If you've dropped only the rear of your SuperCrew and left the front at the stock height, I have a few questions for you:

1. How did you lower it? (shackles, springs, 6 Dallas Cowboys' linemen sitting in the bed?)

2. By how much did you drop it?

3. Parts used, vendor used and cost?

4. Installation 'need to knows'?

5. Need shorter shocks?...is so what brand?

6. Any pics after the mod?

7. Any handling enhancement produced?


I appreciate your help/advice and, as always...Thank you Members!

 

hi Area 52
This is my first post and excactly the subject i've needed to talk about.
I recently had the 2" Belltech drop shackles put on my 01 SuperCrew. It was done by a local truck pro shop here in Largo FL. Took less then 1 hour at the cost of $149 and it looked GREAT ! when it was done. The trouble started when i got in to drive it home, at 20 mph it had a pretty bad vibration. I called the shop that did it and they insisted that it wasn't the 2"drop at fault ,that they had done many others and it never happened before. When i got home i came right to this board a did a search and found a few others had the same prob. at 20 and 60 mph. but no definte resolution. I called Belltech and the tech there said (without hesitation) "you need 2 degree shims" . Great, i thought , I called the pro shop told them of my research, asked them to order the shims, went in and had them put on and guess what.....the vibration was WORST !!

Anyway, the next day i went to the emergency room w/ chest pains (not due to the vibration,I'm sure) and was rushed in for emergency bypass surgury(38yrs old) And I haven't been able to get back to the truck shop !!


It seems some people do not have the VIBRATION problem at all
so you may be lucky, and it sure does look nice sitting even. Good luck, hope this helps and whatever you do don't get a heartattack over it !! LOL

2001 Black SuperCrew

 

First Mod I made to my truck was to get the a$$, even with the rest of the truck. This was done with a set of Bell Tech, model 6400 @ $65.00. It takes less then 1 hour to do it, ttols needed are a floor jack, (I didn't follow instructions, I lifted the rear end by the trailer hitch) a 13/16, box or open end wrench, and a 13/16th socket and rachet. I have "after" photo's of everything done to the truck at http://photos.yahoo.com/jeff_east

You don't need to spend a lot of money on a name brand of shackles. If I could have found them, when I needed them, I could have gotten away with a pair for $25.00 or less. No one, at least not me, cares if they are powder coated or not.

Jeff

OOPS: Almost forgot, I too developed a harmonic vibration at 40 - 60 mph. I was told I needed to shim the axle. Well I never got around to it. As the Universal joints got worn in, at the new angle
(like 2 degrees is gunna wear em out) the noise went away, I'd say within two weeks. Hey do I care if the U Joints go bad???
Not for thirty six months anyhow!!! But then again I've never kept a vehicle that long.

 

Area 52 - Don't know if you can really see it, but here is my truck with a 2-inch drop:

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...=1355&anum=214

I went with the Western Chassis drop shackles - cost me $32.00.

http://www.macsspring.com/website/we...talogframe.htm

Very easy to install yourself with a floor jack. Only problem I had was while disassembling the second side, my factory leaf spring still had tension on it and when I pulled the hanger bolt out, WHAM!!! the spring slammed the bottom of the bed, putting a dent in it and cracking the paint inside the bed - no big deal. I am getting a Line-X soon. My recommendation is to make sure it is on level ground (side-to-side) before starting. Love the new height. Makes it much easier to load things into the bed. As far as vibration, I have a little, but I don't think it is caused by the drop. I am going to get my wheels rebalanced this weekend (and a screw taken out of one of the tires), so I will let you know if the shake disappears.

 

When you install the drop shakles the proper way is to jack the truck up in the air and just get the tires so there about to come off the ground. then take the jackstands and put them on the frame of the truck, not the rea axle. if you do it this way it will unload all the tension off the springs.. the shackles will come off really easy then.

 

RTKILLA - That is exactly what I did. I think my problem was that one jack stand was a little higher than the other due to a slight slope in my driveway. First side went on with no problem - went to the "lower" side and that is where I had the problem. Luckily the directions that came with the shackles explained how to take the tension off - I just did not think the slope would make such a difference. Oh well, just thought I would throw this out there as a warning. If I can save a dent or two in someone else's truck, I feel my have done my job!!!

 

LightningCrew / RTKILLA / XTRUKY / garoto62Screw:

Thank you very much for your input on how to drop the rear, install guidance, and pics.

A couple more questions....

Is there enough travel on the stock rear shocks to accomodate the new height, or did you need to replace them with a shock designed for the 2" drop?

and....

What was the effect on cornering/handling?

 

Oh man, my heart is broke. I love the look of the lowered trucks, but I don't want any vibration or any problems of that sort. I log a bunch of highway miles. I've seen alot of posts regarding lowering but none came clean and exposed the darker side. I appreciate your post, the 6 cowboy lineman option sure is looking better.

 

Do a search and you'll probably find my post from a few months ago. I experienced the same vibration problem after I installed the drop shackles. I called the shackle manufacturer and they said without hesitation, "just put a shim in it and it'll be gone". So I installed the shim (very easy to do) and I'm happy to report the vibration is gone.

If you' all would like to see pics of the job, and truck, go to F150world.com and look up DTMBlackScrew in the galleries. Hope this helps.

 

Did mine with shackles and no vibration $50 with shipping..

If there is tension on the bolt dont pull it out!!!!!

Lower/raise jack to unspring leafs(very dangerous)....

Thinking about the leaf spring hanger in the front to lower more...

 

The procedure for replacing the stock shackle is as follows:

1. With truck on ground, slightly loosen all nuts and bolts.

2. Jack up truck at rear diff. till rear tires are off ground.

3. Place jack stands under truck frame.

4. Lower rear axle enough to take tension off bolt that secures shackle-to-frame. Remove this one first.

5. With shackle-to-frame bolt removed, raise rear axle till the shackle-to-spring bolt can be pushed out over frame.

6. Reverse order to install new drop shackle.

If you try to remove the shackle bolts any other way, you're going to be very frustrated.

Also, you may need to put a shim between the axle and the springs to control vibration. There is already a factor one installed.

This is a very easy mod., that looks really cool when done. Don't underestimate the importance of the shim. Some vehicles will need this. Mine did. 2 degrees was all that was needed to stop vibration.

Remember...you're changing the relationship between the front yoke of the axle to the rear yoke of the tranny when you pivot only the rear part of the axle housing as we are doing here with the 2" drop shackle.

 

Area 52 - To answer your other questions 1) No, you should not have to change shocks with only a 2" drop and 2) Could not tell much difference in handling - thinking of installing a sway bar. Someone in the past has mentioned installing a Hellwig sway bar and said it made a world of difference.

 

Lightning Crew,
Thanks for the answer on the rear shocks. I already put in a Hellwig rear anti-sway bar and it did make a difference. However, the fanny of the truck is so high that when you make normal left or right turns, it feels like it the rear wants to continue to travel left or right after coming out of the turn. I think by lowering it, it will lower the center of gravity to help reduce this "whiplashing" (for lack of a better term).

for Dan, Mach & Mark,
Thanks for the installation and safety tips!!!