2010 FX4 6" Rough Country
#1
2010 FX4 6" Rough Country
Hey there all, I should have joined up long ago but I never did. In any case, I'm here now and decided that I needed feedback from people who actually know about these things.
Last year around this time I pulled out my Ready lift, and through my buddies shop put in a 6" Rough Country lift. In retrospect, I would have coated the steering knuckle upper arms with a Rustcheck matte black spray paint or something to that effect as over the past year it really got ugly aesthetically speaking.
To compliment the lift, we threw on Ion 180 Black rims wrapped neatly with 35" M/T Toyo's.
Again, looking back, I wish I had educated myself more. The tires I picked, but the rims and the details I left to a local shop to figure out. My guess is they didn't do all the necessary research, and by extension, nor did I.
The Ion 180 Black have a -12mm Offset, 4.5" Backspace, and I've read only recently that it is best to have a 5" backspace. Perhaps if I had done that, I wouldnt get the tire rub I now get when making tight turns. The rub occurs on whichever wheel is facing out (so for example, if I'm turning left, it would be the left front and the rub happens on nearest the driver).
At first I was enamored, but as time went by I noticed a few things. The upper control arm was rubbing the coilspring cap. I talked to Rough Country and they said this occurs only when the suspension is at full extension (example: Up in the racks with the tires hanging the control arm would rest against the cap). But to be honest, I do mostly town driving and dirt roads that are not in bad shape at all. So the idea that my suspension was reaching full extension without riding it hard is not plausible to me. If I had to guess, its either Rough Country's lift geometry, or the fact that my tire/wheel combo doesn't work quite right. And I'm certainly not qualified enough to know.
Anyways, its been a year now and I just got my truck back out of the dealership today. The upper control arm joints were shot. Only a year of driving it, with nothing extreme insofar as offroading is concerned and they are worn out. Even looking at the new ones today it looks like a bad angle to me - so they are definitely wearing out faster then they should. Fortunately my dealership covered me off under warranty this time, but they said if it happens so quickly again they're likely not going to.
So now I'm concerned, but not panicked. I love the Rough Country lift, though I think mostly because it was so inexpensive. But I'm realizing now that the lift by itself is not going to suit the demands on it at present, and the future ones I have in mind.
I want to get 37" tires on 20 rims under it in the near future, which means I need a bit more lift. I don't want to lift the body at all, and since I'm having issues with the upper control arms I was thinking of replacing the stock coilover and control arms with something that can give me greater longevity and will cooperate with the Rough Country lift.
My thoughts led me to Camburg and I was thinking something along the lines of http://www.camburg.com/ford/09-11-f-150/performance-09-11-f-150/performance-kit-3/, with an add-a-leaf to the rear to match the increase in lift up front.
Anyone have thoughts on whether going this route would give me the extra height to clear 37's, and cooperate with the Rough country lift? And in the shorter term, I was thinking just replacing the control arms and using them with the stock coilover, anyone know if the increased range of travel with the camburg control arms would conflict with the stock coilover (worse rubbing on the cap then the stock ones, etc?).
I talked briefly with a fellow over at Rough Country's website on their livechat support and he seemed positive about everything, which raised warning flags in my mind.
Anyways, I'll try and get some good pics for you guys here shortly.
Last year around this time I pulled out my Ready lift, and through my buddies shop put in a 6" Rough Country lift. In retrospect, I would have coated the steering knuckle upper arms with a Rustcheck matte black spray paint or something to that effect as over the past year it really got ugly aesthetically speaking.
To compliment the lift, we threw on Ion 180 Black rims wrapped neatly with 35" M/T Toyo's.
Again, looking back, I wish I had educated myself more. The tires I picked, but the rims and the details I left to a local shop to figure out. My guess is they didn't do all the necessary research, and by extension, nor did I.
The Ion 180 Black have a -12mm Offset, 4.5" Backspace, and I've read only recently that it is best to have a 5" backspace. Perhaps if I had done that, I wouldnt get the tire rub I now get when making tight turns. The rub occurs on whichever wheel is facing out (so for example, if I'm turning left, it would be the left front and the rub happens on nearest the driver).
At first I was enamored, but as time went by I noticed a few things. The upper control arm was rubbing the coilspring cap. I talked to Rough Country and they said this occurs only when the suspension is at full extension (example: Up in the racks with the tires hanging the control arm would rest against the cap). But to be honest, I do mostly town driving and dirt roads that are not in bad shape at all. So the idea that my suspension was reaching full extension without riding it hard is not plausible to me. If I had to guess, its either Rough Country's lift geometry, or the fact that my tire/wheel combo doesn't work quite right. And I'm certainly not qualified enough to know.
Anyways, its been a year now and I just got my truck back out of the dealership today. The upper control arm joints were shot. Only a year of driving it, with nothing extreme insofar as offroading is concerned and they are worn out. Even looking at the new ones today it looks like a bad angle to me - so they are definitely wearing out faster then they should. Fortunately my dealership covered me off under warranty this time, but they said if it happens so quickly again they're likely not going to.
So now I'm concerned, but not panicked. I love the Rough Country lift, though I think mostly because it was so inexpensive. But I'm realizing now that the lift by itself is not going to suit the demands on it at present, and the future ones I have in mind.
I want to get 37" tires on 20 rims under it in the near future, which means I need a bit more lift. I don't want to lift the body at all, and since I'm having issues with the upper control arms I was thinking of replacing the stock coilover and control arms with something that can give me greater longevity and will cooperate with the Rough Country lift.
My thoughts led me to Camburg and I was thinking something along the lines of http://www.camburg.com/ford/09-11-f-150/performance-09-11-f-150/performance-kit-3/, with an add-a-leaf to the rear to match the increase in lift up front.
Anyone have thoughts on whether going this route would give me the extra height to clear 37's, and cooperate with the Rough country lift? And in the shorter term, I was thinking just replacing the control arms and using them with the stock coilover, anyone know if the increased range of travel with the camburg control arms would conflict with the stock coilover (worse rubbing on the cap then the stock ones, etc?).
I talked briefly with a fellow over at Rough Country's website on their livechat support and he seemed positive about everything, which raised warning flags in my mind.
Anyways, I'll try and get some good pics for you guys here shortly.
#2
your link isn't working right. The offset of the rims shouldn't have anything to do with the control arm rubbing problem. 4.5" backspacing is kind of the standard for 17" aftermarket rims that I've looked at. My procomps are 17x9 and have 4.75" backspacing. I don't really know why your upper control arms would wear out so fast. The lift should have corrected the angles of them
#3
Thanks Mossy for the info.
I should have clarified, my wheels are 18".
And here's the link: http://www.camburg.com/ford/09-11-f-...ormance-kit-3/
I'm not good with forum code it seems.
Yeah I'm not sure whats causing the wear and tear on the control arms, and the good people at Rough Country insist that their suspension system should not create such issues. It's not that I doubt them perse, I just can't fathom what else could be causing this.
I should have clarified, my wheels are 18".
And here's the link: http://www.camburg.com/ford/09-11-f-...ormance-kit-3/
I'm not good with forum code it seems.
Yeah I'm not sure whats causing the wear and tear on the control arms, and the good people at Rough Country insist that their suspension system should not create such issues. It's not that I doubt them perse, I just can't fathom what else could be causing this.
#5
So the Steering Knuckle with the longer arm would remain, giving the current 6" of lift, and then I would replace the control arm and coilover with the camburg/fox setup to give the additional height required to eventually put in the 37's. But again, my thinking on this could very well be flawed.
Was hoping someone could clarify for me if that would work?
#6
Oh I see what you're thinking now. 9" of total lift. I know a 3" leveling kit will tear up front end components (ball joints, cv axles, etc...) because of the increase in angles without any compensation for it, and this seems to me like the same situation except going from 6 to 9 instead of 0 to 3. The camburg upper control arms may correct some of that problem, I'm not sure. I live in Alabama, so I don't know anything about the long travel suspension setups. The closest thing I've seen to a desert is Florida beaches.
I've seen somebody on this forum running 37s on the new body style like yours with only 6" of lift, so you may be able to just get 6" coilovers and put a 1" or 1.5" spacer on top of it to clear the tires. You may need 5 or 5.5" of backspacing to do that to avoid rubbing too much with your current 4.5" backspacing. Then maybe put the camburg upper control arms on to eliminate your wearing problem.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. I don't know anything about long travel suspensions. I'm trying to use knowledge of regular lifts
I've seen somebody on this forum running 37s on the new body style like yours with only 6" of lift, so you may be able to just get 6" coilovers and put a 1" or 1.5" spacer on top of it to clear the tires. You may need 5 or 5.5" of backspacing to do that to avoid rubbing too much with your current 4.5" backspacing. Then maybe put the camburg upper control arms on to eliminate your wearing problem.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. I don't know anything about long travel suspensions. I'm trying to use knowledge of regular lifts
#7
Thanks again Mossy.
Perhaps it was the old 3" ready lift that kicked the snuff out of the control arms and joints before I even swapped it out to the 6" rough country.
I live in Ontario Canada, and while the Ottawa valley has some very nice sandy dune areas, what I have mostly in my area are mud bogs, etc.
To be clear, I don't need long travel suspension necessarily. My intent is to provide an effecient suspension lift setup that will not put undue stress on select components to achieve the lift necessary to accomodate the 37's. At present I'm running on 35's, so its a non-issue beyond the premature wear on the stock control arms.
At this point, I'm nearing 35,000 KM's on my Toyo's, and while the front tires had some rounding, they are still in fairly good shape. Did a rotation yesterday too, so hopefully I can last a while longer yet. I want to ideally have a setup capable of accomadating 37's for when I do have to make a new purchase.
Was hoping there was a way of increasing that additional necessary height without creating a worse angle for the control arm, and without having to replace the Rough Country steering knuckle replacement.
Perhaps it was the old 3" ready lift that kicked the snuff out of the control arms and joints before I even swapped it out to the 6" rough country.
I live in Ontario Canada, and while the Ottawa valley has some very nice sandy dune areas, what I have mostly in my area are mud bogs, etc.
To be clear, I don't need long travel suspension necessarily. My intent is to provide an effecient suspension lift setup that will not put undue stress on select components to achieve the lift necessary to accomodate the 37's. At present I'm running on 35's, so its a non-issue beyond the premature wear on the stock control arms.
At this point, I'm nearing 35,000 KM's on my Toyo's, and while the front tires had some rounding, they are still in fairly good shape. Did a rotation yesterday too, so hopefully I can last a while longer yet. I want to ideally have a setup capable of accomadating 37's for when I do have to make a new purchase.
Was hoping there was a way of increasing that additional necessary height without creating a worse angle for the control arm, and without having to replace the Rough Country steering knuckle replacement.
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#8
Got some pictures to share, hopefully it'll spark some feedback and thoughts, haha.
Front Left UCA:
The new UCA is on, and the angle looks better then before. You can see on the coilspring cap the wear mark from the UCA making contact. Keep in mind, its a bit fresher looking cause I recently did a cover up with some rustcheck spraypaint.
And a front profile of Big Red:
Front Left UCA:
The new UCA is on, and the angle looks better then before. You can see on the coilspring cap the wear mark from the UCA making contact. Keep in mind, its a bit fresher looking cause I recently did a cover up with some rustcheck spraypaint.
And a front profile of Big Red:
#9
What you could do is get some 8" lift coilovers. Not sure if you would have to get some custom ones made by King or some other company or if bilstein or somebody else mass produces them. It will be cheaper than camburg most likely. Or get 6" coilovers like bilstein or dirt logic and put a 1-2" spacer on top of them. Both those routes allow you to keep all the rough country components how they are and just lift the front 1-2" more. Don't lift it more than 2" more or you will run into this same worn parts problem again. Then an AAL in the back will level you out
#10
What you could do is get some 8" lift coilovers. Not sure if you would have to get some custom ones made by King or some other company or if bilstein or somebody else mass produces them. It will be cheaper than camburg most likely. Or get 6" coilovers like bilstein or dirt logic and put a 1-2" spacer on top of them. Both those routes allow you to keep all the rough country components how they are and just lift the front 1-2" more. Don't lift it more than 2" more or you will run into this same worn parts problem again. Then an AAL in the back will level you out
I was reading through the Common Lift Questions thread but due to my lack of experience I wasn't exactly sure how the information there applied. The local shop here has some good ideas, but are uncertain about these things themselves.
As for the type of coilovers, I'm looking for something to do the job competently, and it seems a lot of guys here are big fans of the bilsteins. I wouldn't raise it anymore then 2 inches anyways at this point. All I'm looking to do is to clear 37's, and not a milimeter more of clearance, hah.
In any case, I'm still kinda leaning towards that setup at Camburg, but my concern then is the long travel suspension. I wonder if anyone here has any experience with them?
#12
I'm not an expert, but this is my opinion. First, I'd bet most of your wear and tear was caused by your original leveling kit as your ball joint angles were worse with it than with the full suspension lift. As for the upper control arm touching the top of the OEM coilover at full droop, I'd consider that more of a nuisence than a problem. It's just a product of using the OEM coilovers with a spacer. It's so slight that it could just be an issue of manufacturing tolerances by Ford and RC. You could install that lift on a dozen trucks and I'd bet some would rub while some would not. If it concerns you, I'd go to a longer replacement coilover shock so that the design of the top of Ford's OEM coilover wouldn't be an issue. As for getting more lift out of your kit, if you crank up the preload on the coilovers you are just gonna create a more extreme ball joint angle that is gonna lead to premature wear (like you had with the leveling kit). If you want to run larger tires, I'd do one of two things. Either add a body lift (which you say you don't want to do) or remove your RC suspension lift and install a taller 8 or 10 inch lift.
By the way, you have a great looking truck. Could you please post a pic or two from the side so we can get a better look at it?
By the way, you have a great looking truck. Could you please post a pic or two from the side so we can get a better look at it?
Last edited by wandell; 03-23-2012 at 01:00 PM.
#13
I'm not an expert, but this is my opinion. First, I'd bet most of your wear and tear was caused by your original leveling kit as your ball joint angles were worse with it than with the full suspension lift. As for the upper control arm touching the top of the OEM coilover at full droop, I'd consider that more of a nuisence than a problem. It's just a product of using the OEM coilovers with a spacer. It's so slight that it could just be an issue of manufacturing tolerances by Ford and RC. You could install that lift on a dozen trucks and I'd bet some would rub while some would not. If it concerns you, I'd go to a longer replacement coilover shock so that the design of the top of Ford's OEM coilover wouldn't be an issue. As for getting more lift out of your kit, if you crank up the preload on the coilovers you are just gonna create a more extreme ball joint angle that is gonna lead to premature wear (like you had with the leveling kit). If you want to run larger tires, I'd do one of two things. Either add a body lift (which you say you don't want to do) or remove your RC suspension lift and install a taller 8 or 10 inch lift.
By the way, you have a great looking truck. Could you please post a pic or two from the side so we can get a better look at it?
By the way, you have a great looking truck. Could you please post a pic or two from the side so we can get a better look at it?
Thanks Wandell for the info. I'm definitely in the market for replacing the stock coilover, something longer so I can get rid of that spacer. As you've said, it is more of a nuisance then anything serious.
For a while now I've wanted to pull the RCX lift and throw in an 8" Rize, but last I checked on forums it was hard to come by. And costly.
I think perhaps I will have to reconsider the body lift. I've always found they were cheesey looking and of course lacked function beyond allowing better tire tolerance, but then again, that could just be a ****ty bias I have held, hah.
Anywho, as you requested I have some side profiles. I've hesitated to show them cause there are some modifications I still want to do that I haven't.
I feel that I really need to remove the chrome running boards and get something along the lines of N-fab's black one with step loops.
As well as some Bushwacker fender flares, keep them black to offset the red a bit. You can also see the tires in the earlier photo stick out just perfectly, however it does throw a lot of mud up the side. I just want enough coverage from the fenders to catch the majority, and not make the profile look too skinny.
And of course, I want to replace the OEM headlight and taillight assemblies. The chrome looks good, but not nearly as good as the black in the 2011's and 2012's. Not sure if I'm going to order in 2012's from my local dealership, or go custom aftermarket.
And lastly, here is the spot where the tire rubs on the inside of the fender when under full turn or front compression and turning:
Not sure what to do here, whether I should try and hammer the spot inwards, or just leave it and get the body lift.
#14
Great looking truck! I agree, the chrome nerf bars need to go. YOu could just paint/powdercoat or bedline those. Black would blend much better with the FX4 package.
Also, I've had 3 trucks with Performance Accessories body lifts. I think the install was a real pain on the 04-08 trucks, but I believe it's easier on the 09-12's. It will definately be your least expensive option (if you install it yourself).
Also, I've had 3 trucks with Performance Accessories body lifts. I think the install was a real pain on the 04-08 trucks, but I believe it's easier on the 09-12's. It will definately be your least expensive option (if you install it yourself).
#15