The MegaRaptor is big, the mutant Ford Super Duty pickup from MegaRexx, big. How big? It’s so big, it disrupted international shipping for weeks after it got stuck in the Suez Canal. It’s huge, there’s snow on the roof that never melts. Need rear axle steering or center hinge. Turnkey base price is $135,000, and you’ll also want to budget for one of those wide-load pilot vehicles to drive the quarter mile forward and verify clearance for the upcoming flyover. Raised diesel truck, meet your new god.
MegaRaptor recipe calls for a Ford Super Duty diesel 4×4 (F-250, F-350, or F-450), 4.0 or 4.5-inch suspension lift, MegaRexx radius arms the size of a girder, trophy truck style bodywork with clamshell front ends, wheels Military MRAPs, and 46-inch tires that weigh about 400 pounds per corner with their hub adapters. The final drive was reset to 4.88:1 ratio and the speedometer was corrected. The resulting creation is very proportional. Like mountains and skyscrapers, MegaRaptor needs a known frame of reference to visually communicate its magnitude. The flared fiberglass fenders add another 16.0 inches of width. The floorboards are about three feet off the ground. Heavy? It flirts with 10,000 pounds. But that’s okay because the tires are rated at 12,300 pounds. Every.
46-inch MRAP tires on the MegaRexx Megaraptor pickup.
Luckily, the diesel-powered F-350—like the one hiding under all this chutzpah—is designed to haul, even when it’s self-loading. You feel the mass of the wheel and tire assembly through the steering, and the brakes feel as if there was a ton of concrete in the bed. But it’s surprisingly easy to adapt to the driving dynamics of the MegaRaptor. Like 787 pilots and ship captains, you just plan your moves in advance.
Here’s how you can make a 35-inch tire look like a Ford Festiva.
Aaron Richardet, owner of MegaRexx, says the Ford Super Duty is so muscular that it’s suitable for maintenance on the MegaRaptor, even in F-250 guise. “There’s really no difference between the F-250 and the F-350 except the springs, so our starting point is usually the F-250 Lariat,” he said. While MegaRexx will convert owner trucks, upfitters usually just buy a new one and build everything — some 40 years ago. (If you’re looking for stock Super Duty fenders, we know where you can find some.) Richardet claims durability hasn’t been an issue so far, despite the massive wheel and tire assembly. “Super Tasks were redundant from the start,” he says. “Ford doesn’t want rundown work trucks coming back under warranty.” For the MegaRaptor curious, we’ll point out that while the F-250 and F-350 may be functionally similar, the F-450 comes with bigger brakes.
This MegaRaptor was bought by an owner who drove it about 3000 miles and then sold it back to MegaRexx, presumably after the exhaustion of climbing mountains having to climb in and out of the driver’s seat. Until now, that is still for sale for $169,950. It has several mods: turbo, intercooler, tunes. There is a power control knob to the left of the steering wheel which offers five positions, from stock to “may not be recommended”. Stock, in this case, means 475 horsepower and 1050 pound-feet of torque, enough to propel our F-250 Tremor drag truck to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds, so the MegaRaptor feels fast enough without wasting any more fuel.
One nice thing about the MegaRaptor is that you can back it up to your house and look down at the roof when you need to blow a pine needle.
In its most aggressive setting, it’ll bark that giant Michelin and shift hard enough to make you feel bad about the transmission. Plus, you’ll want to remember that the dials for handling and braking are turned in the opposite direction from those for heavy horsepower. There’s a reason you don’t see MRAPs in your local autocross. And if you have, it may be your signal for an impromptu vacation in a nearby underground bunker.
Bring your croupier’s stick to get your cash at the ATM.
Riding the MegaRaptor, you feel the eyes of the world on you. The driver of the large truck peeked in, surprised to see a pickup with the same driver’s seat H point. Children’s gaze. F-150 Raptor drivers question their sanity. MegaRaptor is a rolling eclipse. It makes every street one-way. One day, we saw a bird flying under it. It’s not even a truck—it’s performance art that deconstructs the whole concept of a truck.
In our unofficial MegaRaptor public opinion poll, half of people thought it was awesome. The other half thought it was ridiculous. They are both right.
