Man I wish I could Do That!

Must be a terrible life Mike ;-) Ever since my fiance bought her Ecoboost last month, I have been seriously considering making a Raptor my next truck instead of a Superduty. Since you have spent more time in each one, which one would you rather have as a daily driver?

Dont drive it too hard the frame will bend,as per many Raptor owners are reporting !

@Frank Sr.
That's right, because of the many thousands of Raptors sold and abused, eight dipschticks abused theirs to the point of damaging them. That means ALL Raptors are weak, poorly engineered and incredibly unpopular trucks. Oh wait...

At least the manufacturer doesn't recommend adding weight to the bed to "fix" the truck's frame issues...

Abuse their raptors???? What's the purpose of building a specialty truck n marketing as such when it can't do as advertised?

Fact is, the ole so mighty f150's fully boxed frame, the claimed strongest frame in its class, toughest truck in its class, highest payload n towing in its class, isn't as tough as its made out to be. The fact is, that section of the frame that bent is smaller than any current compact n/or midsized truck. I'd be leery of the gm 1/2 ton frame too. It too also has a small narrow 4" section just like the f150.

Is this the end result of having a frame that don't give for some flex. Somethings gotta give n in this case, the weak link in the frame.

You guys are just a bunch of jealous wuss. This is what happens when you buy the wrong brand. When you're at the top of the food chain like Ford trucks, everyone is pointing fingers and try to bring you down. Take a pill, drive a Ford truck and you'll understand.

when are you guys going to have a shootout between all the half tons?

Be sure to slap a few GoPros on it so we can see what you see.

awesome truck.

@summit7: Next month!

I can not wait to read the full story. Long live the F-150 S.V.T. Raptor...long live Ford...long live American trucks!!!

I for one would like to see how in the ell, they could even bend that frame!! Go to Youtube and watch how solid the Ford frame is, on the opposed high speed bumps, and the static droup display!, next to the tundras frame, the bed bounces around so much it dented the back of the cab!, and on the static droup it was past the 2" mark on opposed corners!!. I suppose t here could be an argument made, that the Ford frame is too stiff for high speed work, but if you were to even make the tundra suspention stand up to the same high speed abuse, you'd prob. brake the rear window, or leave some mighty big dents in the cab an bed!

For the 1/2 ton shootout will we have the 5.6 Titan (I still see alot of Titans on the road) 5.7 Ram, 5.7 Tundra, 5.3 Silverado or Seirra (since that is the one most people have), 5.0 F150 and Ecoboost F150 (those are the 2 most people have). Before I get bashed by Ford and GM man lets all be honest most of you dont have either 6.2 so how relevant are they? I will say both will do very well in this competition if not win it.

@ curits

I agree, most popular motors but the Ford should put up just the eco-boost being its "as good" as a V8 according to them.

The shootout needs to be with the best each manufacturer has to offer:

Nissan= 5.6L
Toyota= 5.7L
Ram= 5.7L
General Motors= 6.2L
and
Ford= 6.2L

Take the top dog and run what you brung!

In the 08 half ton shootout by pickuptrucks.com.....The GM 6.2 required premium fuel to win the 0 to 60 race at 7.16 seconds. A more recent pickuptrucks.com test of the same configured truck (supercrew 4x4) with the Ford 5.0 ran 0 to 60 in 7.18...on the cheap gas. EcoBoost is faster than the 5.0. Therefore the GM 6.2 won't win.

@sandman4x4,

It is really easy to bend the frame when you hit a 12 inch embankment going 55-65 mph.

@all the haters,

Your truck would plummet if you even own one. Stop hating!

@mongo,

I would love to see the Ecoboost towing against the competitions big V8's (6.2 Ford as well).

I'm sure Mike Levine can make it happen.

Raptors are street queens. They can't handle off roading. They should stay on pavement only or suffer bent frames.
Ford didn't advertise these trucks properly. Oh wait, that's how all there advertising is...shady and misleading.

Trolls are out on full force today!

The comments to this entry are closed.

On the Raptor bent frame, if you have a 2011 that already looks like this you are not taking care of it and have no pride in your truck.
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/7765/dscf2065g.jpg

that is something i was wondering to is the 08 1/2 ton shoot out the GMC and Chevy 1500's were 6.2 i was confused as to why they sent those engines and not the 5.3 as it is such a good seller for them but hey it would probably been last in a lot of the power category

@Dan the Man,

Yup, just their V6.

^^just like their V6.

If I understand this right, no one has took their Raptor to a body shop to see if it was the frame that got bent or if it was just the bed that was lifted back from the cab. The part of the frame that some are saying is a weak point is actually made thin in that area to absorb a rear end impact. I don't care what truck you have, you run 55 to 60mph and hit a 12 inch "bump" you are going to damage something. IF anything put the blame where it belongs, with Fords marketing and with some idiots who should have used common sense.

I'd like to see a shootout with all of the engines a company makes. When I bought my truck I wanted to know how the premium engines compared to the mid level and base level engines among the same brand as well as the competitors.
The only new engines out there are the Ford 5.0, EB 3.5, and 6.2. I like to see how they compare to the competition, but more specifically - how they compare to each other. I'd be inclined to buy a 5.0 over the EB 3.5.

Back on topic - what were the actual histories behind the Raptors with bent frames?
You push any machine past its limit and it will bend or break. I've heard of many 1 ton service trucks with bend frames. THey usually were overloaded and put in nasty situations.
Like I said in another post - I've seen guys bend frames, forks, wreck shocks, wheels, and swing arms on $10,000 motocross bikes because they didn't know how to jump. The same guys thought that those bikes were indestructible.
I had a friend who owned a KTM shop. Guys would ruin an engine because they didn't know how to clean and install an air filter and complained that the bike was junk. These same guys expected a warranteed repair.
An engineer can control the design parameters but not the loose nut behind the steering wheel.

What are the all important ground clearance numbers?

Long live "American" trucks made in Mexico!!!

In the 08 half ton shootout by pickuptrucks.com.....The GM 6.2 required premium fuel to win the 0 to 60 race at 7.16 seconds. A more recent pickuptrucks.com test of the same configured truck (supercrew 4x4) with the Ford 5.0 ran 0 to 60 in 7.18...on the cheap gas. EcoBoost is faster than the 5.0. Therefore the GM 6.2 won't win

WRONG MARK, WRONG! The test was of a 4wdr 6.2 liter and ford send a TWO WHEEL DRIVE to make the truck seem even faster. Ford does this kind of crap all the time when they advertise the fuel economy of there turcks and always quote the two wheel drive models when MOST TRUCK OWNERS DO NOT DRIVE TWO WHEEL DRIVE TRUCKS!!!

I would pit the GM 6.2 LITER vs any ford pickup truck with the same rear axle ratio to make it a level playing field. I already don't like that Dodge's High Output cummins in the upcoming shootout will be a 4.10 rear end and not a 3.73 like GM and Ford will run in the test. The dodge should have the advantage off the start due to a 4.10 rear end vs a 3.73.

I trust pickuptrucks.com will do everything possible to make the tests as fair as possible. I tust their integrity and I don't think they have a bias in their test results. Seeing that the Eco-Boost has the most horsepower and most Torque in a halfton Ford, I say let it compete against the 6.2 liter and post the results.

Bob, You ae mistaken. The Ford was 4x4.

Quote from pickuptrucks.com, "We also ran the same performance tests on level ground. The zero-to-60 mph time with the trailer was cut almost in half, to just 16.85 seconds. Unloaded, the 5.0 yielded a zero-to-60 time of just 7.18 seconds – almost as quick as the large displacement 6.2-liter V-8 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab 4x4 that was the fastest truck in our 2008 Light-Duty Shootout."

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2011/02/road-test-review-2011-ford-f-150-xlt-50-liter-v-8.html

@Mark,

You are correct!

WRONG BOB, WRONG! "Seeing that the Eco-Boost has the most horsepower and most Torque in a halfton Ford"... incorrect, the 6.2L has most horsepower and torque in the F-150. Ecoboost has 365hp and 420lb-ft while the 6.4L has 411hp and 434lb-ft.

6.2L not 6.4L, my typo

Just stick with the Flag ship motors or most popular. size should be irrelivent because of the small numbers of those bigger motors on the road. and it can muddy the water all over the place if we just did the biggest and baddest. Heck you could throw a Tundra 5.7L with a factory installed TRD Supercharger on it, dose that mean if it wins its a better tuck? No cause it would be so few in numbers at dealers lots no one could really get them.

Most popular of THIS years motors as of THIS years sales, not previous years

Titan 5.6
Tundra 5.7
Ford EB
Chevy 5.3
Dodge 5.7

Do a search for Bent Raptor Frames on google. It's more then just 10 guys on one run.

It's a shame that the truck doesn't seem to live up to the marketing hype.

If you google Ford Raptor bent frames, although the news has spread to other sites, it is still only about this one run with this guy.

It's time for Mike Levine to investigate. We want the truth!

The bent frame is a result of what happens when people over heat their shocks, have a bunch of gear in the back and dont know the terrain.

What do you guys expect? An indestructible frame? Even the pro prerunner trucks bend their fully tubed chassis from big jumps and huge holes and bumps. Those guys who bent their frames where driving 60 to 80 mph and hit a very nasty bump. In the videos you can see the rear end of the truck fly way up when they hit it.

Ford cant make the frame stronger either, because they had to engineer a crumple zone in the frame for crashes. So far the only thing that was able to bend them was a 70 mph hit into a nasty bump (With over heated shocks and weight in the bed) thus making the axle smash EXTREMELY hard into the bump stops and bending the frame.

Scroll to 1:37. If you are not familiar with the terrain this will happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eK-1Ld7sJY&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

I say bring on the Twin Turboed Eco-Boost or the 6.2 liter engine. Remember the test results were the fastest recorded time and this was done at a different day and different location.

I welcome the challenge to pit GM'S 6.2 liter engine vs fords 6.2 liter engine or their 3.5 Eco-Boosted engine or the 5.0. Put them on the same track on the same day and test the crap out of them and may the best engine and truck win. Can't wait for the New Half ton shootout and the HD shootout results. I do expect ford to win the half ton shootout and GM to win the HD shootout. I guess we will all have to wait for the results.

Frank:: how could you ever read what I said and call me a hater? just the facts mam

@Dan the man,

I would not believe anything from a person who calls themselves "fordsucks." I wonder what brand they envy as they all have problems.

Lol!

@sandman4x4,

You put yourself in that category! LMFAO!

@ Mike Levine

Bit off topic here, but isn't the HD shootout goin on this week?

i saw a Raptor pull into the parking lot today and the driver got out and folded it up like George Jetson's briefcase.

I like the Raptor but its way too expensive in my part of the world.
I would stay away from the 6.2 as it is hard on fuel all of the time.
I'd probably stay away from the 3.5 EB as well partially because of the stock gas tank.
The 5.0 would be my most likely choice if I bought a new truck.
If one expected 8 mpg out of a loaded F150 with the 5.0 or EB the larger fuel tank would give a driving range increase of 80 miles. There are remote places where I'd have to bring extra fuel even with the bigger 36 gallon tank to be able to make it in and back. The dyno shootout also showed that the 5.0 pulled better than the EB up to 30 mph. that also would be an advantage offroad.
I do not regret buying a 2010. I love the 5.4. I've hit a high of 18 city and 20.4 highway playing with hypermiling techniques. The torque worked well on the gravel and muddy logging roads I was on. I don't recall the tach ever going over 3,000 rpm.
I spent part of the long weekend exploring logging roads and taking the kids out fishing. There where stretchs of road where I was creeping up to 70 mph. I was on some greasy old roads and never had to use 4x4. The stock SRA Wranglers are crappy in mud but as long as I kept my momentum up and kept going fast enough to allow the tires to keep from gumming up I did fine. The traction control wasn't too intrusive. It did piss me off once as I was climbing a hill and the computer kicked in and almost killed all of my momentum.
I hit one pothole at 30 mph that was deeper than I thought. It bottomed out the left front suspension but it wasn't too bad. The truck tracked straight. I love the stability of the 157 inch wheel base at speed on gravel.

oops.
Correction 15 city and 20.4 highway. It would be 18/24.5 Canadian mpg or 15.7 L /100 km city and 11.5 l/100km highway.

@shop cat: HD comparo starts next week.

We're doing a Raptor vs. Ram Runner comparo soon. More details to come.

I don't see any problems with the Tacoma frames.

Tacoma gives you a c-channel frame with more flex and less rigidness . Tacoma also gives you more ground clearance which is best for off-roading.

Full size trucks with fully boxed frames need more work and maintence and when you stree them too far they break.

This is why full-size trucks should stay on pavement where they belong.