Anyone who lowered there truck. Help out please.
 

I want to lower my truck, so do alot of people. And just like all other mods there are so many out there to choose from. I keep seeing different threads turn up all over, and there is alot of information just scattered all over. There probably is all the information we need, it's just so scattered. So I did some searches and gethered some info and put it all together on 1 page. But there is to much to search for.

Anyone who has lowered their truck, check this out. Please give me comments and feedback, correct any incorrect info, add more and better information. I found nice pictures but didn't want to use any w/out asking for permission. So if you have pictures, send them to me (if you do don't send larger pictures, my mailbox isn't big).

Any comments, suggest, etc, please send to captainoblivious@hotmail.com

this is the link:
http://dontblameme.virtualave.net/lo.../lowering.html

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2001 Silver L
http://dontblameme.virtualave.net/tr...uck4_small.jpg
Mods (so far):
Shag carpeting for the bed
sportmaster tonneau cover
premier 720 HU
WetOkole covers - lost my comfortable position in the 6way power seats

to get list:
lowering kit, ram air hood, some form of ram air, lower blower pully, a stereo overall, maybe a shift kit and fan

I haven't lowered mine, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night!

Sorry, I don't know why I did that.

Hey Cap'n:
Nice of you to put together the info in a cool way. Would add that no matter which way ya go, check with someone who's done what you plan on doing for actual drop amount. I've found that actual drops are usually alittle less than advertised. I did a 2"/2" using Eibach springs and AIM shackles, wound up with 1 1/2"/1 3/4" drop. IMHO this is the best compromise for a daily driver. Gets some of the air out of the wheel wells, retains decent handling & stock shocks (used nitro shocks and ground force shocks on an F150 I lowered before the L, think they're crappy)is easy to install and least expensive. Sorry for long post!


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Ed
White'00 #2006

Captain

I really think the Bell tach kit is the best for the money you spend.

the roush kit is probably a better kit, I would hope so, but its twice as much. I think the bell tech kit is very high quality and I have had mine on for about a year now and its working great. with shocks the kit was about $500.00.

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POWER SURGE PERFORMANCE RULES!!!
http://www.zing.com/picture/p0662fcb...d.jpg.orig.jpg

Bringin'it back TTT

Anyone else w/ comments or suggestions or usefull photos?

Capn:

I just installed the Hotchkis system. Your information is pretty accurate, although Hotchkis claims only a 1/2 drop, not 2/3. Minor, yes, visually, you can go either way. I favored Hotchkis only because I wanted a minor drop, mainly due to the back being so high up. Now the truck looks level. Also, I strongly favored installing a kit that did NOT sacrifice payload capacity. Hotchkis supplies front coils, rear springs, bumper stops. If you don't do the install yourself, you should estimate approximately $500 in labor, which should include install, front alignment, and changing/replacing the factory blocks.

Lowered my 2000 back in 2000 when it was less than 4 weeks old. I used the Ground Force 2 and 4 kit. Cost me around $350 and the ride quality is awesome, even got lifetime shocks which I replaced recently since summer is coming on! Only drawback is once your new coilsprings settle, you have to have a camber kit installed to realign front end to STOP tires and wheels from leaning in like mine did. The stock shims are square and allow for NO adjustment. I hope this helps, I still have a factory quality ride and control but LQQK way more smooth with a lowered truck, not SLAMMED. Boo

captainoblivious:
You might want to mention that the following should be considered when modifying the suspension:
Bump steer
Lost horsepower from bad driveshaft angles
Lateral shifting on the rear axle
How the performance is altered when the wt transfer is different.

Spike

Guys thanks for the replies. I'll get everyones suggestions and corrections done on monday.


Spike - sorry but that is going way over my head in knowledge of suspension. If you give me the info I will gladly put it up there.

I have lowered my truck with the following parts:
Bell Tech kit 3/4
Western Chassis 2 inch A-arms
Western Chassis C-section Rear frame kit
Edelbrock Front shocks
Doetsch Tech rear shocks
Ford Dealer installed Camber kit for Alignment.
The front of my Lightning it is about 4 1/2 inches lowered in the front and the rear is around 4 inches or more lowered.

DJY
http://www.zing.com/picture/paf461e9...3.jpg.orig.jpg

DJY - very nice looking truck.

Guys anybody have basic info or links that could put up stuff about prepping the trucks to be lowered, such as Herbs Washers and the camber kits to do alignment or anything that Spike suggested?

Like I said I don't know much about lowering but I'm learning.

I'm always learning too and the easiest way to get the answers is ask. Since you did, following is my best quick stab:

Bump steer: The direction of the tire is changed momentarily as it moves thru it's arc. For example, you're on a corner and hit a bump (or are going straight) and although you don't move the steering wheel, the direction of the wheel changes.

Lost horsepower from bad driveshaft angles: If the angle from the driveshaft into the rear axle is off a few degrees and under heavy load, the u-joints bind and horsepower is lost. (Hotchkis drop is about 1 1/2 degrees off, but a 3 1/2 inch drop could be off 4 degrees). If you been around or know anybody with an older CJ-5 Jeep, the guys with excessive lift drop their trannys, shim axles and replace u-joints with CV joints for similar reasons. I did this on my CJ mainly to reduce vibration and I only had a one inch lift (3" going in sometime this summer).

Lateral shifting on the rear axle: Check out my video of the rear suspension on a corner. It momentarily shifts sideways about 3/4." If the shifting is eliminated, the rear end becomes less unpredictable. BTW, keep in mind that a portion of the lateral forces are transfered thru the shackles.

How the performance is altered when the wt transfer is different:
Big topic (actually HUGE). I focus on one SMALL area of it. The Hotchkis suspension, with stock tires, shocks, and sway bars changes the steering "personality" of the truck. It reduces, if not eliminates understeer, and IMO has too much oversteer. But, it's easily fixed if you adjust tire pressures. When I receive and install the Hotchkis sway bars, it may fix the oversteer problem or not. Stiffening just the front sway bar will help, but if it's too stiff, it may reduce the oversteer too much. All this occurs because the CG of the truck has shifted and the wt transfer while braking, accel, and/or cornering has been altered. One other item: I don't know the actual affects yet to the front/rear brake bias because I haven't yet asked the question "is it affected?" Somebody out there knows....
Stan?

One other item: If none of the above matters, ignore it and do whatever you want to your truck. It's yours and have fun with it.

Spike

Thanks alot for the info Spike.

Page is updated. Keep the stuff coming guys, collecting some good stuff.

[This message has been edited by captainoblivious (edited 06-17-2001).]

I would like to comment on pinion angle, when I installed the AIM 2" drop shackles in the rear, it changed the pinion angle enough that my truck has a minor vibration at road speed. ( I assume this is the cause )

But I drag race the truck also, and since I don't have any traction devices on the truck at this time, a little bit of down angle on the pinion seems like a good thing to me. So even though it is a compromise, I will be leaving it as is for now. I also run the carbon fiber drive shaft and I don't want to break it just because the rearend got all twisted out of shape on a descent launch.
Dale

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Black 00'
12.857 ET
110.49 mph
full weight, stock F1's

Just bringing it back up for anymore info out there.