LONG TRAVEL or RAPTOR?

This may have already been discussed but here I am… any advice is appreciated.

I have an 03 tundra 4x4 limited. I off-road all the time and love ripping down fire roads. my mid travel kit is just not enough anymore. I have the option to get an extremely clean ford raptor 5.4 with around 140k miles for 19k. You probably know where I’m going with this…

Tundra is worth about 10, and I could be in the raptor for 9k. The other Part of me wants to go long travel with the tundra, either total chaos, camburg, solo, dirt king, mcm fab etc.. there’s a lot. My question is would I be able to reliably long travel my truck for about 6-7k including rear deavers & 2.5’s and still daily drive it? Anymore than 7.5k I might as well just go for raptor. I commute a lot for work but also absolutely hall ass on the weekends off-road. Do these long travel kits squeak or rattle? that would drive me crazy. Besides the lt kit is there anything else I would need besides fenders and extended axels? Do I need bypasses? And would it be able to hang with a raptor off-road. I am not new to modding/upgrading, I know when doing an extreme aftermarket upgrade it normally turns into a rabbit hole of supporting mods. That is exactly what I do not want, I already have an e39 m5 supercharged that is far beyond stock. I’d like to throw this LT kit on and be done for around 7.5k including rear deavers and 2.5’s, is this realistic or am I dreaming?

 

@reywcms can probably give some great advice here.

 

I mean front c/o, front bypass, rear bypass, is at least 6k alone. Let alone bed cage, leafs with hangers, front axle, brake lines, limit strap, bumps, shock tuning, glass, rear wheel spacers and any labor… your drop dead budget of 7.5k is eclipsed twice if not thrice over…

 

Open for my answers to each of your questions:

Summary: you are dreaming. But it's a good dream. And will probably satisfy you longer, and cost less in the long run, than the Ford. But squeaky, with a worse turning radius, smaller cab, flaking clear coat, and will keep up off-road but be left behind headed up steep grades on the freeway.

 

Take the raptor

 

Gen 1 raptor I would avoid the 5.4 the one to have is the 6.2 less issues. But you could do LT suspension for $8k if you find it used but that’s not including the labor, fiberglass etc that others mentioned. Race style suspension makes noises here and there part of the experience. Mines my daily but I don’t really drive it since I work from home. In your situation I’d probably go for the raptor but again I’m not a fan of the 5.4. And as far as keeping up with them raptors that’s no problem/ out running them.

 

You're dreaming that you'll be done for around $7.5k. Even if you can buy the kit for that price, maintenance and upkeep on LT trucks are costly and aren't something to ignore, don't forget shock tuning too. Kits don't necessary address reinforcements you're going to want to look into into either (spindle gussets, shock tower etc.)

 

Dreaming… Also don’t buy a 5.4 furd.

 

I won't buy a Ford, so not question for me. With the Ford, you'll be paying twice as much for half the reliability. However, it's worth saying, I think you'll find a wider variety of parts for the Raptor, potentially cheaper due to wide variety. But the Toyota is going to last you far longer IMHO, and likely with less problems.

 

I would be doing the work myself and I wasn’t planning on doing a bed cage either. Thanks for the input.

 

Update: I would also be doing 99% of work myself.

 

Thanks for the detailed replies guys. I’m leaning thirds raptor mainly because of squeaking.. probably going to pick it up next weekend. Although I don’t see the numbers adding up, if I can get the lt kit with shocks for 6k and throw it on in my buddies garage then where is all this other money coming from? Maybe another 1200 for other little things here and there. Below is the mcm kit I was looking at getting. It’s like 5k plus about 2k for anything else. Where is the other $$ coming from? I was not planning on doing bed cage

 

Bypasses, bypass hoop, fiber glass fenders front and rear to clear long travel, rear deavers, spring under kit, shock relocation kit, wheel spacers, 37s, wheels with the correct offset etc

 

This is the correct answer.

 

advice has fallen on deaf ears…or ears of a troll either way…we tried to educate him, let him make his decisions and cry himself to sleep at the ford dealership…

 

Lol you’re right. What do we know anyway lol

 

Ahem, the listing clearly says it’s a KIT therefore has everything anyone would ever need. Minus coilovers, axles, bump stops and all that unnecessary stuff you mentioned.

 

Lol clearly

 

Also, buy a 04-06 kit and buy used 04-06 steering knuckles, new lower ball joints for those knuckles, and tie rod ends -- and use those instead, stronger. The 04-06 steering knuckles use bigger mounting bolts and bigger LBJs. There are 00-03 LT Tundras that have broken those studs and it can be catastrophic.

So, you're not cutting into the bed or doing a bed cage? What's keeping up with everything in the rear then? I see you mention "Deavers"

MCM front kit pulls front travel of 13-14" of travel. Archive rear shock relocation with Deaver SOA leaves can pull 12" of travel, but installing a bed cage or doing an MCM cantilever is what you need.

If you want long travel and a full bed, add $4700 more plus $1200ish SUA deaver leafs. Plus more associated goodies such as hangers, bumpstops, brake lines.

 

$9k for a Raptor???

 

$19K

 

Must be a 5.4L

 

Yes it is

 

Hard pass on a 5.4

 

I think I’d be scared to mash over whoops in a 15-20 year old raptor that’s nearing the end of its life.