aschiller98
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2016
- Posts
- 58
- Reaction score
- 22
So this past weekend, a friend of mine and I were able to go to badlands off-road park in Attica, Indiana. I have a Gen 1 2012 SCREW and he just got his Gen 2 SCAB, he had about 1500 miles on it before off roading. Both trucks are completely stock with the exception of method NV wheels on my GEN 1. Some initial observations between the two trucks driving on the road was just how comfortable the new truck is compared to the gen 1. Over potholes in the road at low speeds ~30 MPH my gen 1 would be really rough and feel like the whole bed just shuttered. The gen 2 truck rides incredibly smooth on road. Reading about the new 3.0 shocks it sounds like this can be contributed to the new base valve piston. “The new 3.0-inch FOX shock adds a base valve piston that enables lower gas pressure, resulting in a more comfortable-riding truck on the road. The internal bypass in the front and rear shocks has nine distinct zones that progressively manage shock forces, allowing for smooth on-road trips along with hard-hitting off-road driving. The final zones act like hydraulic bump stops to send fluid through the top of the piston while the shock is fully compressed, preventing Raptor from bottoming out. This allows Raptor to maintain a comfortable ride, and leads to improved confidence for the driver to explore all of its extra-long suspension travel.” The engine note range on the new truck is very broad too, at idle it is almost impossible to tell it is running, but when you get on the throttle it really opens up, I'm sure part of this can be due to the augmented exhaust note. The v8 in the Gen 1 just sounds more natural. Off road is where there are some interesting difference in how the truck behaves. Over the small rollers, the trucks behave pretty similar, both still have axle hop at low speeds in 2wd in the sand. We had a chance to jump both trucks and this is where the biggest differences were. We were able to jump the gen 2 much higher, faster and smoother than the Gen 1. Again reading about the new 3.0 this can probably be attributed to the integrated hydraulic bump stop final zone. When the Gen 2 bottomed out it felt smooth. When the Gen 1 bottomed out it was very harsh and you could feel the back of the truck bounce off the ground. Probably the most interesting part of the new truck was not the suspension but the driving dynamics. The Gen 2 feels much lighter and nimble (It is much lighter and it was the shorter SCAB). We were doing some high speed passes through a windy sand section in 4wd High, and the Gen 1 had a huge tendency to push through the sand and it was very difficult to induce oversteer without massive amounts of throttle input. The Gen 2 effortlessly slid and responded perfectly to every input. It is just much easier to drive fast and fun through the sand. I was initially really skeptical that the Gen 2 could be much better than the Gen 1 since the Gen 1 was already so impressive, but Ford has really knocked the Gen 2 out of the park. It is incredible that they could make such improvements on an already phenomenal truck. This is in no way supposed to be bashing the Gen 1(I own the white Gen 1) and I love every moment driving the truck, but more of just observations on the new truck using the Gen 1 as a refrence.
