The Ford F-150 Raptor R is amazing. A 700-horsepower supercharged street-legal tribute to desert racing, it’s a poster truck in all the best ways. It’s also a six-figure truck, which means it will remain a dream for many. However, good old American ingenuity might be able to supply you with something just as awesome on a Michelob Ultra budget. Factory Five, the company that builds awesome Cobra-style kit cars and the wicked GTM supercar, has taken its tube frame expertise to the desert with a dedicated long-travel chassis and pumped-up bodywork for 2015 to 2020 Ford F-150 crew cab pickups. The kit’s called the Factory Five XT-1 and it rocks.
First, a disclaimer: The Factory Five XT-1 kit won’t work with every crew cab 2015 to 2020 F-150. The donor vehicle Must be a short bed model with the 3.5-liter Ecoboost V6 or five-liter Coyote V8, and it can’t have the extended-range 36-gallon fuel tank because it just won’t fit. Otherwise, have at it — even 2021 to 2022 F-150s matching this description can be made to work with the XT-1 kit. A quick gander online shows plenty of promising donor trucks for around $18,000, provided you don’t want a super fancy trim.
At the heart of the Factory Five XT-1 sits a sprawling powdercoated tube frame that weighs 100 pounds more than a stock F-150 frame while offering significant strength benefits. Factory Five claims it’s nearly twice as strong as the stock frame, so the weight penalty seems like a bargain, especially when you consider what fresh suspension pickups allow this thing to do.
Up front, you’re looking at an independent suspension setup with 16 inches of travel. That’s three inches more than on a Raptor R, and an impressive feat for a CV-axle setup. Tubular control arms, Fox remote reservoir dampers, and properly large coil springs aim to make this behemoth land like a pillow, and a massive skid plate exists just in case you send it a little too hard.
Out back, Fox double-adjustable bypass coilover dampers and a four-link rear end offer 20 inches of rear suspension travel, 5.9 inches more than a Raptor R. It’s a huge departure from the standard F-150’s leaf-sprung rear end despite using the same pumpkin and axle tubes as a stock truck.
As for other exterior goodies, a massive 90-inch-wide front clip and bed are designed to accommodate 37-inch tires, making the Factory Five XT-1 three inches wider than a Raptor R on a similar tire and wheel package. A sweet set of integrated rock rails prevent drivers from mauling the aluminum cab, and a steel rear bumper caps everything off while featuring proper recovery points.
Other than enormous fenders and altered driving dynamics, you simply wouldn’t tell from the cab that the XT-1 isn’t a stock F-150. Every interior component appears intact, and everything is said to work. Climate control, infotainment, camera system, stereo, you name it. This isn’t some hideously compromised race-only truck, but instead something you could theoretically daily drive. Given the suspension’s mission of desert blasting, there’s a chance this might ride even better than a stock truck.
The complete Factory Five XT-1 kit starts at $24,900, which seems reasonable even if you have to bring a donor truck, find your own wheels and tires, and paint the new panels. Of course, there is a list of optional extras, but it’s not particularly long. A carbon fiber panel set costing $6,990 will come available in October, a spare tire mount costs $199, rear anti-roll bars cost $399, and there’s a $699 towing package on offer that includes suspension limiting straps and a receiver. Mind you, why would you compromise off-road capability for just 5,000 pounds of towing capacity? This thing’s meant for full sends all day long.
Oh, and because the F-150 is such a popular platform, it only feels right to go ham in the power department on an XT-1 build. Start with a V8 donor truck, then bolt on the forced induction system of your choosing. Get wild with a 715-horsepower Whipple Stage 2 50-state-legal supercharger kit, and you’re looking at Raptor R-rivaling power, an extremely capable chassis, and a bill well south of the top Raptor’s $109,245 sticker price. Factory Five says the kits will start shipping in August, so if you want a new winter project, this might be exactly what you’re looking for.
(Photo credits: Factory Five)
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The square tube is hideous, and I’m not sure they even have close to enough rear shock with its motion ratio. Looking forward to some reviews or even videos of it driving fast in the desert. I don’t see this as a problem to register, you just keep paying your dues. The emission systems are not being modified and people are upgrading raptors frames and suspension for a while now. The trussed frame is a good idea even though it reduces ground clearance.
What a total waste of money. Square tubing? No roll cage? If you want a pre-runner you don’t go to guys in Massachusetts that build sports cars. You go the the people is Southern California that build Baja winning Trophy Trucks. I’m sure all the real desert racers at SEMA were laughing their asses off seeing this thing.
It’s not supposed to win Baja, it’s supposed to get you off road for cheap. Do you also scoff at Hellcats for not having a NHRA certified roll cage, or can you just appreciate the performance outside of a competitive format?
There is a close to 0% chance that this will actually be street legal AND be labeled as a current model year. All of these are class 2 (under 10k GVWR) vehicles and have to go through a lot of crash testing for FMVSS reasons.
Ford (and all other class 2 vehicle OEMs) go through a shit load of effort to comply with FMVSS rules. If they are replacing the whole frame, that won’t work in the eyes of FMVSS and Ford will be VERY unhappy if they claim this is basically the same as a current F-150 (any version) frame.
Factory Five can try to sell these at risk as a street legal vehicle for this model year, and then they will be promptly put out of business if they go against these rules.
They would be much better off trying to do something with F-250’s and above, because the same crash test rules don’t apply for above 10k GVWR (Class 3+) vehicles.
Unless Ford somehow wants to crash test this for them, or Factory Five has millions to do the testing themselves, the only other option for Factory Five is to try to sell these as Off road only, that could work if they find enough buyers with no sense and tons of money… which is the core audience here.
Additionally, Ford won’t let anyone “uprate” a vehicle from a Class 2 to higher weight class.
Why wouldn’t this fall under a kit car like other factory five kits? I’m just asking….There are a lot of kits out there that do similar things to cars, why not an f150 which is the best selling (car) truck in the US. Seems like a company like this which has been in the business for 30 years would have this sorted out prior to putting the design and mfg into the kit.
It might work under those conditions, then it would also have to be VIN’d as a Factory Five vehicle and not a Ford anymore. So if you have any issue with the vehicle at all… all warranties are gone because the VIN wouldn’t be Fords anymore.
Also, Ford will pretty quickly figure out this company is doing this, and I know from experience that Ford (specifically) is REALLY starting to put the hammer down on 3rd party companies doing major mods to their brand new vehicles.
If this now is viewed as a “competitor” to the factory Raptor… how do you think Ford is gonna react to that?
And we aren’t even on the topic of emissions certifications yet… even if none of that is touched by Factory Five… it could be another hurdle for them in vehicle certs.
According to the factory five website, the original F-150 VIN is retained. I believe the thinking is that this is an end user modification and Factory Five isn’t trying to pass these off as complete street legal trucks. A person takes an existing and registered F-150, takes the cab (and the vin attached to it) and plops it on this new frame. All of the original cab components, wiring harness, powertrain, emissions systems, etc. are retained. From a registration standpoint, this is simply an F-150 with a very “extensive suspension modification” done to it.
This is not too different from what I see all the time in the classic world where guys plop old Chevy 3100’s onto late model S-10 frames, or guys taking old C-10 cabs or Tri five Chevy’s and plopping them onto aftermarket frames (think Roadster Shop, Art Morrison, etc.)
Yeah, in the classic world it’s ok because it’s all old vehicles that pre-date the crash testing. Not saying I agree with it, I just think it’s what’s likely.
I think something like this would best be approached by licensing the doner vehicle first and then modifying it and enjoying it, with view to it having a possibly rather limited resale market in the future. You would have to claim the customization and get a valuation for insurance purposes or not depending on coverage.
That MIGHT work in some states? But resale in any state is gonna be tough.
And I’d be real suprised if any dealer would honor any Ford warranty, even the “nice” ones who warranty things on normally modified cars/trucks.
I too think warranty claims would be a dead end at any Ford dealer.
Lolwut? Why would an aftermarket frame need to be crash tested? FF aren’t selling fully built production trucks. People swap in aftermarket frames all the time, whether it’s an OEM style repop for their C10 or a fully custom Art Morrison for their Corvette.
For older vehicles that pre-date FMVSS crash test requirements for Class 2 (under 10,000 lbs GVWR) then yeah for C10’s, C2-C3 Corvettes that’s fine. Not for a model year 2023 class 2 vehicle.
Not sure exactly what year this crash testing compliance came to be, but I think it was sometime in the 1990s, but that’s just a guess.
Good lord. (The front fenders not quite mating with the other panels would drive me crazy, but…worth the OCD triggering.)
I don’t think the point is to use a brand new off the lot vehicle. While they say you *can* do that, it also takes some modification. They’re intending for folks to use 2015-2020 vehicles. That doesn’t negate the fact that 2015-2020 aren’t 25 years old. But the government isn’t going to consider these new cars regardless. They’re going to look at them like a heavily modified existing vehicle. I’d wager so long as safety equipment and emissions pass any typical annual state inspection, then it can continue to be registered.
If they were registered as a kit car, that’s also still the case. No crash testing is required.
If you imported a car newer than 25 years that isn’t sold in the U.S., such as a 2015 Toyota 70 series, then crash testing is necessary. Because that car isn’t sold here. And it’s not considered a modified version of a vehicle that is sold here.
This company has been around a long time. I’m confident they won’t run into any issues with stuff like this.
Whether you should use this frame for desert racing is a different story.
Guess I replied to the wrong comment. Sorry, Mistake Maker, for that!
Customer: ‘Hey Ford, can I get a single cab Raptor?’
Ford: ‘No, if you want one build it yourself!’
Customer: ‘Fine, oh look here’s a kit….’
FFS…