Hey guys this is my first post on this site. My father has a 97 lariat extended cab. The suspension has seen better days.. the shocks arent too good anymore and the back is alittle saggy. For his birthday I'd like to fix it up for him.. I'm not too familiar with fords as I have a tacoma myself but I do all my own work on that so I'm hoping to do the f150 also. What suspesion setup would be best? I'm not really looking for much of a lift. The truck is used mostly as a daily driver and occasionally is used to tow and carry heavy loads. So far I have looked at maybe doing bilstein shocks all around and a AAL in the rear. I've heard the torsion bars in the front could be cranked to match the rear? If so what is involved in doing that? Thanks for the help, these are most likely newbie questions but i am fairly ignorant of f150's.

 

If its on original shocks, just replacing them will do wonders, thats where I would start. If, after doing that, you feel you want to do more to it, then go from there because it can start to add up.

Cranking the torsion bars is pretty easy, just follow them to the crossmember (should be about under the driver's door), and you'll see two bolts (one for each bar), tighten them up a few turns (youll have to measure constantly, and you cant just turn both sides X number of times, each side will be different). Drive around the block, re-measure, and if you are satisfied, go and get it alligned.
Also keep in mind, cranking the torsion bars stiffens the ride, so you might drive around a little before getting that alignment and make sure your dad is ok with the way it rides.

What kind of driving does your dad do for the most part? If it goes off-road, look at some Ranchos (RS 9000). Edelbrock IAS shocks are good all-around, as are the Rancho RSX's.
If it stays mostly on-road, then Bilstein or Monroe are good solutions.

 

A set of $60 add a leafs in the rear will help out with the heavy loads