The 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor is the latest addition to the North American Raptor family. Of course, with the nameplate, it has to have some vital components that make it a proper Baja-inspired vehicle. That includes an exquisite engine with 405 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque, large 33-inch BFGoodrich KO3 tires, and suspension that can handle almost anything the driver throws at it.
How The 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor Suspension Works
The Ford Ranger Raptor features Fox Live Valve shocks, though according to The Drive, these take a different approach to damping than the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2‘s Multimatic DSSVs. The Live Valve allows the driver to catch the body roll before it happens, enabling the truck to soak up tight turns in the sand without getting the body roll in the front. Every aspect of the Ranger Raptor’s suspension upgrades is done in the name of stability. Wider aluminum upper and lower control arms are at the front, while the Bronco Raptor has steel uppers and aluminum lowers. The reasoning behind this is that the Ranger weighs less than the Bronco, in addition to having 33-inch tires as opposed to 37s.
Image via Ford.
The Ranger Raptor also has a wider track width than the base 2024 Ranger, which helps give the truck even more stability off-road. Ford also paid particular attention to the pickup’s rear suspension, where it sports a Watts link setup rather than a traditional five-link which also improves stability and could very well be the replacement for leaf springs in trucks in the future as it makes it simpler to tune the motion ratio and shock effectiveness.
This generation of the Ford Ranger Raptor has been on sale in the rest of the world for nearly a year. The version we’re getting in North America has been tweaked slightly and has 13 ponies more, but most of what underpins the truck has been carried over. From what we can tell, the 2024 Ranger Raptor will be some serious competition for the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, and with the 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro on the way, which also features specially tuned Fox suspension, things are about to get really interesting within the midsize truck segment.
