Suspension/steering component Philosophy?

[Cecald]

Hi folks, I'm shipping my stock 2016 FX4 F150 to the Balkans next spring/summer and will be based out of Bosnia for a few years. What I can see from youtube is that there are quite a few rocky/dirt roads to explore, and a lot of camping potential! I'm considering updating the suspension on it to something like an Icon kit like this. However, I'm not in favor of introducing complexity and performance at the expense of reliability. I am interested in improving offroad control as long as it doesn't negatively affect the suspension system's resilience. I have two questions:

1) Is "upgrading" suspension (new shocks front and back, and UCAs) a fairly safe thing to move forward with (in terms of reliability), or has anyone found them to be not worth the change?

2) I had also considered beefing up the tie rods with something like the RPG tie rod kit. However after thinking about it more, it seems like this kit might introduce stresses into other components (steering rack? not entirely sure) that might be more trouble to replace. Did I overthink this? The aftermarket tie rod kits all seem to require reaming out the knuckle for the pin, after which I'm not sure if that compromises your ability to go back to stock or not. Anyways, stock tie rods seem easy to order and have replacements for, and there are very few reviews online, so I'm not inclined at the moment to go with this unless I hear otherwise.

Appreciate your input!! Suspension is a very new topic for me, and it seems to be inundated with lots of marketing speak, so I'll be very thankful for real world experiences.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

New shocks are always a good investment, the stock ones are not all that great. New upper control arms are only needed if you plan on lifting it more then a couple of inches, stock or leveled suspension doesn't really benifit from them.

I'd leave the tie rods stock, OEM work just fine.

Personally, I think that you are over thinking it. 99% of the places you will take your truck has already been conquered by a clapped out van or family car.

 

[Cecald]

Personally, I think that you are over thinking it. 99% of the places you will take your truck has already been conquered by a clapped out van or family car.

Absolutely right Jnich77. Appreciate the honesty and feedback. Thank you!

 

[Tudor Tanase]

Give Romania a go too, plenty beautiful scenic offroad in Transylvania, and no UXO... F150 is like hen's teeth in Europe, Nissan Patrol SWB is the usual and preferred offroad/exploration vehicle around. Fullsize is hard to fit between trees or on narrow sheep shepherd and horse cart trails meandering their way to secluded mountain tops, but then again if you stay on logging roads you'll be fine. Where you'll fit size-wise you likely won't need suspension upgrades either. Anyway, you'll have a ball!

 

[NoDak]

Skip the expensive boutique suspension on a vehicle destined for world travel. Factory shocks on the F150 are terrible in my opinion so I'd just get Bilstein 4600 HDs and call it good.

The rest of the components on that truck are pretty solid and shouldn't give you issue.

 

[Cecald]

Appreciate the feedback folks! I'm stuck on taking my truck as it's paid off, and I just sold off 2 right side vehicles as I depart another country (and that makes a total of 3 right side vehicles in my life) so I'm just trying to keep it simple (maybe just simple to me!). I'll stick with the stock tire size too Shovel, and appreciate yours and NoDak's input! I'm a pretty big fan of how it drives generally, but have noticed on rough asphalt or dirt that the back tends to wander pretty easily/frequently so I'll explore some low or midrange options. Cheers!

 

[Deleted member 9101]

I'm a pretty big fan of how it drives generally, but have noticed on rough asphalt or dirt that the back tends to wander pretty easily/frequently so I'll explore some low or midrange options. Cheers!

My 2017 F150 started doing that. I swapped to a set of Bilstein 5100's and it went away completly.

 

[jonathon]

Stock F150 is pretty stout, just needs help with shocks like most trucks off the lot.

Are you the original owner of the truck? Nice thing about buying a new vehicle and keeping it you’ve already shaken the bugs out if there were any and more likely than not other than maintenance stuff like fluids and brakes you won’t need to do repairs for a long time.

 

[Cecald]

Are you the original owner of the truck? Nice thing about buying a new vehicle and keeping it you’ve already shaken the bugs out if there were any and more likely than not other than maintenance stuff like fluids and brakes you won’t need to do repairs for a long time.

Yup I'm the only owner. Not many miles on it but it's just been a real treat to drive when I get to. Here's my Jeep I just sold, thought you guys might get a kick out of it.

 

[Charles R]

Have you read the rules of the country you're going to? I've read many posts about things that are allowed here, but are not allowed in some European countries. Make sure beforehand that you'll be able to drive on the public roads with any modifications you plan to make.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Your biggest challenge in that part of Europe is going to be the width of the roads. The current gen F-150 is a very wide vehicle and combined with the long wheelbase, parking is going to be a real headache. You're also going to have to be careful on rural roads because often times they're barely wide enough for two European cars, which are much narrower than your F-150 (by a couple of feet!)

I drove full sized HMMWVs through that part of the world so I know it can be done but you're going to have to get used to pulling way to the right and slowing down when passing oncoming traffic.

EDIT: Almost forgot to add, if you go off road, be wary of mines and UXO (Unexploded ordnance.) Not kidding, it's out there.

 

[badm0t0rfinger]

Your biggest challenge in that part of Europe is going to be the width of the roads. The current gen F-150 is a very wide vehicle and combined with the long wheelbase, parking is going to be a real headache. You're also going to have to be careful on rural roads because often times they're barely wide enough for two European cars, which are much narrower than your F-150 (by a couple of feet!)

I drove full sized HMMWVs through that part of the world so I know it can be done but you're going to have to get used to pulling way to the right and slowing down when passing oncoming traffic.

EDIT: Almost forgot to add, if you go off road, be wary of mines and UXO (Unexploded ordnance.) Not kidding, it's out there.

Good friend of mine is stationed in the UK, he brought his truck (same as mine) there, he basically said screw after about 3 months, bought a Land Rover for there 18 or so months he has left there.

Had a good friend who was cross assigned to Australia... His diesel F250 was perfect there lol!

As for OPs original post; Icon makes an AMAZING product and will completely change the way the truck feels for the better. I know that once you start messing with the knuckles you get into a lot more in depth work. I do believe RPG make tie rod kits that work with the stock [raptor] ones.

 

[Cecald]

Your biggest challenge in that part of Europe is going to be the width of the roads. The current gen F-150 is a very wide vehicle and combined with the long wheelbase, parking is going to be a real headache.
EDIT: Almost forgot to add, if you go off road, be wary of mines and UXO (Unexploded ordnance.) Not kidding, it's out there.

Great advice everyone, thank you for the excellent food for thought! I'll be sure to check the legality of importing the vehicle, though so far it's looking fine. Not planning on lifting, just perhaps improving the suspension and maintaining existing geometry. Absolutely no way I'd try to bring this to the UK though, I've barely fit between those hedgerows on a euro sized car! I do know the truck will be a bit supersized for a lot of the in town parking and such, but I might also see about getting a 2nd vehicle for my family anyways for in town errands and such. I just really don't want to have to buy another 2 vehicles when I already own a few. I'll be fortunate to have plenty of parking at work, and then will use this to get to/from camping or skiing!

And yeah - the UXO risk is real there! I'm scouring the UN demining maps, and am not above hiring a guide there to get some beta on safely heading into the countryside!

I do appreciate your sound feedback, cheers!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Here are a couple of photos from my time there. Should give you a rough idea of what to expect:



As you can see, a HMMWV takes up most of the lane. An F-150 will likely do the same. This is in Croatia.



Eastern Slavonia, a part of Eastern Croatia that is near the Serbian border and North of the Bosnian city of Brcko.






This was a secondary road so as long as you pay attention, your F-150 should fit just fine. In the cities is a different story.