Before you read any further... Be warned I am not a person who is afraid to speak his mind... I call it like I see it and although I hold back quite a bit the little I don't hold back offends some.... That being said....
Vendors should be held to a higher standard when it comes to information... A lot of the members on here believe what the vendors say and advertise because they feel that the vendors should have the correct answers...
Why am I having flash backs to when vendors were on here touting that the spacer leveling kits were the only way to lift your Raptor correctly and people shouldn't follow the instructions SDHQ has on their site to level your truck by changing the spring perch... I guess it is because vendors are giving out bad information again...
SDHQ literally gets calls and emails daily asking about what they have read or have been told by other vendors... A lot of the time that information is wrong and only is given out to the end user to help sell a certain product.. not always the right product but rather the product that the vendor is selling... I'm not saying we are perfect, but we do our best to give you guys the best and correct information... Even if we aren't selling you something...
Some members might take this as an attack on another vendor and take offense to my post.. So be it... I am simply bringing to light bad information that is being given out to the members... Heck, if I am giving you guys bad information call me out on it...
Here is an example of just that... We have had calls for a bit now questioning our trans cooler because of what was being told to them by a vendor.. Here is the sales pitch on their trans cooler....
From their website-
Outlaw Raptor's "R.D.T." (Raptor Development Team) has developed a solution to the high transmission temperatures Ford Raptor owners have been experiencing when using their trucks off road. The optimum running temperature ranges from 210-220 degrees for the 4R60 transmission. Most Raptor owners who've used their trucks for long periods of time off road have been reporting temperatures hitting between 230-270 degrees+. Ford Motors uses Mercon LV transmission fluid in the Raptor. Transmissions starts to break down at 270 degrees+. R.D.T. turned to their racing background and designed an efficient way to keep your transmission from overheating or even failing. R.D.T. started with a CBR Cooler that would do the job as well as not occupy much real estate under the hood. The CBR race cooler integrates the shroud for extra durability and cooling efficiency. The integrated 9" SPAL Fan provides ample airflow and also pushes air into the factory radiator. The CBR cooler and SPAL fan are mounted with a fabricated support which attaches to the factory core support behind the grill "NOT TO THE BUMPER" bumper mounted coolers will fail with any skid plate ot bumper impact. The mount installes with no drilling required. The purpose of mounting the cooler and fan this way allows the Raptor to take impacts to the front bumper without damaging anything. To allow fluid to get to the cooler, the OE lines are cut and new -8 AN push locks are inserted into the OE lines. All the necessary AN fittings and hoses are supplied (see picture). The cooler is then wired up to one of your auxiliary switches. The newly installed cooler will increase the capacity of ATF and allow an extra 3.5 quarts of fluid in the system. Mercon LV from FORD Motor-Craft is recommended as the only fluid to use. The total install time for this cooler is approximately 1hr or less. Please note the ATF fluid is not included.
-8 lines for faster flow.
Core mounted behind grill. NOT BUMPER. Front impact safe.
And our input on the above information....
1- The Raptor has a 6r80 not a 4r60
2- Take a look at the picture below, it does impact air flow getting to the radiator. Recently we had fabricated a new bumper for a customer and we had moved his trans cooler up a bit from where it normally is between the frame horns. We had 50% of the trans cooler in front of the lower section of the radiator. Looking at it we did not think it would effect air flow and cause any heating issues. To our surprise it did increase his engine temps by 10-15 degrees when he was offroading. This didn't cause his motor to over heat just to run warmer than normal. We remounted the cooler and his temps are back to normal. If our 50% of a cooler caused that type of change in temps...
3- The air you are "pushing" into the radiator has gone through the transmission cooler. If your tranny temps are going to be in the 170-220 range the air that you are "pushing" into the radiator is going to be how hot? Also adding just a fan to the front of the radiator can block air flow and hurt your cooling rather than help it. You are adding not only a fan but a cooler and a shroud.
4- Our mount is designed to fit between the frame horn and is protected by the bumper. If you are running our winch mount we have a different lower mount for you that is protected by our skid plate. The cooler does not mount on the skid plate but is rather protected by the skid plate.
SDHQ behind the bumper mount-
SDHQ lower mount-
5- If a person is going to get into an accident that causes the bumper to crush our cooler you will also be vulnerable with a cooler behind the grille. Also see my #4 post
And on to another point... This one was forwarded to me in an email where the vender was comparing their long travel to ours and in an attempt to sell their kit they made many false claims about our kit... I will only point out the statement that was made in a forum rather than those made in the email...
From their post - "and feature one inch Uniballs and 4130 machined spacers for all the pivot points. No sloppy bushings here!
"
Their selling point is we we use bushings and they use uniballs... We actually use delrin in the lower arms not a poly bushing. We chose to use delrin for a couple reasons.. Delrin is actually much harder than the poly bushing it was claimed we were using... It will also out last the uniball in the frame side lower arm... We designed our lower arms with exact tolerances... We do not need the additional misalignment that is given when using a uniball to align the lower arms... No sloppy bushings here...
They way I look at it is... The better our product, the bigger the target is on our back... Bad news for some... Our target is only going to get bigger... and just because our target is large it doesn't make it easier to hit...
Vendors should be held to a higher standard when it comes to information... A lot of the members on here believe what the vendors say and advertise because they feel that the vendors should have the correct answers...
Why am I having flash backs to when vendors were on here touting that the spacer leveling kits were the only way to lift your Raptor correctly and people shouldn't follow the instructions SDHQ has on their site to level your truck by changing the spring perch... I guess it is because vendors are giving out bad information again...
SDHQ literally gets calls and emails daily asking about what they have read or have been told by other vendors... A lot of the time that information is wrong and only is given out to the end user to help sell a certain product.. not always the right product but rather the product that the vendor is selling... I'm not saying we are perfect, but we do our best to give you guys the best and correct information... Even if we aren't selling you something...
Some members might take this as an attack on another vendor and take offense to my post.. So be it... I am simply bringing to light bad information that is being given out to the members... Heck, if I am giving you guys bad information call me out on it...
Here is an example of just that... We have had calls for a bit now questioning our trans cooler because of what was being told to them by a vendor.. Here is the sales pitch on their trans cooler....
From their website-
Outlaw Raptor's "R.D.T." (Raptor Development Team) has developed a solution to the high transmission temperatures Ford Raptor owners have been experiencing when using their trucks off road. The optimum running temperature ranges from 210-220 degrees for the 4R60 transmission. Most Raptor owners who've used their trucks for long periods of time off road have been reporting temperatures hitting between 230-270 degrees+. Ford Motors uses Mercon LV transmission fluid in the Raptor. Transmissions starts to break down at 270 degrees+. R.D.T. turned to their racing background and designed an efficient way to keep your transmission from overheating or even failing. R.D.T. started with a CBR Cooler that would do the job as well as not occupy much real estate under the hood. The CBR race cooler integrates the shroud for extra durability and cooling efficiency. The integrated 9" SPAL Fan provides ample airflow and also pushes air into the factory radiator. The CBR cooler and SPAL fan are mounted with a fabricated support which attaches to the factory core support behind the grill "NOT TO THE BUMPER" bumper mounted coolers will fail with any skid plate ot bumper impact. The mount installes with no drilling required. The purpose of mounting the cooler and fan this way allows the Raptor to take impacts to the front bumper without damaging anything. To allow fluid to get to the cooler, the OE lines are cut and new -8 AN push locks are inserted into the OE lines. All the necessary AN fittings and hoses are supplied (see picture). The cooler is then wired up to one of your auxiliary switches. The newly installed cooler will increase the capacity of ATF and allow an extra 3.5 quarts of fluid in the system. Mercon LV from FORD Motor-Craft is recommended as the only fluid to use. The total install time for this cooler is approximately 1hr or less. Please note the ATF fluid is not included.
-8 lines for faster flow.
Core mounted behind grill. NOT BUMPER. Front impact safe.
And our input on the above information....
1- The Raptor has a 6r80 not a 4r60
2- Take a look at the picture below, it does impact air flow getting to the radiator. Recently we had fabricated a new bumper for a customer and we had moved his trans cooler up a bit from where it normally is between the frame horns. We had 50% of the trans cooler in front of the lower section of the radiator. Looking at it we did not think it would effect air flow and cause any heating issues. To our surprise it did increase his engine temps by 10-15 degrees when he was offroading. This didn't cause his motor to over heat just to run warmer than normal. We remounted the cooler and his temps are back to normal. If our 50% of a cooler caused that type of change in temps...
3- The air you are "pushing" into the radiator has gone through the transmission cooler. If your tranny temps are going to be in the 170-220 range the air that you are "pushing" into the radiator is going to be how hot? Also adding just a fan to the front of the radiator can block air flow and hurt your cooling rather than help it. You are adding not only a fan but a cooler and a shroud.
4- Our mount is designed to fit between the frame horn and is protected by the bumper. If you are running our winch mount we have a different lower mount for you that is protected by our skid plate. The cooler does not mount on the skid plate but is rather protected by the skid plate.
SDHQ behind the bumper mount-
SDHQ lower mount-
5- If a person is going to get into an accident that causes the bumper to crush our cooler you will also be vulnerable with a cooler behind the grille. Also see my #4 post
And on to another point... This one was forwarded to me in an email where the vender was comparing their long travel to ours and in an attempt to sell their kit they made many false claims about our kit... I will only point out the statement that was made in a forum rather than those made in the email...
From their post - "and feature one inch Uniballs and 4130 machined spacers for all the pivot points. No sloppy bushings here!
"Their selling point is we we use bushings and they use uniballs... We actually use delrin in the lower arms not a poly bushing. We chose to use delrin for a couple reasons.. Delrin is actually much harder than the poly bushing it was claimed we were using... It will also out last the uniball in the frame side lower arm... We designed our lower arms with exact tolerances... We do not need the additional misalignment that is given when using a uniball to align the lower arms... No sloppy bushings here...
They way I look at it is... The better our product, the bigger the target is on our back... Bad news for some... Our target is only going to get bigger... and just because our target is large it doesn't make it easier to hit...
