When using lower control arms to lower the front will I still need alignment cams?

 

Cutting coil springs is a very tricky thing to do. I cut 1 and 1/4 coils from a stock height coil for a 3 and 1/4 inch lowering......but I destroyed two sets of stock coils and had to do 9 complete installings to figure this out!

For a 1 inch lowering, you should only need to cut 1/4 to 1/2 a coil max. It will increase the spring rate (stiffer) and provide great steering control but a bumpy ride! I do not know how much stiffer it will be with that much cut.

You can not use a torch to cut them. The heat will screw up the spring rate. I did not have an air compressor cutting wheel tool, so I used an angle grinder! If you do not have safety glasses you will go BLIND, if there are flamable items around, you will EXPLODE and if you want to audition for Monster Garage, make a tape, cause the hot metal SPARKS will fly!!!!!!

Make sure to measure the distance from the centercap to the fenderwell BEFORE starting. Start out buy cutting only 1/4 of a coil on each coil spring. Then do a complete install of BOTH sides and compare measurements. If its not low enough, remove springs and cut another 1/4th of a coil max. Make sure you cut the EXACT same amount for each coil spring or one side will be higher than the other.........yeah, its a lot of work.

Spacers and compressors create a bumpy ride.....I just removed some.

Knowing what I know now and if I had the parts you have, and if I wanted only a 3/4 lowering, this is what I would do:

1. Measure from centercap to fender well lip.
1. Since I already had them and only needed about another inch, I would cut 1/4th of a coil from the stock height springs and install with WC and measure.
2. If it was too bumpy or if it was not low enough, I would buy some 1 inch lowering coil springs and install them.

If it was me and I had the parts you had:
I would install the WC control arms AND WC coil springs.
If there was too much rake in the back,
I would:
(A.) Install stock height coils and go from 2 inch to 1 inch rear shackle setting for a 2/3 lowering. OR
(B.) Get 1 inch lowering coil spring and install them. OR
(C.) Get a C notch kit and the 3 inch shackle and lower the back another inch for total of 5 inches. But, this would be very low, bumpy....and I am crazy. Your family will hate you too. With a lightning front bumper (lower than stock), 275/60/17 tires and a 3 inch front lowering, I sometimes scrape when parking.

With lowering kits, you never know what its going to look like until after an install. The same kit installed on two identical truck will often produce different lowering heights. You rarely get an exact 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 inch lowering. The main thing is to get approximately the same lowering on each side. If family are going to ride in the truck on a routine bases, you may NOT wish to cut any springs, nor go any lower than a 3/4 lowering.

Bumpy ride from crappy shocks and or too soft or stiff springs gets old fast.

 

With WC and stock height springs = NO
With WC and 1 inch lowering springs = NO
With WC and 2 inch lowering springs = maybe YES

 

That's good info. I went with Lightning springs and the WC arms. The trouble right now is the kit didn't come with the WC Link Pins for the sway bar. The stock ones are too long and the control arm hits the frame. I'm hoping someone knows of an equivilant shorter OEM link pin that I could use. Like say, a '72 Vega it really shouldn't matter as long as it's the right length.
Thanks.

 

I used some Energy Suspension 1" link pins to mount the front sway bar after installing the Western Chassis control arms. They worked perfect and gave the clearance necessary for the sway bar. The truck handles great since being lowered 3"/4" but it sits about level. I was expecting a slightly higher rear end but even after arcing the left leaf 3/4" the rear end is level with the front when empty (but with Leer canopy). The once super tight steering radius is not quite as good anymore and I've bottomed the rear end out a couple times while empty. I may put in 1" shorter Shackles to get the look I was after and resist bottoming. Oh yea, my only other complaint is squeaking some urethane bushing! And they were all lubed during assembly...
Trying to show a picture here:

 

Yeah, it sounds like the lightning springs did not give any drop? Yeah, the easiest thing to do is to put the rear shackle on the 1 inch setting bolt holes for a 3 inch drop in back for some rake.

If you have weak shocks, worn leafsprings or rear swaybar brackets positioned under the frame, or do not change/reduce the stock bump stop or just hit a big bump, you will bottom out.

Your steering should be as good or better. Did you have it aligned (with alignment machines mounted on ALL FOUR tires by shop that has experience with lowered vehicles) after the lowering kit install? Did you get max. spec. caster settings?

All urethane bushings squeak. If you tighten components too much they will squeak more. The red ones squeak the most. The black urethane squeak less because they have silicone in them.

 

I saw the other hole in the shackle and wondered if it could be used as a mounting hole. I wasn't sure if there would be enough clearance for the leaf spring. Is it supposed to be a mounting option?
I had a 4 wheel alignment done at a shop that does do lowered vehicles and he claimed that the steering is limited by the control arms and these arms offer less turning radius. I find that when I get to max turn it doesn't feel like a solid limit like it did before either?? The caster is apparently at the max and it came up 1/4° less than ideal. Now it doesn't straighten out from turns quite as good. Raising the rear a bit should help that too.
I have the red bushings...

Any idea what the trick is to posting a picture here? I have it hosted somewhere else but can't point to it. I'm checking the FAQ's...

 

If the next set of bolt holes are about an inch away, that is your 3 inch setting. There is clearance.

The wheel stops are different, therefore it will "feel" different.

Caster at max. and is 1/4 degree less than ideal????????? That sounds like you need the camber bolts/washers, which is odd. You need max. spec. caster or you will hate your steering.

Yeah, your wheel does not return back as fast, due to a lack of caster. Raising the rear will not help that at all. Infact, the lower the rear in relation to the front increases caster. The higher the rear in relation to the front and you reduce caster.

If your truck was level and the steering wheel does not return back as fast, that means you need a lot of caster. Sorry, but it sounds like for some reason unknown to me that, you need the camber bolts and washers on the upper control arms, so that you can get more caster.

I am looking for a post that explains how to post pics. I will just confuse myself if I try.

 

I had bought the alignment cams already so I installed them in the upper control arms and he still couldn't get the caster right... If raising the back will make things worse that doesn't sound great. Maybe I should be looking for another alignment shop if others have managed to align these trucks after similar modifications.

 

Go to the F150online Website Section and then the Questions about this site Section. There are many threads about how to post pics. The easiest is to make your own gallery on this site and then just click on that gallery pic and then highlight and copy the CODE shown and then copy it to the post. Or if it is a non gallery pic, you simply highlight the pic, click on the properties and highlight the entire url, copy it and insert it in the image icon directly above the post box. See, now I confused myself

I went to 4 different alignment shops. I went to the best custom vehicle alignment shop in my state, twice. No one could figure out my steering problem, not even the "experts". I had to solve it myself after trial and error. After 3 years of changing every part the experts thought it might be and at least 5 alignments, I finally figured out that my lack of caster was worn rear leafsprings!

If you have the camber bolts and washers installed and this shop can not get you proper caster, you either have bent WC control arms or you need to find another alignment shop. Did the shop tell you why they could not put anymore caster in it? Did the shop tell you what could be done to put more caster in it? With the control arms lowering, your truck should be steering as good or better than before. I would go find another shop that has truck lowering experience.

 

iron horse - thanks for all of the helpful information on here. I recently had a 2/4 WC drop installed on my SCrew and have not been able to get the thing aligned properly. Here is what is happening - essentially they are saying they have adjusted it to factory specs and that it is showing that it is aligned on the rack, however, when you drive it down the road, it pulls to the right. They tried multiple times and could not correct it. THen I took it to my Ford Dealer and they essentially made it pull to the left to try and correct the problem, but now it feels like it is all over the place.

Now, I do not have a camber kit installed. Do you think this would correct the problem I am having??

 

Did they actually check for worn parts and tires? Unless they used a pry bar on the linkages to check for loose parts, they did not really check. Our trucks wear out idler arms, ball joints and tie rods faster than some experts think. Do you see any uneven or odd tread pattern on your front tires?

If no worn parts/tires and you have factory spec. caster, yet wandering,
have them put as much caster as possible in your alignment. Go beyond factory caster specs.
Make sure camber stays WITHIN factory specs.
Have a VERY SLIGHT Toe-IN.

A camber bolt/washer for all 4 upper control arm brackets will enable you to get as much caster as possible.

 

iron horse - right after the install is when I noticed it pulling to the right. I also found excessive wear on the outside edge of the passenger front tire (same way it was pulling).

I had the outer tie rods replaced with Moogs last year. They mentioned something about seeing this pulling once before with another Ford and mentioned it ended up being a bad ball joint, however, they said that one only pulled whenever the brakes were applied.

I am having my service rep at the Ford dealer talk to the alignment tech to see what he did to my truck last week.

 

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Took me some time to do the same on my 4wd. Maybe this will help:

Tools: 90 degree cut off wheel, air chisel with flat and pointed bits, a good drill/drill bit, map gas torch and a BFH.

I cut an "X" in each rivet with the cut off saw. The air chisel with the flat bit will easily remove the rest. Now...the hanger is usually still rusted to the frame. You can try beating it off with the BFH. I found if I take the air chisel with the pointed bit and run that between the frame and the hanger (on the bottom) evetually it will come off.

You're far from done. Now you have the rest of the rivets to take out. Again, try beating them through the frame but I doubt that they'll budge.

I cut the remaining part of the rivet flush with the frame. Try the air chisel again with the pointed bit, see if that pushes the rivet through. If not, try heating it first. If that fails, drill a hole in the middle of the rivet and hit it again with the air chisel. That never failed me.

Total time to remove the hangers? About 3 hours.