Roger The Raptor

[WW_RANGER_X]

Well boys I finally did it. Bought a first gen Raptor. Knowing I could never afford one 10 years ago, I slowly built my ranger which kept the itch away all these years. After starting a family, buying a travel trailer, adventuring every other weekend (it seems like) weather it was the desert, mountains, beach or full hookup camp grounds, jumping back and forth from my ranger to out 5th gen 4runner, the itch came back in full force. It was apparent i needed a bigger truck! To be honest I never thought it would happen. It just worked out in the best way and I now have a Raptor in the driveway. Roger is a 2012 Ford F150 6.2L SVT Raptor with every option available at the time. It was built at the Canada plant and shipped just a town over from me in Hanford Ca. Bought off of the original owner with 95k miles. I’ve had if for 4 weeks now and all smiles. With any “build” of my caliber everything starts pretty slow and drags out forever. Starts with basic shit like fluid changes and clean up. Slowly making the truck mine. This will probably bore you now but i have cool plans for this truck.

Started by getting familiar with all the different settings and figuring out how everything worked. It’s actually pretty trick. I feel like it was ahead of it’s time in 2012. Im a total noob when it comes to these trucks so I joined a couple raptor forums which has given me a few “new buyer” pointers.

Completed so far is changing all the incandescent lights to LEDs, carbon fiber antenna, black widow venom 250 muffler with resonator delete (also deleted the lame duel exhaust out the rear), front side window tint, rear pinion seal, tailgate assist and your average new to me truck clean up.

Prep is underway for thanksgiving trip out to Cal City. Rebuild all shocks, add Eibach springs to coilovers and “mid perch” adjustment to raise the front, rear dust light(s), gear management in bed, race radio, front bumper lights and fuse 27 relocation kit install.




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[theycallmeWALLY]

Is it even a Raptor if it doesn't have Methods???? I know a guy...

Rad truck dude. I've always wanted one just like you... not to offroad, but would be a solid DD IMOP. Their just so nice and they look cool.

 

[the bodj]

So stoked for you, Brandon! Seems like you've been busy on it. Doesn't seem like a slow start to me!

 

[dwphoto]

Hell yea brother! Congrats on the new ride! What are the plans for the ranger?

I see what you did there

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Hell yea brother! Congrats on the new ride! What are the plans for the ranger?

I see what you did there

Thanks dude! Well the plan is to fix what’s needed on the ranger, clean it up and put her up four sail. It’s bitter sweet for sure but it’s something that needs to happen. Having 5 vehicles that require either a lot of money or attention (or both) is exapensive lol. Being able to throw a big chunk of money at the raptor for parts would be nice too.

With that said I picked up a couple things today.

A set of KC C3 amber pods. My initial intentions when I bought these were to run duel dust lights. After thinking about it I think that might be a little excessive, so I might just run one rear dust light. Possibly order another set and run 3 in the front bumper. We’ll see



Also scored some Raptor take offs. This will help me rebuild the shocks and not have the truck down.



And I totally forgot to mention that Desert Steve made me these Clean Dezert door logos. Just haven’t put them on yet. Scared as hell lol. Putting them on the ranger took 2 tries.

 

[DesertGoat]

nice dude, congrats.
I love mine as a dd that occasionally goes to baja.

it aint fast in the dirt but damn they look good & are super comfy.
FYI - PCI makes a radio mounting kit that lets you just drop in a radio to the center console for near zero money & no cutting required.

and you probably already know this but when you get ready to drive this thing, beware of rear frame taco'ing. many companies make frame brace kits that bolt on & add a rear bump stop. mine's from SVC and the fit/finish is pretty nice.

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

nice dude, congrats.
I love mine as a dd that occasionally goes to baja.

it aint fast in the dirt but damn they look good & are super comfy.
FYI - PCI makes a radio mounting kit that lets you just drop in a radio to the center console for near zero money & no cutting required.

and you probably already know this but when you get ready to drive this thing, beware of rear frame taco'ing. many companies make frame brace kits that bolt on & add a rear bump stop. mine's from SVC and the fit/finish is pretty nice.

Can attest to this... Bent the frame on one myself at a Texas Event. Wasn't even jumping that big haha

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Added a few small upgrades and hit the desert for the first time since my last post. I gotta say I absolutely love this thing. It’s everything I’ve wanted in a truck, and allows me to do just about everything my family and I love to do.

First I pulled all four shocks for a rebuild. (Thankfully I had loaners). Drilled/tapped to add schrader valves, re-sealed and cleaned up running 7wt Maxima shock oil. Threw on a fresh pair of Moog upper control arms in the process since both ball joints had excessive play and the ball joint itself isn’t serviceable.







I also added new Eibach 3.0+ raptor coils for the front struts. This made a HUGE difference after the fresh rebuild. No more stink bug and riding like shit.

Strapped down a Pelican 1610 case along with a Engel 30 qt cooler in the bed. Added anchor points and ratchet straps for the Pelican case, and a Canyon Coolers strap kit for the Engel.



Added KC c3 ambers in the front bumper and one out back for a dust light.





I’ll continue on next post...

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Photo dump to get up to speed..

 

[Cleandezert]

truck looks soo good. makes me want a real one now.

 

[marcytech]

sorry if i missed it, but did you sell the ranger?!

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

sorry if i missed it, but did you sell the ranger?!

X2?

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

sorry if i missed it, but did you sell the ranger?!

X2?

I still have the Ranger but it will be for sale soon, after I fix a few things on it. The plan is to pay off my travel trailer and throw the rest of what I get into the Raptor.

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Nothing crazy but I added some red LED map light bulbs from F150LEDS. These guys are pretty legit. Their packaging is on point and their product kicks ass. Coming from a son of a truck driver, my dad has always ran red in-cab lights in all his rigs since the 80s. Not sure if it makes any difference but I’ve always been a fan.

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

A few weeks ago I headed up to San Jose Ca to pick up a chase/bed/whatever the fuck you want to call it rack, built by Brian Emerson. I’m not sure if he’s on here but I’m certain he was an old DR member. Anyways, solid dude. It’s actually a well thought out rack. Duel spares, 5 gallon fuel jug mount, action packer mount, jack mount, fluid holder, tabs for misc. lights, antennas, and whips, utilizing the factory bed bolts. I’m going to add my touches but this is a great addition to the truck. I plan to only run one stand up spare and use the other spare area to mount a cooler, and possibly a badlands race jack underneath. I also plan to mount some sort of onboard air setup off the tube work along with a fire extinguisher, and my desert squadron first aid kit that I robbed off the ranger.













Added a pair of KC C2 flood beam LEDs next to my amber C3s on the front bumper.





The whole family has fallen in love with this truck. Lots of stuff coming up that I’m excited about that I’ll post on here once finished, but I really need to focus on getting the ranger prepped to sell to help fund this truck and other family projects.

New OEM third brake light assembly installed. If I told you guys the list cost on this thing you’d shit a brick, but it’s a much better alternative than paying over $1k for an aftermarket third brake light.

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

I didn’t go into detail on the last post about the process of getting the chase rack bolted up. The 4 bed bolts that the rack utilizes were seized. I Immediately stripped the torx head bolts trying to remove them. After welding nuts to the heads, torching, cutting, cursing, grinding and more cursing I finally got them free. I ended up ordered all new bed bolts and nuts/nut keepers from Ford. I had a buddy tig weld 1/2” u bolt nuts onto the heads of the new bolts to make things easier. With that done I was able to run a 1/2x2” bolt and a washer on top of the bolt and tube to keep water out of the bolt/tube mount area.

 

[Cleandezert]

dang that is a killer idea with the bolt to keep crap out. I had plastic caps, but they are long gone.

 

[dwphoto]

nicely done sire.. always crushing it on the clean installs

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Thanks dudes.

 

[WW_RANGER_X]

Got the Desert Squadron first aid kit mounted. Such a cool yet functional kit. Truck also got a long over due bath today. Checked the weather after the fact and rain is heading in on Tuesday.... Fuckin over this rain!