GEN 2 Most likely to break off-road

Hey gents,

I’m looking into getting some aftermarket parts going for the Raptor and I know the Raptor isn’t fully fitted for extreme off-road. I live in Arizona so most of the off-road in my area is soft sand but I plan on going to Baja California and doing a run with the family and having some fun. I don’t want to worry about control arms breaking, etc. I want to be able to make it back in one piece lol so I’m wondering if anyone has done it and what your experience is, and what aftermarket suspension parts do you have on your Raptor?

Non-related, I will be upgrading the radiator and trans oil cooler. I’m still debating on the Intercooler though since its blocking the radiator.

I’m on a 2019 Raptor if it matters at all.

Been to Baja already and some of this is on my mind...I'll share my thoughts..

1) Tie rods...I need to check but I think the tie rods are the same left/right...running stock rods have effect as a steering "fuse" to save the steering rack from those hard hits.
2) Front half shafts...again I think they are one part, covers both sides.
3) Complete drive shaft...I need to check out the cost of this as much more then a tie rod, but our trucks are kind of low and leaves the driveshaft vulnerable...

First 2 items fairly easy to carry...Driveshaft (if cost is do able) would be a more intense mod just to carry and keep clean and ready to go.
Yes you could break a lower or upper control arm, but think my list of items more likely...

Haven’t seen any of that break on a Gen 2. Most of the failures I have seen are electronic putting then trucks into limp mode.

speed sensors, turbo sensors, pedal commander ******** things up, tunes doing bad things.

Go with another truck. Or better yet go on an EXO run

Clockton said:

Haven’t seen any of that break on a Gen 2. Most of the failures I have seen are electronic putting then trucks into limp mode.

speed sensors, turbo sensors, pedal commander ******** things up, tunes doing bad things.

Go with another truck. Or better yet go on an EXO run

Click to expand...

change the upper control arms. Swap the gen2 uprights for gusseted gen1 knuckles.

absolutely do the spd 170-degree thermostat. It is worth its weight in gold.

as clockton stated, make sure your spares kit has MAF, TBS, wheel speed sensors, etc. a $4 part can and will ruin your adventure.

I'll also second heading out on an Exo run. If the pre-runner trips are intimidating, they are also doing slower-paced, more over-landing type trips now.

Good stuff, keep the Baja experience coming. Im getting mine ready for 2020 trip, so all this is good

Loufish said:

Been to Baja already and some of this is on my mind...I'll share my thoughts..

1) Tie rods...I need to check but I think the tie rods are the same left/right...running stock rods have effect as a steering "fuse" to save the steering rack from those hard hits.
2) Front half shafts...again I think they are one part, covers both sides.
3) Complete drive shaft...I need to check out the cost of this as much more then a tie rod, but our trucks are kind of low and leaves the driveshaft vulnerable...

First 2 items fairly easy to carry...Driveshaft (if cost is do able) would be a more intense mod just to carry and keep clean and ready to go.
Yes you could break a lower or upper control arm, but think my list of items more likely...

Click to expand...

as an fyi, the front axleshafts are side specific.

If you really want to be prepared, rob an inner cv inner half from a friendly shop. It can be used to plug the front dif. ( driver side of the dif is female, the passenger is male)

as far as a driveshaft, if you were really worried, you could run a J.E. Reel pinned trophy truck driveshaft. the pins are the fuse. if you pop one, you knock out the pins, replace them and you're back in business. I can promise you that both curt and I drive our trucks harder than 99.5% of raptor owners. I haven't replaced my driveshaft. I don't think he has either.

but now I'm gonna go buy one because that's what I'll break next.

I would strongly recommend a foutz differential skid. The one I had on my truck saved the real axle from obliteration.

zombiekiller said:

change the upper control arms. Swap the gen2 uprights for gusseted gen1 knuckles.

absolutely do the spd 170-degree thermostat. It is worth its weight in gold.

as clockton stated, make sure your spares kit has MAF, TBS, wheel speed sensors, etc. a $4 part can and will ruin your adventure.

I'll also second heading out on an Exo run. If the pre-runner trips are intimidating, they are also doing slower-paced, more over-landing type trips now.

Click to expand...

Ok, I have to ask. Why is the spd 170 thermostat worth its weight in gold?

Raptus said:

Ok, I have to ask. Why is the spd 170 thermostat worth its weight in gold?

Click to expand...

Because if you're running lights above the main hoop of the bumper and you drive hard in Baja mode, you'll overheat the truck.

For those of us that dont know, what does the 170 thermo do ?

Halo Raptor said:

For those of us that dont know, what does the 170 thermo do ?

Click to expand...

It opens at 170 degrees instead of 195 degrees (factory tstat).

This will give you a much larger buffer before you get into an overheating condition. Your tuner can also set the fans to come on at a lower temp.

I'm actually to the point where I'm probably going to throw some spal high cfm fans in my truck too.

The cooler the motor runs, the less timing it will pull.