I am pretty new to the world of upgrades. Infact I have not done one upgrade on my truck before, then again ive only been driving for about four years, but I have now decided that I want to jack my truck up as high as I can and get some really massive tires. I have a 94 f-150 xlt 5.8. Everything is stock. I sometimes look at my wheels and laugh... then I usually wipe a tear from my eye. But no more crying, Ive saved up just over a 2000 dollars and I am ready for a lift with some new tires and wheels. I was wondering how much it would cost for about a 6 inch lift with tires and wheels package for my truck? And if I could go for a 10 inch lift with around a 2000 dollar budget? And also if I could get a recommendation on what kind of exhaust setup I should get for my truck. I want it really loud. I dont want to carry asprin in the glove... but right now my stock sound is truly pathetic... I some times drop a tear or two because of that too. Thanks to whom every takes time to help out me and my low rider.

 

Is your truck a 4x2 or a 4x4? Well anyway, lets start with the exhaust. You can get cat back systems for your truck for as little as $300. Or for budgt minded persons you can just have the muffler replaced with a new tip welded to the factory pipes. As far as the lifting goes, it depends. 10" is a bit much since the bigger you go the sooner parts will wear out. 6" is nice and offers parts to retain factory postions (steering, driveshaft, ect.). You also have to take into count that when you increase tire size you will loose power with out the right gears. For 2k (what you have) it may be difficult to acheive. What you see below is about 6k worth of work and alot of it was done by me. My lift and tires, minus rims was about 3k. Best thing to do when your on a budget is to shop around and talk to some people and make some connections and maybe trade work. I'm not really saying that it is not completely hopeless to get to where you want to be but, it will take time. We all are not made of money. Again what you see below took about 1 year to get this far and I still have parts sitting in the garage that need to be installed. You have come to the right place to ask questions though. With all of the members here the amount of knowledge is unreal! Let us know what exactly what you want to achieve. Your first post is descriptive but does not really tell us what you have to work with. What shape is the truck in? How many miles do you have? 4x or 2x? Ext cab or reg? What do you want to do with the truck, off road or street stance?

 

thanks for taking time to help me out. here is some more of the info you asked for. I personally think the truck is in great shape. Hardly any problems at all. The only major thing ive done was the transmission. and rear end. my dad dragged around a boat with it and the damn thing would make a wierd humming sound when i accelerated. Anyway thats fixed now. As for the miles Ive got about 165k. Ive gotten advice not to invest all this money into this truck. my father says its on its last breath. But i simply cant resist the thought of it lifted with giant tires and a great sound. I may pay dearly. what do you think about the amount of miles i have. Im hoping it will last me for at least five to six more years without any major problem, by then ill be out of college. And it is not a four by four. So no offroading for me. It will be strictly for great looks. oh and it is extremely long it is definetly an extended cab and long bed. Oh and you said that I will lose power... how much extra would it cost to get the right gears, and do I really need these gears, i dont plan on offroading. I called a performance shop today and the guy said that a six inch lift with wheels and tires would cost me 2990, i forget what brand he told me it was... something like RC or RD something. He said this was the highest quality lift. Oh and I told him that I wanted 35's for tires and he told me that it is prone to rubbing. He recommended 33's. what do you think... im not offroading or anything, just regular driving should I get the 35's. Thanks for your time im learning.

 

Thanks for the info I check on some prices for your truck and get them too you. Since it is a 2wd, Fabtech has alot for your truck. About the gears, it is worth the money because you don't want to put gas in it every 10 miles. 35's uh............ maybe just a bit to large. 33's would be ideal. I do have a set of 33's for a 16" rim that only have a couple of miles on them that I could unload for $350, that might save you some so you can get more lift. The miles on the truck might be a issue because you are putting more stress on the suspension and drive train. But, if you like the truck, you can rebuild the power train. I'll gather some info on lift, rims, tires, gears for ya. Can't resist a lifted ride

 

thanks again

 

Ive seen some pics and different trucks online that had a 6 inch lift with 35's. Ive seen 35's on 4 inch lifts. I dont understand why the guys at the shop told me that 35's would be too big for a 6 inch lift. what can i do to make room and what will it cost. thanks youre to helpful

 

You did say '94 right? If so, RCD doesn't make a kit for your truck, Fabtech may have something for you, and above all...lifting is much cheaper than the '97+!! You have the twin I-beam suspension which is much simpler and cheaper to modify than the short-long arm setup on the newer trucks. I'm not sure about pricing. You could check out a few websites like www.ntwonline.com or www.4wheelparts.com and see if they have any info. On a 2WD, 33s would likely fit better with a 6" lift. Like someone else already mentioned, it's the height difference between the 2WD and 4WD that makes the difference.

 

I hate to override what these guys are saying but it seems they are mostly talking about 97 and newer trucks. I've owned three F-150's with the TTB frontend like you have. For two thousand dollars you can go with maybe a 4 inch lift and 33's. There are so many variable to what you want. When you go to a six inch lift with the TTB it will have a considerable amount of "death wobble" and you will not want to drive it like that, trust me. I know a 4" and 33's doesn't sound like much but if you don't want to be bounced out of the truck with a cheap lift you should go with someone like Skyjacker. As far as tires if you plan on putting a fair amount of miles on it you won't want something like a General Grabber tire because they will wear out in no time. As far as exhaust goes you will probably want to go with three inch exhaust to get more sound. The cats on those trucks are huge and really put a damper on the sound. I own an F-250 with a 2" lift and 33" BFG's and I sit above 90% of the trucks on the road. It doesn't take huge amounts of lift to get attention, just a clean nice ride.

 

wait a minute your telling me that if i were to get a six inch lift on my type of truck my truck is going to wabble... or to put it in your word's THE DEATH WABBLE... this doesnt sound very good to me. i need some more oppinions though cause this is the first time ive heard this, no offense.

 

To help explain it more. The drop down brackets from the front crossmemeber that hold up the centersection of the front differential will change from being about 2inches long to about 8. By making these so much longer and the weight of the engine and body will be much higher than the diff. it exerts a lot more side pressure on turns and uneven sections of roads. I'm not saying it will fly off the side of the road but it will wander back and forth. I'm not trying to scare you into not doing it just letting you know how it will feel before you drop that much money into something.

 

if i were you, id go with a 4" suspension lift (trailmaster or fabtech if you can afford it) and stick to 33" tires. the 33's are much cheaper and wont hurt gas mileage as bad as the 35's. also remember, youre gonna take a serious hit in performance by lifting your truck, because your engine is stock and it has very high mileage. in my opinion, gears are a must to compensate for larger tires, even if youre not gonna off-road (theyll set you back some more $$$ though). as far as exhaust, if you want it loud, just remove your muffler and run straight pipes. if you dont have emissions, take the cats out too. i did this to my 5.0 and it sounds VERY mean and gave me a nice boost in performance.

 

Ive looked around for prices and most places tell me for a 6 inch lift with wheels and tires it will cost around 3000. I recently got a mag that had an ad from 4wheel parts and it had a 6 inch lift with wheels and tires (35's) package that was only about 1600 bucks. I think it said it was a superlift.

oh and also, what brand would you recommend. a friend of mine has rancho and he says its the best brand and that if i get anything else im a chump. does he know what hes talking about.

 

Personally I think Rancho sucks! They are still making basically the same lifts they made in the mid 80's. I wouldn't go with anything less than Skyjacker. I have SJ addaleafs in my F-250 and it rides better than stock. If you need to get something cheaper go with Tuff Country. At least they specialize in Fords and should know what they are making. BTW, if you saw something about a 6 inch lift and wheels and tires for 1600...run the other way. Chances are the tires and wheels are well less than quality.

 

what about fabtech... you think theyre good?

 

I really can't say about Fabtech. I know they are known to be the best with 2wheel drives but I don't know about 4 wheel drives.