So some of you may have seem some discussion in other threads, regarding an issue a few members are now having with their beds being out of alignment, and in most cases, the rear end bent downward towards the ground.
This thread can be used to share information, updates, and ideas for this issue that we're experiencing.
First, an illustration of the problem. Here is a "Before" picture which illustrates how the truck comes off the factory floor, and the angle at which the bed and windows are lined up:
![Image]()
As you can see, you can draw a straight line from the bed, and it matches right up with the windows. Now, as a comparison, here is an illustration of the issue that some of us have experienced, and the lines drawn for comparison:
![Image]()
And the angle difference:
![Image]()
Clearly, you can see the difference! The rear of the truck appears to be "squatting" for lack of a better term. This happened to a LARGE percentage of the members that participated in the Raptor Run from Barstow to Vegas, as well as members in other states that have had the chance to do some high speed off-road trails.
What is causing this?
Well, for now it seems to have been nailed down to one specific problem area. The rear frame, where the bump stop is mounted underneath it. When you're cruising at speed, there is a relatively small amount of rear travel available before hitting the bump stop, when compared to doing something like a full jump, where the entire travel is used.
When the suspension is pre-loaded a decent amount, there seems to be about 4-5" of travel at the MOST before hitting the bump stop. What's causing the issue, is when hitting a small rut/ditch/kicker at those speeds, which causes the bump stop to be impacted by the rear axle.
Why such a weakness?
It appears that the frame in this area is weak for a few reasons. For one, it is not a straight boxed run from front to back, it goes up and gets thinner in this area, to make room for the bump stop. Also, there is a large hole on the inside of the frame, to allow for tooling on the back side of the bump stop nut. This is a SERIOUS weak point, as the frame not only is already misshaped to accommodate for the bump stop, it's not even boxed all around!
It seems the frame itself is creasing at this point, and causing the whole rear of the truck from this point back, to sag. I was able to run about 90% of the Raptor Run without this occuring on my truck. There was ONE last bump that I hit at about 55MPH (probably about 12" high or less) and soon after I stopped and met up with the other guys, and noticed that indeed I too was affected!
Here is my truck currently:
![Image]()
![Image]()
It's not terrible compared to others. I was lucky enough to have the "least" bent bed of the entire group. Here is a collection of other trucks that have had this same exact issue, they are ALL different trucks, just a lot of black ones!!!:
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
There are more, those are just the ones that I personally snapped a photo of. The same problem with all trucks, from the same type of incident. Of the 14 trucks that I drove with a few weeks ago, 10 of them ended up with this same sort of issue. There are more across the country, and I would appreciate those who have this issue to also chime in, and provide information and pictures if you can.
... continued
This thread can be used to share information, updates, and ideas for this issue that we're experiencing.
First, an illustration of the problem. Here is a "Before" picture which illustrates how the truck comes off the factory floor, and the angle at which the bed and windows are lined up:
As you can see, you can draw a straight line from the bed, and it matches right up with the windows. Now, as a comparison, here is an illustration of the issue that some of us have experienced, and the lines drawn for comparison:
And the angle difference:
Clearly, you can see the difference! The rear of the truck appears to be "squatting" for lack of a better term. This happened to a LARGE percentage of the members that participated in the Raptor Run from Barstow to Vegas, as well as members in other states that have had the chance to do some high speed off-road trails.
What is causing this?
Well, for now it seems to have been nailed down to one specific problem area. The rear frame, where the bump stop is mounted underneath it. When you're cruising at speed, there is a relatively small amount of rear travel available before hitting the bump stop, when compared to doing something like a full jump, where the entire travel is used.
When the suspension is pre-loaded a decent amount, there seems to be about 4-5" of travel at the MOST before hitting the bump stop. What's causing the issue, is when hitting a small rut/ditch/kicker at those speeds, which causes the bump stop to be impacted by the rear axle.
Why such a weakness?
It appears that the frame in this area is weak for a few reasons. For one, it is not a straight boxed run from front to back, it goes up and gets thinner in this area, to make room for the bump stop. Also, there is a large hole on the inside of the frame, to allow for tooling on the back side of the bump stop nut. This is a SERIOUS weak point, as the frame not only is already misshaped to accommodate for the bump stop, it's not even boxed all around!
It seems the frame itself is creasing at this point, and causing the whole rear of the truck from this point back, to sag. I was able to run about 90% of the Raptor Run without this occuring on my truck. There was ONE last bump that I hit at about 55MPH (probably about 12" high or less) and soon after I stopped and met up with the other guys, and noticed that indeed I too was affected!
Here is my truck currently:
It's not terrible compared to others. I was lucky enough to have the "least" bent bed of the entire group. Here is a collection of other trucks that have had this same exact issue, they are ALL different trucks, just a lot of black ones!!!:
There are more, those are just the ones that I personally snapped a photo of. The same problem with all trucks, from the same type of incident. Of the 14 trucks that I drove with a few weeks ago, 10 of them ended up with this same sort of issue. There are more across the country, and I would appreciate those who have this issue to also chime in, and provide information and pictures if you can.
... continued
Nothing is straight forward on a vehicles anymore. Performing a frame R&R is nothing more than compounding what a tech does on a daily basis.
