If you’re an avid reader of The Drive, chances are, you’ve seen your fair share of off-roading Ford Raptor videos, but this one’s a little bit different. Now, everybody and their mother knows that the Raptor is a beast off-road—I mean just look at the thing. However, what we usually don’t see much of are the components that make it so capable.
Thankfully for us, the guys over at The Straight Pipes (also known as Yuri and Jakub) recently got their hands on a 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor and promptly stuck some GoPros inside off the truck’s wheel wells before taking it on its obligatory off-road expedition, giving us a clear look at a key component of the Raptor’s earth-pounding wizardry: its suspension system.
We’re not gonna pretend we know everything about what we’re looking at here, but the end result is properly interesting, with shocks, bushings, and arms bouncing and frantically jiggling about. And hey, who knew the 2017 Raptor still rocked leaf springs in the back?
The 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor uses high-performance shocks co-developed with FOX featuring 3-inch diameter canisters, nine-stage bypass damping for better control, and integrated hydraulic bump stops to minimize bottom-out situations. Up front, a whopping 13-inches of suspension travel is possible while the rear shocks can travel up to 13.9-inches—marking a suspension travel increase over an FX4 package-equipped standard F-150 of 5.7- and 4.4-inches front and rear, respectively.