Safety issue on f150's with 4" drops in the front...
 

I got to drive my L last night so I decided to take a drive down to the Sunset strip for a little cruising. Well, on my way back, I decided to cruise down La Cienaga Blvd. to Wilshire Blvd. then down to the 405 fwy. As I approached the 90-Marina Del Rey on the 405fwy, I started to hit some rough patches of road. I was traveling at approximately 60-65 mph when I hit the rough patches and felt my front tires slamming up against the fenderwell? It felt scary...kinda as if I was going to lose control and crash.

I guess the 4" drop up front is too much of a drop for the L...or any F150 for that matter...????

I guess I have three options now:

1) bag the front

2) keep the DJM upper and lower control arms and replace the 2" coil with a Beltech 3" coil and raise it up an inch....****You think this would work?******

3) simply cut the fenderwell lining?

What do you guys think? Cut the fenderwell lining and see how that goes? (It would have to be cut if I decided to bag the front anyway).

Or should I shoot for replacing the coil?

In normal street driving this isn't an issue, but on rough patches of road it's a whole other story. :(

Thanks.

-Monty

THis thread should be renamed - Safety issue on f150's with 4" drops in the front... There is no connection to Fords work here....

I was unable to change the subject.

-Monty

Monty
In my opinion Bell Tech coils springs are to soft. I would talk to Stan and have him make you some custom front coils.

After looking at your pics I would also raise her up a inch.

Also what do you have for shocks on your truck??

Thanks for the advice Don...it's greatly appreciated.

So you think a Stan can set me up with a set of 3" coils?

I'm running the DJM Toxic shocks all around...I know, not the best....

Thanks again.

-Monty

Yea I found that even with a 3" drop the tires would rub in the fenderwell. Hell they still do sometimes with my 1/2 drop.

I used to hang out/work at a local shop that did custom suspension.

If your all about show you might as well just bag it. But if you want to keep the drop you have now you can do a few things. swap out to a smaller tire/wheel combo, Raise it up an inch, or what alot of people do is just cut/remove the intire fenderwell. If you remove your fender well your engine bay will get dirtier and you have to move alot of stuff. If your going to bag it i would still remove the fernder well just so you will be able to tuck more at shows and such.

that entire section of the 405 has expansion slots which give me a good amount of wheel hop all over which i hate. But this almost sounds like you have a tire out of round or something.

But a 4" in LA is kinda hard no matter what.

Have you ever driven on the 710 anywhere from the 405 and North? That's the absolute worst freeway for solid rear axle folks.

I think it's the shocks
I have a 3" drop in front but no tire rubbing
But i have a very stiff suspension.

:wave:

Thanks for the advice guys. Giro- last night was the first time it had "bottomed out" in the front. When I drove on the 73 I had no problems...on the 605- no problems....on the 210- no problems...on the 105- no problems...even on the 710- no problems...but that stretch of road between Sunset and the 90 was the absolute worse.

I don't drive into that area of LA much, so I probably won't have any problems driving around the area where I live. What concerns me is when I begin to take trips to shows. I would hate to have a tire blow or damage my fender. I'll experiment with a Beltech coil and see what happens...first. Next I'll try a set of Stan's coils and if that doesn't work, I guess I'll try cutting the plastic fenderwell piece.

This sucks super monkey ass.

-Monty