74WELD Steering Rack Clunking - Check Yours!

[TruckCamper]

Yeah I need to tear it apart and see what’s up. I’m being lazy though.

Yes, for science!

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[87-Z28]

I am usually down with some science but … seems like the best use of 37L parts (rack housing and portals) is for target practice and show that … well … they aren’t really bulletproof.

 

[telenerd]

Meanwhile crickets from 74weld and they removed the steering rack from their website. I can’t believe they are now pushing for portals on the Ranger Raptor. You take a desert runner and make it a just okay fragile rock crawler with far less capability than what the truck was designed to do.

 

[SierraBronco]

Meanwhile crickets from 74weld and they removed the steering rack from their website. I can’t believe they are now pushing for portals on the Ranger Raptor. You take a desert runner and make it a just okay fragile rock crawler with far less capability than what the truck was designed to do.

I don’t know how they’re marketing them but I assume it’s the same as the rest of the portal marketing where it’s “just bolt these on and that’s all you need to do!”

The raptor setup is great from the factory, and the spring rate and damping is setup around the factory components. Which is why on all three of my raptors I didn’t mess with the suspension until it was time to rebuild the struts. And on the truck with live valve, it can compensate real time on compression and rebound so i very much had no interest in changing it and tried to keep the tires closer to the stock 37” weight.

But adding portals is a completely different ballgame from slightly heavier tires. The additional width will put more leverage on the coilovers and you need heavier springs (and the associated damping changes) to get back to stock performance. The live valve is awesome and makes changes on the fly, but is still calibrated for the stock components. I don’t know if it will keep up with the unsprung mass increase of the portals and the bigger, heavier tires. I’d be curious to see how a portal equipped ranger raptor does at high speed stuff compared to a factory rig. Especially where 55weld has absolutely horrible geometry for bumpsteer and the tires are pointing so far inward at full droop you can see it with the naked eye.

I know going from coilovers designed for a conventional bronco to the same aftermarket coilovers tuned for the portals made a very big difference in how it felt.

 

[5GENIDN]

I don’t know how they’re marketing them but I assume it’s the same as the rest of the portal marketing where it’s “just bolt these on and that’s all you need to do!”

The raptor setup is great from the factory, and the spring rate and damping is setup around the factory components. Which is why on all three of my raptors I didn’t mess with the suspension until it was time to rebuild the struts. And on the truck with live valve, it can compensate real time on compression and rebound so i very much had no interest in changing it and tried to keep the tires closer to the stock 37” weight.

But adding portals is a completely different ballgame from slightly heavier tires. The additional width will put more leverage on the coilovers and you need heavier springs (and the associated damping changes) to get back to stock performance. The live valve is awesome and makes changes on the fly, but is still calibrated for the stock components. I don’t know if it will keep up with the unsprung mass increase of the portals and the bigger, heavier tires. I’d be curious to see how a portal equipped ranger raptor does at high speed stuff compared to a factory rig. Especially where 55weld has absolutely horrible geometry for bumpsteer and the tires are pointing so far inward at full droop you can see it with the naked eye.

I know going from coilovers designed for a conventional bronco to the same aftermarket coilovers tuned for the portals made a very big difference in how it felt.

I sure as hell would not put portals on something I ran at high speed.... the additional leverage that all the frame anchor points have to resist makes the choice a very poor one. Portals are great... FOR certain situations. SLOW speed stuff where you need clearance. Top speed of the new high end unimog is 68 mph...LOL there is a reason for this. Off road.... I drive slowly. That is just what I like. So the portals work for me and work well on the trails I run. If I drove differently and/or ran different trails I sure as hell would not have portals.

 

[userdude]

I sure as hell would not put portals on something I ran at high speed.... the additional leverage that all the frame anchor points have to resist makes the choice a very poor one. Portals are great... FOR certain situations. SLOW speed stuff where you need clearance. Top speed of the new high end unimog is 68 mph...LOL there is a reason for this. Off road.... I drive slowly. That is just what I like. So the portals work for me and work well on the trails I run. If I drove differently and/or ran different trails I sure as hell would not have portals.

Portals can do EVERYTHING GREAT!! The guy at the drive thru in Canada? WOULD'VE GOT AWAY! Head on collision coming your way?? CRAWL OVER THAT MOFO!! Ever had them make you a sandwich? PERFECT! Don't quibble, just agree, and we'll all get out of here alive. Maybe. One day I'll have portals and you'll see how smart I be. I've got a big jar half full of quarters already. They are amazing because the internetz told me so.

 

[5GENIDN]

Portals can do EVERYTHING GREAT!! The guy at the drive thru in Canada? WOULD'VE GOT AWAY! Head on collision coming your way?? CRAWL OVER THAT MOFO!! Ever had them make you a sandwich? PERFECT! Don't quibble, just agree, and we'll all get out of here alive. Maybe. One day I'll have portals and you'll see how smart I be. I've got a big jar half full of quarters already. They are amazing because the internetz told me so.

Practicing to get a job in marketing? LOL... You might want to specialize in social media marketing.

 

[Snacktime]

Well, there was that one guy that stood on the hardtop roof and tried to surf with it. Does that count? I guess you could fend off a hungry bear or make the rack into a lamp.

Only have a video of @popo_patty being a hula girl on a bronco

 

[SierraBronco]

Portals can do EVERYTHING GREAT!! The guy at the drive thru in Canada? WOULD'VE GOT AWAY! Head on collision coming your way?? CRAWL OVER THAT MOFO!! Ever had them make you a sandwich? PERFECT! Don't quibble, just agree, and we'll all get out of here alive. Maybe. One day I'll have portals and you'll see how smart I be. I've got a big jar half full of quarters already. They are amazing because the internetz told me so.

You have inflooenced me. Be right back-ordering a third set

 

[userdude]

You have inflooenced me. Be right back-ordering a third set

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