karzbi

I have a bone stock 2016 XLT FX4 4x4. A couple of times a year, it gets ridden on unmaintained mining and logging roads in northern Ontario.

These are extended mid-speed hauls with the occasional slow crawl up, over, or around washouts, rock, or some obstacle. There's mud, an occasional water crossing, bare rock here and there, but for the most part it's just really rough road where all the fine dirt and gravel have been washed away, and only the medium and larger road material remains.

What ends up happening is, pretty quickly, the ride goes from acceptable to bone-jarring. I guess the stock FX4 shocks are overwhelmed and I don't think the 20" rims help either (I actually "air up" a little as pinch flats are common and I've never had traction issues) on these roads.

Obviously the ideal solution is to spend $12,000 on wheels, a level/lift and high end shocks, but let's be realistic here. I do this from time to time, and have a budget. Let's say between $1000-2000.

What's going to give me the best improvement in these circumstances? Would 5100s cut it? Would Fox 2.0 cut it? Should I just buy some "beater" off road wheels with smaller rims and more sidewall and air down?

I'd hate to spend on a solution that's not going to work, so appreciate everyone's input here.

Thanks
K

techrep

iTrader: (1)

$2000... 5100's all around and a decent set of A/T's

kbroderick

That sounds fairly similar to my usage, with a 2017 XLT 4x4 (non-FX4). Most of the time, it's on pavement, but sometimes it's on less-maintained forest roads, albeit usually not ones completely devoid of gravel.

I haven't (yet) done anything to the front suspension, but spending a couple hundred bucks to put Fox 2.0s on the rear made a huge difference. I also went from OEM chrome wheels with highway tires to a set of 18" sport rims off eBay ($350 shipped) and cheap A/T tires ($732 installed). The shocks definitely made a huge difference, and based on online reports, I suspect you'd see similar results from other non-OEM shocks. I did the tires and wheels to get better puncture resistance, not because I had found myself traction-limited by the OEM highway tires (although I strongly suspect the first mud encounter would have caused that).

Bad500Chris

Read this:
https://www.f150forum.com/f34/what-h...g-cool-345181/


Cliff notes:
Good Tires, Coilovers and UCAs will get you really far without breaking the bank.

DeltaNu1142

I sold my 20" wheels and tires for $1000, IIRC. 18x9 wheels were $700-ish. Tires were around $1000. Rear Bilstens were sub-$150. 2" level was $50. So, net, I'm in it for $800 without all of the other mods I've done, and without actually doing my fronts correctly. (5100s weren't around when I leveled the truck)

You can definitely improve your off-road ride with less than $1500 in, while dramatically improving off-road capability.

schmeal

The 20's should be the first thing to go. Look for some take-off 17's or spring for some aftermarket ones and the biggest tire you can fit with your current suspension.

If your not bottoming out, your shocks and springs are adequate. More tire side wall and airing down will soften up your ride the most for the least amount of money.

karzbi

Thanks, everyone for the replies thus far. It sounds like 5100 and Fox 2.0 won't fade in this use case, so that's helpful to know that i don't need to go to 2.5 or reservoirs to solve that part of the problem. this puts addressing the wheels in reach within budget.

still interested in hearing more user experiences for this type of driving on a shoestring.

schmeal

I had all the fox stuff on my truck while running stock wheels and 275/70R18's. I bought method 17's and 295/70R17 Toyo RT's for a run from Reno to Vegas. Just changing the tires and airing down further there was a significant increase in the plushness of the ride. If I'd have known this I may have just run a small leveling kit in the front with the new tires and wheels.

As for shocks, I took a bone stock XLT on a raptor run through rough trail in the Nevada desert and didn't boil over a factory shock. There was no fade. Even with a bull bar and a winch which increased sprung mass in the front.



There is this misconception that you need a "firmer" shock to go off-road. While it's true a firmer valved shock will help keep you from bottoming, it was also transmit more of the road bumps to the truck. In the end to go fast on rough terrain you need to softest valved shock that will keep you from bottoming out. This is why knowing if you're bottoming out is important. If you went with an adjustable shock, you'd want to run them wide open until you started bottoming, then you'd either slow the F down, or increase your low speed compression until you didn't bottom anymore. With my fox 2.5's I always ran them on the softest setting which wasn't soft enough. I had the valving softened up more which made them ride better off-road. Even with the custom valving bottoming was rare. A mushy ride on the street is a better ride off-road. If I recall the stockers were pretty mushy.

karzbi

This is really helpful, Schmeal. I'm sensing 17 wheels and tires will be where I direct most of my resources for this first upgrade. The suspension spend will be limited to 5100s mostly to fit a larger tire with more sidewall vs. chasing better suspension performance.

I'm definitely not bottoming out. On any of the big stuff, I slow down and the stock suspension actually does pretty well on humpy, undulating terrain. It's all the jarring little hits that I'm keen to take care of.

These roads are like driving over 4 inch deep potholes, endlessly.

K

PerryB

Look at OE Wheels llc. They have "as new" 1st gen. Raptor wheels (17x8.5) for $130 ea. I just bought a set and they looked to be factory new, never used.