and day difference.

The company I worked for had 2 development vehicles we built our suspension and bumpers on:

A 2015 F150 4x4, 5.0, SCREW, with a 2.9 Whipple and full exhaust including headers.

A 2017 Raptor, HO EB, SCAB, with a custom Borla exhaust routed through our cantilever system.

Both trucks got had a 16" mid travel system up front (2.5 King coil over with remote bypass [minimal valving to let the bypass shock do most the work], 3.0 King remote bypass shock, rear cantilever system with 20" of travel, 3.0 King bypass shocks, Deaver +2 springs, sprung under conversion, front and rear King 2.5 hydraulic bump stops, on 37" tires.

We weighed both trucks and the Raptor had better F/R weight balance.

Out on the trail and in the dunes the Raptor had better all around performance, it felt light and responsive through the rough and was easy to manage. The F150 wasn't as easy to manage in the rough stuff and required more skill to maintain speed. The only place the blown 5.0 was better was hills climbs/sand drags.
Yea no. First off, a twin turbo factory Raptor has been tweaked fully by Ford. Different heads, tune etc. Not to mention it's a $100k truck designed for offroad vs what a gen 2 whipple standard f150 that is half the price when they are on what, gen 5 whipples?. It's well known that a gen 5 whipple can pull 1000hp from a stock mustang......perhaps not live long but doable. This is like comparing the Ford Aspire to the Ford Mustang, since they are both Fords. (And I have the insight having a gen 1 whipplecharged stang and a 17 EB F150) Take that 2015 F150 and spend the extra $50k price of the Raptor on weight reductions, power increases and bulletproof it. Then compare the two. Seriously, you can't compare a newer top end model to standard run of the mill version with a blower strapped on and expect the same thing from them. Did the 2015 get millions of dollars in research to make sure the blower and engine were in perfect tune with one another? Hell no. We all know the suspension of the Raptor is what makes it what it is, combined with the huge increase in power. And anyone I know who owns a Raptor isn't driving it through the trail. They buy an old one and build it for that. All these rich snobs aren't risking their $100k truck getting scratched.
 
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