The Secrets to the Ford Bronco Raptor's Suspension? Unusual Assembly and Beefier Parts

The mission of the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor is the same as that of the Ford F-150 Raptor: Drive at highway speeds across a desert without, you know, shattering into many pieces. That requires a lot more suspension travel and careful distribution of the substantial energy generated when the suspension bottoms out on a big bump, or when landing off a jump. Here's how the Ford Performance team modified the Ranger-based Bronco's High-Performance Off-Road Stability Suspension (HOSS 4.0), so it could perform like an F-150 Raptor.

Suspension Travel

Overall suspension travel is down an even inch front and rear, relative to the larger F-150 Raptor's, at 13.0 inches in front, 14.0 inches rear. However, both figures represent big jumps from the 8.0/9.8- and 8.7/10.2-inch front/rear travel on base and Badlands Broncos. Getting to that number required some dramatic changes to the frame and suspension components. The front upper shock/spring mount tower is raised 2.4 inches and significantly reinforced.

Because the new mounting location is necessarily more cantilevered off the frame, and because of the extreme jounce loads the Bronco Raptor must endure, the team needed to provide a second load path to share the bottoming-out loads with the internal jounce bumper inside the shock absorber. So the new cast lower control arm includes a jounce bumper that engages a new pad welded onto the frame. In the rear the frame includes mounting points for jounce bumpers on each side that simply engage the live axle to share the jounce loading with the shock absorbers.

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Platform Rigidity

At the outset of the program, there was some trepidation about subjecting a convertible truck to the punishing duty cycle of a Raptor. Adding rigidity via a welded-on hardtop would have been costly and contrary to the Bronco's "Built Wild" mission, so the upper body was strengthened by adding a B-bow, consisting of an aluminum extrusion with cast magnesium feet, across the middle of the open roll-cage "halo" in line with the B-pillars.

A second C-bow made of carbon fiber with cast ends gets bolted to the angled roll bar supports in back. Finally, the Bronco Raptor gets unique body-to-frame mounts that are more rigid. All in, the torsional rigidity improves by more than 50 percent.

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New Links

The Bronco Raptor gets new suspension links front and rear. The forged upper and cast lower front control arms are both longer to accommodate the wider track and longer travel, and larger-diameter inner and outer tie-rod ends are fitted. The disconnecting front anti-roll bar is also revised, and the threshold speed where it automatically reconnects is raised from 20 mph to 30 mph in the Raptor's on-road drive modes, and to 50 mph when in the off-road G.O.A.T. modes.

Speaking of which, there is a significantly revised Baja mode and a new Tow/Haul mode that comes along with a 1,000-pound increase in towing capacity (now 4,500 pounds). In the rear, the upper and lower trailing links are all new and most mounting points are revised, the rear Panhard rod carries over, and a new frame brace and tow hitch receiver cope with the higher trailer tongue weight.

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Clearances, Angles, and One Strange Assembly Quirk

These modifications help deliver 13.1 inches of minimum running ground clearance (to the front ball joints), up from 11.5 on Sasquatch models and 8.3 inches on base Bronco four-doors. Naturally the approach, breakover, and departure angles also improve accordingly to 47.2, 30.8, and 40.5 degrees, up from 43.2/26.3/37.0 degrees on Sasquatch and 35.5/20.0/29.7 base.

Fun fact: The raised Bronco Raptor standstoo tallfor certain parts of the assembly process, so the lower rear coil-over shock mounts are revised. The two bolts that lock each unit in place ride in slots; during assembly these bolts are loosened, and a third bolt holds the mount in place at a lower level. Prior to customer delivery that temporary bolt gets removed, the axle is raised, and the main bolts are tightened.

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Fox Shocks

Flying over whoops in the desert wreaks havoc on shock absorbers, so naturally the Bronco Raptor gets a full set of 3.1-inch-diameter Fox internal-bypass, external-reservoir shocks very similar to those on the Ford F-150 Raptor. As on the F-150 Raptor, the shocks feature Live Valve Technology that senses suspension motion every millisecond and adapts the damping rate accordingly. They're designed to keep their cool and retain their damping capability over long periods of sustained high-speed desert running.

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Brakes

The Bronco Raptor should weight about 200 pounds less than an F-150 Raptor, but it's getting the exact same brake rotors and calipers: beefy 13.8 x 1.3-inch vented steel rotors in front clamped by two-piston sliding calipers, with 13.2 x 0.8-inch vented steel rotors and single-piston calipers in the back.

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Tires and Wheels

Where the rubber meets the ruts Ford is fitting the exact same 37 x 12.5R17LT BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires that come on the top-dog F-150 Raptor 37. They'll come on a choice of three 8.5 x 17-inch wheels. One is plain cast aluminum, the other two are bead-lock-capable designs, one of which is forged. The forging is primarily to facilitate the design, rather than to add strength or save weight. Naturally there's a matching spare wheel and tire mounted out back, the weight of which required an "exoskeletal" support structure bolted to the tailgate. The bolts for this piece can be used to attach accessories like a jack mount.

Which Raptor would win the Baja 1000 in a two-truck race between the F-150 and Bronco Raptors? Our money's on the Bronco, even if our kidneys might prefer the ride quality of the longer-wheelbase F-150…