Maverick FX4 off-road capability?

[CLH917]

That person was the Ford Maverick Product Manager, in a Youtube video. The suspension is different.

The suspension being different has no direct affect on ride height/ground clearance. The FX4 will provide 8.6” of ground clearance WHEN equipped with the optional 235 tires. Outside of that, all Mavericks will provide 8.3” of ground clearance.

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[theek]

@@

 

[Ribwich]

Why is clearance a question? From the spec sheet:

Note that AWD is with the 235/65/R17 wheels.

 

[JKinPA]

Hmmmm
Lot’s of good information and some not so much.
My take is the Mav FX4 gives some additional capabilities but it’s a unibody AWD. It is not like an F-150 or even a Ranger. It will be nice for bad weather and a few unexpected hazards but it wasn’t designed to be a serious off road truck. With the gas mileage it will be an awesome vehicle for normal folks that occasionally battle the elements and such. I knew that when I bought and it’s plenty good for most. It’s a nice small truck that has tremendous versatility but it does have limits.
Just my realistic opinion on the Maverick and for the most part what Ford is advertising. It will be Ford tough just on a lesser level.

 

[medgar]

Im in this boat. I want the Maverick to work for the type of off road adventure my wife and I will do but also looking at midsize trucks

If you dont fall for the tricks Ford plays on option packages Ive priced a Ford ranger xl extend cab 4x4 with rear lock at $30,500 before negotiating. The Ford Ranger doesnt even make the the top 3 for offroad midsize truck imo if one goes to midsize

 

[Nw_adventure]

I have been doing bad off-roady things in an Honda Element/Awd 5 speed since 2006 with only 6.9 inches of clearance- Over 175k miles, all over the western US, thru mud, gravel, Utah red clay, tons of snow, tight ass atv trails and never once got stuck in a situation that I needed a tow out and with that I would say the "Part time AWD system" the manual transmission units came with was pretty much a joke. Going into reserve out of our driveway up a slight grade in snow was always fun since it would never kick into awd in reverse and would need a ton of slippage to get the rears to do anything but sill have that ride and I am not scared to go anywhere besides legit rock crawling or deep sand. I am sure the Mavericks AWD will be much better- lol But that does present a question, how will the Mavs "AWD" behave in reverse ?

 

[neosolidus]

Hmmmm
Lot’s of good information and some not so much.
My take is the Mav FX4 gives some additional capabilities but it’s a unibody AWD. It is not like an F-150 or even a Ranger. It will be nice for bad weather and a few unexpected hazards but it wasn’t designed to be a serious off road truck. With the gas mileage it will be an awesome vehicle for normal folks that occasionally battle the elements and such. I knew that when I bought and it’s plenty good for most. It’s a nice small truck that has tremendous versatility but it does have limits.
Just my realistic opinion on the Maverick and for the most part what Ford is advertising. It will be Ford tough just on a lesser level.

exactly it seems like a lot of people are buying a maverick and expecting Ranger performance which is NOT ever going to happen.... apples and oranges.

For me is a small truck that will do everything I realistically need and fit in my garage(I have a 5 car garage with 3 individual tiny doors and an HOA that won't let me modify the house)

 

[GaMaverick]

But for those who are going to have fun with their Mavericks.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...for-maverick-awd-fx4-by-fordrangerlifts.1668/

 

[Bikeric]

Where are you getting 8.6" from FX4? The 8.6" is ONLY when equipped with the 235/65R17 (which just happen to be 0.5" taller than the standard tire size). Thus an FX4, with standard 225/65R17 Pirellis will have the same ground clearance as FWD Hybird, 8.3". The only way to increase ground clearance in stock form is the 235/65R17 tires, FX4 provides 0 increase in ground clearance.

Tech Specs prove my above statements:

The 0.3" (actual 0.25" increase) is solely from the larger tire.

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, so I drew a red arrow showing where I got the 8.6" from. Also, the FX4 package is only AWD. You cannot get a FWD FX4.

 

[22Mav]

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, so I drew a red arrow showing where I got the 8.6" from. Also, the FX4 package is only AWD. You cannot get a FWD FX4.

The FX4 package itself does NOT come with 235/65R17 tires. Those are optional tires. The FX4 comes with 225/65R17 Pirelli's, thus giving you the same 8.3" of ground clearance as the FWD. I'm glad you can connect two circles with a line though

 

[22Mav]

Yup, the 225/65R17 Pirelli Scorpions are ~1/2" shorter than the optional 235/65R17 Falken Wildpeaks.. Appears to me that the additional 1/4" of clearance is solely from the optional tires.

Edit to add: They also show the 235/65R17 size right there on the specs, so it pretty much confirms the taller tire is what's driving the difference in the posted tech specs.

Exactly, some want to keep arguing but it clearly shows AWD (235/65R17) on the Ford specs, it does NOT say FX4 AWD. If the FX4 were taller or providing the clearance, it would be noted.

 

[notfast]

Additionally does anyone know of a good primer for off-roading, especially with a less capable vehicle like the Maverick

I think someone mentioned it, but softroadingthewest is a good channel on YouTube.

Does anyone have experience with those and think they'd be a good place to take a Maverick? Which ones if so?

Where abouts in Texas are you? Bridgeport near DFW is a good spot. And in some ways, I find taking a less-capable vehicle to be more fun than a kitted-out rig. To me, it's really only fun and challenging when you push a vehicle to its limits, and those limits get reached sooner, cheaper, and with less risk of breaking something expensive when you have a stock or less-capable rig.

Don’t forget Ford warranties the FX4 version if used for Off Road vs. no warranty using other versions of Maverick without FX4 off roading.

Manufacturers don't warranty gross negligence, but denying a warranty claim simply because your non-FX4 truck touched dirt is unreasonable. All those folks driving on grass or in construction sites with their 2WD F-150s better be holding their checkbooks.

 

[slashy42]

Where abouts in Texas are you? Bridgeport near DFW is a good spot. And in some ways, I find taking a less-capable vehicle to be more fun than a kitted-out rig. To me, it's really only fun and challenging when you push a vehicle to its limits, and those limits get reached sooner, cheaper, and with less risk of breaking something expensive when you have a stock or less-capable rig.

I am about an hour from Bridgeport, and had looked up OHV sites around when I made this post. I saw they had beginner trails, so that might be a good place to start.

 

[GaMaverick]

I think someone mentioned it, but softroadingthewest is a good channel on YouTube.



Where abouts in Texas are you? Bridgeport near DFW is a good spot. And in some ways, I find taking a less-capable vehicle to be more fun than a kitted-out rig. To me, it's really only fun and challenging when you push a vehicle to its limits, and those limits get reached sooner, cheaper, and with less risk of breaking something expensive when you have a stock or less-capable rig.



Manufacturers don't warranty gross negligence, but denying a warranty claim simply because your non-FX4 truck touched dirt is unreasonable. All those folks driving on grass or in construction sites with their 2WD F-150s better be holding their checkbooks.

News Flash it says so right in the Maverick literature that Ford will not warranty the Maverick off roading unless you have the FX4 package.
So get those deep pockets ready when you break something off roading and a tow truck has to come get you. Or play stupid and be a good lair, your choice.

 

[notfast]

News Flash it says so right in the Maverick literature that Ford will not warranty the Maverick off roading unless you have the FX4 package.
So get those deep pockets ready when you break something off roading and a tow truck has to come get you. Or play stupid and be a good lair, your choice.

Does the literature define what "off-roading" is? OHV trails out in Hungry Valley or Hollister Hills are smoother than some county gravel roads. I'd be pretty annoyed if Ford denied a claim for suspension, steering, or drivetrain parts because I went "off-roading", when in reality I live down a 1-mile, county-maintained, gravel road that has washboarding so bad it'll shake your fillings out.

But even then, breaking something while off road in a stock Maverick, FX4 or not, probably means the driver was grossly negligent. If the going gets dicey, you'd want to be going so slow that body damage would be more of a concern than breaking a CV axle or something.

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