Ranger Raptor at Dirtfish Rally School 4x4 track - lotsa water and dirt

[Garaged]

From a very fun day late last month at Dirt Fish Rally School in Snoqualmie, WA. A lot of water on the track that day, plenty of mud and it was quite the rollercoaster ride around this flooded track with the Ranger Raptor. Mine has seen harder trails around Moab but letting it loose on this track was way more fun.

There is a lot more to the track than jumping into deep puddles, but the video from my ancient GoPro is way too long - so the forum won't let me upload it.

Yes, I did need a new air filter. I also needed to clean out a TON of crap from my armor underneath from drifting around in that field at the end of the day lol.

Edit. A few mods:

• Armor is a mixture of Foutz, Rival and Juggernaut. Well bashed in Moab and elsewhere, without the rival gas tank skid, I'd have a broken gas tank cover at the very least.
• Lights up front are M&R's pro variants of both the ditch lights and the front light bar.
• DRLs from signature lux, as well as the three center running lights.
• Extra rear reverse lights from Altiq.
• Chase Light bar (amber, white, flashing amber) from Mpower replacing the third brake light fixture.
• FP tune of course.
• STEK Matte PPF over the entire truck - painted surfaces and the black/Grey trim.
• Midland 575 GMRS radio and antenna.
• Starlink Mini - I'm honestly amazed that the Amazon special magnetic mount for this held through all this abuse
• Midland 575 GMRS radio and antenna.
• Starlink Mini - I'm honestly amazed that the Amazon special magnetic mount for this held through all this abuse
• BAK X4TS tonneau cover
• Morrflate tensix pro kit with the hoses and clip on attachments
• Apex rapid connect valves

This truck has served me very well - offroad, daycare trips and for home projects - since I got it in October '24.

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[stuartmunto]

That’s one happy Raptor. You just love to see it!

 

[John E Davies]

Very dramatic ….. and troubling to me.

Here is a question, how effective are the diff and transmission breathers and where are the openings located? Do you plan to change fluids? Occasional axle deep puddles at crawling speeds are usually not a problem, but high speed stuff can be very bad - those are grit filled high pressure water jets, not your typical clean road spray. That dirt gets sent into bearing seals.

Another observation, anybody who has a CAI intake with no water baffles should be very scared of this. The factory airbox is designed to deal with a little water, not total submersion - that needs a snorkel and a rearward facing inlet scoop.

FYI I would never in a million years do this in my own vehicle. But I would love it in dry weather. For those who don’t know - this area was hit with the recent double atmospheric rivers that destroyed homes and lots of roads.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Stu x 4]

From a very fun day late last month at Dirt Fish Rally School in Snoqualmie, WA. A lot of water on the track that day, plenty of mud and it was quite the rollercoaster ride around this flooded track with the Ranger Raptor. Mine has seen harder trails around Moab but letting it loose on this track was way more fun.

There is a lot more to the track than jumping into deep puddles, but the video from my ancient GoPro is way too long - so the forum won't let me upload it.

Yes, I did need a new air filter. I also needed to clean out a TON of crap from my armor underneath from drifting around in that field at the end of the day lol.

Looks like fun playing in the dirt.

 

[RichD]

Torrential rain for a few weeks, record setting flooding. Yep, lots of puddles.

 

[RangerFly]

I've been torn between a Maverick for sensible MPG and a R-Raptor.

Not going to lie.....I see this kinda silliness and think.....I could use some of that over sensibility.


P.S. Which manufacturer makes the lower grill light bar (OP)? Heretic?

 

[Onceaneagle]

After watching these awesome videos, I now know why Ford's marketers dropped Hot Pepper Red in favor of environmental colors. Doesn't look as good covered in mud.

 

[Garaged]

Torrential rain for a few weeks, record setting flooding. Yep, lots of puddles.

Yep, this was a couple weeks before the atmospheric river hit.

And yes, this was not the most ideal amount of water on the track, but it's a Raptor and I will change fluids earlier than I usually would after such adventures.... I'm not saving it unused and only gently crawled (might as well have bought a normal ranger for that) for the next owner. If I was going to do this on the regular, I would get a snorkel.

 

[Garaged]

I've been torn between a Maverick for sensible MPG and a R-Raptor.

Not going to lie.....I see this kinda silliness and think.....I could use some of that over sensibility.


P.S. Which manufacturer makes the lower grill light bar (OP)? Heretic?

The light bar in front of the grill? That's the M&R Pro light bar in white with amber DRLs.

 

[Garaged]

After watching these awesome videos, I now know why Ford's marketers dropped Hot Pepper Red in favor of environmental colors. Doesn't look as good covered in mud.

Haha, this one is frequently covered in mud and dirt. It has also seen the Oregon dunes a few weeks before this outing.
But I did cover this Cactus Gray (I'm glad I got it while it was available) truck with STEK matte all over to give it both a different look as well as protect it while out on the trails.

 

[Harlequin_Forest]

That's awesome, I was just thinking of something to scratch the itch of the Assault School dirt track and totally forgot Dirt Fish was just north of me.

That day rate is painful though. Worth doing again in your opinion?

 

[Peter949]

Was in the mud and puddles this weekend also. Nice pics!

 

[Garaged]

That's awesome, I was just thinking of something to scratch the itch of the Assault School dirt track and totally forgot Dirt Fish was just north of me.

That day rate is painful though. Worth doing again in your opinion?

This one only cost me just under a hundred bucks cos I did the local car club Avants' offroad day that was hosted there. Individually done, it's very expensive.

 

[ColeTrainsRR]

After watching these awesome videos, I now know why Ford's marketers dropped Hot Pepper Red in favor of environmental colors. Doesn't look as good covered in mud.

i disagree. I had Hot Pepper Red on my Bronco Badlands and it looked awesome covered in mud lol. If it had been available for my RR i would have bought it without a second thought. i love that color

 

[Lion77]

Very dramatic ….. and troubling to me.

Here is a question, how effective are the diff and transmission breathers and where are the openings located? Do you plan to change fluids? Occasional axle deep puddles at crawling speeds are usually not a problem, but high speed stuff can be very bad - those are grit filled high pressure water jets, not your typical clean road spray. That dirt gets sent into bearing seals.

Another observation, anybody who has a CAI intake with no water baffles should be very scared of this. The factory airbox is designed to deal with a little water, not total submersion - that needs a snorkel and a rearward facing inlet scoop.

FYI I would never in a million years do this in my own vehicle. But I would love it in dry weather. For those who don’t know - this area was hit with the recent double atmospheric rivers that destroyed homes and lots of roads.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Ford specifies a Water Fording depth of 33.5"....are you suggesting they ONLY thing they tested was for hydro lock of the motor (water ingestion) and didn't consider the height of any of the breathers in water fording...?

The tires alone are 32.8" tall when new, so your talking water past the top of the tires before you need to worry about that.... anything lubricated by oil is hermetically sealed, otherwise the lubricants would leak out and become rapidly contaminated just by rain / sleet / snow even on paved roads with puddles.

This is a high performance off-road truck, trust me, it can handle some 12 in puddles of mud.

And my buddy's 2011 Sahara from the same day:

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