Okay so I bought some rims and tires for my 09 F-150 FX4 yesterday and now I want a little bit more height.. I'm not ready to pony up the cash for a full suspention lift so I'm looking into Leveling Kits... I want to keep some rake in the stance so the roof doesn't lean to the rear. So I'm looking for a front and back kit... I was thinking of the 3 inch kit front and back which says it gives a 3 inch rise in the front and 1.5 in the rear... since it replaces the rear 1.5 block with a 3... But I have also read the FX models don't take well to the 3 inch front extention... So I'm wondering about the 2 inch front and 3 inch rear... which would raise my front 2 inches and the back 1.5 and I think this may keep the rake I want... I'm running 20x9's with 285/55/20 that stick out a little... So tell me your horror stories with leveling kits and let me know what I'm getting into with looks and how the ride changes... Also is there anything I need to make sure I have along with the Blocks, U Bolts, and front spacers? Shock extenders or anything? Also please post up some pics of your rides with leveling kits installed with prices and what kit you used... Thanks all I'm sure this will be a great disscusion and we'll all learn something...


Here's a little abstract shot of my truck from yesterday down at the beach before a photoshoot...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75940427@N06/7077847523/http://www.flickr.com/photos/75940427@N06/7077847523/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/75940427@N06/, on Flickr

 

I used Auto Spring 1.5 front and 2&5/8 rear block. Front spacer only was about dead level. The front came up about 2" with the rear block the rake was factory.

I took it off in a week, too high for a daily work truck. Whole kit was $220?
I just looked on eBay my gray truck with the dog crates is in his ad.

I just posted mine for sale

Here is an after pic

before

after

 

I have a 2" Autospring leveling kit front only and I still have a 1/2" of rake. Tires are 34" Trail Grapplers.

 

Prior to my 6" lift I ran a 1.5 Autospring, gave 2" of lift.
295/70/18 Trail Grapplers

Ride was a little more stiff than factory but wasn't unpleasant.

 

The spacer type leveling kits (by themselves) make very little difference in the ride. Going from stock to larger tires is what stiffens or changes the ride the most. Most of the larger A/T's or M/T's are 10 ply.

 

link in sig.

 

I went with a daystar... I felt my FX4 had a high enough rear (giggity) and just wanted to level it up.

http://www.daystarweb.com/productdet...?productID=938

If you plan on upgrading your shocks later (which I do) I found that Daystar is the best bang for your buck IMO.

I noticed on only slightly differance in handling and that may be all in my head.


Before


After


FB

 

I run mostly bobtail. I went with a Top Gunz Customs 2" front leveling only. Still about 3/4" high in the back. Stock / current tire size is 275/65/18 Goodyear AT/S's. When these wear out I am going with a 275/70/18. About an 1 1/4" taller than my OEM tire. +1 on what what NASSTY said about the tires really making the difference in ride quality. When we start going up in tire sizes, we generally have to go with a different load range tire. I will be going from a C to an E.

 

Oh yeah I'm very familer with the Load Range Tire issue... I'm coming from an F-250 which had to run E Range... to this F-150 that had C range on it for a week and now has E range and to be a little honest while I love the look of the new tires... I do miss the cushy ride after being in the Super Stiff *** F250 for 2 years...

 

Kepp them coming... Looks like everyone goes with Auto Spring? Any paticular reason or? and from the looks of the pics with the front and rear i'm gonna sit about the height of my F250... which is back where I wanna be...

 

I used Rough Country 2.5" and is dead on level.

 

I went with the BDS 2.5-inch leveling system which uses a 2-piece front 2" strut spacer and separate preloaded 1/2" spacer, along with rear blocks that raises the rear by 1" for a 2.5 inch total as well so I retained the factory rake. I then went with 20x9 wheels with +18mm offset so that I could mount 34.5 inch tall (295/60R20) Trail Grapplers without rubbing the UCAs (had to do some minor trimming of the lower fender flare where they wrap underneath the truck as well as the front air dam). Also, this allowed me to pull the Trail Grapplers into the fenders a bit more than my previous setup (see below) which signifcantly decreased the tire noise at highway speeds.

The ride is still very pleasant and controlled. You can feel the extra mass of the tires on initial acceleration and turn in, but nothing that detracts from the driveability of the truck. However, the 5.0L doesn't seem to mind the extra weight as much as my mileage only dropped about 1 mpg on average for City driving which is not bad considering the extra lift and tire/wheel weight. I paid about $140 for the complete system plus installation. Just make sure you still get the truck aligned after the install.





On my previous setup, I went with a 2-inch Daystar front leveling system only which gave me a perfectly leveled stance. I also went with the Trail Grapplers but in the wider 305/60R20 (33.4 inches tall) size mounted on 20x9 wheels with +14mm offset. This setup caused my tires to stick out significantly more which allowed more tire howl at highway speeds to intrude into the cab. The ride was the same as stock save the extra mass of the tires again. However, with this setup (more contact with the pavement due to the wider tires) and the fact that I had the EcoBoost (which was more sensitive to the extra mass than the 5.0L has been), my mileage dropped significantly by 2-3 mpg City (the turbos were spooling up constantly which means more fuel). I paid about $130 for the system plus install and alignment.

 

Desert Dawg, your stance on the Platinum is dead on where I want to be... Anyway I could get you to take me a measurement from a point in the front and rear? like the bottom of the tow hooks to the pavement and bottom of the Reciever or something... With our tire sizes being a hair differant you should be about 12.875mm taller than I will be with the same kit but it'll give me a great overall idea...

 

User Error, I measure 19" to bottom of the front tow hooks and 20-5/8" to bottom of hitch receiver.

 

Haven't figured out how to actually get the photo feature to work (kinda challenged...), but you can see it in my garage. I have the rancho quick lift in front and the height/look is great. The set up seems to unload very harshly when going over speed bumps or on the highway but 95% of the time it is good.