Smarter, harder working Fox shocks on the way for Ford Ranger Raptor

Ford is readying an even meaner version of the Ranger Raptor – and Australia will have a big input into the updated version of the high-performance ute.

While the Blue Oval hasn’t yet revealed details of a future update to the current Raptor that went on sale in 2022, a senior engineer has given crucial hints that help build the picture of what lies ahead. And it’s the race-ready Fox suspension that is shaping up to be front and centre for a Ranger Raptor update.

“One thing Ford Performance always do is they never stand still,” said Justin Capicchiano, Ford Performance, SVE program manager.

“There’s always evolution, you’re always trying to move the product forward.”

Ford’s recent class-winning attempts on the Finke Desert Race have given the brand ideas on what could be possible with the advanced semi-active suspension system that uses Fox live valve shock absorbers at its core.

“We learnt a lot about the capacity of the live valve system,” said Capicchiano of the Finke race program.

“That race car has proven it’s got a much bigger tuning window than probably what we thought when we started the program and that’s potentially some opportunity in future.”

Much of it comes down to the punishment the suspension can cop.

“The temperatures that we were seeing in race were 100 degrees [Celcius] more than we saw in our testing for the road car and we’re still durable at that higher temperature limit. We’ve seen what we can actually do in a race environment.”

Capicchiano said any advances in the suspension system would not just focus on software but would also take in hardware in the dampers, something he describes as the secret to the rough road performance of the Raptor.

“The benefit of that [Fox] system is how the dampers are built up, the hardware, the shim packs, the orifices we use and how many we use.”

Indeed, it’s suspension that is the biggest differentiator to the Raptor package.

Whereas many brands offer performance-focused utes, they typically used tweaked versions of the existing systems in the core product.

But the Raptor effectively starts from scratch and invests serious engineering nous in making the top-shelf Ranger behave more like a race truck than something merely designed to clamber over rough ground.

Again, Capicchiano isn’t going into details, other than to say there will be better Raptors in future.

However, the 3.0-litre V6 twin turbo engine looks like it will be hanging around for a while yet.

When asked about the possibility of a hybrid or plug-in hybrid version of the Raptor, Capicchiano hinted there were reasons that wasn’t a high priority.

“Right now we’re comfortable with the Raptor portfolio powertrains moving forward,” he said.

“Whether you specifically go down a path of a combination of hybrid, whatever it is, hasn’t been decided yet.”

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