Ford Raptor Forum

lol that was some funny shit

90% of thread derailment around here is Bo's or my fault. hell of an admin staff Shaggy put together

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Play slow pitch softball? Check out Softball Forum !

Ban!

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FordRaptorForum.com

Boobies!

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5star tune X3 | AFE stage 2 cai | Recon smoked tail lights | Recon smoked third brake light | Bakflip F1 | Craven stubby | Weathertech | Jimmi jammer gate keeper & hood latch protector | Ducati's custom blacked out 35w bi-zenon projector headlights! | Easydown tailgate | Bedrug | 315/70R17 Goodyear DuraTracs | ATX Artillery Teflon Black 17x9 -12mm | Swaybar removed | RPG stage 3 rear kit | RPG BLACK tie rod | RPG Raceline 1.5" UCA |

This thread is like a scene from Naked Gun. Starts serious, but filled with wisecraks. KNINE approved ! (with yellow markings)

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Hey there, voter ! Do you remember that on inauguration day (Jan 20th) 2009, the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $1.78 ? Hows that "Hope and Change" working out for you ? Anyone But Obama, Nov. 2012

Here is what I found on my 2010 SuperCab after I did the top perch adjustment:

I was experiencing a shutter to my steering wheel whenever I hit bumps. I would describe it almost as bump steer.

In the past bump steer was associated with unequal heights of you steering linkage when you measured your idler arm to the ground versus your pitman arm to the ground. This is why many guys installed longer pitman arms on older lifted vehicles with steering boxes.

Of course the Raptor doesn't have a steering box and after some investigating into shock valving and such I dug a little bit deeper into my own truck to find out what was going on.

My first thought was to install a steering dampner and the guy I was talking to said something that really made me think. He said if bump steer was happening on older vehicles due to changes in toe and camber over bumps then maybe my own issues were related to improper settings and I didn't realize it.

I had my truck on an alignment machine after moving to top perch and like many of us I was told the truck was still within spec, so it wasn't required to do an alignment.

Well no actually, I DID need an alignment I just ran into a mechanic who didn't want to piss around with trying to move the factory control arms within their slots to adjust it.

So I ordered a set of camber/caster adjustment cams from SDHQ and waited until they arrived.

When I got them I went to two Ford dealers I know and asked both of their alignment specialists if they ignored angles if they fell within spec or if during the alignment they tried to optimize the settings.

The one guy said it was extra to do the optimization and the other guy said, no I try to get it to the best settings everytime....one guess who I chose.

Here are my before readings....keep in mind toe isn't going to be 100% accurate because the wheel wasn't centered in with just a sweep for specs:

Left Caster 3.40 degrees Camber -0.64 degrees
Right Caster 3.02 degrees Camber -1.20 degrees
Left Toe .07
Right Toe 1.01....again this is just for reference.

The vehicle will pull to the side with the least positive castor and the most positive camber. Most alignment shops will use .25 degrees camber to pull left or .50 degrees castor to pull left by default so as to counter road crown. So although I was within specs my left wheel was pulling left and my right wheel wanted to pull right and THIS was causing issues whenever I hit bumps.

Specs are 2.70 to 4.70 degrees caster
-1.20 to 0.30 degrees camber
.2 degrees toe

I gave them these specs after some research that shows the optimal settings for the above: ( Raptor specs do not recommend an adjustment to counter road crown where other F150's do)

+3.7 degrees castor both sides
-0.45 degrees camber both sides
+0.2 degrees toe both sides

I asked him to set the specs as close as possible.

The entire job took 2.5 hours including the alignment cams being installed and this is what I got:

Camber left -0.47 right -0.48
Castor left +3.7 right +4.0
Toe .2 both sides

You'll notice I asked for .3 of a degree castor pull left to counter the road crown because I do happen to drive 40,000 miles per year and in Canada we do have a pretty strong road crown tipping our roads to the right curb for water drainage. A castor pull is most desirable as it is the least tire wearing angle.

I took the truck for a drive after and it drives dead straight with zero steering wheel alignment and wouldn't you know it...... my bump steer was 100% gone.

On top perch I got the truck within spec without upper control arm changes and the SDHQ cams did the job perfectly for my guy to get the alignment 99.999% perfect.

The truck drives like a million bucks now and I have a completly different opinion about my top perch adjustment.

I'm going to leave my shock valving alone for now, the only reason I'd adjust it is if I ever want to go to the mushy factory ride....I'm tempted, but maybe when money flow increases.

100% happy guys and I hope this helps.

Jeff

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Dead longblock 6.2 from 2010 raptor in my garage if anyone wants to buy it

Yeah I don't think people realize that just because its "in spec" means its good to go. Most manufacture specs are too lenient, often times on the edges of "in spec", or cross differences will still cause various problems. A good alignment takes some understanding and considerations to the vehicles type of use, it goes beyond getting it in spec and calling it good. I think your shimmy was mostly do to lack of positive caster.

Personally I like to keep mine above +4.0* for caster, usually lands about 4.2* to 4.3*. I don't shoot for cross caster numbers because the road crown changes too often around here, I just set both sides up even. I keep camber -.3*to -.2*, and toe is set the positive side, again for tracking improvement.

....my head hurts after reading all that...

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2012 supercab tuxedo black 6.2- AFE stage 2- iTSX Tune- 20" Fuel Octane- 35" Nitto Trail Grappler- Super 10 muffler/system- HID headlights- LED tails- Highest perch-35% windshield/20% side/5%overfactory rear tint. Line-x prem fenders + bed. Retrax pro cover. Front/Rear bumper/LED incoming!