This will eventually turn into a build thread after my trip in August but have a few questions and looking for any insight.

This is my Daily driver, so I'm not looking to do anything extravagant, just yet, but the stock look isnt cutting it. Not looking to do a long travel kit as its out of my reach right now, but considering I am in Florida I won't be doing many jumps other than speed bumps. So I figure leveling out the truck will be a good start. Not sure if I should go with a spindle lift or with AutoSpring spacers. I know going any higher than a 2.5" spacer will dwindle ride quality but spending close to $400 on a spindle for an extra inch (3.5") is a bit much.

I love the look of TTs/prerunners/pro series trucks so I figure using trophy truck glass fenders and bedsides I won't need to lift the truck too much to fit larger tires. I plan on running either 33s or 35s. Preferably 33s if it doesn't look too weird.
I will also run wheel spacers/adapters up front to gain width and to get 5 on 5.5 lug pattern. My rear end will be swapped with an older 8.8 or 9" that has that pattern and will already be geared and locked. Cheaper to buy it than to build it since they are pretty common in my area.

The bumpers and light rack will be homemade.
I want to swap out the grill and lights for 04+ but not too sure what I will need to swap out. I figure I can get the fiberglass fenders for an 04+ and since I wont need the bumper it shouldn't be too hard. And i'm sure the hood will need to be swapped.

Question: Will the lights and grill bolt up to the stock core support? The hood to the hinges?

The truck is a single cab, so was wondering if it'd look better with the light rack behind the cab or in front?

Any imput or added suggestions would be great.

 

The 2.5" autospring spacers are for NBS trucks (04-08) and no the newer headlights won't bolt up.

Look at my albums of my truck. Sounds like what you want to do. I had a 6" lift and 35"s with an nfab prerunner light bar.

 

So lift spindles are too much money, but have you have the cash to do a full front clip NBS swap and fiberglass fenders?

 

Yea if you don't wanna spring the cash for spindles I think fiberglass is a little out of reach, shipping alone for the bedsides and front glass will be about the cost of spindles. As for light rack since its a dd and you will have a windshield go behind the cab otherwise the glare will be obnoxious. You will need some form of a cage in the bed to bolt the light rack to however, bolting it to just the roof sheet metal means by the time you hit 65mph you probably will be missing a chunk of your roof.

Definitely don't go with trophy glass! It's gonna be too wide for what your gonna do and look way outta place. If your dead set on doing the 04+ swap look into the fiberwerx one piece front end for those and see if you can adapt that. It might save you money in the long run, however I doubt the 04 glass is gonna bolt up correctly and your door probably won't open right. I had to do a decent amount of glass work just to get mine to open right with glass for my bodystyle. For the front your probably gonna want 4" over glass at the most and the rear I think the smallest you'll be able to get is 6".

Chances are 35's aren't going to fit with just glass and a leveling kit in the front. Your gonna need at least 6" with glass. My front opening on my glass is wide enough to clear 38's with 6.5" but there's inner sheet metal from where the body support is spot welded thats not gonna allow it. You should be golden with 33's though, besides prerunners don't want the tires to look stuffed at ride height, extra room is your friend to stuff those tires through the suspension cycle.

 

The spindles themselves aren't expensive, just the "what you get for the money" in comparison is. However, I did wonder why i didn't find their spacers for my truck..
Good point on the rack positioning, didn't even think about the glare. I suppose testing the glare wouldnt be too hard. I did plan on building a bed cage to hold the TT bedsides.

The track width on many TTs are around -/+ 90" from what I've read. Stock is like 79ish.
Figure in the 2" adapters I will be using; the spindles which Ive read will push out another 1.5-2"per (seems inconsistant among brands) plus new rims. I'll have to factor in the best back spacing and offset, but say I use stock specs/rims I'd say a track width of 87" isn't too far away.

My suspension will generally be stock, so I figure with the truck being level and the glass arched, it wouldn't look too bad as I do like a gap between tire and fender. I guess I could do spindles, 2" coilsprings and maybe a small body lift to obtain height.

I did factor in the glass work as I've never had perfect fitting glass with my race bikes. I also figured in the clip swap which is why i figured it'd work.
Thanks for the help, I'm obviously still in research mode so all the insight I can get is awesome.

 

So, from the looks of it, the grille reinforcement/header panel is all I'll need to have the grill and lights to bolt up..

 

Mcneil racing has a fiberglass one piece conversion for 97-03 to 04-08
http://www.mcneilracinginc.com/off-r...97-2003-f-150/

 

Most trophy trucks are more like 96+. I'm just saying bedsides most trophy's run 12" bedsides, I would run 6. Otherwise your not going to fill them up and it will look outta place. Are you planning on actually doing any long travel suspension or are you just going for the look, which in your case would be more of a short course truck because of the lower center of gravity you'll have will only 3 or so inches up front.

 

Thanks for the link. Im still uncertain how I feel about 1 peices.

I havent seen anyone over on a couple TT sites running that wide yet. Most seem to be around 90 some even 86-87" with TT glass. I have posted over there to get insite as well.
But yes, I am going more towards pro series idea with LOG and such but I like the TT styling better. Wish I had samples I can see in person but being in Florida, hard to find desert and short course racing trucks. Do you have a front shot of your truck?

 

Thats 4" over glass, with 35x12.50s on 4.5" backspacing wheels and my lift had spindles so it bumped it about 1.5" over each side.

And are you talking about trophy trucks or prerunners? Theres a big difference. Trophy trucks have a huge trackwidth compared to a prerunner, not to mention their usually center-linked front suspension with full tube frames. Prerunners are generally in the area of about 80-87 for rangers and little toyotas, while most full sizes are somewhere around 89-94ish depending on the kit. Some are 4 over some are 6, it really depends on the fabricator and how the suspension is done. Trophy trucks are upwards of 95 or so.

 

After some measuring with what my track width will be and the fenders, you're right, It'd look weird.
Now to stick with TT glass I have to come up with a jig to weld up some arms, or get extra cash for the arms.

I may just lift it and put 35s on it..

 

Jake, thats a sweet looking truck. Im just not big on the prerunner bumpers on stock bumpers.

 

Don't just custom weld up some arms and run them to widen the track width, there's a lot more that goes into designing the suspension that that and chances are going that route you'd never be able to get it aligned. I'd either just lift it for now and run some 35's and maybe a set of small fiberglass fenders in the front (like 4" over) and just save up until you can go with a decent long travel setup.

However, you could go with something like the camburg 6.5 performance lift, it'll give you about 10" of travel and it'll widen it enough where its made to be run with glass. Or if you have a little bit more to spend the cst 7.0 lift will give you 13" of travel, it runs a coil over up front instead, and it'll widen you about 3" per side, so you'll definitely need some glass up front.

 

Yeah, I know it's not just a cut and glue deal.
I'll keep looking, I may just lift this, do a few look good mods and build me another rock climber since I now have a DD.

Thanks for the help.

 

So I think I'm just going to get the 3.5" spindle lift and 33s.
What would you guys think of a prerunner type bumper on a pretty much stock truck? (removing stock bumper)
I have the DOM to do so, but unsure what it will look like without a widened track width, though I'm sure thats not what makes the look.