The dirt king truck needs to have the shocks tuned… I’m not sure about DK front kit but the rear with a set of deavers should ride much better. Dirt King is a legit company. Solid people working and designing their kits.
II get there’s some personality’s going on but the company builds some amazing trucks. Check them out on terra crew videos! Check out some of they’re custom builds. Good luck with the drama fight ❤️
Rear springs are heavy for how little weight he has back there. The front needs more valving other wise it’ll run with any other truck once dialed in properly.
Promocode is Active: Just to clear the air. The owner of the Dirt king kit didn’t think this was long travel. The kits designed to let it be close to or slightly better then a stock Raptor. The Svc kit is well know at least on this channel and Ken block lol so it can hang and my honest opinion is keep it dirty could prob go harder on big whoops so come out with me for a day in Barstow or a ocotillo wells, during the week. The blits truck was super sick and they build sick trucks. And we all had a blast out there that day. We made this run happen to stop the hate or bs and let the trucks do the talking. I own literally nothing from dirty king but they build legit as trucks that eat Plater city, Barstow for breakfast lunch and dinner. Watch the last terra crew video lol Is this kit the best? Idk but it’s set up nice for a budget friendly build does more then most people need or will give more then most will push it too. A fully built svc prerunner isn’t what they sell lol they sell nice ass raptors with mild long travel. Also Keep it dirty is more handsome in person
🤣🤣 thanks for making that day happen. Would not have happened without you. Debating if I should do a 3rd video of the run itself. To show what we did and some of the extra footage we got.
You need to come out on a Weekday and let’s test your whoopeating abilities. You should be in the whoops not the trails to me personally. I’ve seen other trucks with less do more Trials and stuff you rule no doubt
I’ve done the stuff in Barstow. Some of it is beyond the limits of my truck and my experience. Remember I’m still on the Gen1 shock bucket so I only have 14in of trsvel and we find the bottom quick out in Barstow.
🤣🤣 yeah. The owner did a few things that rubbed me the wrong way. Going to try and keep that out of my head when we do the next video. Because at the end of the day, he does not matter. Kit did well and performed better than a stock raptor. But I have some concerns we will go over that come with a budget build
So what you’re telling me is I can buy a used stock 2019+ Raptor for around $70k… or buy a used 2019+ F150 for around $35k and spend $15k building it how I like to have it perform the same… I’ll take the Dirt King build thank you very much. It needs some shock tuning that’s for sure but the truck performed pretty well considering it’s a 6” stroke shock up front. Rear absolutely needs to be tuned.
Bro, your drone footage is radical. Great job on that. I haven’t wanted to upgrade anything in my 1st gen Raptor except the newer 3.0 Fox shocks set. But you are getting me into this upgrade stuff. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼
Thanks man! I was the one with the drone & chasing the trucks. Just wrapped up filming a Raptor R over the weekend. Featured on RaceDezert if you wanna check it out🤟🏽
I got fox 3.0 going on my Gen 1front and rear and Foust bump stop kit in the rear going in, in December. My xmas gift for the the raptor run next march in Baja with Texas Raptor runs. Cant wait to feel the difference.
🤣🤣 did it on purpose. If you all heard my thoughts today, we could not give the kit a fair shake. I also want to hear about experiences with DK from others.
I have essentially the same Dirt King setup, but on my 2011 F150 and I've beat on it hard for 6 years now. For a while I ran it with just the OEM replacement 2.5, and it was a huge improvement over a stock F150, but the short little 2.5's became burning hot when the kit is used as intended. Soonafter I added 2.5 and later 3.0 bypasses to help handle the bigger stuff and that was another big improvement but I still would bottom hard on some bigger hits, so I had Doug at EM add 2.0 bumps and strike pads on the lowers. By this point, I realized I was trying desperately to make this kit something it isn't, and I had spent enough to buy an SVC or Blitzkrieg kit, which I would regret not doing except that the DK is the only kit narrow enough to park in my tiny-ass garage. Also, here's the real poop: once properly bumped and strapped, it gets only 10.5" of travel! That's only 2 inches more than a stock F150. When I bought the kit, DK advertised 13.5" on their website which kinda sucked for me. Now they say 12" with 2WD and no spec on 4WD, probably for this reason. Also, on full bump it rubs the firewall and those beams that support the radiator, so no more up-travel to be had. Anyways, if you wanna talk about my experience with the kit, HMU. I've had an absolutely awesome time pounding the DK kit for the last few years, but TBH I wouldn't recommend.
That’s is the kind of feedback I was hoping to get with this video. Real world use with some real world honest feedback. The lower travel numbers is very surprising. But it makes sense. In the videos you can clearly see the truck hit bottom but not tuck up the wheels as high as a raptor does. I wonder if it’s because of how the up travel is limited with the stock shock bucket and 6in stroke shocks.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad Yeah that is strange. My truck does not have this issue, as it's capable of fully tucking the 37s. I had to remove the windshield wiper reservoir because it ripped open from the tire compressing all the way up there in g-outs. Also the front crossmember digs into the dirt and sends a wave of gravel up because the tires tuck in too far even. However droop travel is next to nothing because of the OEM length shocks. Could be some difference between older and newer F150, or maybe he has the wrong shocks.
Interesting, so sounds like the kit has been updated a bit because it was clear this truck bottomed out but did not tuck in enough to touch the reservoir
Im curious about the geometry of the Dk, with the stock bucket and 6" coils I'd bet the shock is not 90° from the lca at full bump, which no amount of tuning could correct. As for testing other kits, it's not a ford but I'd love to see if any yota guys rip the marlin crawler LT kit around.
Would be cool to see other brand builds and see how they stack up. And agree on the suspension. The shorter stroke means less up travel and part of the issues we saw. Turning can help improve it, not not eliminate it since we found the bottom of that kit multiple times on the whoops and wash
Great video. I honestly think the stock raptor performance was similar to the LT kit raptor per the comparison on this video. I’m new to this off road world. I’ve owned my truck for about 3 years. 08 Silverado, and I went with a a Mazzula kit because it was affordable, bolt on and didn’t have to purchased the shock towers(DK you do plus 3.0 shocks right off the bat, those being fox or kings) because I’m not there yet (his kit is also describe as an LT kit about 12 inches of travel) the display of the upper control arm is a nice billet accompanied by a longer LCA. I haven’t taken it out to the desert to see how it handles. It’s sitting on some old 2.5 king shocks not tuned. I’m not impressed with how it rides at the moment because I haven’t decided wether I want to re valve them or go to the 3.0. What are you thoughts on it? The rear of my suspension is stock expect for 2.5 piggyback reservoirs but those also haven’t been touched in years. All in all, what do you think about Mazzula LT? I wanted to keep my 4x4…
Basically right now you truck feels like that because it’s not balanced. If you upgrade the front and leave the back stock, your overloading the back. And vise versa. It’s always best to have balance and if you can afford it, 3.0s is always better. Specially with how heavy these trucks are.
Been following the channel for a long time now, the dk kit should definitely not be called LT. as you stated in an older video “it’s only considered LT if you go into the shock towers” which was super helpful info when I was buying my kit. I heard BMS makes great kits but evil really won my money with their unique products I had already purchased in the past. From what I learned off your channel I ordered the evil +2 kit which is midtravel, to keep the overall width down on my raptor, but asked them to make new shock towers for 10” shocks with 4wd or 12” shocks in 2wd. Waiting on them to ship out here and I’ll definitely be posting up how everything performs. Waiting on the follow up videos too!
Thanks man. Yeah, they way this kit is advertised is a problem for me as well. I need to film more trucks with more kits and that’s a focus of the channel going forward
So, I watched it again. The DK truck did fine. Way better than stock Raptor. You guys to go out and do this run on both of your trucks without shock tuning is kind of silly. Neither is showcasing the product. Just who runs a little less crappy. Both are leaving a lot on the table. Anyways. Really just needs to have the shocks tuned. Especially the rear. ADS might have a specd kit for DK but the shocks still need to be tuned. MCmasterFabber does a lot of their shock tuning in Az. They might be out of the box better than the rest but definitely don’t come tuned to a specific persons truck like they should be after installed. They’d have to know weight of truck, weight of occupants. Other things.
Great comparison video , can’t wait for the verdict on the dirt king . I’ve got my Evil mfg midtravel +2 kit right here sitting in my garage and I can’t wait to install it and test it out .
Would be pretty cool if you made a video talking about what mid or long travel kits you would recommend. I see a lot of people looking for more info and personal feedback on the kits people run but not much out there great video can’t wait for your opinion on it
To be honest it’s not that hard lol. Look at the companies building them and people using them. If you watch our videos you see this truck smash big whoops for breakfast and fun. Kits work but get upgraded brakes. Anything from dirt king real king travel kits because you see it working. If you don’t see it actually doing what you want don’t buy it. Most companies don’t show them working why??
I'd really like to see your second video and I'd really like to see that truck with some shock tuning. from what I've seen DK is the most reasonably priced mid travel kit available for the f150. Its also nice for when poor people (me😂) want to make their lowly f150 a little better.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad I don't know what type of trash talking the guy was doing but I guess when I look at the dirtking kit I think it's slightly better and slightly more travel then OEM Raptor suspension. eagerly awaiting that second video...
It performed better than a stock raptor, but the suspension travel is less. This truck compared more with a stock Gen2, that’s has slightly more travel. But the DK kit has the bypass shock and that makes a huge difference in the performance of the truck.
Thanks man! I was the pilot for the drone. If setup for speed I can do easily 100+ But thats setup for more mid distance // long range flying so cruise speed is around 80 and I can hold that for around 5 minutes till the battery dies🤟🏽
Looks like the DK kit handled okay, proper shock tuning would have transformed it a lot. But it has potential for a more budget friendly build. I have a full LT for my 10’ Sierra from DK (not installed yet), I really love the race kit they offer but my goal was to retain my 4wd.
Agreed. IMO it performs better than a stock raptor because of the better shocks. BUT, we did bottom it out a few times. Yeah shock tuning could help there. But we still found it’s limits. You can’t keep 4wd with the other DK kits? Have not research the others yet but that is surprising.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad on the GM line of long travel, 13” is the max for the Sierra for DK. Most likely due to ball joint and cv angles. With the race kit they use a fabricated spindle with uniballs, but not 4wd compatible. It’s a compromise, to keep 4wd the travel is limited.
Makes sense. When you go prerunner builds, keeping 4wd is more of a liability than it’s worth and 2wd is the better way to go. Limits where you can trail though but you can get to 90% of places out there and throttle out.
I’ll be honest this is the first time I see a dirt king kit actually being tested. I see a ton of post and marketing of the products with nice pictures out in the dirt but very rare and far in between do you see the kits being filmed getting beat on.But then again that just my experience This LT kit doesn’t do enough to be called a LT kit. Slap on new shocks and add bypass hoop you would expect better absorption than depicted on the footage.Your definitely better off starting out with a raptor for about the same performance if not better in certain situations. It looked like it bottomed out way sooner than the raptor. Rear looks alright I mean you got bypass and leafs.But the front and rear don’t seem to be in the same page which could be tuning.When you calculate the price and cost idk interested to hear your thoughts. I would point out we are comparing a raptor to a f150 which won’t be apples to apples but then again DK doesn’t really offer a raptor only kit other than just control arms and add ons unlike SVC. Most kits they offer tend to be the same as this f150 kit with the shafts and control arms and hoops being the craziest it gets in terms of suspension geometry. 🤷♂️ wait to hear your thoughts.
Your making all the points that came to my head as well. I’ll go over all that in the next video because there are a few areas that are major weak points not addressed by this kit
if you look at early baja trucks anyone who had more than 13 inches of travel it was considered long travel. Or even looking at other platforms such as toyotas they get offered as mid travel just changing ucas then long travel if lowers are changed out.
Yeah, by those standard a stock Raptor would qualify as a mid travel build. At least compared to an F150. There are a ton more factors to consider too. Tacoma for example are much lighter and can do more with less because of the weight.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad agreed also if my memory is correct during Raptors initial conception it was advertised as a long travel truck. which the Raptor was one of makes that changed what is considered mid travel, or long travel. either way I believe spending the crazy amount to be able to run raptor esk numbers and handling is insane
Have not seen “standard” language at all when it comes to these aftermarket kits. Dirt king calls this Long Travel and the kits that use 10” socks with new upper shock tower their “race kit”. Other brands have kits called long travel also use stock coil bucket location but then also provide a fully fabricated spindle. So tomatoe tomato I think. You have to just understand what you are getting.
from my perspective going aftermarket on a f150 to be stock width as a raptor is a waste of money. you look into any maker that says they're long travel f150 (front ucas, lca) they're all 3.5 inches then you go into the race length and is 4-5 inches longer. from that point for 5-8k in just arms is crazy. Run raptor arms lower and get some svc uppers and you'll be still I. same ball park and just run upgraded shocks. or if you're going to ball out might as well convert using a raptor mid travel/ long travel on a f150 which would then get you the race length arms. just my opinion
To be very honest, what we are seeing in the video is Shock and ByPass valving being too soft. Recently i visited the DK Shop and they make very good suspension parts and fabricated components.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yes, curious to know the max travel of the kit regardless of the Shock. If the Shock and bypass have a stroke that falls short of the possible travel of the suspension geometry then there ks that.
I have not seen anything about this and I think my friend is full of it but he saying you have to remove the anti sway bar to get the Raptor it’s full travel I never heard of this that’s why I’m asking you, but as I said I think he is full of it
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad that's the same amount of travel that my solid axle Dodge pulls with some longer coils and a bolt on king 3.0, that's pretty pathetic for a full "long travel" A arm kit
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yeah, kinda crazy considering it's a 1 to 1 movement ratio, surprisingly the long arm bolt on kit with 3.0s is 12" travel. If anything it's not even mid travel. It's almost the same amount of travel as a Gen 1 had from the factory.
ADS tuned shocks usually get you way, WAY closer than we saw from this truck. One of the best stock travel trucks I’ve seen was running ADS tuned Kings.
I’m actually in Kern county so close to a lot of your runs. I actually just looked at their website and until now did not realize the differences in what they offer for GM and Ford.
Looks like the shocks weren't set up properly for that weight. The front is diving too much and the rear rebound is too fast. I would like to see it again once the shocks are set up correctly
Me too but that’s hard to do with a large group in tow. We had to rely on our eyes and the footage and our experience. The DK truck was very close in speed to all the stock travel trucks. The mid travel and long travel trucks were on obviously going much faster.
Each run was directed to go around a specific speed. (Avg of 40-50 for each section) All trucks attained said speed goal and some did go a bit faster. There was speed regulation for each pass by Keep it dirty, and each run was done seperate from other trucks. The DK truck kept up with if not went slightly faster than the other “mid travel trucks” it is a “mid travel” as KID calls it. I was the FPV pilot & rode with the DK truck so Ik exactly how fast it was going in comparison to other trucks. I also have the GPS data from the Gopro on the drone to back up these claims
Very true. Overall I think it performed better than a stock raptor because a stock raptor could not do those whoops. But yeah, owner is a douche and that’s why my opinions are not on this video
Dude, you really need to watch the video. I intentionally left all my reactions out of the video to now skew anyone’s opinion. Some how you think that’s hiding shit? What do you think will be in the next video? All the reactions and some were not good.
Don’t really know what we’re supposed to say. All the trucks are very different and the Dirt King truck is better than a stock Raptor and kind of comparable to yours. Yours is built differently though. Totally different shock package. Is it the driver or Dirt King and ADS we’re beefing with?
Just the driver. He’s a tool that only has eyes for Dirk King. Going to restrain myself a bit here to not change anyone’s mind here reading the comments. But your spot on with your assessment. My thoughts and breakdown will come next week. And I’ll be brutally honest about the shortcoming of his kit as well as those on my build.
Gotcha. Dirt King is a great company and they have great communication. For me the only thing separating these trucks is $$$$. I can call any of those manufacturers and go mild to wild. That’s why I like Doug at Evil and I’ll be going back to him when my truck is out of the shop it’s at. Easiest to get ahold of and go over ideas with. Decent at keeping a timeline. Money will buy you whatever shock packages and fabrication you want (choosing the right fabricator matters). I’ve learned for me what matters is communication and timeline.
The right fabricator can make all the difference for sure. But from a budget standpoint, this kit cost about the same as a SVC mid travel kit. Very close in price
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad I don’t know. I just priced out both kits on both websites. Your kit with your shock package closer to $30k ($28k) his kit with his shock package was close to $17k. Edit** That’s no fenders for either and a couple odds and ends.
Shocks cost about the same, and the kit itself is only a little bit cheaper. Once you account for axles and tie rods and all that, price is very similar. But the DK kit is missing s few bits that are critical IMO
Dirt king is a fine company, but I think they dipped their toes into too many platforms. When it was just Chevys and Toyotas they were solid, or the odd 1500 Dodge trucks that are surprisingly a great platform, who knew. The Ford kit suffers from the OEM shock location of the regular F-150, Ford knew it was too short. That's why they were raised on the raptor, I just couldn't imagine keeping a 6-in stroke shock after going "long travel" dirt King makes shock towers I'm surprised they didn't cut the OE one off and run a 10" stroke like the other 3 fullsize platforms they build. The manufacturers that work with specific platforms will always have better products overall like SVC with the raptors. Thuren with HD Dodges and so on. But this dude kinda seems like a tool, probably made his money from Tech and is roughly my age.
The dirt king truck doesn’t look like it’s much better on raptor with live valve, Dirt kings should not offer that kit and list as mid/long travel kit. Should be sold as upgraded raptor suspension or f150 conversion. Stock buckets wow… no no! Anyway! Great video, great comparison on few different mid travel that are on the market. Id love to see that evil manufacturing truck. Doug has been big help with my prerunner build for the past year! (Great company) Do a video and show off that truck.
Thanks man. And yeah we want to get that Evil truck out and really showcase it. He’s currently working out some bugs but once it’s done, I hope DWS will let us feature it in its full glory on the trails
Yeah, in the whoops it was not good but a stock raptor could not do that section either. On the other 2 it did better than a stock raptor but I do think the front end got bottom out easy because of the limited travel
Yup!!! ADS though is known for its tuning, that’s how they first started and their one of the best tuners out there. My truck is a good example of needing a tune. It does OK, but it could do better if it was tuned. Will be doing that when the next shock rebuild is due
That shock bucket should’ve came out and replaced with the hoop for sure and the rear leaf kit should’ve been the spring under kit. I love dirt king they make great stuff and great setup. The Nissan Titan kit I was looking at for my project truck had the option of leaving the stock shock bucket in but your travel was not as good. The shock was the almost the same as the oem performance king shock set, which are a good set but not long travel good. When you get the shock hoop setup you get the longer shock set and I believe it’s a progressive spring rate as well. The shock hoop was the much better option for the front end. It just sounds like he went with this setup he has because of cost maybe.
To be called a real long travel kit, the shock bucket should have been replaced for sure. I think this kit in particular is a budget build kit and it has some drawbacks I’ll go over on the next video.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yup yup I agree it’s just a mid level kit with that shock bucket in there. I’m subscribed to your channel now because you guys were out in my area testing the long travel kits. And you had some great content. I look forward to seeing that next video for sure.
I know a few guys with sprung under setups. Their biggest complaint is not performance. They complain about it being so low and getting chewed up by the trails. I’m personally not a fan of sprung under. For that reason above too. But I have not heard anyone complain about their performance
@@5OHRUNR then it looks like the Ford guys have to either 3 or 4 link the rear end to really get some good long travel performance out of them. Well at least the f150 guys, Ranger guy are good to go with spring under kits there all over the place. The F150 kit in the video did pretty decent from what I seen. It’s just nice having the extra up travel when it’s needed.
I'll be 100% honest man, ur approach to new people comes off more interrogatory than enthusiast. Love the videos just my perspective
It’s not new people man. It’s just this guy.
The dirt king truck needs to have the shocks tuned… I’m not sure about DK front kit but the rear with a set of deavers should ride much better. Dirt King is a legit company. Solid people working and designing their kits.
Agreed, but there is more going on here. I’ll go over it next week but that front end easily gets overloaded and causes some odd behavior in the back.
II get there’s some personality’s going on but the company builds some amazing trucks. Check them out on terra crew videos! Check out some of they’re custom builds. Good luck with the drama fight ❤️
Totally agree. They make amazing prerunners. No doubt there. Specially on the GM (Chevy / GMC) platforms.
Rear springs are heavy for how little weight he has back there. The front needs more valving other wise it’ll run with any other truck once dialed in properly.
@@5OHRUNR yea couple adjustments with Tyler over at ADS or Karl Mason at shocktalk and it’ll be plush……..
Promocode is Active:
Just to clear the air. The owner of the Dirt king kit didn’t think this was long travel. The kits designed to let it be close to or slightly better then a stock Raptor.
The Svc kit is well know at least on this channel and Ken block lol so it can hang and my honest opinion is keep it dirty could prob go harder on big whoops so come out with me for a day in Barstow or a ocotillo wells, during the week.
The blits truck was super sick and they build sick trucks.
And we all had a blast out there that day. We made this run happen to stop the hate or bs and let the trucks do the talking.
I own literally nothing from dirty king but they build legit as trucks that eat Plater city, Barstow for breakfast lunch and dinner. Watch the last terra crew video lol
Is this kit the best? Idk but it’s set up nice for a budget friendly build does more then most people need or will give more then most will push it too.
A fully built svc prerunner isn’t what they sell lol they sell nice ass raptors with mild long travel.
Also Keep it dirty is more handsome in person
🤣🤣 thanks for making that day happen. Would not have happened without you.
Debating if I should do a 3rd video of the run itself. To show what we did and some of the extra footage we got.
You need to come out on a Weekday and let’s test your whoopeating abilities. You should be in the whoops not the trails to me personally. I’ve seen other trucks with less do more
Trials and stuff you rule no doubt
I’ve done the stuff in Barstow. Some of it is beyond the limits of my truck and my experience. Remember I’m still on the Gen1 shock bucket so I only have 14in of trsvel and we find the bottom quick out in Barstow.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad we’re not hitting main lol just trust me or ocotillo is way mild
Set it up and I’ll be there
I love comparison videos like this. especially because you have different levels of generally the same truck to compare.
Goal is for everyone to make up their own mind before they hear my thoughts on the Dirt King kit.
Lol the tone of the conversation says it all
🤣🤣 yeah. The owner did a few things that rubbed me the wrong way. Going to try and keep that out of my head when we do the next video. Because at the end of the day, he does not matter. Kit did well and performed better than a stock raptor. But I have some concerns we will go over that come with a budget build
🤦♂️🤦♂️ all I can say is wow dude.
So what you’re telling me is I can buy a used stock 2019+ Raptor for around $70k… or buy a used 2019+ F150 for around $35k and spend $15k building it how I like to have it perform the same…
I’ll take the Dirt King build thank you very much. It needs some shock tuning that’s for sure but the truck performed pretty well considering it’s a 6” stroke shock up front. Rear absolutely needs to be tuned.
Yes, that’s is an option. Price is a little higher when you include glass and wheels and all that but yes.
Waiting for the next video!
Bro, your drone footage is radical. Great job on that.
I haven’t wanted to upgrade anything in my 1st gen Raptor except the newer 3.0 Fox shocks set. But you are getting me into this upgrade stuff. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼
Thanks man! I was the one with the drone & chasing the trucks.
Just wrapped up filming a Raptor R over the weekend. Featured on RaceDezert if you wanna check it out🤟🏽
I got fox 3.0 going on my Gen 1front and rear and Foust bump stop kit in the rear going in, in December. My xmas gift for the the raptor run next march in Baja with Texas Raptor runs. Cant wait to feel the difference.
👍👍 did you go with the fox race series or did you upgrade the shock bucket and go with gen2 race series?
I already wanna hear you thoughts on it!! Can’t wait for the next episode
🤣🤣 did it on purpose. If you all heard my thoughts today, we could not give the kit a fair shake. I also want to hear about experiences with DK from others.
I have essentially the same Dirt King setup, but on my 2011 F150 and I've beat on it hard for 6 years now. For a while I ran it with just the OEM replacement 2.5, and it was a huge improvement over a stock F150, but the short little 2.5's became burning hot when the kit is used as intended. Soonafter I added 2.5 and later 3.0 bypasses to help handle the bigger stuff and that was another big improvement but I still would bottom hard on some bigger hits, so I had Doug at EM add 2.0 bumps and strike pads on the lowers. By this point, I realized I was trying desperately to make this kit something it isn't, and I had spent enough to buy an SVC or Blitzkrieg kit, which I would regret not doing except that the DK is the only kit narrow enough to park in my tiny-ass garage. Also, here's the real poop: once properly bumped and strapped, it gets only 10.5" of travel! That's only 2 inches more than a stock F150. When I bought the kit, DK advertised 13.5" on their website which kinda sucked for me. Now they say 12" with 2WD and no spec on 4WD, probably for this reason. Also, on full bump it rubs the firewall and those beams that support the radiator, so no more up-travel to be had. Anyways, if you wanna talk about my experience with the kit, HMU. I've had an absolutely awesome time pounding the DK kit for the last few years, but TBH I wouldn't recommend.
That’s is the kind of feedback I was hoping to get with this video. Real world use with some real world honest feedback. The lower travel numbers is very surprising. But it makes sense. In the videos you can clearly see the truck hit bottom but not tuck up the wheels as high as a raptor does. I wonder if it’s because of how the up travel is limited with the stock shock bucket and 6in stroke shocks.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad Yeah that is strange. My truck does not have this issue, as it's capable of fully tucking the 37s. I had to remove the windshield wiper reservoir because it ripped open from the tire compressing all the way up there in g-outs. Also the front crossmember digs into the dirt and sends a wave of gravel up because the tires tuck in too far even. However droop travel is next to nothing because of the OEM length shocks. Could be some difference between older and newer F150, or maybe he has the wrong shocks.
Interesting, so sounds like the kit has been updated a bit because it was clear this truck bottomed out but did not tuck in enough to touch the reservoir
I would like to get one of those scarf..scarf!
Im curious about the geometry of the Dk, with the stock bucket and 6" coils I'd bet the shock is not 90° from the lca at full bump, which no amount of tuning could correct. As for testing other kits, it's not a ford but I'd love to see if any yota guys rip the marlin crawler LT kit around.
Would be cool to see other brand builds and see how they stack up.
And agree on the suspension. The shorter stroke means less up travel and part of the issues we saw. Turning can help improve it, not not eliminate it since we found the bottom of that kit multiple times on the whoops and wash
Great video. I honestly think the stock raptor performance was similar to the LT kit raptor per the comparison on this video. I’m new to this off road world. I’ve owned my truck for about 3 years. 08 Silverado, and I went with a a Mazzula kit because it was affordable, bolt on and didn’t have to purchased the shock towers(DK you do plus 3.0 shocks right off the bat, those being fox or kings) because I’m not there yet (his kit is also describe as an LT kit about 12 inches of travel) the display of the upper control arm is a nice billet accompanied by a longer LCA. I haven’t taken it out to the desert to see how it handles. It’s sitting on some old 2.5 king shocks not tuned. I’m not impressed with how it rides at the moment because I haven’t decided wether I want to re valve them or go to the 3.0. What are you thoughts on it? The rear of my suspension is stock expect for 2.5 piggyback reservoirs but those also haven’t been touched in years. All in all, what do you think about Mazzula LT? I wanted to keep my 4x4…
Basically right now you truck feels like that because it’s not balanced. If you upgrade the front and leave the back stock, your overloading the back. And vise versa.
It’s always best to have balance and if you can afford it, 3.0s is always better. Specially with how heavy these trucks are.
Been following the channel for a long time now, the dk kit should definitely not be called LT. as you stated in an older video “it’s only considered LT if you go into the shock towers” which was super helpful info when I was buying my kit. I heard BMS makes great kits but evil really won my money with their unique products I had already purchased in the past. From what I learned off your channel I ordered the evil +2 kit which is midtravel, to keep the overall width down on my raptor, but asked them to make new shock towers for 10” shocks with 4wd or 12” shocks in 2wd. Waiting on them to ship out here and I’ll definitely be posting up how everything performs. Waiting on the follow up videos too!
Thanks man. Yeah, they way this kit is advertised is a problem for me as well. I need to film more trucks with more kits and that’s a focus of the channel going forward
Can you do a review of the Blitzkrieg set up
So, I watched it again. The DK truck did fine. Way better than stock Raptor. You guys to go out and do this run on both of your trucks without shock tuning is kind of silly. Neither is showcasing the product. Just who runs a little less crappy. Both are leaving a lot on the table. Anyways. Really just needs to have the shocks tuned. Especially the rear. ADS might have a specd kit for DK but the shocks still need to be tuned. MCmasterFabber does a lot of their shock tuning in Az. They might be out of the box better than the rest but definitely don’t come tuned to a specific persons truck like they should be after installed. They’d have to know weight of truck, weight of occupants. Other things.
Totally agree.
Awesome video. Looking forward to you testing other builds and kits as time goes on!
Thanks, that’s a focus we will be doing for sure going forward. I love geeking out on these trucks and did not realize others did too.
Great comparison video , can’t wait for the verdict on the dirt king . I’ve got my Evil mfg midtravel +2 kit right here sitting in my garage and I can’t wait to install it and test it out .
Thanks. Working on the 2nd video now
Would be pretty cool if you made a video talking about what mid or long travel kits you would recommend. I see a lot of people looking for more info and personal feedback on the kits people run but not much out there great video can’t wait for your opinion on it
That’s a video I have planned but not shot yet. Best solutions out there I find are a mix. All companies have their strengths
To be honest it’s not that hard lol.
Look at the companies building them and people using them.
If you watch our videos you see this truck smash big whoops for breakfast and fun.
Kits work but get upgraded brakes.
Anything from dirt king real king travel kits because you see it working. If you don’t see it actually doing what you want don’t buy it.
Most companies don’t show them working why??
I'd really like to see your second video and I'd really like to see that truck with some shock tuning.
from what I've seen DK is the most reasonably priced mid travel kit available for the f150. Its also nice for when poor people (me😂) want to make their lowly f150 a little better.
🤣 we will be filming it this week with the DWS guys.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad I don't know what type of trash talking the guy was doing but I guess when I look at the dirtking kit I think it's slightly better and slightly more travel then OEM Raptor suspension.
eagerly awaiting that second video...
It performed better than a stock raptor, but the suspension travel is less. This truck compared more with a stock Gen2, that’s has slightly more travel. But the DK kit has the bypass shock and that makes a huge difference in the performance of the truck.
I just love Dirt King because there the only company who have kits for the Rams 1500
Those drone shots where you follow behind the truck are badass!! 😍 whats the top speed of the drone?
Yeah, he got us some great shots. Not sure on top speed but I think he said it could hit 70-80s for a short period of time.
Thanks man! I was the pilot for the drone. If setup for speed I can do easily 100+ But thats setup for more mid distance // long range flying so cruise speed is around 80 and I can hold that for around 5 minutes till the battery dies🤟🏽
@@Chearymedia thats insane!! You definitely got some badass flying skills to swing that 😎
Looks like the DK kit handled okay, proper shock tuning would have transformed it a lot. But it has potential for a more budget friendly build. I have a full LT for my 10’ Sierra from DK (not installed yet), I really love the race kit they offer but my goal was to retain my 4wd.
Agreed. IMO it performs better than a stock raptor because of the better shocks. BUT, we did bottom it out a few times. Yeah shock tuning could help there. But we still found it’s limits.
You can’t keep 4wd with the other DK kits? Have not research the others yet but that is surprising.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad on the GM line of long travel, 13” is the max for the Sierra for DK. Most likely due to ball joint and cv angles. With the race kit they use a fabricated spindle with uniballs, but not 4wd compatible. It’s a compromise, to keep 4wd the travel is limited.
Makes sense. When you go prerunner builds, keeping 4wd is more of a liability than it’s worth and 2wd is the better way to go. Limits where you can trail though but you can get to 90% of places out there and throttle out.
Looks like I have a new goal!!
LT that retains the stock bucket, my prayers have been answered… I’ll have to get smaller shocks tho 😅
🤣🤣🤣
Its all in the shock tuning.
It can be yes. Shock tuning will get you that extra performance to run smoother. But there are limits.
I’ll be honest this is the first time I see a dirt king kit actually being tested. I see a ton of post and marketing of the products with nice pictures out in the dirt but very rare and far in between do you see the kits being filmed getting beat on.But then again that just my experience
This LT kit doesn’t do enough to be called a LT kit. Slap on new shocks and add bypass hoop you would expect better absorption than depicted on the footage.Your definitely better off starting out with a raptor for about the same performance if not better in certain situations. It looked like it bottomed out way sooner than the raptor. Rear looks alright I mean you got bypass and leafs.But the front and rear don’t seem to be in the same page which could be tuning.When you calculate the price and cost idk interested to hear your thoughts.
I would point out we are comparing a raptor to a f150 which won’t be apples to apples but then again DK doesn’t really offer a raptor only kit other than just control arms and add ons unlike SVC. Most kits they offer tend to be the same as this f150 kit with the shafts and control arms and hoops being the craziest it gets in terms of suspension geometry. 🤷♂️ wait to hear your thoughts.
That is true of most companies though. With DK you mainly see their prerunners hitting the trails. Rarely are these kits seen.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad lol caught me mid edit
Your making all the points that came to my head as well. I’ll go over all that in the next video because there are a few areas that are major weak points not addressed by this kit
Awesome video I think we can all agree on one thing! Dirt king should drop the long travel and call it what it is. Mid travel..
YES!!!!! One of my biggest contentions with the kit. Advertised completely wrong!! Glad someone caught that.
if you look at early baja trucks anyone who had more than 13 inches of travel it was considered long travel. Or even looking at other platforms such as toyotas they get offered as mid travel just changing ucas then long travel if lowers are changed out.
Yeah, by those standard a stock Raptor would qualify as a mid travel build. At least compared to an F150.
There are a ton more factors to consider too. Tacoma for example are much lighter and can do more with less because of the weight.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad agreed also if my memory is correct during Raptors initial conception it was advertised as a long travel truck. which the Raptor was one of makes that changed what is considered mid travel, or long travel. either way I believe spending the crazy amount to be able to run raptor esk numbers and handling is insane
Have not seen “standard” language at all when it comes to these aftermarket kits. Dirt king calls this Long Travel and the kits that use 10” socks with new upper shock tower their “race kit”. Other brands have kits called long travel also use stock coil bucket location but then also provide a fully fabricated spindle. So tomatoe tomato I think. You have to just understand what you are getting.
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽 ... on the drone pilots
👍👍 he got us some great shots.
dear. How’s everything going?. enjoyed- awesome edition! 🔥
Thanks. Doing good
from my perspective going aftermarket on a f150 to be stock width as a raptor is a waste of money. you look into any maker that says they're long travel f150 (front ucas, lca) they're all 3.5 inches then you go into the race length and is 4-5 inches longer. from that point for 5-8k in just arms is crazy. Run raptor arms lower and get some svc uppers and you'll be still I. same ball park and just run upgraded shocks. or if you're going to ball out might as well convert using a raptor mid travel/ long travel on a f150 which would then get you the race length arms. just my opinion
That’s my thoughts exactly. The price point for what you get does not make sense to me.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad some people have more money than sence these days or just don't bother to research
Yeah, seen that a lot. It’s also easy to just believe everything a company says without having any experience yourself
To be very honest, what we are seeing in the video is Shock and ByPass valving being too soft. Recently i visited the DK Shop and they make very good suspension parts and fabricated components.
To an extent that is true. But the amount of usable travel does have an impact.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yes, curious to know the max travel of the kit regardless of the Shock. If the Shock and bypass have a stroke that falls short of the possible travel of the suspension geometry then there ks that.
Need to setup some time with the DK guys to do a shop tour and talk about this kit in more detail.
I have not seen anything about this and I think my friend is full of it but he saying you have to remove the anti sway bar to get the Raptor it’s full travel I never heard of this that’s why I’m asking you, but as I said I think he is full of it
Uhhh. Those front limiting straps seem a bit short. Lol
Kit only has 12in of travel 🤷♂️. And if you let the suspension droop too much, you start having problems with axles boots prematurely failing.
😂😂
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad that's the same amount of travel that my solid axle Dodge pulls with some longer coils and a bolt on king 3.0, that's pretty pathetic for a full "long travel" A arm kit
Wait what? Really? But with solid axles right?
That’s one issue I do have, Regarless of how the kit performs, it should not be called long travel.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yeah, kinda crazy considering it's a 1 to 1 movement ratio, surprisingly the long arm bolt on kit with 3.0s is 12" travel. If anything it's not even mid travel. It's almost the same amount of travel as a Gen 1 had from the factory.
Waiting for part 2
Seems like he needs some shock tuning.
ADS tuned shocks usually get you way, WAY closer than we saw from this truck. One of the best stock travel trucks I’ve seen was running ADS tuned Kings.
Interesting. I’ve got a dirt king long travel Chevy. I don’t really know how it compares to the f150 though 🤔.
If your in SoCal we should find out one day. DK is much better with GM and Toyota than they are with Fords.
I’m actually in Kern county so close to a lot of your runs. I actually just looked at their website and until now did not realize the differences in what they offer for GM and Ford.
Let me know if you ever want to go back out there. Maybe we can get a few kit options next time and compare side by side
Looks like the shocks weren't set up properly for that weight. The front is diving too much and the rear rebound is too fast. I would like to see it again once the shocks are set up correctly
Lots asking for the same and we may be able to get that video shot in the future
Wish the speed of each vehicle would've been clocked. Hard to compare the suspension without that and also weight distribution.
Me too but that’s hard to do with a large group in tow. We had to rely on our eyes and the footage and our experience. The DK truck was very close in speed to all the stock travel trucks. The mid travel and long travel trucks were on obviously going much faster.
Each run was directed to go around a specific speed. (Avg of 40-50 for each section) All trucks attained said speed goal and some did go a bit faster. There was speed regulation for each pass by Keep it dirty, and each run was done seperate from other trucks.
The DK truck kept up with if not went slightly faster than the other “mid travel trucks” it is a “mid travel” as KID calls it.
I was the FPV pilot & rode with the DK truck so Ik exactly how fast it was going in comparison to other trucks. I also have the GPS data from the Gopro on the drone to back up these claims
Bring a bronco out🤔 with solo motorsports stage 4
That would be cool. Don’t know anything about their kit, but seeing a bronco tearing up the desert would be cool
Honestly... looks like the DK truck did great. They truck owner could be a douche but that has nothing to do with the brand.
Very true. Overall I think it performed better than a stock raptor because a stock raptor could not do those whoops.
But yeah, owner is a douche and that’s why my opinions are not on this video
@5OHRUNR id love to hwar your side of the story. Spill the tea lol 😆
Dude, you really need to watch the video. I intentionally left all my reactions out of the video to now skew anyone’s opinion. Some how you think that’s hiding shit? What do you think will be in the next video? All the reactions and some were not good.
@5OHRUNR yes, thats not bad at all.
Don’t really know what we’re supposed to say. All the trucks are very different and the Dirt King truck is better than a stock Raptor and kind of comparable to yours. Yours is built differently though. Totally different shock package. Is it the driver or Dirt King and ADS we’re beefing with?
Just the driver. He’s a tool that only has eyes for Dirk King. Going to restrain myself a bit here to not change anyone’s mind here reading the comments. But your spot on with your assessment. My thoughts and breakdown will come next week. And I’ll be brutally honest about the shortcoming of his kit as well as those on my build.
Gotcha. Dirt King is a great company and they have great communication. For me the only thing separating these trucks is $$$$. I can call any of those manufacturers and go mild to wild.
That’s why I like Doug at Evil and I’ll be going back to him when my truck is out of the shop it’s at. Easiest to get ahold of and go over ideas with. Decent at keeping a timeline.
Money will buy you whatever shock packages and fabrication you want (choosing the right fabricator matters). I’ve learned for me what matters is communication and timeline.
The right fabricator can make all the difference for sure. But from a budget standpoint, this kit cost about the same as a SVC mid travel kit. Very close in price
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad I don’t know. I just priced out both kits on both websites. Your kit with your shock package closer to $30k ($28k) his kit with his shock package was close to $17k.
Edit** That’s no fenders for either and a couple odds and ends.
Shocks cost about the same, and the kit itself is only a little bit cheaper. Once you account for axles and tie rods and all that, price is very similar. But the DK kit is missing s few bits that are critical IMO
The dirt king kit honestly looks way too stiff, and keeping the stock buckets up front really limited his up travel
Dirt king is a fine company, but I think they dipped their toes into too many platforms. When it was just Chevys and Toyotas they were solid, or the odd 1500 Dodge trucks that are surprisingly a great platform, who knew.
The Ford kit suffers from the OEM shock location of the regular F-150, Ford knew it was too short. That's why they were raised on the raptor, I just couldn't imagine keeping a 6-in stroke shock after going "long travel" dirt King makes shock towers I'm surprised they didn't cut the OE one off and run a 10" stroke like the other 3 fullsize platforms they build.
The manufacturers that work with specific platforms will always have better products overall like SVC with the raptors. Thuren with HD Dodges and so on. But this dude kinda seems like a tool, probably made his money from Tech and is roughly my age.
Your spot on, on all your points and that’s what we will be addressing next week. Specially the owner that is a complete tool.
The dirt king truck doesn’t look like it’s much better on raptor with live valve, Dirt kings should not offer that kit and list as mid/long travel kit. Should be sold as upgraded raptor suspension or f150 conversion. Stock buckets wow… no no!
Anyway! Great video, great comparison on few different mid travel that are on the market.
Id love to see that evil manufacturing truck. Doug has been big help with my prerunner build for the past year! (Great company) Do a video and show off that truck.
Thanks man. And yeah we want to get that Evil truck out and really showcase it. He’s currently working out some bugs but once it’s done, I hope DWS will let us feature it in its full glory on the trails
DK dude blocked me and a few others on instagram for no reason lol.
He’s very, VERY sensitive. 🤣🤣
Was not impressed with this long travel kit. Seemed there was a lot of rear-end bucking in the video. The truck was all over the place.
Yeah, in the whoops it was not good but a stock raptor could not do that section either. On the other 2 it did better than a stock raptor but I do think the front end got bottom out easy because of the limited travel
no kit is good without good shock tuning....
Yup!!! ADS though is known for its tuning, that’s how they first started and their one of the best tuners out there.
My truck is a good example of needing a tune. It does OK, but it could do better if it was tuned. Will be doing that when the next shock rebuild is due
You guys should just race.
Looks like the stock raptor is great and saves tons of hassle. Sorry
Very good point
DK is garbage. Just another fanboy front end. If you wanna throw away $thousands then buy a DK kit for sure.
That shock bucket should’ve came out and replaced with the hoop for sure and the rear leaf kit should’ve been the spring under kit. I love dirt king they make great stuff and great setup. The Nissan Titan kit I was looking at for my project truck had the option of leaving the stock shock bucket in but your travel was not as good. The shock was the almost the same as the oem performance king shock set, which are a good set but not long travel good. When you get the shock hoop setup you get the longer shock set and I believe it’s a progressive spring rate as well. The shock hoop was the much better option for the front end. It just sounds like he went with this setup he has because of cost maybe.
To be called a real long travel kit, the shock bucket should have been replaced for sure.
I think this kit in particular is a budget build kit and it has some drawbacks I’ll go over on the next video.
@@KeepItDirtyOffRoad yup yup I agree it’s just a mid level kit with that shock bucket in there. I’m subscribed to your channel now because you guys were out in my area testing the long travel kits. And you had some great content. I look forward to seeing that next video for sure.
Thanks man. You should join us on a run one day. We post them up on Instagram. And a run like this is open to any rig.
I know a few guys with sprung under setups. Their biggest complaint is not performance. They complain about it being so low and getting chewed up by the trails.
I’m personally not a fan of sprung under. For that reason above too. But I have not heard anyone complain about their performance
@@5OHRUNR then it looks like the Ford guys have to either 3 or 4 link the rear end to really get some good long travel performance out of them. Well at least the f150 guys, Ranger guy are good to go with spring under kits there all over the place. The F150 kit in the video did pretty decent from what I seen. It’s just nice having the extra up travel when it’s needed.