I posted this in the raptor thread wanted to get other members input sence its not realy getting noticed over there.


Ford Raptor Frames Bending - Bed Alignment issue! - FORD RAPTOR FORUM - Forums and Owners Club! - F150 SVT Raptor!

 

I have to say - I've looked at the frames on a few F150's and immediately noticed the way they taper towards the back. It isn't at all as beefy as older Ford truck frames.

But the cabs and beds look much more solid - so they are heavier, right? Or not?

I've had reservations about those frames from the first I saw.

Wow... Much worse than I thought. This is not only a tapered rail behind the rear axle but ALSO in an arched/(COLD?)formed/bent area AND some un-justifiable weak points cut into the frame (THINNED as it is) on top of it. The ICING on the cake is the ride clearence VICE bump-stop(!) issue causing "HAMMERING" to give it a name.

Recipe for a total if I ever heard of one...

SO - WTF do you do?

What did the guys with all of those bent trucks have to do? You CAN'T straighten a frame that did that and not weaken it more. The only way I could think of to save one is get an unbent frame and BOX THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF IT!
Then swap everything over - but why would you?

That's a tuff one. I think this artical just gave me ten times more ammo in my defence of older ford trucks...

(Sorry 'bout that, but yeah; THEY HAVE SOLID FRAMES! And the frame is EVERYTHING)

You know what I'M thinking. Get an older frame and build the blue daylights out of it, then give it a brand new suit of clothes...
What the hell, at least you could salvage your cab and all the cool stuff - and never worry about it again!
~ about a 1982 to 1985 F100 frame would be perfect, F250 if the length fits. (Greywolfs Law: ALWAYS Overbuild)

~Wolfie


PS: We had a discussion a long time ago when Torque1st used to hang out here a lot - it had to do with "Frame Cross Sectional Strength", and I'm going to go and look for it...

*Grrr.... I am at a loss, but that just made it a whole new game!

 

sheez and another screwup by our fave make to get the gm and furrin' guys clammering about our "junk" vehicles .................................... c'mon you guys in dearborn ! if your engineers can't get it right go see if you can find some that will ! designing a weak frame for styles sake and most likely some penny pinching , you guys ought to be made to replace every dain one of them out of your own pockets !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ain't that the truth - even an old sailor knows never to weaken the KEEL!

 

The pictures of the area where the bend is occurring is 4 pages into the linked thread so I thought I would post it here for us to see.
Pictures by gotSVT. Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Forum Senior Member!



I'm waiting for the next Raptor to come into the shop to take a look at the frame section.

 

What's the scale - can you put a ruler in the next shot?

I'm guessing a frame section height of about 5" based on multiple widths of the shocks which I assume are close to 2" wide (using that as a guage)


PS: Good move! I like to see what I'm talking about.

First impression? Those springs have GOT to go... They're FLAT!

This I noticed in Ranger trucks too - severely lame spring leafs, and little room for changes. As in the above, at rest they have no discernable "ARCH" (can I assume these pictures are with a normal 'AT REST' load?)

In the bottom pic they actually (now that I look closer) seem to be bent upwards at the center, as though the springs themselves are giving in.
*YOU CAN REALLY SEE IT if you lay a pencil along them on the screen. That's beyond bad, it looks like total failure

Check me on this, but when a spring is so overloaded that it loses it's inherent shape - it is permanently weakened and will continue to collapse (IE: Its done)
~ Even if you flip them over!


I will say this - it's the damnedest thing I've seen on a new truck since the Explorer came out, and this is supposed to be one of the PRIMO rides...
Ya know it? A "NAME MAKER"

Something like this could totally reverse the image that is wanted unless FORD does something REAL FAST!


And I think voiding the warrantee just won't cut it. FOMOCO is taking a bath again, dammit to hell!

 

Those are not my pics.
So no way to scale them.
However the axle is a pretty good measure.

 

It looks like about 5, maybe five and a half.

Another point that can't show is the thickness and quality of the steel. From here, can you tell how thin the walls of the frame are? Neither can I.

Is it 10/10 cold roll? How much you want to bet? Even RV frames (TRAILERS! Not motorised) have hardened steel frames. I used to spend fifty bucks a month pretty regular on drill bits mounting hitches on them, so I know

That sucker right there is bent like day-old Lasagna noodles, so I'm guessing they saved a few duckets at the Bessemer furnace plant too...


I bet whoever got that design past Q.A. is roasting in their own sweat right now - especially if they were not a qualified engineer

But now what I wonder is about the health and strength of the other light trucks - because if THAT was on a premier model, what about 1/4 tons, suv's, and F150's???

The F150 has a similar frame, but open channel, not boxed anywhere.

I smell trouble. I can tell because it stinks


~ anybody?

 

LOL That's a good one. Take an '80's C channel frame with all it's weight saving holes cut in it and say it's stronger than todays frames. I don't think so. A frame built in the '70s might measure up but nothing from the '80's is even close.

edit - saw you said build the daylights out of it, which you would have too.

 

It will carry more than THAT THING could, wouldn't it?

If we're dreaming here, we can always think in terms of 6X3 Hardened straight rails, with military axles. But I lost my pictures of that thing...

(70 Bronco - my buddy had it)

The "C" channel on those frames was 6" tall, and 2" wide top and bottom. ALL THE WAY TO THE TAILGATE
*wall thickness right at 1/8th inch, or 0.125 on my last one (direct observation, not book)

What's under a modern F150 back there? It necks down to about two inches square...

IF that


WHICH ONE IS TUFFER?

 

THIS EXTRA POST HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

"The COMMITTEE to Promise I will chill the heck out... "


*rolls cigar around*
Ya know what? If you could purposely DO this to a competitor...

NEVER MIND

~ I'm sure they ran a background check.

 

I'd put a stock frame back on and flog it used to the majority of customers who won't race it. No reason to keep a replaceable consumer good like a truck when the world is full of them.

If someone buys a high-dollar offroad toy they should be competent to do a frame swap or rich enough to write the check.

Used truck dealer mechs replace totaled frames with good frames from burn jobs all the time, and that's about twice the work, more if the years don't match.

 

lol yeah right on the bold. Same goes for boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, & PWC.

 

I still think it's a limp design - but oh well.

Matter of fact if Shorebird is right it's a POLITICALLY CORRECT design, which would be all wrong for me anyway