Any Ford Raptor owners here?

[stealthn]

Thanks, yes i have read ALL the forums and te write ups and responses, but i have yet to find one that was caused by normal drving or regular off roading. Every one i saw was due to jumping the truck, or hitting a kicker at high speed.

I wouldn't be doing the baja type of off roading, but i am keeping an eye on this issue. Kinda dumb for ford to put a crumple zone over th rear suspension...

Bob James

[ODDJOB UNO]

since we have been doing this off road thang since dinos roamed we kinda know something about it.

it is a given sooner or later no matter how much money ya got,who you are, who you think you are, who yer daddy iz or isnt.................yer gonna break down no matter what.


and in that case ya better have some spares(hopefully the ones ya need) and some tools and lots of elbow grease. and beer.


we have known the geiser bros since the 80's . they are the gurus of all thangs offroad that go FAST! they are up to like #28 mfg'd trophy trucks.

in the old daze, hp was king. but with that give and take suspension suffered. when ya gotz 1300 hp thangs break alot. nowadaze its around 850 hp and a hell of alot of suspension. read that as 4ft + long king shocks.


well now, its tranny issues. trannies cannot keep up.


a TT tranny if it finishes a race 250/500/1000 must be removed and sent back to dee-troit to the tranny gurus. and there is no warranty. we are talking ser-i-ass bucks here to buy/refresh/rebuild.

geiser bros rick and jeff live right by me. they are the WINNINGEST TT builders ever on the planet.


they will build a TT for anyone no matter race color creed. and they will support you also aka pits at a race. or hire/beg/borrow yer own pits.

but the one thang they wont do...................is gurrantee finishing. too many variables to even count.

and so it goes once it goes offroad , no gurrantees. and once yer offroad...........well you have now entered the VOODOO ZONE! and thangs do go bump day and night. be it racing or playing.

our thought patterns on this is simplicity. for example: on our pre-runner every single damn part # from napa is listed under the hood. how many quarts of tranny fluid, how many quarts of oil etc. fuel filter # abc-123.

now you ask why(porqui?)? because in the likely event of failure(note i said likely), you can give the other vehicle yer with(always use the buddy system) the part number and they can go to ensenadaa or san felipe to get correct part if we dont have spare with us. in the real world(reality) if it aint in ensenadaa-da or san felipe, then calexico or san dago parts store will have it. and ya get the correct part after a day or 2 of sitting on yer ass counting how many rocks are around you bored to tears in the middle of freeking BFE nowhere.

ask how and why we do this? bean der doned dat and it sucks. and ya cant carry spare axles.spare engines,spare trannies.


so bottom line no truck is badderer *****ener mo betterer-er. its those of us who painstakingly PLAN thangs out for "worst case" scenarios, and PREP PREP PREP!


yes we have it pounded into our heads that it aint driver skill, it aint how much money is in the vehicle, its HOW MUCH YA PREP! PERIOD!


dont matter if yer going on some sissy ass FSR(forest service rd) or a triple diamond 4wd only jeep trail in the rockies. PREP PREP PREP!

every year here in the dez we hear of some idiot, goes offroad, gets stuck, breaks down, and they DIE!


i flat will not GO OFFROAD, unless PREP has been done. i have learned my lessons and have been POUNDED INTO SUBMISSION on this.


and i sure as hell will not/would not bring some goofy ass fereign type vehicle into the badlands anywhere, for the simple reason of a breakdown where in hells name are you going to gets parts for it?????


so yeah its best to stick with chebbies/ferds/dawgs(dodge) or heaps(jeeps) because PARTS ARE A-WHALE-ABLE! in rural areas.


try finding range rover/land rover parts in baja or for that fact anywhere but a major metro area. ask me how i know????

on our pre-runner please note warn 9000tii winch, note floorjack w/sandplate(drag across sand) and a hi-lift jack,and shovels and tools(alot) and ice chest(beer),and 1st aid and tow straps and mucho other blah blahs too numerous to count and of course GPS!

i can gurrantee this: no matter what ya gots, doing 100 miles of any baja course, will FOREVER CHANGE YER VEHICLE IN WAYS YA NEVAR DIDNT REALLY THINK OF!

thats why after killing our vehicles at the MINT 400 numerous years, we used to drive up with all of our crap, go to a certain UN-NAMED rental car agency, and RENT CHEBBIE FULL SIZE BLAZERS and go pre run the mint 400 course over and over until we either broke down or pounded ourselves into SUBMISSION!

then come back to lost wages(las vegas), hit the dollar car wash, open all the doors, douche the living hell out of interior/exterior, duct tape/safety wire/glue anything we broke, go back to no-tell/motel(drink heavily), leave windows open at night to dry, and the next day, return the un-named rental blazer that had been pounded to poo, back in to rental agency.


and of course..........."how was your trip?, any problems?" "thank you for renting with us!" and we would be rolling on the ground in hysterics knowing full well, that vehicle was NEVAR GOING TO BE THE SAME!


just invision going thru 4-5ft DEEP SILT BEDS at mega mach speed with beer flying everywhere!

YEEEEEE_HAWWWWWW!

[willtel]

What the hell does that wall of nonsense have to do with a Raptor?

[ODDJOB UNO]

Originally Posted by willtel

What the hell does that wall of nonsense have to do with a Raptor?

dearest willtel, since you live in georgia, you dont have a clue.

bottomline..................


for 55K plus, the damn raptor can go 10mph faster over the bumps than my 2011 chev. k-1500.


now call/go to geiserbros.com and see what they build. and see what a PRE-RUNNER IS. try also racedezert.com and go to the want ads.


so reality iz: you pay 55KPLUS for a raptor and then to EVEN make it offroad worthy instead of a glamorized glitter-mobile, you need to add a hell of alot of bucks to it.


we would leave that raptor so far in the dust/weeds it would make yer head spin!


next look at the weight of that pig, and i would ser-i-ass-ly consider a WARN WINCH with a receiver on the front and back when you STUCK THAT PIG! even for just going in the forest playing around in the mud and the snow.


like i said prior...............we have seen more of those damn raptors broke down/broken/stuck/smooshed/wasted/smashed/crunched since their debut,than i can even count. in the states and in baja.


why? because of MARKETING!


so yer gonna tell me some a-arms/some king shocks are gonna make it the baddest ass truck offered by dee-troit? give me a break.


dee-troit doesnt make anything bad ass nor does ANY MFG!

99.7% of those sold around here are to snot nosed richie rich kids and adults that havent a clue what a jeep trail is, let alone what the hell BAJA IS ALL ABOUT!


if it says jeep trail.............well hummers and raptors are gonna have a hell of a time period.


yep there big.................but they sure as hell aint bad ass.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by willtel

What the hell does that wall of nonsense have to do with a Raptor?

LOL, do not question the genius of OJU!!!!

[ODDJOB UNO]

you wanna see BAD ASS>>>>>>>>>>>


try watching robbie gordon in his TT(trophy truck) BEAT a freeking helo over his head at 100ft AGL filming him and chasing for him thru the freeking WHOOP-DE DOOS!

yeah 145MPH PLUS!


there aint a raptor out there that can do dat.


but wait FERD markets them as bad asses.


try watching a freeking raptor go thru the zoo rd powerline sand whoops.


i know this................i wouldnt be spilling ANY BEER.........................



cuz we were going SO SLOW!

[foxpaws]

Oddjob - I work for LightRacing - well, for the company that owns LightRacing - we designed/built a lot of the suspensions that are underneath those trophies you are posting...

This is a cool one we did a couple of years ago... look at those beautiful 'a' arms on that truck...

[ODDJOB UNO]

well well a kindred spirit here. thats some nice werk there. im impressed.


rick and jeff geiser have (1) guy who sits ALL DAY/ EVERYDAY, with a jig, building/welding arms.



they are werks of ART!!!!! x 1000.


heres an example of "baja" marketing by corporations. during the baja 2000 in the year 2000,actually 1726miles that year. sears DIEHARD batteries was a sponsor.

yes that year a DIEHARD battery equipped vehicle won.


the next thing ya now we are watching "SEARS DIEHARDS, THE BATTERY THAT BEAT BAJA" commercials and laughing our azzes off at the marketing.


is there a difference btwn any mfg's battery and a diehard?????????????? NOT!


its ALL ABOUT the marketing..............aka these raptors.


about the ONLY difference btwn a full blown TT and a REAL pre-runner now a days, is the prerunner has a/c.


heres anudder bit of baja marketing for ya all.



next time ya take a look at a honda dirty bike in a honda showroom, and then look at the winning honda on the podium. they will look EXACTLY THE SAME!


why(porqui?)? because the mentality is: if campbell/hengveld can win on a STOCK bike, which i saw on the podium...............then I(mr.joe average) can win also.



reality iz that campbell/hengvelds or any one that has a FACTORY HONDA RIDE, they ARE ONE OFFS! and I MEAN ONE OFF FACTORY UNOBTAINIUM!

ask me how i know? we only pitted for campbell/hengveld a number of times. and actually got a round of applause from bruce ogilvie(RIP) in the team honda helo for the fastest pit EVAR at a 1000 race,as he circled over our heads!


yeah each and every honda factory rider has a 1 off bike custom fit to him. the weight differences,handling characteristics are totally different from a showroom bike. every single nut bolt fastner is titanium.


when races completed, the race bikes go in a unmarked box van and go back to torrance calif, for complete every nut bolt component evaluation.


then they are CRUSHED!(horror of horrors!) never to be used/seen AGAIN!

and they build some more one offs.


thats how this "baja marketing" gig works.


now heres how the TT trophy truck and "1" car gig werks.



say today you inherit/steal/win the lottery and ya get a bunch of bucks and you wanna be a bad ass off road racer(its only off road but we like it), and you walk into a fab shop and plunk the bucks down. in about 6 months or so you will have the baddest ass offroad racer ever made. and...............if yer really really good and do lots of prerunning, and win...............well yer a bad ass offroad racer.


but wait theres MORE:........................


i come along, plop down a 1/2-3/4 mil for a TT, and 6 months from now the lil elves at the TT candy store drop off my TT.


and i do my homework and religiously pre-run, have all my ducks in a row, and drive a safe clean race and i win..............im a bad ass offroad racer.


why? because each and every "1" car and TT is a ONE OFF! maybe 5hp more, 3" of travel more, 10 more gallons of fuel, lighter weight, better handling, blah blah you get the picture.


so with that in mind this is a very very competitive sport and whats "bad ass " today.............aint poo MONYANA!


the ford raptor aint a ONE OFF! its a mass produced vehicle. plain and simple.


so now ya know all about "BAJA MARKETING".


same goes for rover and a slew of other mfgs making YOU want to believe that YOU WILL BE A BAD ASS WITH THEIR PRODUCT in afrika or new guinea or some other poo hole they decide to lug a bunch of parts and wrenches to and have a RACE!

if i buy another off road vehicle i would buy a 2004-2006 rubicon classic with a freeking inline injected 6 cylinder. slap a 3" lift,winch front and rear, a roof rack, a spare tire rack on back, a spare on top, a hi lift jack, a GPS and fill the ice chests with beer and hit the great beyond!


torque/mileage/parts a-whale-able/simple/and it will go a hell of alot more places than MOST WANT TO GO!


but then WTF do i know???

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

about the ONLY difference btwn a full blown TT and a REAL pre-runner now a days, is the prerunner has a/c.

And about 1/2 million dollars in suspension research and development -

That trophy I posted photos of is way different than the prerunners out there right now.

[ODDJOB UNO]

yep most people dont have a CLUE what kind of bucks are involved here. there is some insane technology going on offroad.


DoD and DARPA are always around getting ideas for vehicles for the military.


i stop by rick and jeffs when we need some bizzaro part made or welded and always shoot the breeze with them. been over to their house blah blah. some of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. have pitted them and the gaggle of others who race with them over the years.

the "onion fields" pit outside of "valle T" (valle de trinidad) one year brings tears to my eyes with laughter from the farmers pumping all the water onto the race course to build a booby trap(bring yer snorkel).


its not a damn bit different than when 917's were raced years ago.............ITS RARE AIR!


stratospheric bucks and time.



its F1 except its OFF ROAD!



and ya really have to hand to anyone who can stay with the sport for anytime what so ever. its some of the most physically demanding sports on the planet.


i'd give my left nut for a ride in a TT. but years ago after the GOLD COAST 350 SCORE race in vegas, my back was screaming with pain after a coupla laps, and we were not spring chickens then let alone now. so i dont know if even offered a co-dawg seat if i would accept.


too too many rollovers crashes being rear ended, dirty bike crashes etc etc and of course age (54), that my days(daze) of participating off road are probably over.


now if i had a raptor...............well maybe i could handle it cuz its got "suspension".......... LMFAO SNICKER SNICKER HAR HAR SNORT!


hell an all day outing in our pre-runner...............is enough to put me in a wheelchair now a days(daze).

[stealthn]

What a fricken train wreck.

I'm sorry i posted ths question now


Bob James

[speeder]

Dude, you let the gimp out of the cage w/ that off-road truck question.

[porsche4life]

No kidding....

Wish we could have a civil conversation pertaining to the question that was asked, not off on some random tangent...

[campbellcj]

My brother-in-law has one and LOVES it. He rides dirt bikes and heads down to Baja a couple times a year so he actually uses the truck off-road. As far as I know, he has not had any probs with it.

Although, I paid around 80% less for my ten year-old F150 4x4 and it does what I need. A truck is a tool for me, not a toy.

[Jim Bremner]

Who pulled OJU's string?

There was a race 10-15 years ago that Robby Gordon was kickin butt in he flies off this wash at 10mph and breaks the truck.

His sponser was driving another truck comes to the same wash and gingerly drives over it and wins.

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by stealthn

What a fricken train wreck.

I'm sorry i posted ths question now


Bob James

Bob, you like it? Buy it! It's your decision, nobody elses. Plain and simple.

[ODDJOB UNO]

Originally Posted by stealthn

What a fricken train wreck.

I'm sorry i posted ths question now


Bob James

love is never having to say yer SORRY!


since YOU ASKED the QUESTION............we/us(those of us in the KNOW) answered.


now since ferds proving grounds are not that far away. baja being close, we saw the raptors even before they were a gleam in yer eye.


now let me explain this again..................



"friends dont let friends drive DOUCHE MOBILES!"


since we are all products of our surroundings and our society, there are those that live in cities and have their viewpoint. then there are those of us who grew up in rural areas with NOTHING BETTER to do than ride horseys,shoot lots of guns, camp out quite often,fish,hunt, and GO JEEPING/DIRTY BIKING/OFF ROAD RACING, our viewpoints and attitudes differ greatly.

but where we shine the most in knowledge is WE HAVE BEAN DER DUNNED DAT and got the t-shirt.


now since somehow we have been bestowed "anti douche bag" force fields, and "anti douche bag magic wands", we like to warn/inform people that are NOT IN THE KNOW, their faux pas before it happens. consider it a public service or help thy fellow man before he stumbles gig.


once it HAPPENS.............well we cant control that no matter what power level we set our "anti douche bag magic wands " on.


now since we are in the VORTEX of "north snobbsdale douche bags" , we get to see this behavior hourly.

rovers/h-2 and h-3 hummers/panamericana whatevers/mini coopers/jacked up everything 4x4's/ escalades by the bushel,etc, and knowing quite a few people in the industry, we kind of KNOW, what werks and what DOESNT!


and since working at an airport here we get to see hourly "pilots that think they can walk on water" and have been bestowed lifetime honorary "DOUCHE BAG" status, that drive similar vehicles.


we try and try to inform people............but alas alot of the time..........they spin off into the very addictive and contagious "DOUCHE BAG SYNDROME!"



now an interesting note on 4x4's here during the recession and some friends who own dezert rat off road centers here. they have had numerous people come in due to the economy and have their LIFT KITS and BIG TIRES/WHEELS removed so the can EEEEK out some gas mileage! hmmmmmmm


i'll bet that raptor gets some damn good mileage, loaded down with 4 people and gear.


but wait you have DEKALS and "SUSPENSION", so therefore you "think" yer ok.


but reality says this....................you paid 20k above and beyond any other 4x4, for a pair of arms,(4) king shocks, and some dekals.


kind of like a 80k rover/h-2/h-3, when we can take a simple bone stock jeep(heap) or a chevy, or bug more places,cheaper,have more fun tearing it up, get lokal parts for it anywhere, less insurance.


hmmm there is a sucker born every minute.


an interesting note while we are trying to sway your purchase boofoonary. a good friend of ours used to work for penske rover here. factory trained. even went back to jolly ol england for training. as time went on rover became more and more snobbish in what they will and wont work on. basically the cutoff is 1995. anything earlier they wont touch.


well along came the bad economy and rover decided to play with shop times for doing various jobs. where before they gave a wrench say 4 days to complete an engine removal and new engine install, they cut it down to something like 2.75 days. our friend stated he couldnt even get parts in a week let alone do the entire job in 2.75 days.


so with this, and some beer, they decided one friday to QUIT and open up their own shop.


he is NOW RICH and i MEAN RICH working on all of these older rovers. he flat out stated that," they are the BIGGEST POS ever mfg'd by man on this planet, NEW OR OLD, and I LOVE THEM FOR IT!" hmmmmmm..................


so the "SMART" money is buying rovers????????????????


last nov i bought a new chev k-1500 LTZ. needed a new truck. last one had 286K hard BAJA/AZ miles on it. since the dealer i know is right next to ferd, we looked at a raptor. well without even looking at the sticker and only looking underneath at the arms, we concluded it would go maybe 10mph faster over the bumps.


wow!


now with also haunting racedezert.com and reading about all the problems w/these raptors,seeing them wadded up,we have also concluded, that a certain element called "wanna-beez" buy these and wreck them at an alarming rate,let alone ferd QC issues rearing their ugly heads.


but then i digress here, raptors should ONLY BE BOUGHT FOR THE HIGHWAY and NOT the REAL WORLD DEZERT in which we live!


now we have seen over the years numerous h-2/h-3 humvees/rovers/escalades/tahoes with spinner wheels, as they NEVER go off road in their lives. i am waiting for a raptor to show up with spinner wheels, and its only a matter of time before our eyes are burned out of our skulls, and TERMINAL LAUGHTER sets in.



its YER MONEY! we have waved the "magic wand". sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesnt.


ya gotta be kinda of thick skinned here. but then ya also have to have some brains to play here in our sandbox.


i think ya should goggle "SCORE CLASS 8 showroom stock trucks" and get an idea of what real SCORE OFF ROAD RACERS have to go thru and fab and install before they are EVEN WORTHY of going off road. same goes for "CLASS 7S" also showroom stock. you will be very surprised at your findings.


TT"s and "1" cars are a whole different breed of cat. watch what finishes in a SHOWROOM STOCK CLASS!


by the way. some intrepid ROVER DUDES entered a rover this past baja 1000. the ODDS of them finishing was 1000 to 1.


they were a DNF! hahahahahahahahaha.


yeah i know, yer just gonna use it to go camping with the family. sheeesh! 20K+ for a freeking pair of arms and dekals and some shocks.


the "magic wand" has been waved and we are sorry if we "hurt" yer feelings.


but then "WE DONT HAVE NO STINKING FEELINGS and WE DONT NEED NO STINKING BADGES!"


signed ..........PROUD MEMBER SUN M.C. and SUN OFF ROAD.


let the flaming begin,as we have our "ANTI DOUCHE BAG FORCE FIELD ON FULL TAZER"



we heard KIM JUNG II owned a raptor..................LMFAO!

[songhoh]

Bob,
I like them. I think all the bent frame problems were from abuse. If I were buying one, I might try to find a used one to avoid the depreciation. Which one did you like, the crew cab or extended cab?

[MMARSH]

Wow that is alot of babble about something the OP is not even interested in. Nope just reread his original post, didn't see daily driver and Baja contender.....but I gots to give it to yer. You is passionate about them there turucks...

Hey, if you like it,buy it.

[kaisen]

I have a friend that has a 2012 6.2L Crew Raptor. Doesn't have a lot of miles and hasn't owned it too long. But, he loves it. It gets a lot of looks. Fuel mileage, he says, is as expected -- low teens. He says it's very smooth and comfortable and very easy to drive. I'd like to have one, but likely never will.