2011 3.5 Fraptor

[DialedShockPrep]

We might need to chat soon and willing to pay for your time to look into things…

Also you may not have seen, Cho and Jonny are making a ttb set up for Jonny 4wd 2011 f150 right now.

Well that makes things significantly easier than!
I’d go that route. I could be wrong but you should be able to run just about anyone’s Dana 44 beam set, and factory spindles if you wanted to. There’s ways to do this more cost effectively parts wise as long as you can reasonably get the frame/engine crossmembers/beam pivots done without a full one off deal. I’d put money on you being super content with the truck if it had 18-19” front TTB travel, your spring under rear, and a day spent fine tuning the shocks. That setup will work incredibly well and be super comfy in the cab.

 

[Mullen]

Why do you want to push more out of the front end? Have you had it valved by Kevin yet? How much down time can you tolerate for the rebuild?

I asked myself similar questions when debating on going to beam (or even a new LT kit with big hubs, shocks, etc). I couldn’t actually answer the first question aside from just wanting to change it up. For the second, Kevin dialed in my front end and it was the best money I’ve ever spent on the truck. I would build everything myself, so down time would be a year because I’m slow.

I forced myself to keep the truck in the dirt instead of being down for a year, likely more. I did this by spending the money on a TC lower uniball conversion kit. I knew once my truck was beamed or had a big dick front end, I’d have to link it. If I linked it, I’d have to go to 40s. To push 40s, I’d need a big dick motor, which would require a big dick trans. All of the sudden, my well balanced, reliable, easily smogable $25k desert truck would turn into a $90k hole in my wallet. It would be badass for sure, but that would put the truck down for a couple of years during which time I’d be sure to lose motivation. That “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book was basically written for us prerunner dudes.

 

[Cleandezert]

Why do you want to push more out of the front end? Have you had it valved by Kevin yet? How much down time can you tolerate for the rebuild?

I asked myself similar questions when debating on going to beam (or even a new LT kit with big hubs, shocks, etc). I couldn’t actually answer the first question aside from just wanting to change it up. For the second, Kevin dialed in my front end and it was the best money I’ve ever spent on the truck. I would build everything myself, so down time would be a year because I’m slow.

I forced myself to keep the truck in the dirt instead of being down for a year, likely more. I did this by spending the money on a TC lower uniball conversion kit. I knew once my truck was beamed or had a big dick front end, I’d have to link it. If I linked it, I’d have to go to 40s. To push 40s, I’d need a big dick motor, which would require a big dick trans. All of the sudden, my well balanced, reliable, easily smogable $25k desert truck would turn into a $90k hole in my wallet. It would be badass for sure, but that would put the truck down for a couple of years during which time I’d be sure to lose motivation. That “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book was basically written for us prerunner dudes.

i mean i like the idea of a bigger dick. lmao

I think the dream of beams is just so cool. Love beams, love beamed supercrews even more. The only way i would go this route would be if it was affordable with selling my full front end vs updating what i have... Hence why i am asking the questions.. May not be in the cards, but i am so far out of the game, i cant answer these questions myself anymore or maybe just dont want to know. I think my goal right now is to have someone cycle my front end that knows more then i do... to see if it will swing 16+ inches and what will be required and the cost. Does it need new uppers, new spindles, will it do it now with just new shocks? Does it cycle like shit at 16" and its not worth investing any money into this? that is really the start to answer my questions...

Now the big question.... do i need it? hell no, i hardly drive this truck. But i like growth, i feel as if the front end will not keep up with the rear right now. Can it be valved better? yes, but do i worry about the stock coilbuckets without a cross memember becoming an issue? hell yea. Right now also my front end sucks to service. To get the coilovers out, everything except lower arm has to come off. So yea it needs some help. What that is i dont know yet.

 

[RadoNoah]

Why do you want to push more out of the front end? Have you had it valved by Kevin yet? How much down time can you tolerate for the rebuild?

I asked myself similar questions when debating on going to beam (or even a new LT kit with big hubs, shocks, etc). I couldn’t actually answer the first question aside from just wanting to change it up. For the second, Kevin dialed in my front end and it was the best money I’ve ever spent on the truck. I would build everything myself, so down time would be a year because I’m slow.

I forced myself to keep the truck in the dirt instead of being down for a year, likely more. I did this by spending the money on a TC lower uniball conversion kit. I knew once my truck was beamed or had a big dick front end, I’d have to link it. If I linked it, I’d have to go to 40s. To push 40s, I’d need a big dick motor, which would require a big dick trans. All of the sudden, my well balanced, reliable, easily smogable $25k desert truck would turn into a $90k hole in my wallet. It would be badass for sure, but that would put the truck down for a couple of years during which time I’d be sure to lose motivation. That “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book was basically written for us prerunner dudes.

100% agree with this thought process.

Beams would be sick but id try to push more out of the front kit, let it be a gen 2 tower and shock swap and or a good shock tuning session.

It will turn into a snowball project, front end can fit 40’s, rear doesn’t keep up so you start thinking about linking it. Might as well cage it too. This exact thing happened to me and ended up with me selling the truck because i lost motivation to continue. I kick myself for not just going for a simple MT kit and keeping it leafspung.

Unless your priorities have changed from the first post of a comfortable desert cruiser you can hop in with the family and drive out to the desert, i strongly recommend looking into trying to make the kit work better

 

[Mullen]

i mean i like the idea of a bigger dick. lmao

I think the dream of beams is just so cool. Love beams, love beamed supercrews even more. The only way i would go this route would be if it was affordable with selling my full front end vs updating what i have... Hence why i am asking the questions.. May not be in the cards, but i am so far out of the game, i cant answer these questions myself anymore or maybe just dont want to know. I think my goal right now is to have someone cycle my front end that knows more then i do... to see if it will swing 16+ inches and what will be required and the cost. Does it need new uppers, new spindles, will it do it now with just new shocks? Does it cycle like shit at 16" and its not worth investing any money into this? that is really the start to answer my questions...

Now the big question.... do i need it? hell no, i hardly drive this truck. But i like growth, i feel as if the front end will not keep up with the rear right now. Can it be valved better? yes, but do i worry about the stock coilbuckets without a cross memember becoming an issue? hell yea. Right now also my front end sucks to service. To get the coilovers out, everything except lower arm has to come off. So yea it needs some help. What that is i dont know yet.

I love the idea of going bigger, but given how often I, and seemingly you, use our trucks dropping $20k for just the front end doesn’t make sense. I’d even argue that makes less sense for your truck than mine, since mine is caged. This is regardless of if the money is the issue.

Unless the truck drives like shit, I wouldn’t worry about how it cycles. Who cares how much travel it has, how the caster changes, blah, blah, blah if the truck works well. I’ve never cycled my truck, despite’s having it apart for prep many times in the last 10 years. Since you don’t drive the truck often, servicing the front end should only be an every couple of year pain in the ass.

I’d spend $1k on valving the front and rear and bracing the coil buckets if you’re worried about them. Those alone would change your outlook on the truck. I can’t stress enough how much difference professional valving makes. Before Kevin did my front shocks, I was ready to spend the money and time on a new, big boy front end, since after I caged it the front end sucked. After he worked his magic, I bailed that idea.

We all love spending other dudes money, but I like you too much to say “don’t be a pussy, go beams, links, cage, and LS swap - fuck your house payment.”

 

[the bodj]

I think comfort and capable are two different things. I have been in some VERY capable A armed trucks that just are not comfortable, but nearly every beamed truck I've been in has been so plush, and that was my reason for beams. Adam has had fast trucks, and now has a mid travel truck. Clearly he wants more than his current front end offers. Can it be made to keep up with his rear? Sure, just like a single seat buggy can be made to go fast with 11" of wheel travel, but your back is going to hate you at the end of the day.

It's also a fallacy that if you beam it you have to link it, or have to link it with some wazoo billet links, baller shock package, new axle, 40s, Moruzzi special motor... The thought is that if you're there doing the work, you might as well go the extra few inches to step up to the next level. "If i do xx I might as well do yy" but a small amount of self control can take care of that, give him an awesome, unique truck, that is plush and capable and comfortable.

 

[Cleandezert]

I love this discussion. So many directions. @Mullen has 100% nailed the pratical stance on this. But how do i scratch the itch to upgrade? does anyone else get bored? I am like a girl with 100 purses.... but wants the next fix... I just like to see the progress and changes. Is it reasonable? no, not at all. But i am at the point i have also thought about selling the truck. That scares me too.

 

[RadoNoah]

I love this discussion. So many directions. @Mullen has 100% nailed the pratical stance on this. But how do i scratch the itch to upgrade? does anyone else get bored? I am like a girl with 100 purses.... but wants the next fix... I just like to see the progress and changes. Is it reasonable? no, not at all. But i am at the point i have also thought about selling the truck. That scares me too.

Is there other things that have made you consider selling the truck? Selling my truck plauged me for a while, i got bored and tried to scratch the itch with upgrades and it always fell short and selling it kept coming back every time something didnt go right, took/sat too long or i thought about everything i wanted to do to it to be happy with it

 

[Cleandezert]

Is there other things that have made you consider selling the truck? Selling my truck plauged me for a while, i got bored and tried to scratch the itch with upgrades and it always fell short and selling it kept coming back every time something didnt go right, took/sat too long or i thought about everything i wanted to do to it to be happy with it

nothing other than i get bored and dont use it much. Drove it to work yesteray since gas it cheaper than diesel, and i had fun driving it. But in the back of my head i know the front should be a bit better. lol