Marshal I envy you Your truck looks great, i'm looking into doing to same set up with the leveling kit and 35s.how much did you have to trim off?
I still have a good bit to wait for my 11' f150.:o Was going to get it this summer but due to work being bit slow lately have to wait til my 17th birthday. Seeing all the work you put into your truck makes me anxious. Hope your babygirl is doing well.

 

Kawi, I think you'd be okay with 4.56s, and honestly I think I would too. It's important to remember that the raptors come with 4.10s and they're only slightly undergeared.

Dawgford:
Thanks, I didn't have to do much trimming. If you go a few pages back, there are some pictures of where and how much I trimmed.


I know people don't really care about seeing pictures of kids, but IMO my daughter is is super cute and deserves the spotlight. Shell be 9 weeks this coming Tuesday and believe it or not she's just on the verge of starting to crawl. She's about 3 months ahead of shedule

 

She is cute, ur going to have to install the, "daddy duty" daughter securty 12awg rack in the back window of the truck for when she gets older lol.

 

i agree ^, she is adorable. Alright will do thanks.

 

Marshall, why do you say the Raptors are slightly undergeared? I'm running 35's on my lifted Platinum and I have 3.55's right now. I would like to regear to 4.10's since I figured that would put me back at stock with my 3.55's, but everyone I have spoken with has said that the driveshafts on these trucks were changed to a different type of metal in '09 and now when you change gears, there is a constant whining.....I don't want to pay the kind of money gears require and have more noise (that's a no go for me).


Also, I noticed you said you put your spare back under the truck with a 35x12.5x18 on it. Can you snap some pics of it stuffed up in there? Did you need to modify anything? I've had 35x12.5x20's on my truck for 2 years and I still haven't come up with a solution without taking up all the bed space with a spare because I didn't think it would fit underneath. I would love to fit a full size spare under that

 

Just letting you know, you may wanna actually measure your truck. My 09 is sitting on 35's with a 6" lift on it and its only 6'10.5" (measured and I can fit in a 7 foot garage, residential and parking garages)....there's no way your truck is 7 1/2 feet tall.

 

ive driven a raptor with a 5.4, and i have to say i would have wished it had 4.56's, especially for offroad. the 5.4s have great low and torque, but that doesnt mean anything if the math doesnt work with the gears, plus the higher gear ratio would help the engine, since it doesnt have much "umpff" at RPMS past 4k. the higher spinning velocity would help.

and i dont really see how changing a driveshaft would make noise. the only moving parts on the driveshaft on the 5.5 foot beds are the 2 U-Joints in it plus the slip yoke on the transfercase and its bearing. i suppose it could be possible that the middle bearing could whine on the 6.5 foot bed models because they have a 2 piece driveshaft and the angle would be much more severe. and as much as you dont want to hear it, i'll have to say it - when you modify, you have to pay to play. there are side effects; however i dont see how the whirring claim is even plausible because of a change in material, which didnt even happen. F-150's driveshafts have been hollow aluminum tubes since the 90s.

as far as the spare goes, i wedged it up in there. it amazes me that no one puts together the fact that the raptors have 35" tires and they fit the spare in the same location as all the other F150s

i never actaully measured it, i eye balled it - but thanks for the point, i might get out a actual measuring tape and see

 

Well the reason I mentioned the difference in metal is because when I was speaking with 4 Wheel Parts in Raleigh, NC, they said they had done a gear change on an '09 FX4 and they tried everything between different company gears and install kits to a different installer and could not do anything to make the whining noise go away; the only thing that fixed it was putting the stock gears back in. They said that some driveshafts were steel and some were aluminum, I just can't remember right now which one they said was the problem...I think it was the aluminum one?

As far as the spare and the Raptor point....I actually spent a lot of time laying underneath a brand new Platinum and a brand new Raptor side by side on the showroom floor recently....the frame underneath the Raptor's bed is actually wider around the spare tire and they have a heat shield between the tire and the exhaust. Random note, the rear tow hitch is also different with the extra tow hooks on the rear (though those could just be welded on if needed)

 

here is the spare tire, snug as a bug

 

Okay, I hate to be a pain here but I got a couple more questions. Have you noticed any negatives form having the tire that close to the exhaust since it is closer than the stock one was due to the width? Also, does it hang down under the truck to the point that you can see it from behind because it is wider? Thanks a lot man.

 

no issues with the exhaust, but i will be removing that portion of it soon anyway. i dont know if you can see the heat shield, but its still there doing its job.

and yes, you can see the tire. its not obvious, but you can see it if you want to. the tire is only 2" wider overall than the stockers

 

Marsh, that's alot of wheel weight on that spare. When you did the other wheels, did you have that much ugly weight on any of the others?

 

no, the other rims have barely any weight at all. dont forget the spare is a steel wheel that ford doesnt even balance from the factory.

 

Marshal truck is sick. look forward to getting specifics from you and getting going on mine. Good build and good info!

 

well, the exhaust came in yesterday. and i got it put on today in a break in the rain (no biggie) and it sound sweeeeeet. unfortunately no pics of it put on or videos yet. its been raining for about the last month here and there is high amounts of flooding all over the place and the river is about double its normal height. so needless to say, i wont be able to post any pictures of it till it dries up a tad.



and i dont know how many of you are gun people on here, but i just finished "assembling" my M4. the only thing im waiting on is the Magpul fore end 1913 covers/grips

its got a Daniel Defense 16.5" cold hammer forged barrel M4v5 mid-length monolithic upper with an Omega X rail system, and a Daniel Defense lower receiver with a Magpul polymer trigger gaurd, Magpul MOE stock. Magpul backup sights, EOTech 556 A65 red-dot reticle holo, and a SureFire flash suppressor/compensator