Hi Everyone! Just bought and installed the Belltech 2/4 drop kit with the spindles for the front. I also replaced the upper control arms with some Moog's while I had it apart. I have to say the front went easy and the alignment should be a breeze. Got an appointment with the shop later this week.

The rear was another story all together. Grinding off the front leaf-spring mounts was a chore to put it nicely. At least I can say with certainty that the factory spring mounts are not likely to fall off. Ford did a good job attaching those. The rest was not too big of an issue and went without problems.

I do have some questions for those of you that did a drop. I now have a noise in the rear that happens when rolling. I have no idea what it could be other than a driveline issue. Belltech says that when doing these drops there is a possibility of driveline vibration, but they didn't say anything about noise. I don't feel any vibration, but plan to call them Monday and ask if this is related. Have any of you had this problem? I was also confused a little on the rear spring install. There is a factory angled spacer that was not shown in the instructions. I removed mine and replaced it with the kit-supplied spacer. Is that what you all did? I wonder now if this is related to my noise problem??

The rear looks a lot lower than I thought it would be. Very nice, though.

The ride is very good now with the new shocks. Very smooth. All in all the Belltech kit seems very nice. Every part fits like it should and goes in fairly easily. If I can get my noise fixed, I'll be good to go. Pics are forthcoming as soon as I get everything done and my truck washed. Damn water ban here so it is hard to keep the Screw clean!

 

when I did my '01 the parking brake cable was slightly touching the tire, and made a noise when rolling, I just ziped tied it out of the way, so check that

 

I hope it is that simple. Will take a close look and post back.

 

Question, why not just say 1/2 inch instead of 2/4? Are we not high enough in the simplifying world to make things easier to understand

 

take some pics of the rear, you may have installed the "Wedge" (pinion angle shim) installed backwards....

do you have a 2 piece or 1 piece drive shaft?

I modified the bracket that the Ebrake cable passes through and mounted it upside down

 

2/4 is about as simple as you can get. 2" in the front and 4" in the rear

It was the brake cable causing the noise. It wasn't touching the tire when sitting still, only when moving. I cable-tied it out of the way temporarily. I too am going to have to make an ebrake bracket as neither the one in the kit nor the factory bracket will even come close to working.

Patman03SprCrw, Did you put your cables below the leaf springs? My cables are above the spring as shown in the instructions, but they seem very tight. I may put the truck back on the lift this weekend and move the cable below. I'll make a bracket then to clean it up.

The shims are installed fat part to the front. I believe they are correct. I didn't measure before and after (wish I had now), but the rear looks a lot lower than I though it would. I went over the install several times and am pretty sure everything is correct. I'll get some pics up in the next day or two.

I'm now considering some load leveling air bags to raise the rear up an inch or so. Should also help with towing.

 

I'm not sure about your setup but with mine I only lowered 2" in the back. This required a swap of the rear hanger only. This makes the front of the rear diff point more toward the ground. By installing the shim with the thicker part toward the rear it pulls the front of the diff back up.

 

I've quadruple-checked the instructions for the kit and it shows the thick part of the shim forward. At least this is the way the Belltech kit I have works.

I don't have any driveline issues, all is well. The only thing I still don't like is my truck sits lower in the rear than in the front. I have some airbags on order to bring it back up an inch or so to get it more level. Other than that I am pleased. Thanks for the input!

 

I raised the rear up about an inch by using the bottom hole in the rear shackle. Still looks a little low to me. The Firestone airbags will be on this weekend.

 

Looks pretty good to me! The bags will help.