Hello all,

This is for my 2006 F150 XL 2wd

I recently (four months ago) lifted my 2006 XL F150 2wd about 1.75". It has 2.5" autospring spacers in the front , and procomp aal's in the back. I know that the spacers are about the most popular way to lift the NBS trucks under 3". However, when you put a spacer in, the upper control arms look rough. The angle is MUCH steeper than stock. Everyone that puts spacers in has to deal with this. Steeper angle=faster wear. I have not really liked this part of the lift since I did it. Today I found out that the ball joints on these trucks are a one piece assemble with the control arms and are 400.00 a piece.

So...Does anyone know ANY WAY of keeping a 2-2.5" lift on a 2wd NBS truck and somehow fix the control arm and tie-rod angles. Whether it be a downward bent upper control arm, a 2" lift steering knuckle, an upper control arm relocation kit...ANYTHING. PLEASE.

I am not looking for any sort of full blown lift kit, I like the truck at 2"...I dont want to go any higher.

I am of course open to an comments here...but I really just dont like the poor angles, and would really love to fix them but i cant find anything.

Thank you all for your help.

-Dennis

 

400?! At O'Reillys, for my truck, a Moog upper control arm/balljoint is $90.00. $50 for the Master Pro brand

 

Yeah true. 400 does seem a little much. Where did you get those prices? If you really wanna get rid of our POS upper control arms you can buy a set of total kaos or camburg upper control arms for about 700. They use a 1inch uni ball and a couple members have them here. I know FX4LIFE has them for sure. Check out his picture album. They are well built and are purposely built for the angles that us members with leveling kits are dealing with. Just make sure to get an alignment afterwards. Ill be getting a set as well in the near future due to how big of a lift/tires ill be running.

 

Sorry its Total Chaos

 

Yep, I did indeed see those...and 40o for the ball joints sounded steep to me too. Got it on an online OEM website.

Are the balljoints and uppers one piece?

Those 1" ball joint uppers are awesome, but that still doesnt solve the lower ball joint and tie rod angle.

Dixson Bros Racing makes an "extension" for the spindle in their long travel kits. It can be seen in this forum...its the 8th, 9th, and 10th pictures down. If there was any way I could get something like this it would solve all my problems...

Thanks for the input so far, if nothing else at least I know Im not alone

 

I'm not too sure about the extended steering knuckles,it Will change the purpose of the leveling kit. Bc it puts preload on the strut assembly thus allowing it to lift( I think I said that right but, correct me if I'm wrong ). I've though about it plenty of time with the extra 2inch extended steering knuckles. But I've never seen anyone do it and don't think its really a good idea either but I could be wrong

 

Yes they are

 

I just thought that a 2" higher knuckle would bring the upper control arm back to stock height. I could be missing something as well though.

Is it the upper, lower, and tie rods that are all greatly affected by the spacer? Or is it really just the upper?

Any idea at how much faster these components might wear under normal driving conditions?

 

I've thought about the same as well with the longer steering knuckle to bring it back to stock but then again articulation I'm sure comes into affect and other stuff idk. Bc even though adding a longer steering knuckle I would assume your lower control arm will still be the same angles as well as tie rods etc bc of the preload put on the strut assembly.

Everything is affected due to the change in the angles. IMO the worst is the upper control arms/tie rods. Lowers don't even look that bad of an angle at all.

Wear- not sure. You know these trucks. Some of them hardly ever have problems and some always do. But I've had my 2inch leveling kit almost 3 years and have replaced 1 lower and like 3-5 uppers ( none of these are sets ). That's also bc I have gone off roading several times but under normal driving conditions it could be 4 years before you run into any problems thus causing to replace something. Just depends man. Harsher roads, off roading, doing stupid stuff, and etc will come into play as well.

 

I hear ya man, thanks for the advice. I just keep racking my head for some better solution. I guess when the time comes to do the uppers ill just order a set of those uppers with 1" ball joints.

 

Yeah that's what I will be doing eventually and honestly seems to be the best solution to go with. This is from what I've seen other than just taking out the spacer completely haha

 

Nope, cant have that...too much rake.

 

Haha yeah I hear yah. So only other option is to suffer if it happens lol

 

I hear everyone talk about how a level kit is bad for the ball joints because of the angle, but have never actually heard anyone explain why the angle is bad? It is a ball and socket and my thoughts are if you don't push it past its travel capability then you shouldn't have any problems unless I'm mistaken. Even on my 3" level kit the ball joint had enough travel for the angle change, so I don't quite understand why the angle would cause added wear?

 

Well look at a stock truck angles compared to yours. You will see how it drops down more causing it to wear faster. When you raise your truck the front upper control arm will hit the coils but when you don't have a leveling kit it won't do that. Same goes for the half shaft. Its like a lift and a driveshaft. The bigger you go the worse the angles are and easier to brake something.