Have your cake, and eat it too

[RPG]

Lately I have been receiving lots of PM's on ideas how to increase the payload for the average Raptor owner who only needs to tow a boat once in a while, load up the bed with what ever, but still has the bed empty 90% of the time.

Well, the other day we got a PM from a customer that said why not try to bump up the air pressure in the bump to help compensate. This got us thinking some more. The issue isn't so much the air pressure in the bump, its the soft leafs that will sag making the rear end a low rider with lots of weight in the bed.

So, we decided to pick up 2 4" Fox 2.5" Airbumps from Fox and see what would happen if we loaded up the bed of our truck with Standard Duty Nationals on it. Here are the results.

Stock Height 42" no weight in the bed

13 tires totaling over 1000lbs of payload. 11 37's and 2 35's


Ouch





So, we jacked up the back of the truck, popped out the current 2.5" airbump and installed the 4.0" airbump (shaft travel, both are 2.5" diameter)

Lowered the truck back down and this is what happened.



42" with over 1000 pounds in the bed.

With the bed loaded and the 4" bump



Then we took it out for a drive, slammed the truck into bumps, dips, speed bumps and it drove great.

We drove it with about 750pounds in the bed because we were worried the tires on top would fly out.

All in all, it worked great. We had the psi set to 200pounds and it could handle much more if needed. We are gonna make a valving change on that bump and keep playing with this.

This literally is something that can be done in the driveway with a floor jack and 1"5/16th wrench. 5 minutes and you can load the hell out of the bed.

Before the drive


After the drive


Please keep in mind, you are loosing about 2.5" of bump travel, so this is NOT for offroading. This would be a simple solution for those who need to have some extra heft for the heavy hauls.

Honestly, it worked amazing. Our frame support is huge, why not take advantage of it?

 

[beemerman]

Haven't loaded my truck with the 1 inch over national standards. Suppose they will sag with let's say 1 thousand pounds of weight. Jack


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[Chrisandalex1]

Good Work Guys,

Makes good sense..

 

[NickPic83]

nice idea.

what about taking out the blocks and putting in add a leafs??

 

[RaptorWifey]

That's F'ing awesome..... say's Joe

 

[RPG]

nice idea.

what about taking out the blocks and putting in add a leafs??

When you have the Nationals the blocks go away. The point is not sacrificing any performance. Basically pop in the 4" when needed and then take it back out when your back yo daily duty.

I want to emphasize, this would not be a way of replacing HD's. If you still do lots of hauling and run 400+ pounds in the bed at all times. Regardless of HD or Standard springs, this looks to be a very good solution to increasing payload.

 

[f16YODA]

This is quite the interesting concept, fellas! How do you think this would affect towing capability? That's the big concern I have. At some point I need to drag my Shelby out of this crap hole. I suppose I can just throw the old springs back in for the trip, but I would rather have an easier option. Or, just the peace of mind that my standard Nationals can handle the pull with some stuff in the bed. I do plan on investing in a weight distribution setup in case anyone was wondering.

Thanks for everything! And, oh by the way, I have an itch for some tie rods and a power steering reservoir. May need to call you guys up...

Have at you!
- YODA

 

[Squatting Dog]

So basically what you are saying is you can use the 4" fox bumps as bolt on overloads.. And switch back to 2.5" fox bumps when you are not carrying and additional load or offroading?

-Greg

 

[Wilson]

be nice if you could just hinge it and flip it out of the way. better yet put the 4 on the bottom with the 2.5 on top so the 2.5 would bump on the 4 until it needed the extra and the 4 would take over.
so the 4 would be part of the spring per-say.

 

[PropDr]

Yes, and offer it as a package to your customers!
Pop in the overloads to tow your toys to base camp, and after you get there pop in the bump stops to go out and play!