Yeldarb's 2014 Raptor Adventure

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Yeldarbraptor

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Hello.

I recently bought a 2014 SCrew Raptor with 109,*** miles.

I've always been a big car guy, so owning a Raptor has been one of those bucket list things for me. My wife and I will use it to go off-roading, camping, and for some towing. I know it's pretty over-engineered for those tasks, but that's kind of what I wanted. I figured that I'll never push this truck as hard as it was designed to be pushed, so as long as I take care of it, it should be dependable. Also - it's just badass.

Alright, let's get to it.

I bought this in late November of 2020. It came with 20" Tuff wheels with 35" ironman mt tires, a big reflective american flag decal on the tailgate, an afe cold air intake, stainless works long tube high flow headers, and flowmaster catback. It wasn't in mint condition, but it also wasn't beat up. I've spent the last week freshening it up a bit, and ordering a lot of new parts for it. It's quickly becoming an obsession haha

Things I've recently done: removed the big flag decal, did the fuze 27 fix, got the oil changed, had the brake pads all replaced, and new rear rotors.

I've already cruised with the windows down, blasting Boston, basking in the 6.2l goodness. Can't wait to take a nice long camping trip in this thing!

Current modifications:
- 20" wheels with 35" ironman mt tires
- stainless works high flow catted headers
- flowmaster catback exhaust
- afe power cold air intake

Planned modifications:
- 17" forged wheels with 35" bfg ko2 tires
- rebuild factory fox shocks
- tuner (not sure which type yet)
- new catback exhaust (current one drones and has some rust)
- retractable tonneau cover
- larger transmission cooler
- paint correction/protection
- LED off road lights/fog lights

Maintenance done so far:
- oil change
- brake pads
- rear rotors

Planned maintenance:
- spark plugs
- transmission drian and fill
- transfer case and diff fluid change
- new battery


Here it is on the day I bought it:

PXL_20201125_210411602.PORTRAIT_2 (2).jpg
 
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Yeldarbraptor

Yeldarbraptor

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Update:
Got new wheels and tires installed today. I think 20's with all terrains can look great if done right, but I just wasn't digging the setup that this truck came with. The tires were pretty loud and the wheels were heavy -- no bueno for long trips or the off-roading we want to do. The new setup is more quiet, handles the bumps and other BS in the road better, and helps the truck feel a bit more cushy.

Here's the details on the new setup:

The wheels are Motegi MR150 Trailites in Bronze, 17" x 8.5" with 0mm offset. They're forged, so they only weight 24.5 lbs each. The tires are 35/12.50/17 BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2's.

Enough rambling - here's the best shot I have from my drive home. :pepper:

new_setup.jpg
 
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Yeldarbraptor

Yeldarbraptor

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Lots of parts finally delivered last night -- spent the day doing spark plugs, marker lights, a mishimoto transmission cooler, etc.

The spark plugs job took me a good 3 hrs, and I've never done spark plugs in my life - as others have said in the tutorials - get a good swivel socket for the plugs and it will make it a lot easier.

PXL_20201204_043425491.jpg

PXL_20201204_180545346.jpg PXL_20201204_182402170.jpg
 
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Yeldarbraptor

Yeldarbraptor

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now that you are experienced in spark plugs, i wont turn down the offer to do mine. haha.

Haha - I can coach you through it, but you gotta do the work. My back is gonna be sore tomorrow.

The truck revs and idles sooo smooothly now though - totally worth the work.

What taillights are those?

They're this one off of amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CKQP0P6/?tag=fordraptorforum-20

Funny/****** thing though - I dropped one in my driveway in the middle of installing them, and it broke the bottom quarter of the clear cover off. Huge bummer, but my fault. So the current ones will stay on until I can get another set.
 
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Yeldarbraptor

Yeldarbraptor

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UPDATE

The combination of the SW hfc headers and the flowmaster cat back combined to create some hellish drone around 1500-2000 rpm. After reading a bunch of posts about helmholtz resonators / j-pipes, I drew up some instructions and took it to the local muffler shop.

They made what I asked for, and to my surprise, it works pretty dang well! Normal driving is much nicer now that my eardrums aren't vibrating in my skull anymore. It's not the prettiest exhaust modification, but it buys me some time until I can justify getting a corsa sport or something like that.

PXL_20201210_225936865.jpg

ALSO

I just ordered a 5 star tuner with some custom tunes, so I'm very excited to get that. I'm hoping it will help the raptor to run a bit more smoothly with it's current mods, and maybe gain a few mpg if I'm lucky.
 
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