Hey guys, Im new here, but Ive been lurking for a short while and I want to say its sure nice find a place with so much ford pride! >>insert **** on chevy logo<<

Anyways, Im going to be getting an F-150 very soon. Unfortunately since Im going to be assisted by my father with the purchase, I dont know the exacts. It's gonna be either a 5.4(yeah baby thats what Im prayin for) or maybe a 4.6, not V6's though.

The first thing I want to do(well, maybe not first, but definately a priority!) is drop her down a bit to give it a sportier, Lightning sort of look. Sadly I'll never have the $35k to buy a lightning, so please dont make fun of me for making a fake one




There's my baby right there, oh how beautiful.

Anyways, Ive never dont anything to a vehicle's suspension and I was wondering what you guys think is the best method for lowering? I have really been checking out the airbag method, it seems pretty darn cool. Any yay's or nay's about that way?

I guess I just wanna know what all of you recommend! Any help would be awesome guys.....thanks!

-Bob

 

How low are you looking to go? If I had the $$ I'd get the Roush suspension package, which I believe is on sale now for about $750. Ford racing has lowering kit for $450 or so. It consists of shackles, hangars, front springs and shocks.
If you want to lay it on the ground then the air bags are the way to go and probably the most expensive.

Check out:
www.roushperf.com
www.fordracing.com

 

Definitely stay away from the Roush suspension kit as it can be had for a lot less than what they want for it. DJM, Ground Force, Belltech and others make comparable if not better kits for a lot less money. Air bags will get you the lowest, but can also cost a lot of money. Check out the various websites for the above mentioned manufacuturers and see what kit will suit your needs the best. Keep in mind, the lower you go, the less ground clearance you will have. The really lowered look is nice to look at, but not always very practical for an everyday driver.

 

As far as determining how low to go, and if you are going to have the lightning front bumper, I would decide if I wanted to "clear" the parking pylons. If the answer is yes, then you need to determine the overall height of your tires, then calculate how much lower can you go.

I put a Lightning front bumper on my 99 supercab flareside. I knew that I still wanted to be able to "clear" parking pylons. I also knew that eventually I would have a 28.5 to 29 inch tall tire, (I currently have 31.6 inch tall tires) therefore, after measuring the parking pylons and my front Lightning bumper, I decided that the lowest I could go was a 2 inch drop in the front. To have my front and rear tire to fender spaces match or have a little more space in the back, I ended up doing only a 2/2 drop (wanted a 2/3 drop). What this means for me is that, I went through rear hanger rivet hel* for nothing. Because, if you only need a 2 inch drop in the rear, you only need rear shackles for that. They are very easy to install as compared to the rest.

 

wow guys thanks for the input! I was wondering (sorry I am a complete newbie) - with the airbags - can I actually adjust the height up and down? I wanna be able to have it dropped, then bring it back to stock height if at all possible. Are those considered hydro's? THX AGAIN FELLAS@!

 

With air bags you can have complete control of the height of the vehicle. You can have it control each corner independently or have it control just the front and back. It all depends on how much money you want to spend. An elaborate set up with full control can get pretty expensive though and the size of the compressor used to fill the air bags will determine how effecient and practical it is to keep raising and lowering it. Good luck in your project and definitely post some pictures when you're done.

Hydros are a completely different set up than bags. A lot of the low rider vehicles use hydros and were about the only way to have an adjustable suspension until air bags came along. From what I understand though, the ride really suffers with hydros installed. Bags give a much better ride and in most cases is a much simpler install.

 

Navi man - thanks for all the info! Yeah thats exatly what I want to do - be able to move the front and back up and down at my own will. Ive actually seen it in action before - one of my brother's friends father has a C1500 with a 454 on bags - I just couldnt remember if it was bags or hydros - lol. Yeah so thats where you turn the key - and the air compressor kicks on, right? At least his did. That was reallt tight. Any idea of what it would cost for a decent setup just to bag the front and back? I dont care about 4 corner control - just front and back is all I care about - once again, thanks

 

You might try the website below and see what they have to offer. I know they make some do it yourself kits and they also might be able to hook you up with a shop in the Phoenix area that can do the work for you if you don't feel like tackling it yourself. You might also pick up a copy of Truck'n magazine and browse through the advertisements as to who has what you are looking for. Good luck with your project.

http://www.ridetech.com/toc.htm

 

hehe just picked up a copy of truckin tonight - along with the newest Truck Trader

Party time! Dad just came home from work (out of state) with $40k cash and he had damn well better plan to use some of that on me

 

if your still looking, hit me up on my boards
I can explain all the specifics on bags, etc.....

www.OverDoseCustoms.com