RPG Tie Rods and "Race Line" Upper Control Arms Installed (Tons of pics and a vid!)

[BigJ]

A week ago Friday, I spent the day at RPG World Wide Headquarters. Corey of RPG, Brian (bstoner59), and Rowdey (a local RPG authorized installer) spent all day with me, and Jarrett (RPG on FRF) was able to break away and come by as well. I even got to spend some time with Corey's wonderful daughters and wife. You really get the sense that when you're working with RPG, you're working with family. They just sort of embrase you and make you feel right at home. That is pretty rare when it comes to an engineering, manufacturing or installation company, in my experience.

So why was I there? A few reasons:
-Last time I spent time with RPG, they pointed out some evidence as to why the spacers I had installed were probably a really bad idea. RPG had offered to remove them for me, and reset my perch to the top level instead. Here's that whole story (read it if you have spacers too!!): http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f5/why-spacers-bad-idea-lots-cv-axle-innards-pics-11645/

-Did someone say new tie rods? Or maybe they said new upper control arms? Ah hell, maybe they said both!


But I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first, Corey handed me a couple of boxes and told me to get busy unpacking. This is exactly how they ship stuff, and its how you can expect to receive your stuff when you order too:















RPG offers a few different variants; a "Pre Runner" that comes with polyurethane pivot bushings and a "Race Line" that comes with teflon lined stainless steel spherical bearings. Each is available in a 1" or 1.5" bearing size at the knuckle to match your wheels. I opted for the 1.5" "Race Line" versions because my aftermarket wheels have the offset to support them (the stock OEM wheels limit you to the 1" bearing only), and I like the idea of a bearing that will probably outlast the truck.

Get this: the actual cost to RPG of the stainless bearings over the poly is right around $300... take a look at RPG's price of the "Pre Runner" poly version vs the "Race" stainless version: its a $300 difference. Confused, I asked why they don't charge a markup? The answer was basically that they want to make the upgraded versions as affordable as possible to guys like you and me, and they can acomplish that by just simply passing on the cost of the upgrade. That's a pretty cool thing to do if you ask me, and its another indicator of the quality of people behind RPG.







Check out those 5/8" 300m pins. So sweet!





Now to the tie rods











As for the color match? You decide

 

[BigJ]

Now to the teardown. As always, these are not meant to be instructions or how-to's. This is just stuff that I saw and thought was cool or noteworthy along the way.
















I thought this was interesting. I know there's been some serious debate about using aluminum for tie rod bodies. The concern being that the strength wont be there... Quite frankly I read that debate wondering if those concerned were talking about the strength needed for our application, or if they were talking about the strength needed to launch a space shuttle. And when I saw this, I had to laugh... here's what Ford thinks is strong enough


Here are some stock vs RPG comparison shots








Ok then, to the install!






Our knuckles do need a bit of griding to clearance the new arm. There is no impact on knuckle strength, and by doing this the arm is able to take advantage of its improved geometry for even greater droop than stock.









Ugh those boots! Corey gave me one freaking job the whole day; heat the stock boot so it stretches just enough to fit over the new RPG tie rod. Notice I said "just enough" heat? I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to melt the damn thing . Ah well. Good thing he had extras (yes, that's plural :doh: )










Here's a video I took and put together showing some of the 'play' in the stock system vs not in the RPG system. I'll leave it to the experts to decide if it means anything, but to me the difference seemed pretty cool

Ford Raptor Stock vs RPG Upper Control Arm - YouTube

 

[BigJ]

As for how it all performs? I had the chance to take it out the very next day and join Raptor Expeditions at Anza Borrego/Ocotillo Wells. The trip started out quiet enough, but by mid day we were starting to stretch our legs and by the end I in particular was pushing myself and my truck far harder than I ever had before. I know SOTP (seat of the pants) reviews are extremely subjective, but I can honestly say that I now have a truck that far exceeds the abilities of her driver. I am just not a good enough to be able to push her as hard as she wants to be pushed. In fact, there were several times during the RE run that I felt myself in over my head in terms of the terrain and speeds I was going. There were several "Oh ****" moments that quite frankly a better driver would have avoided... but I didn't. I have zero doubts that if I was stock up front, I would have been towed out of there that day. And yet, not only wasn't I towed, but I didn't even lose alignment. I drove 500 miles home the next day and I didn't experience a single issue.

To get a bit more technical with you than that, I can say that I can feel a dramatic increase in "control arm stiffness". What does that mean? Typically when you use the word "stiff" talking about suspension, its a bad thing. But that's not what I'm saying; the stiffness increase I'm talking about is NOT in the up or down movement of the suspension. Nothing has changed there. What I'm feeling now is the lack of front end movement left and right, front and back. Things just don't move in those directions any more, allowing for a much more precice steering feeling, and much more confidence in taking those larger hits at speed on the trail.

Another effect is the feel of the steering wheel. Before I would say I could feel "static" or "noise" in the wheel. Now its perfectly quiet. It's not something I noticed until its gone, but now that I have noticed it I'm really enjoying it. Again there's a confidence inspiring solidity to the front, that I can't recall feeling before.

Here's a sequence that MicTouch took during the run. If this is where I think it is, I was carrying between 60-65mph worth of speed thru here. See how that front end is working?











So whats the bottom line on all this? Remember how you felt the first time you got behind the wheel of the Raptor in the dirt? Remember the awe? I am as awed that much again after having the RPG tie rods and UCAs installed. I honestly feel like I have a brand new truck, whose abilities have leaped past mine.

Look at it this way: set aside the on road manners improvements (which are dramatic all by themselves). Do you plan to push your limits off road, but are you like me and still kinda suck? Are you good enough to avoid those "oh ****" moments as you push yourself and learn? Consider both of these mods and compare their costs with what its going to cost when you break on the trail because you did push to hard for your skill.

Like I said, I have zero doubt I would have broken something on that RE trip if I was stock. I'm just not good enough to avoid those damage causing hits at the speeds I was going. And on the flip side, I can't wait until I am good enough so that I can REALLY see what these parts allow a 'good' driver to do out there.

 

[Deinonychus]

Another great write-up, Jason. Did we expect anything else?

When is FRF giving you your own sub-forum, so we can have quick access to "All Our Raptors Can Be" threads?

You have become quite the author. Are you Copyrighting these?

 

[vanilla_gorilla]

Again, another excellent write up (Still think you need your own section in the forum), and so far the UCA, steering rods and stage 3 kit from RPG are next on my list, so thank you BigJ. One question, how is it driving on-road without your anti-sway bar? This is something i want to remove as well.

 

[pirate air]

Great write up! I've been eye ballin the RPG tie rod and uca, it's most likely my next "big" mod. Did RPG talk about what suspension angles are corrected with the uca, concerning placement of the spherical bearing?

 

[GsxrRaptor]

Nice

 

[KaiserM715]

J, has anyone measured if there is an increase in droop? If so, how much? I enjoyed the write-up and pics.

 

[BigJ]

Another great write-up, Jason. Did we expect anything else?

When is FRF giving you your own sub-forum, so we can have quick access to "All Our Raptors Can Be" threads?

You have become quite the author. Are you Copyrighting these?

Thanks D.

Nah, no copyright. All these mods are done on my dime, for my purposes, I don't plan to make any money from 'em, and I'm writing them up for others to learn from right along with me. If someone wants to quote them in part or in whole, by all means. If they want to take them and claim they are their own, so be it.

Again, another excellent write up (Still think you need your own section in the forum), and so far the UCA, steering rods and stage 3 kit from RPG are next on my list, so thank you BigJ. One question, how is it driving on-road without your anti-sway bar? This is something i want to remove as well.

I think you're going to love the package when done VG. No doubt the indivitual changes make big differences, but combined the truck takes on a whole new character.

I drove the truck stock for 10k miles. I then drove it 30k miles with the spacers in. There was a few dozen miles on road during that time where I removed the sway, and I really didn't like it. The truck felt like one of them aluminum fishing boats under me, and so I couldn't get the sway back on there fast enough.

I've got around 1k miles on the current setup; RPG UCAs, RPG tie rods, top perch (no spacer) and no sway, and you couldn't pay me to go back to the way it was. I can't pick out how the sway all by itself feels, since my experience is as a total system. But there is a defininte difference now between steering, and body rolling. In the former, the front responds immediately to my input via the steering wheel. In the latter, its like as the thing starts to turn in the direction I just told it to, the body does start to roll, but not in the uncontrolled way it did before with the spacer and stock parts. It took a while to get used to it, but now I love it. You can literally feel the truck's suspension working as its turning, rather than feeling sloppiness as it trys to turn. The change was so dramatic in fact that I took my wife out without telling her what to expect; the first thing she said (after giggling like a little school girl) was that it reminded her of the road race setup car we built and ran for a few years. Her reaction to me spoke volumes.

Great write up! I've been eye ballin the RPG tie rod and uca, it's most likely my next "big" mod. Did RPG talk about what suspension angles are corrected with the uca, concerning placement of the spherical bearing?

J, has anyone measured if there is an increase in droop? If so, how much? I enjoyed the write-up and pics.

I'll shoot Jarrett a PM and ask him to comment. I have some notes, but I don't want to misquote what I think I understood (I'm no expert when it comes to this).

 

[Jhawk]

great write up. i love the side by side pics of the tie rod and upper control arms. shows just how beefy RPG's upgrades are. i would like to go with their upgrades sometime in the future, when the check book allows it. how difficult was the install? and special equipment/tools needed?