Tim’s Alaska Ranger Raptor Build + Adventures

[Tim_AK]

Welcome Tim. What kind of running boards your RR?

Thanks! Mine are RCI frame mounted sliders. 5° with top plate. My wife is only 5’2”, and it’s nice to stand on the back of them when messing with the tent, so that’s why I chose 5°. Sliders are what I hit the least (skids the most). 3 hour install with a friend, but wasn’t too bad.

https://rcimetalworks.com/product/r...zg0JwbxUTF7GuP3w0yPf_y3Z9Nm_FJkIAF-39uUOwy8CK

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[Tim_AK]

Regarding high speed stuff, I got some rear travel position sensor guards from Ark and installed them earlier this summer.

https://arksplashguards.com/product...MYbI7t2SLXehG77RYYtPCYguWL_E02Wi1mGl-NFTrvo2v

I saw some metal options for like $250, but I don’t foresee smashing them into anything (maybe I’m ignorant on that)? But I did foresee them getting pelted with road debris on high speed dirt road sections or the odd high speed trail. These are some sort of durable plastic so I was interested to see if the cheap route would pay off. Took them out to a dry river bed in the area (normally the land of side by sides and drunk people on a nice weekend), went downstream far from the crowds and let the truck go in Baja mode. I’ve had the Tacoma out here tons of times with the family (the kiddos like to play next to the river) but I don’t think I’ve ever driven above 25mph. The rocks always made the suspension feel “loose” even though it wasn’t. Well, the RR had no such issues. 70mph (without the kids haha) was cake. Took the random whoops with ease. I even accidentally hit a 3 foot deep angled rut that I didn’t see coming, hitting the up sloping back side at 50mph… the truck basically laughed it off. My buddy and I were in disbelief that it handled it so well.

 

[Lion77]

Thanks for the heads up on the sensor guards. I actually like the plastic guards better since the ONLY instance I have ever seen of the sensors getting debris was a tree branch that got caught in one of the wires and unplugged the sensor, throwing the whole vehcile into fail safe mode. Never seen anyone damage them otherwise during use. People have broken them when doing lifts by not disconnecting them first when taking off the shocks, but beyond that user error issue, the tree branch was the only actual in use incident ive seen.

Great info on the offroad performance. The 2.5 Live valves are so well tuned and offer so much better real world performance than its competitors that the RR is in a class of its own even IF it didnt have the 3.0L.

Between the Fox 2.5s, 10R60 transmissiom, Watts link and 3.0L, its one heck of a truck for the money compared to everything else in the mid-sized segment. And the FP Pro Cal under warranty is yet another level above (which I and many others have). Who else offers factory high performance calibrations with OE reliability and warranty?

People complain about the ground clearance of a stock RR, but a full sized F-150 Tremor comes stock with 33s and only 9.4in of ground clearance! Even the Ram Rebel with its adjustable air suspension only hit 10.7 at max height, same as a stock RR. Both full sized trucks are in the mid 60k range and up.

The F-150 Tremor also only has 27.6 degrees of approach and 24.3 departure vs. the rangers 33 and 26 degrees respectively. The Ram has worse approach and departure angles than the F-150 and had worse articulation due to the air suspension. It also couldn't take bumps / ruts at speed as well as the F-150 Tremor and the Tremor isnt even close to the Ranger Raptor!

I think the Raptor is a really great mid-sized truck that excells offrod but is dtill very livable onroad and while rock crawling and massive ground clearance aren't its top strengths, its not lacking compared to most of its competitors in those areas while massively outperforming them at higher speed off roading which it accels at. It was built to be driven hard!

 

[Lion77]

@ Tim_AK, just a couple of tips if you eventually want to improve traction in looser trerrain with better tire flotation, I HIGHLY recommend METHOD Beadgrip wheels. I run the 705's because they are the lightest beadgrip wheel offering and have only a moderate off-set (+35, stock is +55), so they don't screw up your scrub radius or deviate from the factory range of permissable bearing side loads.

Bronco's have factory wheel off-sets ranging from +55 up to +30. The Bronco and Ranger share the same or similar chassis, same powertrain etc. Bead grips allow you to air down your tires like a beadlock and maintain 95% of the performance of a beadlock but are far more street safe (DOT approved).

They require NO regular maintenance like a factory alloy wheel. For 99% of off-roading, beadgrip wheels are better than bead lock wheels. That increases flotation and traction in loose terrain.

The OTHER side of the coin is, when you need new tires eventually, the Ford OE spec KO3's are stupid narrow. They are 1/2" narrower tread that standard KO3's and standard KO3's are 1/2" narrower than industry standard 285/70R17 tires from Falken, Pirelli, Yokohama etc.

I would highly recommend the new Pirelli XTM's. They offer the best wet traction of any off-road AT tire out there, better steering precision etc. That would be a boon for Alaska with frequent snow, wet / icy roads etc. You also gain almost an entire 1" of tire width, without increasing diameter and with wheel off-sets between stock +55 to +35, you should not have any clearance issues on stock suspension.

That extra inch plus airing down will help with flotation on loose gravel / sand, making you less likely to get stuck / sink in. Also helps reduce loading of the powertrain as it's less rolling resistance on loose surfaces.

I already have the Method 705's, once my stock KO3's are worn out, I'll be replacing them with Pirelli XTM AT's. KO3's are really good tires and have been the gold standard, but Pirelli finally beat BFG and set a new benchmark.

I Tested 8 Of the BEST All Terrain Tires in the Dry, Wet, Snow and Dirt!

There's a whole thread on this forum in the tire section about this, but there is timed / benchmarked testing that consistently shows how good the XTM's really are.

 

[Tim_AK]

@ Tim_AK, just a couple of tips if you eventually want to improve traction in looser trerrain with better tire flotation, I HIGHLY recommend METHOD Beadgrip wheels. I run the 705's because they are the lightest beadgrip wheel offering and have only a moderate off-set (+35, stock is +55), so they don't screw up your scrub radius or deviate from the factory range of permissable bearing side loads.

Bronco's have factory wheel off-sets ranging from +55 up to +30. The Bronco and Ranger share the same or similar chassis, same powertrain etc. Bead grips allow you to air down your tires like a beadlock and maintain 95% of the performance of a beadlock but are far more street safe (DOT approved).

They require NO regular maintenance like a factory alloy wheel. For 99% of off-roading, beadgrip wheels are better than bead lock wheels. That increases flotation and traction in loose terrain.

The OTHER side of the coin is, when you need new tires eventually, the Ford OE spec KO3's are stupid narrow. They are 1/2" narrower tread that standard KO3's and standard KO3's are 1/2" narrower than industry standard 285/70R17 tires from Falken, Pirelli, Yokohama etc.

I would highly recommend the new Pirelli XTM's. They offer the best wet traction of any off-road AT tire out there, better steering precision etc. That would be a boon for Alaska with frequent snow, wet / icy roads etc. You also gain almost an entire 1" of tire width, without increasing diameter and with wheel off-sets between stock +55 to +35, you should not have any clearance issues on stock suspension.

That extra inch plus airing down will help with flotation on loose gravel / sand, making you less likely to get stuck / sink in. Also helps reduce loading of the powertrain as it's less rolling resistance on loose surfaces.

I already have the Method 705's, once my stock KO3's are worn out, I'll be replacing them with Pirelli XTM AT's. KO3's are really good tires and have been the gold standard, but Pirelli finally beat BFG and set a new benchmark.

I Tested 8 Of the BEST All Terrain Tires in the Dry, Wet, Snow and Dirt!

There's a whole thread on this forum in the tire section about this, but there is timed / benchmarked testing that consistently shows how good the XTM's really are.

I actually had method 702’s with bead grip on my Tacoma. Was definitely a fan but I’m not routinely airing down to crazy low pressures (often around 20-22 psi). Bead always held, but then again I’ve never lost a bead on either of my 2 builds before my Tacoma. My “high speed” running is often at 28 psi on rough dirt roads for long sections (up to 1000 miles).

Regarding tires, I appreciate the feedback, but I have run multiple sets of KOs, KO2s, and now this will be my second set of KO3s. It does great for Alaska and holds up well, and it does rather well during winter in southcentral AK. I’ll probably stick with them, likely in stock size, but thanks! My only concern is the C load rating, I’ve never had a flat but I’ve run E load on all my midsize vehicles, so we will see how the C does!

 

[Lion77]

Someone posted a video on C vs. E load what was really interesting is that many of the E load tires are ACTUALLY C load tires just with different ratings. Meaning the C load meets the E load, so they sell them as either or depending on the location!

I think the KO3's were one of the tires, or maybe it was the KM3's (the mud terrain version) where after they cut apart the tire, the sidewalls were identical, but that tire is sold globally, and different counties have slightly different requirements in how they rate tires. Just some food for thought, I don't think you'll see a noticeable difference between C and E load on the KO3's in terms of overall durability.

 

[Tim_AK]

Someone posted a video on C vs. E load what was really interesting is that many of the E load tires are ACTUALLY C load tires just with different ratings. Meaning the C load meets the E load, so they sell them as either or depending on the location!

I think the KO3's were one of the tires, or maybe it was the KM3's (the mud terrain version) where after they cut apart the tire, the sidewalls were identical, but that tire is sold globally, and different counties have slightly different requirements in how they rate tires. Just some food for thought, I don't think you'll see a noticeable difference between C and E load on the KO3's in terms of overall durability.

That’s good to know! No issues so far, but the snow is finally off the bigger mountain trails so I’m excited to test them out aired down in rougher terrain soon.

 

[midnight270]

@Tim_AK Hey. What sumo springs did you go with? What part number and how was the install?

 

[Tim_AK]

@Tim_AK Hey. What sumo springs did you go with? What part number and how was the install?

I measured the space between the stock coils, and that spacing turned out to match part number CSS-1125.

Honestly the installation took me under 10 minutes. I have two ramps and put one on the opposing front and rear wheel, drove the vehicle up onto it which flexed the rear suspension and spread the coil. I cleaned the coils and slid it right in after having to trim about a half an inch off to avoid overlap. Switched the ramps and did the same on the other side. It was so easy I would be willing to put them on and off based off my load on a given week. I’ve got 4000 miles under them so far and have no problems, and it probably gained me back 3/4 of an inch of sag in the rear.

https://superspringsinternational.c...MIna3_kMvVlQMVoQCtBh3UvQ5eEAAYAiAAEgKFAPD_BwE

 

[midnight270]

Awesome. Thanks! I actually just cut out their coil gap tool haha. I was about to measure mine. I have a trip next weekend towing a 3000 pound camper so these will be perfect.

 

[Tim_AK]

Just did a first real test in more technical rocks. Nothing crazy, but high likelihood of kissing skids.

On a super rainy day we did 10 miles total yes trail to see how the truck did. Messed around with the drive modes, it was fun seeing how little you need 4LO in a vehicle with this much power compared to my other vehicles. Baja mode was fun for a few minutes but the trail was too tight. Off-road with no diff locked was the way to go. I used rock crawl mode twice, but only when I got spotted on some harder stuff. Otherwise the nice low crawl ratio is a little jerky. Used the rear locker one time because all the rocks were slick from the pouring rain. I didn’t take any pictures during the harder parts (or really during any part) because of the weather. Sorry I don’t have anything really cool to share!

Did a steep side trail that was mud instead of wet rock just to see how the lockers did. Fun to see how fast they engage and disengage compared to my Tacoma (or Xterra back in the day). All-terrain tires were the limiting factor though and I had to back down creatively.

Overall I was impressed with the ride quality. The suspension really minimized head toss and was well damped when getting jostled around. The width is a little bit of a factor, and the very built rear suspension is the biggest factor.

The rear axle itself is thick, the rear coilover mounts hang down pretty low. Even though they are tucked close to the tire and have 1/4” steel skids in front of the piggyback reservoirs, it was still something to think about.

The trailing arms and trailing arm mounts were my biggest learning curve. Definitely whacked my right one pretty good which caused me to lose th plastic cover, and gave a minor dent to both the trailing arm mount location and the trailing arm itself. That same rock also gave a little hit to my rock slider when I slid a little bit.

The aluminum skids slid pretty good, but the rocks were all wet today. And they actually hit stuff less than I thought they would.

Overall compared to the Tacoma, this is much more comfortable, enjoyable, powerful, and capable. However the rear end is a little bit more difficult to manage with rocks sticking up everywhere. I don’t run trails like this all the time so it isn’t a big drawback for me. I would still pick this absolutely any day for my off-road vehicle.

 

[Tuna]

Looks like a lot of offroad fun!
Are these the 6mm or 4mm Rival aluminum skid plates?

 

[Tim_AK]

Looks like a lot of offroad fun!
Are these the 6mm or 4mm Rival aluminum skid plates?

They’re 1/4”, so a tad over 6mm. Happy with them so far.

 

[Tuna]

Your gearbox skid plate seems to have an upgraded design with more beads and different outlets/vents.
This version does not seem to be available (yet) at European Rival stores...

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